Topic: Korriban Customs by darksider 80: Update 3/25/14

[r1bb1t]

As I scrolled through your thread, I found myself just muttering "WOW" to myself with each photo. Top shelf work, sir!

[Clonehead]

Sweet work! Sidious just looks creepy.

[Darksider80]

Darth Revan: work in progress



So here's one of those super cool, super articulated new Retaliation Snake Eyes figures we're all so hot on right now. And why not? He's absolutely amazing looking! So why would I saw a perfectly fantastic snake eyes figure in half, you ask? To do a super cool, super articulated Darth Revan scratch built custom action figure of course! Now, many of you out there may be pondering why I just didn't buy a Darth Revan Figure and articulate him out using said snake eyes joints and such, instead of building one from the ground up. Because A: This is my first commissioned project, and my customer wants to torture me, and B: Customizing should NEVER be easy! I am super excited about this opportunity to create a unique piece of art, specifically tailored to this collector's ideal. Lets take a look at some progress so far:



Here are a few of the materials I am using to construct Revan's Belt. The black lacing is going to be the base for the belt, and the anchor point for all the metal rings that go around Revan's waist. It's just some cheapo plastic lacing you can get at Michael's or other craft stores. I think it's used to make kid's beading projects. The metal rings are called jump rings and you can get them in the crafts section at walmart. They are used for jewelry making. The black tubes you see in the photo are heat shrink tubes that can be found at home depot in the electrical department. What I did is cut small sections of the heat shrink tube, bend open the slits in the rings, place the shrink tube on the rings, then bend the rings closed. Using a cigarette lighter, heating the shrink tube snugs the metal rings up to the belt, but not so tight that there is no play. Now I have a sliding mechanism I can use to adjust the placement of the metal rings on the belt until until I am ready to glue the entire assembly to the torso.



The center ring is held in place with a pin I made using some jewelry fodder I found at walmart. The pin is temporary, and will be cut away along with the lacing sticking out from the front of the center ring.



The belt with my favorite piece of soft goods, Luminara Unduli's skirt. My third figure using this piece, if anyone out there needs extra Luminara heads or body fodder, I have plenty!



Another piece of heat shrink tubing, this one is larger and will go around the figure's waist. It will hide the sliding mechanisms and bring a nice flush look to the lower armor.



All of the pieces waiting for the apoxie to harden, then assembly. Stay tuned for more progress coming soon!

[Tamer]

Wow, I love this tutorial. Thank you. Back on the front page.

And I promise we will be getting you a list of questions for your CAFN interview next Thursday!

[Luke Sprywalker]

Really awesome work man! With a very inventive list of supplies to get the right look. The heat shrink tubes are a great idea, I have always used strips of pleather for stuff like this. The ability ti shrink them up a bit is just perfect! This is going to be one awesome build!

[DarthDrew]

Great work so far, this is a really nice base body for Revan, not a big GI Joe guy myself, but this looks very nice so far. Good call with the soft goods, I use luminara's dress all the time for stuff, by far some of the best from Hasbro. I like the belt so far too, it looks very accurate! I can't wait to see what you come up with.

[mr.Jedi1977]

wow that is really awesome !! cant wait to see this completed well done

[JediMerc]

Thanks for showing how you accomplished this.  Great insights into what's shaping up to be an awesome figure. 

Congrats on your first commission piece, too.  I can tell the customer's going to love it!

[Darksider80]

Darth Revan: Work in Progress Update 3/26/13

Here's Darth Revan so far. Still a ton of work to do, but I think he's coming together pretty well.



The customer for this commission requested a Sith-War era Darth Revan figure, and relinquished full creative license to me. I could make him however I envisioned, as long as I fulfilled the small list of must haves. I was really happy to have this freedom, and one thing I felt Revan really needed was bigger, more awesome armor! Now, most of you can recognize this armor as belonging to Mercenary Wraith from the GI Joe 25th line. What a beautiful sculpt, but not without it's downsides. Mainly, the armor is one piece, prohibiting movement of the arms above mid waist.



One must have request made by the customer was custom sith lightning. But how can Revan hold his arms out straight to shoot his dark side lightning with his arms pinned down? I solved this problem by cutting the shoulder armor away from the chest piece, converting it to three piece armor instead of one. Now he can move his arms freely and can be articulated in virtually any pose. How exactly did I pull off such a feat? Magnets!



Drilling out a hole on each arm, I glued rare earth magnets into the holes, and a corresponding magnet on each piece of shoulder armor. Now his armor is not only seperate pieces for added pose-ability, but completely removable as well. 



A close up of Revan's iconic lower body. The fabric piece was cut and sewn by me, believe it or not! I am no tailor, so don't ask for any sewing tips. All I know is the thread goes through the needle, and the needle goes through the cloth. He still needs the red fabric that hangs down from the center ring to the floor, a little paint on the upper belt straps and maybe a couple of buckles too, then the lower half will be complete! Next project: cape, removable mask and hood!



Let me know what you all think so far. Can't wait to hear from you!

[The Willoughbian]

Your work on the soft goods is fantastic. Looking good, My Man.

[JediMerc]

I'm still in awe of the belt work you've done here, but your additions are fantastic and they just keep on coming!  Nice use of the magnets: they blend in well in the arms slots too, so even without the armor they don't look bad at all.

Nice work!

[DarthDrew]

Revan's coming along great! The armor does look like something from that time period, very nice work so far, can't wait to see more!

[Tamer]

Had to get this update on the front page.

Really looking forward to tomorrow's interview with this customizer!

[CloneSniper78]

Belt work and soft goods are awesome. Great work man.

[ghostskull18]

Awesome!