REVISITING OLD CUSTOM ACTION FIGURES: PART TWO

Another action figure Dad was dying to revisit was the Vixey action figure that he had created for me. When Dad first made me a Vixey action figure it was only the third custom action figure he ever made. At the time, he thought it would be his last because he didn't foresee any other custom action figures in his future.

If he only knew.

Now that he has made as many custom action figures as he has, he has further developed his knowledge and skill set when making me new toys. For instance, he now started to use Apoxie Sculpt made by Aves.

Apoxie Sculpt is a 2-part product that has a putty-like, smooth consistency, and it's easy to mix & use. It is safe and also waterproof with 0% shrinkage/cracking! Working time is 2-3 hrs and it cures hard in 24 hrs. with a semi-gloss finish. It adheres to plastic, resin kits, wood, metal, ceramic, glass, polymers, foam, fiberglass, & more! It can be seamlessly feathered before set-up, or sanded, tapped, drilled, carved, lathed, or otherwise tooled after set-up, without chipping, cracking or flaking!

Dad knew this was just the thing he would need to improve Vixey for me. When he first made her she was lacking many features that would show people that she was a female. She also lost some of the texture in her hair during the reshaping process Dad had to do to make her fit the body. Dad still thinks the head is too large, but only slightly.

MY VIXEY DRAWING

Vixey was a fan fiction character that I created and she is one of my favorites, so Dad spent last weekend bringing his action figure closer to what I had envisioned her to be. For starters, I wanted Vixey to have boobs. Dad kept telling me that foxes don't have boobs, but I said Vixey did and I wanted them on my figure. I also always drew Vixey with a long braid. So Dad has used the Apoxie Sculpt to add boobs, a braid and texture back to her hair with Apoxie Sculpt.

So here she is the new Vixey!

VIXEY


























To see Dad's original Vixey you can go to the old post located here:

http://customsforthekid.blogspot.com/2010/08/designed-by-me.html


To order Apoxie Sculpt, go here:

http://www.avesstudio.com/index.php?page=shop.browse&category_id=7&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=1

REVISITING OLD CUSTOM ACTION FIGURES: PART ONE

Lately, Dad has wanted to revisit a few of the older action figures that he created and give them an updated look. The first custom he revisited was the Bothan Jedi. He made the Bothan Jedi action figure back in August, but he didn't like the body he had available to him at the time. He loved the way he painted the face so he wanted to give it a deserving body. When he had an extra body for Nicanas Tassu in the fodder box, he knew he finally had the body he needed to complete the Bothan Jedi and make him into a fully articulated action figure.

BOTHAN JEDI



















You can see the original post here:
http://customsforthekid.blogspot.com/2010/08/bothan-jedi.html

CloneSniper78 HAS BEEN ADDED TO "CUSTOMS I WISH I OWNED"

32 year old Tom Christensen is a Star Wars and G.I. Joe customizer from Phoenix, Arizona (USA). He is better known as CloneSniper78 on the Imperialshipyards.net website, and as AZMarineSniper on youtube.com. He has been a Star Wars fan since the early 1980's when he was a young boy.

CloneSniper78

You can visit his Youtube link here:

http://www.youtube.com/user/AZMarineSniper?feature=mhum


You can read his Imperial Shipyard posts here:
http://www.imperialshipyards.net/SMF/index.php?topic=3548.0

DAD's TODO-360 with WHEEL MODIFICATION

As promised, here's Dad's TODO-360 with wheel. All you need is a sharp knife and some krazy glue and you can make him too. I don't remember seeing this droid with wheels in any of the recent Clone Wars episodes, but when Dad saw the picture below, he wanted to take a crack at it. He used an Exacto knife to cut TODO-360 at the hips and at the feet. He glued the two feet together to get the wheel and then glued the legs to the center of the wheels. He finished the action figure by gluing the top of the legs back to the hips on an angle.

Image Dad found on the internet that inspired the custom action figure.

"TODO-360
with WHEEL MODIFICATION"
created by Darth Daddy

Dad glued the wheel to the lid of the food container that held our Wonton Soup and then trimmed the lid into a small circle so TODO-360 could stand.



SKILL LEVEL: BEGINNER

Hangarbay94 aka julianmaurice ADDED TO "CUSTOMS I WISH I OWNED"

Julian AKA Hangarbay94 is an avid Star Wars fan who has made a name for himself by customising vehicles and creating photo novels.

His work is featured on Yakface and Imperial Shipyards where he is also one of the moderators. His latest project a graphic novelization of the classic PC game X-Wing Alliance features a mixture of his custom figures, dioramas and vehicles as well as creative artwork produced using Adobe Photoshop. Julian is self taught and admits to being heavily influenced by Yak Chewie and other contemporary photo novelists.

Amongst his more notable custom projects Julian specialises in making flat pack and easy to store dioramas, including a large scale (fold away), LED lit Endor Landing Platform a huge flat pack Death Star Hangar and a Calamari Cruiser Hangar bay.

Julian has also produced a movie novel called Darkchild, which he admits to being a little more than he could chew and sadly the project remains unfinished at chapter 3.

Every time I see his work, Dad and I just sit there and wonder how he finds time to do it all and to the levels that he accomplishes. He's just phenomenal and raises the bar for the whole customizing community. You just have to watch this video.

Hangarbay94

NEW SOUNDTRACK ADDED BY HANGARBAY94

You'll find Julian's X-Wing graphic novel at www.xwa-webcomic.com and his Darkchild series on his Youtube Channel http://www.youtube.com/user/hangarbay94?feature=mhum

"NEW" IMPERIAL SHIPYARDS CUSTOM CONTEST

Once again, courtesy of Luke Sprywalker and IMPERIAL SHIPYARDS is a great project to start while you are waiting for new skippy from Toy Fair. Hot off the Press, we announce the Kit Bash a Figure Contest. Take any figure, from any line, tear it apart and put it back together how you see fit. Feel free to see the full rules and the prize awarded by hitting the Contest Link above.

DAD's AURRA SING MAKES THE FRONT PAGE of IMPERIAL SHIPYARDS

AURRA SING "ASSASSIN" EPISODE OUTFIT

I asked Dad to make me an Aurra Sing in the outfit that she wore in the "Assassin" episode from Season 3 of Clone Wars. The action figure is only a simple repaint that anyone could do with the Clone Wars Aurra Sing action figure found in stores now. He also trimmed down the antenna on the figure to make it look closer to what it would really look like.

AURRA SING
"ASSASSIN" OUTFIT
by DARTH DADDY

SKILL LEVEL: BEGINNER

VON REINHARDT: REBEL BOMBAY's TWIN BROTHER

Von Reinhardt of I [HEART] STAR WARS recently posted a custom action figure of Rebel Bombay's Twin Brother. Dad created Rebel Bombay back in January and thought it was cool when Von Reinhardt posted one of his own on Wednesday. His figure came out great and we wanted to let you all have a peak at this post too.

VON REINHARDT:
REBEL BOMBAY's TWIN BROTHER

Love the accessories Von Reinhardt used on his figure. The backpack is boss.

You can see the post for Von Reinhardt's action figure at I [HEART] STAR WARS located here:

http://starwarsvonfrost.blogspot.com/2011/02/rebel-bombays-twin-brother.html

DAD's REBEL BOMBAY

You can see our original post here:

http://customsforthekid.blogspot.com/search?q=rebel+bombay

Patrolian Jedi

Dad said this custom action figure was the hardest custom he ever made and took him over 16 hours to make. To make the Patrolian Jedi, Dad used a Robonino action figure from the Clone Wars line. The hard part wasn't the paint application on this one, but instead was getting rid of Robonino's eye patch and making an eye that would be symmetrical to the existing one. Dad recently bought some wood carving tools and well he drew blood twice while working to get it just right. It was a labor of love, but in the end, he couldn't be happier with the results. The Jedi robe was from an Even Piell action figure.

PATROLIAN JEDI

Click on the picture to zoom in so you can get a closer look. This picture needs to be blown up to see the figure better.

The eye that was carved from Robonino's eye patch.

SILLOF ADDED TO "CUSTOMS I WISH I OWNED"

Sillof is pronouced "Si" (like Psi or Sci-fi ) and "llof" (like cough or pilaf) and no it is not his real name. He's a high school history and film teacher. He has no formal art training, other then art classes in middle school. If something turns out good, he says it is just from years of practice, or luck. He started building custom figures and dioramas when he was a kid. He opened a website in 1999. It was then called "The Wookie's Workshop" and "The Wook's Workshop". before he had his current website www.Sillof.com.

His work has been featured online on blogs, websites, and online news services, newspapers at the local, national and international levels, in books and magazines nationally and world wide. His customs have even been featured on television in local news, national news, cable, and overseas, in independent films as props, costumes, and set designs. His action figures have been publicly displayed at contests, fairs, & conventions including 3 of the 4 Star Wars Celebrations. Most recently his work has been seen in Toyfare and Star Wars Insider Magazines.

Unlike other customizers, Sillof has gotten away from faithfully creating characters and has begun to redesign these figures in various time periods or aesthetics. He creates these works out of admiration for their original designs, but rather then just recreate someone else's work he enjoys putting his own spin on classic characters, as well as creating his own new characters. This is all just the creations of his spare time. He starts with a general concept or direction (samurai for example) Then he brainstorms what he wants. This is mostly done in his brain. Then he makes a list of adjectives and descriptions of the character, maybe a little back story and the physical elements he wants to include in the figure.

He then begins the actual construction. He usually works on all of them at once. So while the glue or paint is drying on one he works on another. Some parts of the figures are recycled from existing toys. They are cut off and glued together. Sometimes he sculpts over the old toy parts. Sometimes he dremels down the part using it more as an armature and sculpts over it. Often times, he will sculpt an entire new piece. Some of the figures are completely built from scratch. It really just depends on what he wants, needs, and what he has on hand in his various drawers of parts.

He sculpts using a 2 part epoxy polymer sculpting compound called Apoxie by Aves Studios. You mix 2 parts together and then in few hours it is hard a rock. It is not as easy to work with as sculpey but more then makes up for with it's durability. Sillof says it gets easier to work with practice.

His action figures are just incredible...customizing genius that is better seen then explained. Therefore, head to the video and let him show you what he's got.

SILLOF

You can see more custom action figures created by SILLOF here:

http://www.sillof.com/

We also recommend checking out his "Toy Wars" film series where he brings his action figures and dioramas to life at this link here:

http://www.sillof.com/Toywars.htm

Dad's Nautolan Female featured on Imperial Shipyards

Nautolan Female

Dad made this action figure today. Originally he was using a different body, but no matter what he did as he painted the other body he just couldn't get it right. So he went into our fodder box and pulled out the Bultar Swan body we had in there, pulled the head off the project he was working on, switched out the accessories and made this Nautolan female to salvage the project. The head is from a Kit Fisto and was repainted, the dagger is from Shahan Alama, and the machete is from an Indiana Jones action figure. The harness is from the Starkiller Ralph McQuarrie action figure.

NAUTOLAN FEMALE

STAR WARS ARTIST JOE HOGAN BLOGS ABOUT OUR SITE

DEATH TROOPER by JOE HOGAN

A few months ago we did CUSTOMIZER SPOTLIGHT #11 on Star Wars action figure customizer darthjohnboystoys. In the photos we posted in the blog entry, Dad used Joe Hogan's "Death Trooper" picture as the background image. At the time Dad found the image on the internet, he did not know who the artist was, but a few weeks ago Dad discovered the blog of Star Wars artist Joe Hogan and reached out to let him know about the post we did and that we used his Death Trooper image. Dad even added links to Joe Hogan's other Star Wars projects by editing our original posts to direct you, our fans to another great Star Wars artist. Today Joe Hogan posted about Customs for the Kid and we wanted to return the favor just in case any of you missed his art the first time around. Be sure to subscribe while you're there so you don't miss out on his future projects!

You can read his Customs for the Kid article here:

http://iwillbeastarwarsartist.blogspot.com/2011/02/cool-feature.html

Background image created by Star Wars artist Joe Hogan. Death Trooper action figure created by darthjohnboystoys.







You can see more of Joe Hogan's great Star Wars art at his blog located at:

http://iwillbeastarwarsartist.blogspot.com/



and at Joe Hogan's webpage located here:

http://xjapanrox.deviantart.com/gallery/

and:

http://joehoganart.com/

SPUDAFETT ADDED TO "CUSTOMS I WISH I OWNED"

Devin, aka SPUDAFETT, has been part of the customizing community for more than 2 years. Primarily a Star Wars customizer SPUDAFETT has been known to dabble in other genres as well. Including Gi-Joe, Marvel, and DC. His primary scale of choice being 1:18th figures and vehicles. Many of his Star Wars customs are re-creations of his favorite characters using parts to make them super-articulated and thus more poseable and playable. This usually means adding new points of articulation to existing Star Wars figures or recreating the figure on a super-articualated GI Joe body.

SPUDAFETT

You can see more custom action figures created by SPUDAFETT at these three links:

http://spudafett.deviantart.com/gallery/

http://www.imperialshipyards.net/SMF/index.php?topic=720.msg11371#msg11371

http://www.imperialshipyards.net/SMF/index.php?topic=5089.0;topicseen

FLYING TODO-360

Dad had a great idea on how to make me a customized TODO-360 that looked like he was flying. We had two TODO-360 action figures, so with Dad's modification I could have one figure in flight and one figure that was the original release.

To make it happen, Dad used two of the three Yoda holograms that came with some of my Saga Legends action figures and used the section underneath Yoda's pedestal to create the blue fire from underneath TODO-360's feet. He used an Exacto knife to separate the pieces he needed and shaped them with his Dremel. Once he had the fire in the shape he wanted he krazy glued the fire to the bottom of TODO-360's feet.

"FLYING TODO-360"
created by Darth Daddy

Dad used the section underneath Yoda's pedestal to create the blue fire from underneath TODO-360's feet.



COMING SOON

Custom TODO-360 with Wheel

FAMILY MEMBER BECOMES JEDI ACTION FIGURE

There is nothing more fun than owning an action figure of someone that you know. When the new Vintage Rebel Commando was released into stores, we immediately ran out to try and get one to make a custom action figure that had a striking resemblance to my Uncle Chris. To make him, we took the head and neck of the Vintage Rebel Commando figure and glued it to an Legacy Obi Wan Kenobi action figure. Uncle Chris liked it so much that he made the photo of his action figure his Facebook profile picture. He then introduced the Star Wars movies to my cousin Ysabel who after watching the movies said that she believed that the Death Star should have been painted purple.

Uncle Chris

Darth Daddy's Rebel Bombay action figure featured on I {HEART} STAR WARS

Dad's Rebel Bombay custom action figure was featured on I{HEART} STAR WARS today.



Head over to I{HEART} STAR WARS and take a look:

http://starwarsvonfrost.blogspot.com/2011/01/rebel-bombay-customsforthekidblogspotco.html

Rusty'sCustoms Added to "Customs I Wish I Owned"

Rusty from Australia is 19 years old and has been collecting for about 9 months and customizing for about 4 months. We know its not very long but as you can see he skips no detail and does a great job providing good, accurate and unique customs. He runs a Star Wars custom blog featuring his work and we recommend making frequent visits to see what he has in store for you. But as we always say... enough talk, let's see what he's got!

Rusty'sCustoms




You can get to his blog at the link below:
http://rustyscustoms.blogspot.com/

or email him at:
rustycustoms@hotmail.com