"THE BAD BATCH" ECHO in DROID DISGUISE created by Elias

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

SKILL LEVEL: ADVANCED

Head available for purchase from Rebel Kid Creations. Just click the image above to buy.

"YOUNGLING" HEAD BUNDLE - NOW AVAILABLE FOR PURCHASE FROM REBEL KID CREATIONS STORE!

For many months now, only the male younglings were available to sell, but as of today, the girls are included in the youngling headcast bundle as well!  Due to Katooni and Ganodi’s thin tendril forms, molding them without breaking them was a huge obstacle, but thanks to CAD modeling and 3D printing technology, they were obstacles easy to overcome.  I completely re-sculpted Katooni and Ganodi in Blender for a better likeness to the character and then printed the heads in Siraya Tech’s Tenacious 3D printing resin.  Tenacious resin allowed me to remove the heads from the mold without breaking them as it has a rubbery consistency when cured, much like any other Hasbro figure.  To ensure the durability of Katooni and Ganodi casts, they are made in a semi-rigid resin which is extremely durable and able to survive shipping, or accidents that could occur at home.

As for my own collection, I’m so happy to have the complete set of younglings on my shelf.  I wasn’t always satisfied with my Katooni or Ganodi head sculpts, and it’s such a relief to be able to finally lay these projects to rest.  Even more satisfying, I get to share my sculpts with all the fans through the Rebel Kid Creations Store!

CLICK LOGO TO PURCHASE

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

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

SKILL LEVEL: ADVANCED

PURCHASE HEAD HERE

CLONE WARS "IMA GUN DI" HEAD COMMISSION sculpted and painted by Elias

This is my first commission for just a head of an action figure rather than an entire figure. For this piece, I was commissioned to sculpt and paint a Clone Wars Ima Gun Di action figure head for a custom action figure that my customer was making. I sculpted the head with ProCreate and then painted him once the sculpt was complete. 

I made a mold of the original sculpt before I mailed it out to its new home. That way, if I want to make one for myself one day, I still can. Until then, casts of my sculpt will be available at the Rebel Kid Creations store this weekend for all of you who want to add the Jedi to your own Clone Wars collections. We can't wait to see what you all do with them!

CLONE WARS "IMA GUN DI" HEAD COMMISSION 

sculpted and painted by Elias

PURCHASE HEADCAST HERE

ANTOC MERRICK'S ASTROMECH created by Elias

This was just a quick repaint of some spare R2-R9 build a droid parts we had laying around the house. After getting Blue Leader's X-wing this week I had to add his droid to his ship before I hung it up from my ceiling. It feels really good to fill out my action figure collection for Rogue One.

"ANTOC MERRICK'S ASTROMECH"

created by Elias

SKILL LEVEL: BEGINNER

This Hasbro release feels a lot more complete now that we have the droid.