Topic: Jaeger45's Customs--UPDATE 10/28 Thul Fain

[Starchaser]

What a great Rogue One update! Your work articulating these figures is excellent - seamless, even. Keep up the outstanding work.

[Stan]

Outstanding work, my friend! Applauds!

[Jaeger45]

It's been a while--again!  Finally got around to photographing some of the projects I've been working on. 



Rennek

Rennek is a background character from Jabba's Palace and sports what must be the greatest bathrobe in all of Star Wars.  After several years of looking, I finally found pictures of the garments he wears under the robe, an air-cooled RAF flight suit.  It turns out this also makes an appearance in Cloud City, Alien, and even a British music video.  I've never seen the name of the actor on this one, but I'm all ears.  Soft goods were custom sewn, and decorated with cast settings and seed beads.  The torso and thighs were built up with Apoxie and carefully placed fishing line and resin cast.  Tubing is from the Mon Calamari pilot.  The current head is fom Boss Fight Studio, pending an upcoming custom head sculpt from Stan.

J'Quille

J'Quille was a whipid serving in both Jabba's Palace and on his Sail Barge, and was portrayed by mime artist Tim Dry.  Hasbro made a version of J'Quille quite a few years back, but, in spite of an impressive head sculpt, it suffered some limitations.  The Hasbro version was undersized, came off as blocky, and lacked modern articulation.  Thankfully, there's a fix.  Merumeru from the Black Series sports a great hairy articulated body.  Unless you want to do a great deal of sculpting, get two and use the left forearm for both.  I sculpted on a belt and a bit of additional fur, shortened the legs a bit, sculpted and cast some clawed feet, and recast the original J'Quille's head and pouches.  While not entirely film accurate, I used some hands cast from K'kruhk (also a whipid), but you could easily mod the original claws as an alternative.

Pucumir Thryss

Pucumir (or "Pookie" as we have affectionately but respectfully nicknamed him) is the Rancor's biggest fan.  He can be found excitedly cheering when Luke is about to be eaten.  Again, I have no idea who the actor was, but I'd love to find out.  This custom may look familiar; it was a collaboration with Stan.  Stan was kind enough to supply a head cast, and, once I figured out the patterns for the soft goods, he was actually quite simple.  His cape was adapted from that of Pruneface, lengthened and devoid of its hood.  Base figure is a Boss Fight Studio blank, and buckles were obtained from the Boss Fight baldric that comes with a number of their Greek figures (kudos to whoever sculpted this bit!).

[Darth More]

Jaeger, when I saw you online I was happily surprised, but I did not expect you to post this triple excellence!

It's awesome to see you back!

And looking at your three custom figures my jaw unhinged and hit the desk - once again!!


Let me try to put all pieces together:


Rennek
Is a very interesting character to me and looking great in his costume! He is wearing the BEST softgoods I've EVER seen on a 1/18 scale figure so far! I'm absolutely amazed by this coat! 
You did an incredible job on the crafting and the research!


J'Quille
I'm going to repaint a Wookie completely with the dry-brush technique and if it will look only haf as good as your J'Quille  looks, I'll be more than happy!
He looks excellent! I really like the paint apps on the headsculpt and the bags on his belt!
It's amazing how much you know about all the making-of and stories of all these background characters.


Pucumir Thryss
First of: I'm stunned by the texture of the fabrics you used for his robes! At further glance I was absolutely amazed by his headsculpt and how well it is painted! This is a fantastic looking head, dude. I'm always puzzled how artsits like you manage to achieve such realistic-looking paintjobs!
Also the buckles look great!
And I'm amazed by the quality of your pictures! The resolution is incredibly high! I work with a Canon EOS 600D. May I ask which camera you use to take such sharp pictures?


Fantastic job as always! It's always amazing to see your projects on here! I really enjoy your work of art and am impressed by your knowledge and skills!

- Philipp   

[darth_mcbaine]

Wow those are amazing. Woul pay good money for those! The Rennek figure is exquisite

[Jaeger45]

Thanks!  Pictures are actually just shot on my iPhone 6, with a $59 portable photo studio I picked up on Amazon.  I think I need a lint roller, though.

Regarding the paint job on J'Quille, it was actually my first time playing with an airbrush.  Not nearly as challenging as I thought it would be.  I just hit the edges of the joints and some fur patterns with a lighter color, then applied a brown wash from Vallejo.  I'm sure your Wookiee will come out great!

Chukha-Trok

Chukha-Trok was a valiant Ewok woodsman from Caravan of Courage.  This one was a long time coming; his hood was the subject of a pinch mold tutorial I posted a ways back.  The base figure is Logray, with his stripes stripped off and repainted.  The jaw is cast from a Pose Skeleton dog, the skull is cast from GI Joe Kwinn's necklace, and the armor bit is from a knock-off Tauren Shaman.  I modded and recast the pouch from Kneesa, and sculpted and cast a custom sculpted sheath for his knife.

[Starchaser]

Brilliant work on these figures (and nice to see you back). I really like your J'Quille. Using the Merumeru body is an excellent idea. And kudos on your soft goods work - it's most outstanding.

[Echo_Six]

First, they're ALL fantastic.  Rennek, though - It's understated, but the detail work on the body and the soft goods make this the best custom I've seen.  Amazing, and it'll get even better with the new head.

[Tamer]

Wow, those are fantastic! I mean, wow!

Off to share.

[Jodo]

WOW. I don’t even know what to say!!!! Perfection.

[darthdaddy]

Gorgeous customs! I wish I had them in my personal collection. Love the attention to detail!

[Jaeger45]

Thanks!  You guys are great!  Slowly getting pictures taken of last year's labors.

I spent a good chunk of last summer on a break from Star Wars customs.  Hiya has slowly been working on an APC, that's finally beginning to trickle into the States (fingers crossed), as well as Predators.  I LOVED what NECA did with their Predator Throne of Bones, but of course it's the wrong scale.  Challenge accepted!









Multiple skull shrinks and over 40 resin casts later, I was able to assemble this beast.  Really happy with how it turned out, and, I picked up a new skill in the process!  Most of the original skulls were designed for the Predator trophy wall; the real kudos go to the artists at NECA who designed them.  At some point, a Predator throne room diorama is on my to do list.

[Tamer]

Wow, now that just leaves me speechless. Let me try to get some coherent thoughts on the front pages.

[Starchaser]

That is really stunning! Great job and what a testament to patience.

[FialaFernbrugg]

The bone throne is a breathtaking maserpiece.
I can't imagine how much work and patience you put into it.
I'm really looking forward to see your throne room dio.