AGE APPROPRIATE WARNING

*ADULT SUPERVISION & PROPER SAFETY EQUIPMENT ARE REQUIRED WHEN UTILIZING THE TOOLS, PRODUCTS & TECHNIQUES DESCRIBED HERE ON OUR BLOG TO CREATE STAR WARS CUSTOMS.

Sunday, August 30, 2020

STAR WARS REBELS "HONDO OHNAKA" created by CUSTOMS FOR THE KID

This was a figure that my Dad had started prior to stepping down from his role here at the blog. He did both the build and the sculpt for the figure. To build the frame, he used the lower arms of The Clone Wars Hondo Ohnaka, the upper arms of a Clone Wars Obi-Wan Kenobi (heavily re-sculpted), the upper torso of an Indiana Jones & The Crystal Skull Mutt Williams action figure (heavily re-sculpted), the thighs of a Clone Wars Admiral Yularen and the lower legs and feet from a Black Series Force Awakens Leia Organa (heavily re-sculpted).

Seeing Dad's almost completed work just sitting there inspired me to pick up where he left off and add some color to his sculpt. By the time I put the figure down he was fully painted, Hondo symbol painted on his back and all. Dad couldn't be more excited to see this one finished. Hondo is one of Dad's favorite Star Wars characters!

The head was a 3-D resin printed cast from Watto's Scrapyard. It was a lot of fun to start bringing one of his heads to life with some paint. When it painted up as well as it did, I wanted to get going on the other fifty or so heads we received from Wattos.

For Hondo's eyes, I first painted his flesh tone, the whites of his eyes, his pupil and the light reflection in his pupil. Once his eyes were painted, I applied three coats of Pledge Future Floor Wax where the glass of his goggles would be letting each layer dry before adding another coat. Then I did a single layer of a green wash to tint the surface, and then sealed it in with one last coast of the floor wax.



STAR WARS REBELS 
"HONDO OHNAKA" 
created by Customs for the Kid















 



SKILL LEVEL: ADVANCED


STAR WARS REBELS "EZRA BRIDGER" 
created by SWK Kustoms


STAR WARS REBELS "CIKATRO VIZAGO"  
created by SWK Kustoms


STAR WARS REBELS "Cikatro Vizago's Droid"
created by Customs for the Kid




STAR WARS REBELS 
"Hondo Ohnaka" Headcast
created by Watto's Scrapyard







Tuesday, August 25, 2020

CUSTOM 6" THE BLACK SERIES "SIEGE OF MANDALORE - AHSOKA TANO" created by Elias

Being the 3.75" action figure purists that we are, I never saw myself creating a custom in the 6" scale. However, when a client reached out to me asking for a character as awesome as Ahsoka Tano, I couldn't resist. This commissioned action figure is made from the body of a Star Wars Rebels Black Series Ahsoka Tano, and an Ahsoka head from Watto's Scrapyard, which I modified to give it a more animated look. The Ahsoka body underwent some serious dremelling, and a then I gave her a 100% new sculpt. I used Aves Fixit sculpt to give her arms some more muscular definition, and to smooth out the shirt. I also made sure to make the armor on her gauntlets and boots screen accurate, unlike Hasbro's new 6" Black "Series Siege of Mandalore - Ahsoka Tano" that took some serious shortcuts when it came to screen accuracy on the gauntlets and lower legs.  

I faced a particularly difficult challenge in constructing her Lightsabers, as the ones she used in The Clone Wars don't exist in the 6" scale yet, so I had to dive in head first and sculpt them myself. I did so by cutting a styrene rod to size, and using the tips of the Black Series Ahsoka lightsabers so the blades would still click into place the way they used to. I then sanded the base of the lightsabers down, and then sculpted all the necessary details into place. I dyed her lightsaber blades by simply coating them in a blue wash so they would maintain their transparency. 


THE BLACK SERIES
CUSTOM "AHSOKA TANO - SIEGE OF MANDALORE"
created by Elias

















SKILL LEVEL: ADVANCED





 

Monday, August 24, 2020

Kessel Run Review - Episode 27


I'd like to give a big thank you to Kessel Run Review for featuring Customs for the Kid in their newest episode. They have always been a long time friend of ours, and we greatly appreciate their touching feature in celebration of our 10-year anniversary. Working with them behind the scenes to bring this episode to life was an honor and absolute pleasure. We are always going to be loyal viewers of this show, and we can't wait for more episodes to come!

Saturday, August 22, 2020

COOL YOUTUBE TUTORIALS



A simple, easy and cheap project that you can throw together with materials you can find around the house. This one is a great for parents trying to entertain their little ones when they are cooped up in the house and driving you a bit crazy.




This project is much more advanced and is for a more seasoned "maker" who has an elaborate set-up with some of the latest technology available at their fingertips.

Glowforge Laser Cutter: https://amzn.to/2ZVtowa 
Cricut Maker: https://amzn.to/2O5STFI 
LED light strip: https://amzn.to/3ePmcrA 
Black .02 styrene sheets: https://amzn.to/3fj62Y0 

Shot by Joey Fameli and edited by Norman Chan 


Tuesday, July 28, 2020

"CUSTOMS FOR THE KID" CELEBRATES 10 YEARS OF BLOGGING


When we started this blog, we never knew we would still be here 10 years later making action figures and promoting the members of the Star Wars custom action figure community. We weren't quite sure how best to pay reverence to the event so we took a multi-pronged approach. First, we made a custom 3.75"scaled Loth-Wolf from the Star Wars Rebels animated series. We will get into the significance of why a Loth-Wolf a little later but there is a small story there. Next we updated the banner for our blog to include some of our more recent creations while making sure to include some of our older customs as well. As a bonus, we got together with some of our friends in the Star Wars community for a livestream to celebrate "Custom for the Kid" milestones over this past decade that can be viewed in the video above.

At the moment, the picture above is the photo we are using for our new banner, We are still deciding if it will be a permanent fixture or not. We'll let you all know when the jury is out on that one.

The Loth-Wolf was a project Dad had been working on for some time now. We recently decided that when we hit our 10 year anniversary, Dad would be stepping down from his duties here at the blog. Therefore this custom Loth-Wolf may just be the last custom we get here from Darth Daddy. There was a combination of factors that led to this decision but ultimately we both decided that I am more than capable of managing the blog on my own from now on. 

Dad liked the idea of making the Loth-Wolf as his final piece because he has had dreams of wolves his entire childhood. One of the last wolf dreams he had, back around when I was born, was his wolf pack giving him a young cub to raise. Dad said I was that little cub in his dream and this blog was such a big part of that upbringing. The Loth-Wolf stood at the door to The World Between Worlds. This blog opened both me and my dad up to the world of Star Wars customizing and we can't thank you all for the support you have shown us all over the last decade. Working on this blog has been life changing for both of us. We will never forget the cool creations, friendships, podcast interviews, awards, and events we got to be a part of. 

I can't thank Dad enough for all he did to make this blog a reality.

Hope to see you all at the livestream here tomorrow!



"Loth-Wolf"
by Customs for the Kid


















The Loth-Wolf was a 100% sculpted creature that used the Rampage: Big City Brawl Ralph as a base figure to sculpt onto. Dad re-sculpted the entire body and I did some of the face sculpt under the eyes, the scaling and the detail paintwork so we could have it finished for today. 



SKILL LEVEL: ADVANCED