Topic: Yuzzums' Customs

[Sjefke]

OK, here's my first try at starting a new thread.  Hope you like some of my stuff.
I wanted to start with PICs and WIPs of Pre-Cyborg Eng Vreker, from CloneCrazy's Shroud of Darkness PhotoNovel (shameless plug   )

 The Shroud of Darkness
http://www.imperialshipyards.net/SMF/index.php?topic=8754.0

Special thanks to my son, Jared who commissioned and designed this Star Wars Mercenary and who unselfishly loaned it to CloneCrazy for his Shroud of Darkness opus.
Buddy, you are a budding young McQuarrie.

Also thanks to CloneCrazy and Bombadgungan of JTA.  They saw all of the WIPs and gave valuable feedback.

[Sjefke]

Pre-Cyborg Eng Vreker WIPs


The head is just SAGA Obiwan with his beard shaved off and sanded down, which BTW is the same head I used for the Post-Cyborg Eng Vreker.  
I painted his hair a little darker.  
I was planning on shaving down his over-sized chin, but CloneCrazy liked it this way.  He thought the Jay Leno look gave it a more TCW feel.




The body is a GI Joe  MARS trooper.  I casted the armor of a The Corp figure ($2 at Walmart) and molded it onto the body.  






The shoulder armor was a challenge.  I wanted the bulky look, but was unwilling to give up range of motion.  I had molded the pads and solved the problem by gluing rubber from a balloon onto the shoulders and the the pads onto the rubber.  This is the only image I made of the process.  Sorry.




The helmet is a cast of a Hydra soldier helmet.







I fabricated the vibroblade's sheath, holster, bandolier and belt with kneadite.  Straight sculpting.
The base coat is a black spray enamel, followed by a coat of silver spray paint and the the blue.  I gave everything a black/brown wash to highlight all the detail.
Rather than weather it with paint, I distressed it with 300 grit sand paper and a file.
The various accessories like pouches, I molded and cast and then glued onto his bandolier and belt with Lightening Bond Glue.
The kama is just a blue neoprene glove, glued on under the belt.

I actually found a Norelco electric razor head in a parking lot and had been saving it in my greeble box.  I placed a pair of rare earth magnets into the foot peg holes of the figure and opposite poles into the razor head.  After a little weathering, Voila; a hoverpad.  I did refine its look after I took these pics, but CloneCrazy has the pad now.  I'll have to ask him to take pics of the more or less finished product.






No bounty hunter is complete without one of those forearm accessories.  That's molded form the left forearm of Ironman 2's War Machine's.  It's kept in place with 1 mm rare earth magnets.  There are a couple of more 1 mm rare earth magnets set in the armor, in case I ever want to give him any more accessories in the future.

[kelcken]

Very cool, I love the colors.

And I like the idea of using magnets. Now I have a new thing to try 

[Sjefke]

Very cool, I love the colors.

And I like the idea of using magnets. Now I have a new thing to try  

Thanks Man. Here's some info and some applications.
http://www.rare-earth-magnets.com/c-9-disc-magnets.aspx



I have larger magnets, but the smallest will easily fit in a 1/18th scale hand or the hilt of a lightsaber.  
The dot in the upper left corner is one of the magnets next to a toothpick for scale.
Just one of those little things will support the weight of an entire action figure, so an accessory is no problem.
They're very easy to disguise once placed in a figure, and it's so much easier to pull off and replace an accessory with one of these than it  is to use a stupid peg.


I found it impossible to keep Yoda on Kybucks saddle.  He was my daughter's (then 5 year old) figure., and it was a bummer that Yoda could only stand on the saddle peg.  
An REM in Yoda's butt fixed that.




Back in 2010, I had no idea how to fix TCW Padme's arm.  The swivel peg had snapped off.  
I managed to get a REM in both sides of the arm, and now it stays in place AND still rotates.  
Unfortunately, Padme suffers from recurrent light saber amputations at play time.

[Tamer]

Woah! I like that pre-cyborg. Off to share.

[CloneCrazy]

Woah! I like that pre-cyborg. Off to share.

Isn't it awesome!!! The black and white photos don't do him justice  So I'm glad he's got his day in the sun, so to speak!!!

[Sjefke]

Isn't it awesome!!! The black and white photos don't do him justice   So I'm glad he's got his day in the sun, so to speak!!!

Thanks CC.  
That's why this was the first figure I wanted to show off.  I completely understand the need for the B+W pics.  It's the best way to do a graphic novel flashback, but it flattens the painting detail.  I'm just so proud of that hand painted Mythosaur skull.  I only wish my images captured the subtle weathering too.  I painted the armor in multiple layers and then distressed it with 300 grit sand paper.

Dude, what are you doing up at 5:11 am? 

[Luke Sprywalker]

Great looking figure! Really nice design, sculpt and kit bashing. Some great fixes with those REM's, I need to order some of those.

[Sjefke]

I couldn't stand looking at the crummy face paint on my TBS Padme.  This is from the JTA RDR, but my example was worse.   I wish I had made a before pic.  The lip paint was obviously applied too high.  The lower lip had no paint at all and that point was ridiculous.

I scraped off the lip paint with an X-acto and then re-painted.  I used two shades, using a lighter shade for the lower lip.  For really fine details, I sharpened a toothpick and used that as my brush.  I redid the left eye which was too small and extended both eyebrows.

Now that's Natalie Portman.   I finally agree that it's a great face sculpt.



The white elbow joint bothered me too.  I just stained it with permanent markers.  Paint chips too easily in ball joints.



Finally I extended the neck post.  It was way too short on the TBS figure.

 

[Sjefke]

I love tweaking face painting.  I hate the "pre-seizure" look that Hasbro frequently gives us.  I acquired Isabeth from Sinodolls without the helmet of jetpack.

Left is the original face paint app (JTA RDR image).  Right is tweaked.  
Rav Bralor is not the good looking one.  I get an Angelina Jolie vibe from Isabeth, now 
I used a sharpened tooth pick to enlarge the irises.  You cant tell, but there's actually a black dot in the center of the iris.
I used the sharp edge of an X-acto to place the eye shadow in the lower, outer corners of her eyes, after I dipped the knife in a black wash.

 

I also added some accents to the armor with a fine wash added to all the seams and some silver dry-brushed onto the edges.  
Now all I have to do is add the helmet (already casted) and a jetpack.
At some point, I'll totally customize the armor and add the same nitrile kama treatment that I gave Eng Vreker.

[Jedi Minstrel]

Very Cool!  Always on the lookout for Mando stuff.

[Tamer]

Saw these this morning and looks like they have a few more left:

Sinodolls Isabet Link

Nice eye work on these. Off to share.

[Clonehead]

Loving the little details. Nice work!

[STJuggernaut]

great customs. that's a nice de-bearding of that obi wan too. well done mate.

[Tamer]

I have been meaning to get in here and share that BS Padme fix too. Nice work there.

Off to share.