"CUSTOMS FOR THE KID" 2019 - YEAR IN REVIEW

Another year goes flying by, and wow was it an exciting one! First off, we want to thank everyone for still coming to the blog to see the action figures that we create. We made 24 action figures this year which isn't bad considering how busy our lives have been as of late. We were really excited about the pieces we put together too. We covered a lot of Star Wars content this year from classic OT films like "A New Hope" and "Return of the Jedi" to animated characters from "The Clone Wars" and "Star Wars Rebels". We even featured customs from the new Disney content such as "Rogue One", "The Mandalorian", "The Force Awakens" and "The Last Jedi". Most of the pieces involved a great deal of sculpting, so they took a bit longer to produce than your average custom. When we did the Younglings from "The Clone Wars" we even had to make their lightsabers.

If you are a fan of listening to podcasts, we made a few appearances on some cool platforms that you may want to check out. Back in March, we were guests on Jedi Business Talk where we got chat with Criz Bee about Hasbro's new Jabba's Khetanna Sail Barge and discussed an audio modification that we made. In July, we had a blast chatting with Savanna and Brian of The Dorky Diva Show concerning our Star Wars customizing adventure thus far.

We also did two video interviews of our own on YouTube with Star Wars customizers Empire Toy Works and Bad Batch Customs. 

One of the biggest milestones this year was seeing the "Customizing The Clone Wars" YouTube show that we did with Peak-OB1 Custom Creations finally come to a conclusion. After many years of doing the show we wrapped up The Clone Wars: The Lost Missions and completed our goal of showing fans how to make Clone Wars custom action figures from each and every episode of the show.

Speaking of YouTube, this year Dad got to see his Weequay pirate headsculpt make an appearance in Nivrerex's "Star Wars: BOUNTY HUNTERS" stop motion animation. Originally, he had asked us to make some custom action figures for the video, but due to time constraints Dad was only able to send some of the unique headcasts he made of an existing head from my collection. It was really cool to see one of our creations literally brought to life.

By far the most exciting thing to happen this year was seeing Elias win "2018 Action Figure Customizer of the Year" from Toy News International's Toy Awards held at New York Toy Fair!

 

"I have to say, the competition was fierce, and the battle was intense, but thanks to all of you, I was able to walk away with a different view of myself than I had before the competition.  I have been customizing for over eight years now, since I was just a little boy, and this unexpected recognition is a true testament to all the effort I put in to become the artist that I am today. When I first was nominated for the award, I thought to myself how could I possibly win against all these talented artists?  Now, having won, I realized I had everything I needed.  If it hadn't been for the extremely talented artists who have passed down their knowledge, encouragement, and support over the course of my training, I wouldn't be where I am today.  Because I was one of the youngest artists in the community, I always wanted to be just as good as the ones I considered "The Masters".  While everybody knows no one's journey is ever complete, I am certainly more confident in my skills now because of all your support.  I have read all of your comments across social media boards and forums, and I found them all very moving.  Especially, those of you who took the time to vote."  - Elias

All in all, it was a really rewarding year. We added some really cool new action figures to the collection, and had a lot of fun doing it. We just want to thank all the websites who featured our work throughout the year. Especially, JediInsider.com and Yakface.com for awarding many of the customs we made this year with a "Custom of the Week" feature or a "Customizer Spotlight". A big shout out to Imperial Shipyards for featuring us on the front page as many times as you do. To have sixteen of the twenty-four customs we made this year get some notoriety felt wonderful! Thank you all so much for spreading the word about our artwork!

And like every year prior, we even took the time to feature some of our fellow artists. This year we featured Jaeger45 and sterlistr in our own "Customizer Spotlight" when they both added some figures to the "Customs for the Kid" personal collection. Other artists featured for their talents were Sillof, Bad Batch Customs, thewriteguy, localgotal, Hole In The Ground Productions, Asis Film Models and Watto's Scrapyard.

"Glaucus, Lark & Jonk" by Sterlistr

"Rennek & Pucimir Thryss" created by Jaeger45

We hope everyone has a Happy New Year, and we look forward to 2020 when "Customs for the Kid" will be celebrating a decade of promoting Star Wars custom action figure art! Hopefully, we can show off some new customs that we made with our new 3D resin printer.

"JV-P12" from "Solo: A Star Wars Story"

First print with the new machine. Painted by Darth Daddy

"9001 Z001 LANDSPEEDER" created by Elias

Six-point-eight meters in diameter, this speeder carried a single pilot. The craft hovered up to three meters above the ground and its numerous viewports allowed its driver an excellent field of vision. While not the speediest of vehicles, able to achieve only 160 kilometers per hour, a ring of micro-thrusters around the hull granted exceptional maneuverability. One of these vehicles was seen parked outside Chalmun's Cantina in "A New Hope".

We had originally purchased a 1:18 scale cast of this ship from Hole In The Ground Productions to display with our personal collection. Sometime after we purchased it, we received a second interpretation of the ship from an alternate seller. When I was thinking of some cool pieces I could produce over my summer break from school that I could sell to make some cash, Dad suggested that I paint up one of the two versions of this speeder that we had sitting on our shelf of future products. To keep costs down for the buyer, I grabbed the less complicated of the two versions to paint up for sale.

It took about 16 hours to paint inside and out. While an unpainted version is still available to purchase from Hole In The Ground for only $48, my painted version will cost considerably more due to all the hours it took to paint and bring to completion.  If anyone is interested in buying this piece, the cost is $275 + shipping. All you need to do is send an email to customsforthekid@gmail.com to let us know you are interested in making the purchase. 

"9001 Z001 LANDSPEEDER"

created by Elias

SKILL LEVEL: BEGINNER

NEW INVENTORY @ HOLE IN THE GROUND PRODUCTIONS

Hole In The Ground Productions awesome diorama building pieces are getting to be extremely impressive of late. From Rebel War Tables to a Cantina Distillery, all the new additions are drool worthy. Head on over and check out all that's available. Recreate numerous movie scenes with your figures.

"Cantina Distillery" by Hole In The Ground Productions

There is another great piece from Hole In The Ground Productions that we may just have to purchase. This large "Cantina Distillery" kit measures 11 inches long and comes with 26 pieces! Due to complexity and customizing purposes, there is no piping included to connect or suspend the various containers. For those with smaller dioramas in mind, you can purchase one half of the kit. The side that you receive will be random. 

$70 (complete kit)

$35 (half kit)

Hole in the Ground Productions 

Very cool cast store for Star Wars fans! Cast diorama pieces for 3 3/4" and 6" scale figures.

http://www.holeinthegroundpro.com/dioramas.html

"WED-9-M1" created by Elias

Hole In The Ground Productions has a new droid kit available on their web store full of great resin cast pieces made to enhance your dioramas and display shelves.  Their latest WED-9 is a fun day project that only requires some paint, sandpaper and krazy glue. I first sanded down any small imperfections in the cast, then primed the figure in black paint before I dry brushed in some color. After, I applied multiple washes to give the droid the "used" look.

When everything was completely painted, I glued on the head and arms to finish up the figure.  He looks great on display along with the other figures found in our Mos Eisley street display.

WED-9-M1, also known as a bantha droid, was a WED Treadwell droid seen around Mos Eisley. Built out of spare parts by Jawas, it was owned by Ohwun and Chachi De Maal.

"WED-9-M1"

created by Elias

SKILL LEVEL: BEGINNER

Hole in the Ground Productions 

Very cool cast store for Star Wars fans! Cast diorama pieces for 3 3/4" and 6" scale figures.

http://www.holeinthegroundpro.com/dioramas.html

"2X-3KPR Security Patrol Droid" created by Elias

This was a droid that was only shown for a few seconds in A New Hope after R2-D2 escapes the Lars Homestead and Luke uses his binoculars to scan the horizon to search for him. While this random droid wasn't really on our radar initially, Hole In The Ground Productions had a cool resin cadt kit available at their web store, and it was just the small push we needed to add this cool piece to our home display.

2X-3KPR was owned by Owen Lars prior to the Battle of Yavin. It was responsible for patrolling the boundaries of the Lars moisture farm at night. It had been programmed to activate alarm sensors, security lighting and power fences located around the farm for this task.

It was destroyed, however, when sandtroopers came to the homestead searching for R2-D2 and C-3PO and killed Luke Skywalker's adoptive parents in broad daylight.

Elias assembled the kit and painted it up in only a few short hours. All he had to do was add the gun and the wiring from some pieces we had in our fodder.  He couldn't be any more pleased with the results!

"2X-3KPR Security Patrol Droid"

created by Elias

SKILL LEVEL: BEGINNER

Light Bulb Bot

For when you just really need a roving light bulb patrolling your homestead. This little guy comes in two or three unpainted pieces and is approximately the same size as the Stove-Bot. Two different versions are available. The standard version or with a separately clear cast bulb.

$10 (standard)

$15 (clear dome)

"STOVEPIPE DROID" created by ELIAS

This custom was made from a resin cast figure produced by Hole In The Ground Productions that Elias had received as a gift for Christmas.  This past weekend, Elias took the time to add a custom paint job to the casted figure so he could add the new addition to his Jawa display of his collection here at home.  He painted it with Citadel's Chainmail, Mithril Silver and Gunmetal paints.  To get the rust effect, he sprayed the figure with Testors Dullcote Spray, sprinkled some Cinnamon onto the figure from our spice drawer, and then recoated the figure a second time with the Dullcote to lock in the weathered look.

Elias saw some hosing in a still shot we screen grabbed from the film that he wanted to add to the cast.  He found a skinny black hose from our fodder and used some wiring from a twisty tie to position the hose in the desired position before gluing it into place.

We really love Hole In The Ground Productions offerings as of late.  They have really enhanced the look of our collection shelves.  We highly recommend checking out their webstore to see if there is anything you see to add to your own collections.

"STOVEPIPE DROID"

created by ELIAS

SKILL LEVEL: BEGINNER

PURCHASE HERE