Author Topic: customsforthekid.blogspot.com 7/28/24  (Read 274544 times)

Offline Elias

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Re: customsforthekid.blogspot.com 11/03/21
« Reply #1125 on: November 20, 2021, 01:58:47 AM »
This project was another commission, and one that I was sad to see leave. Over the course of this project, I found myself meeting unique challenges and learning new things that I'll always have in my tool box.  I'm grateful for the opportunity to bring life to such a cool character, and for all the skills I learned along the way.

The parts required for this figure were a Clone Wars Plo Koon, a season three Clone Wars Obi Wan, and the garments were taken from a 30th anniversary Hawkbat Battalion Clone Trooper.  Plo Koon's head remained mostly unmodified, except for his specialized mask, which was hand sculpted.  The torso of the Plo Koon was sanded smooth with a Dremel and re-sculpted to feature his breastplate armor and layered robes.  The pouches were hand sculpted and then applied to the belt.  The skirt was cut short using an X-Acto knife and smoothed with the Dremel to appear as a single piece.  Aside from armor pads on each thigh, the legs remained mostly unmodified.  In order to increase the articulation of the figure, I took the knees from a Clone Wars Obi Wan and inserted them into the knees of the Plo Koon.  I did so by cutting the boots off of the Plo Koon and removing the knee region from the remaining leg.  This was to create room for the new knee joints so they would fit proportionately in relation to the rest of the leg, making the modification nearly undetectable. 

The head scarf was made from the hood which came with the Plo Koon.  The lower shoulder scarf was completely hand sculpted.  I did this using a simple disk of nearly dry sculpting material, and cutting a neck hole into the center of it.  I then draped it over the figure and waited for it to dry completely.  After that, I had a base to sculpt onto, which allowed me to add all the details in my second sculpting pass.  The poncho from the Hawkbat Clone Trooper originally didn't fit the Plo Koon, so I removed the original stitching and hand sewed darts into the shoulders for a more satisfying form fitted appearance.  I took a piece of fabric and cut it into a disk-like shape which I used as the second layer of the poncho.  I repeated the process, custom cutting it to fit and hand sewing darts into the shoulders.

Once the sewing and sculpting were complete, I painted the figure completely to match Plo Koon as he was depicted on screen.  After painting the fabrics to the desired colors and adding the embroidery on the edge of the upper poncho, I cut the holes and tears into the edges of both ponchos, giving them their aged appearance they had in the episode of The Clone Wars.

Even though this figure won't be staying with me, I still feel happy to have brought the character to life.  Most importantly, before sending it away, molds were made of the head sculpt, hood, and shoulder scarf which will soon be available on the Rebel Kid Creations store.  With the casts available, I'm hoping to add him to my own collection one of these days as well!

"THE CLONE WARS - LOST MISSIONS"
PLO KOON
created by Elias















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Re: customsforthekid.blogspot.com 11/20/21
« Reply #1126 on: November 20, 2021, 06:22:07 AM »
Wow, the level of detail you and your dad are pulling off is just awe inspiring.

What a great custom.

Off to share it on the front pages. I would sure have hated to send this one off too!

Offline Darth More

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Re: customsforthekid.blogspot.com 11/20/21
« Reply #1127 on: November 20, 2021, 12:46:38 PM »
Hey Elias, lately I'm not only impressed by the variety of accessories and paint apps, that you add to your customs, but also by the softgoods! Your Plo Koon looks truly fantastic! I'm also amazed by the mask you sculpted for him. I've read other comments on Facebook and Instagram and have to agree that the aurebesh on his poncho looks nothing less but insane! Plo Koon is one of many Jedi that I got several times with figure lots, so I might have to give this one a try. You reminded me that I have to work with fabrics again as well.
There are some incomplete projects on my workbench. Thank you so much for sharing this here! I also left you some comments on YouTube as well! Your 10th Anniversary video gave me a highly appreciated overview of you guys' amazing work!
You are a true inspiration to the customizers community.

Your client must be proud of you for this one!
« Last Edit: November 20, 2021, 12:51:46 PM by Darth More »

Offline darthdaddy

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Re: customsforthekid.blogspot.com 11/20/21
« Reply #1128 on: November 20, 2021, 03:27:30 PM »
We were sure to make these sculpts tp the Rebel Kid Creations store so they are now available for purchase.








https://rebelkidcreations.bigcartel.com/products

Offline hemble

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Re: customsforthekid.blogspot.com 11/20/21
« Reply #1129 on: November 20, 2021, 06:40:42 PM »
Absolutely awesome figure buddy.

Ron

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Re: customsforthekid.blogspot.com 11/20/21
« Reply #1130 on: November 21, 2021, 07:09:10 AM »
Nice. Time to go advertise this news.

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Re: customsforthekid.blogspot.com 11/20/21
« Reply #1131 on: December 17, 2021, 06:16:20 AM »
New one from a commission Elias did.

"We are so happy to be posting our first custom action figure from the new Star Wars animated series Star Wars: The Bad Batch. We would have loved to have shown you all one sooner, but these figures take quite a lot of time to create and since we don't get advanced pictures from Lucasfilm the way Hasbro does, we are apt to move at a much slower pace as a result.

The particular figure came about because a patron commissioned us to make this one-of-a-kind piece.

This figure was so much fun to do because I got to incorporate a unique action feature into the design. Dad had an idea of how to pull it off and his plan worked wonderfully. To make our head that hides Echo's likeness underneath an articulating visor, I molded a cast of the droid head that my client purchased from Audes_Workshop with MOLD MAX 14NV and then heavily modified the casts I pulled from my mold to create something completely new and different for my client.  From the mold, I ran two casts of the original sculpt our client provided in two different types of resin. The first resin headcast was poured from the rigid SMOOTH-CAST 321 resin. The second one I made from the more flexible SMOOTH-CAST 61D resin.

Once both casts were produced, I used a Dremel to isolate the sculpt of the front visor from the 61D cast freeing the piece completely from the rest of the rubbery sculpt. I kept the visor, cleaned it up and the rest of the cast was discarded.

With the 321 cast, I also used the Dremel but this time to sand the visor off completely, saving the rear and sides of the original sculpt. After sanding off the visor from the sculpt of the 321 cast, I then bored out the front of the cast so it could accept the facial likeness of Echo that we borrowed from a Clone headcast we had on hand in our fodder. I married the two elements together with my ProCreate sculpting putty fusing the Clone headcast with the remainder of the Smooth On 321 cast.

Once the sculpt dried and the figure had been fully painted, I utilized some extremely powerful, small magnets that were inserted in the head and visor so the visor could attach and articulate. I then hid the magnets in the head under some Aves Fixit sculpt and some more black paint.

The rest of the figure was fully hand sculpted onto a Clone Wars Captain Rex action figure with some ProCreate. I used several different shades of grey while painting him to make the figure appear more dynamic in his final form. 

For the record, the droid arm was also acquired from Audes_Workshop and was not part of the sculpt that was done by me."

"STAR WARS: THE BAD BATCH"
ECHO in DROID DISGUISE
created by Elias


























https://customsforthekid.blogspot.com/2021/12/star-wars-bad-batch-echo-in-droid.html

« Last Edit: December 17, 2021, 02:02:21 PM by darthdaddy »

Offline Darth More

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Re: customsforthekid.blogspot.com 12/16/21
« Reply #1132 on: December 17, 2021, 07:23:34 AM »
Gentlemen, your customs are like those epic surprise parties when you least expect them.
Where do you always get these incredible shapes? It's your sculpting skills, which you have developed by now, I guess? Echo's disguise looks nothing less than amazing.
To me Elias and you have reached the level of Stronox (I hope he sees your pictures) and hemble. There's no higher level.
Much respect from Germany.
 

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Re: customsforthekid.blogspot.com 12/16/21
« Reply #1133 on: December 18, 2021, 06:22:52 AM »
I agree, your sculpting and painting skills are second to none now. Wow. This is just tough.

Off to share it on the front pages. Bravo Elias!

Offline darthdaddy

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Re: customsforthekid.blogspot.com 12/16/21
« Reply #1134 on: December 19, 2021, 04:45:55 AM »
Elias is going to love this feedback! Can't wait to show him!

Earlier this year, we made a Star Wars Rebels Ursa Wren from a 3D printed model kit from Angry Racoon Miniatures that we purchased from his Etsy store. The kit arrives attached to the scaffolding from the print and once clipped free and sanded it's ready for paint. This kit was one of several of his resin printed figure kits we bought and we have been thrilled with the quality of his offerings. The sculpts are incredibly well done and this kit in particular really helps fill out the underserved Star Wars Resistance action figure collection line. Neeku really deserved an action figure release so getting to add him to the collection was thrilling. Now we just need a Tamara Ryvora on our shelf to make the collection feel more complete.

Highly recommend checking out the other model kits from the Etsy store of Angry Racoon Miniatures. You won't be disappointed!

MORE PICS IN THE POST!
https://customsforthekid.blogspot.com/2021/12/star-wars-resistance-neeku-vozo-painted.html



"STAR WARS RESISTANCE"
NEEKU VOZO
painted by Customs for the Kid















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Re: customsforthekid.blogspot.com 12/19/21
« Reply #1135 on: December 19, 2021, 05:17:50 AM »
Wow, another great one. We are gonna have to check out Angry Raccon.

Off to share on the front pages.

Offline JDeck

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Re: customsforthekid.blogspot.com 12/19/21
« Reply #1136 on: December 19, 2021, 11:37:53 AM »
Your work is beyond incredible. A lot of talent you have.

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Re: customsforthekid.blogspot.com 12/19/21
« Reply #1137 on: December 27, 2021, 04:44:20 PM »
Wow, I haven't checked in for a bit, and look at what you have produced! Echo is incredible, Neeku is spot on, but I love that Plo Koon - one of my favorites. Thanks also for making that kit available for purchase, that is kind.

Offline darthdaddy

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Re: customsforthekid.blogspot.com 12/31/21
« Reply #1138 on: December 31, 2021, 07:43:46 PM »
This isn't the first Satine Kryze action figure in our collection, and it likely won't be the last one that we add to the collection either. The first was made by our friend Chad Peak aka Peak-OB1 Custom Creations that Dad bought for me as a gift. The Satine pictured below is the first custom action figure of the character made by Customs for the Kid. 

To make her, I used a resin printed head we purchased from Moff Glidden's Customs. To make the body, we used the torso, upper arms and thighs of a Clone Wars Assaj Ventress action figure with the forearms and boots of a Clone Wars Aayla Secura action figure. Once the parts were assembled, the sculpt was completely modified with a Dremel and ProCreate sculpting putty to make the torn dress of the Duchess from her appearance in The Clone Wars episode "The Lawless". The action figure was specifically from when Darth Maul confronts Obi-Wan Kenobi on Mandalore in her presence. It was one the most memorable scenes from the entire show and making her ourselves was the only way we would see her represented in our collection at home.

It took about 24 hours to bring her to life from start to finish so it wasn't a quick and easy project, but well worth the time invested to make it happen. We couldn't be happier with the final result.




"THE CLONE WARS"
DUCHESS SATINE KRYZE
created by Elias













« Last Edit: December 31, 2021, 07:45:50 PM by darthdaddy »

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Re: customsforthekid.blogspot.com 12/31/21
« Reply #1139 on: January 01, 2022, 07:04:06 AM »
Wow. Beautiful. The sculpt and paint work is just phenomenal. You two are a custom action figure commando team now!

Off to share this on the front pages.