DARTH DADDY's CUSTOMIZING CORNER: CHEWIE

Darth Daddy's Customizing Corner featuring Star Wars customizer Chewie in the latest Customizing Corner over at The Star Wars Underworld.

CLICK HERE TO READ

I can't tell you how happy I am to present you with this week's artist in my next installment of DARTH DADDY's CUSTOMIZING CORNER. Justin Cook, who is also known in the Yakface Forums as Yak_Chewie is by far one of the most talented and creative customizers out there today. Chewie is an administrator over at Yakface Forums and he oversees the custom creations part of the forum where I first received the foundation for my own customizing education.

Anyone who's looking for inspiration to build a custom action figure or needs a kitbashing recipe to follow need not to look any further, Chewie has more recipes than a cookbook.

His great body of work landed him the lead off spot on the Customs for the Kid "Customs I Wish I Owned" archive page.  He was the first artist that I ever featured on the Customs for the Kid blog.  Chewie has made over a hundred action figures over the years and they are all figures I'd love to have in our Star Wars custom action figure collection.  Chewie was my most dominant influence as a customizer when I first started to make action figures of my own.  Chewie's work opened up my imagination and helped me realize that as a customizer, I now had the opportunity to create my own Star Wars stories with Star Wars characters of my own invention.  If you watch the video we posted of his customs you'll immediately see that his body of work is something special.

Chewie is also the creator of "The Enloe Chronicles" photonovel series which is probably known to be one of the most famous Star Wars photonovels ever made.  The Enloe Trials photonovel series is what's driving Chewie to customize more than anything else. The latest chapter in his most recent story is just another awesome Star Wars adventure where a group of heroes race to locate an ancient Sith artifact before it falls into the hands of The Emperor.

This week I'm going to present Chewie's custom action figures the way he does in the forums.  Complete with their recipes so you can all have the opportunity to try and recreate them if you so wish.

Rykrof Enloe - As seen on Dathomir in "The Enloe Chronicles" photonovel series.

head - SAGA Endor Rebel
torso - TVC Kithaba
chest armor - TAC Rahm Kota
scarf - fodder bin
arms - TVC Kithaba
tunic - TVC Kithaba
hands - random Stormtrooper
crotch/things - fodder bin
shins - Legends Bikers Scout



Imperial Infiltrator - Made for the ISY/Yakface Rebels themed customizing challenge that runs through the end of April.

head - SAGA Legends
rest - TVC Captain Fordo

Walrus Man, realistic Clone Wars version

head - TVC Ponda Baba
rest - SAGA2 Death Star Gunner



Talbarr - Wookiee who will show up in "The Enloe Chronicles" photonovel series.

head - Early Bird Chewbacca

cloak - random cloth painted

bandolier - McQuarrie Chewbacca

rest - Black Series Merumeru

Tibanna Gas Miner - For a past Yakfinities, Cloud City Denizens.

helmet - TVC Padawan Anakin x 2, thermal detonator

torso - TVC Admiral Ackbar

arms - McQuarrie Boba Fett

gloves - OTC Cloud Car Pilot

tunic - TVC Admiral Ackbar

legs - McQuarrie Boba Fett

Freelo, Dathomir Assault - This is how he appeared in Chapter 3 of The Enloe Trials

head - Legacy Mon Calamari Warrior

torso - TVC Endor Rebel

chest gear - GI JOE Airtight

arms - TVC Rebel Trooper

hands - Legacy Mon Calamari Warrior

belt - random Darth Vader

legs - TVC Rebel Trooper

Innoril the Slayer - Decades ago, Innoril left the Jedi Order and then slaughtered a group of Jedi Masters, including Rykrof Enloe's mother. Innoril has lied dormant for years and is preparing to reemerge.

head - Captain America Red Skull

scarf - Evolutions Starkiler

tunic - TVC Starkiller

rest - The Hobbit Orc figure

Battle Hardened Stormtrooper Squad - Chewie painted these guys to look like they've been going at it against the Rebels for a while on some distant planet in the Outer Rim. They are showing up in current chapters of his photonovel series.

Everything - TVC Sandtrooper repaints

To see more work from Chewie, visit the links below:

Yakface Forums:

viewtopic.php?f=14&t=80&start=1455

(great place to find action figure recipes)

The Photonovel Alliance:

http://www.thephotonovelalliance.com/pn ... icles.html

(for a good read...)

"CUSTOMS FOR THE KID" APPEAR ON THE FIRST EPISODE OF "THE EXPANDED FANDOMVERSE" PODCAST

Yesterday Dad and I had the opportunity to appear on the first episode of The Expanded Fandomverse Podcast. We had a great time chatting with host Timothy McMahon talking Star Wars custom action figures.  Give this cool new podcast a listen!

TheExpandedFandomverse.com

Death Star Consoles Available!

If you’re looking to fill another glaring hole in your collection, now’s your chance thanks to yet another killer item from Yakface forum member Raylen of Hole In The Ground Productions!  They are modular and you can have up to 8 control panels mounted to the base. He's selling them with either 5 panels (like in the detention center) or 8 panels. A decal set is included with the purchase. Head on over to the Yakface.com forums for a closer look, and place your orders here!  We got are Death Star Console in the mail just four days after we ordered it and the quality was top shelf!

"DEATH STAR CONSOLE"

created by Raylen of Hole In The Ground Productions

3 3/4" Death Star console

 Available as a 5 panel station

 And as an 8 panel set!

Just glue them together, paint them black and attach the decals.

OTHER ITEMS AVAILABLE:

 Cantina chairs

 Cantina tables

3 3/4" scale

 Iconic Star Wars boxes

 Hoth door

Tatooine door

Click the image below to go to the "Hole In The Ground Productions" store:

"AHSOKA TANO" created by Elias

This custom action figure is just a simple head swap and repaint.  We liked the Scuba Ahsoka head sculpt better than the original one that came with this figure so we quickly switched it out.  Nothing fancy.

THE CLONE WARS

"AHSOKA TANO"

created by Elias

SKILL LEVEL: BEGINNER

Mechanic Ahsoka Tano with R7-A7

Ahsoka Tano - Zygerrian Slave

"Walkabout" Ahsoka Tano 

"SIEGE OF MANDALORE" AHSOKA TANO

FINAL SEASON

"DARKSIDE - AHSOKA TANO" ALTERNATE HEAD
created by LUCASCLONES

The Mortis Darkside Ahsoka figure below was originally posted early last year in the
Lucasclones Customizer Spotlight.

"CLONE WARS CHANCELLOR PALPATINE" created by Darth Daddy & Elias

To commemorate the release of "The Clone Wars - The Lost Missions" on Netflix, Dad wanted to do something special for all the fans that fought so hard for us to see these last remaining episodes of "The Clone Wars" TV series with our "Save the Clone Wars" campaign.  Dad thought it would be fun to make an action figure of the architect of the Clone Wars.  The master puppeteer himself, Chancellor Palpatine.  Unfortunately, this action figure was never made.  Probably because there were some serious fears of peg warming, but hardcore Clone Wars fans all wanted to add this figure to their collections.

To create the action figure, Dad committed a little Star Wars collector sacrilege.  He defaced one of the rarest and most sought after Clone Wars action figures ever made.....that's right, Darth Sidious.  For a few years now, Dad and Star Wars customizer, Peakob1, have been wondering just what was under that plastic hood of Darth Sidious, but both of them had no interest in taking a chance at ruining the rarest action figure in their Clone Wars collection.  Instead they just twisted the action figure at numerous different angles trying to see just how much of Palpatine's headsculpt was hidden under there.  

That was, until last week, when Dad was able to acquire a second Darth Sidious action figure.  He called Peakob1 on the phone, immediately took out his heat gun, pointed it at the head of the Darth Sidious action figure, waited for the glue holding the head to the hood to soften, and when it released, Dad found a near perfect headsculpt of Palpatine under the hood minus Palpatine's hair. 

Dad knew that he wanted to make more than one version of Palpatine, but with just one head, he had to do some molding and casting to get the job done.   This is where things got dicey.  Using the head to make the mold was easy.  The hard part was having a neck post to use with the head if he wanted that head on another body.   Out came the X-acto knife and off came the neck post.  Dad molded the head and the neck post, and fortunately all the casts came out extremely well.

Last, Dad sculpted the hair onto the Palpatine head casts with Aves Fixit, accounting for the variations in the hairstyles for Palpatine along the Clone Wars timeline.  Modified the arms on the ROTS Palpatine body with the red clothing, and finally painted the head casts to complete the figures.  

The best part is, now we have an unlimited supply of Clone Wars Palpatine heads.  Before anyone goes damaging any more Clone Wars Darth Sidious action figures trying to recreate what we've done here, send me a message at customsforthekid@gmail.com.  We have a mold for this head.

I even made one of my own version of Chancellor Palpatine after Dad finished.  Dad says mine has the best paint applications.  Even better than his,

Hope you all enjoy "The Clone Wars - The Lost Missions" if you're watching today!

"CLONE WARS

CHANCELLOR PALPATINE"

created by Darth Daddy

Dad was able to keep the action feature on the figure.

PURCHASE HEAD HERE

SKILL LEVEL: ADVANCED

"CLONE WARS

CHANCELLOR PALPATINE"

created by Elias

PURCHASE HEAD HERE

SKILL LEVEL: ADVANCED

"CLONE WARS

CHANCELLOR PALPATINE"

created by Darth Daddy

PURCHASE THE HEAD HERE

SKILL LEVEL: ADVANCED

My custom Clone Wars Chancellor Palpatine was featured in Yakface.com's "Customizer Mega Spotlight!" I was super excited.  This was the biggest honor I ever could have received as a customizer!

Dad's Clone Wars Chancellor Palpatine was featured on the front page of Imperial Shipyards.