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.

Saturday, December 19, 2020

CUSTOMIZER SPOTLIGHT "UPDATE": THE CLONE WARS "Peppi Bow, Rafa & Trace Martez" custom action figures created by Peak-OB1 Custom Creations




For my birthday this year, Dad added a few more Clone Wars custom action figures made by Peak-OB1 Custom Creations to my collection. The first action figure is of a character fans were introduced to as early in the show as Season 1 while the other two custom action figures were of characters featured in the final season of the show.

The first action figure, a custom Peppi Bow, features brilliant paintwork and a stunning sculpt, including a removable hat! The figure is so heavily modified, I can't even identify the parts used to construct the figure. Nevertheless, the craftsmanship is absolutely fantastic, and I am honored to say that she now graces my Clone Wars shelf with her presence.

The other action figures are a set, the Martez sisters! Rafa Martez features her signature fur coat, and an especially beautiful paint job on her head, which appears to be a modified Clone Wars Shaak Ti head.  Her necklace is a loose accessory, which is quite a feat, given the small size of the piece. Trace Martez comes with a pair of removable pilot goggles, and a wonderful sculpt. The hair, jacket, pants, and boots are all beautifully hand sculpted and painted to bring this work of art to life. The Martez sisters will make a fine addition to my collection!

Every time I add a new Peak-OB1 Custom Creations figure to my collection, it's always such a thrill.  His talents as an artist are always apparent in his work, and I find myself wanting to learn how to apply variations to his paint technique in my own work whenever I can. To see more of his work, watch our show, Customizing the Clone Wars, where we do in an depth analysis of each Clone Wars episode, as well as provide tutorials for making the custom figures that we produced of characters from each episode.



THE CLONE WARS 
"Peppi Bow" custom action figure 
created by Peak-OB1 Custom Creations 











THE CLONE WARS 
"Rafa & Trace Martez" custom action figures
created by Peak-OB1 Custom Creations




















Saturday, December 12, 2020

"Rogue One" Green Screen Stop Motion by Elias of "Customs for the Kid"

 

I had a school assignment to do last night for my film class where I had to tell a story with a 15-second "green screen" stop-motion film. Of course I saw it as an opportunity to bring our customs to life in a whole new way. Filming 15 seconds of footage took way longer than I had imagined, but I was definitely happy with my first experiment using our creations in a whole new way. Hopefully, this is only the beginning of our stop-motion adventure.


Jyn Erso

Super-Articulated "Chirrut Îmwe"

3.75" Scale "K-2SO with Improved Articulation"

 
"IMPERIAL PROPAGANDA-REBEL GRAFFITI" DIORAMA



Monday, November 23, 2020

STAR WARS REBELS "GREGOR" created by Elias

Thought we would do something a little different than usual this time around. Not in figure selection, custom animated Star Wars characters are frequently displayed here, but rather, this time we decided to provide a video tutorial of the customizing process from start to finish. A "how-it-was-done" video guide that will show you not only how to make your own Gregor, but also give you techniques that could be applied to plenty of other custom action figure projects in your future.

Hasbro's Star Wars Rebels Captain Rex was the perfect base figure for our Gregor and I used Dad's trick from his Rebels Rex figure where he used a Yarna d'al' Gargan to articulate Gregor's elbows. Unlike Dad who used the shoulder joints for elbow joints, I used her actual elbow joints from Jabba's denizen. On the right arm, a small nub was left on the elbow joint that we inserted into a cast of the right forearm of a Clone Wars Boss action figure we made a mold of specifically for this project. I used Yarna's entire forearm on Gregor's left arm where I only had to thicken the arm at the wrist with some ProCreate so it would blend nicely into the hand of the Hasbro Rex figure. 

I then subtracted the beard of the original figure with the black brush of my Dremel to get a nice close shave and after removed the armor from the Rex figure with the same Dremel attachment. After the holsters were removed with an X-acto blade, the upper body was sculpted into shape with some more ProCreate before adding a detailed paintjob to complete the project.


STAR WARS REBELS 
"GREGOR" 
created by Elias




"Commander Wolffe" created by Paul Martine




SKILL LEVEL: ADVANCED


"STAR WARS REBELS" GREGOR CUSTOM ACTION FIGURE TUTORIAL

 
This tutorial video covers materials needed, safety tips, Dremel use, sculpting techniques, articulating 5poa figures, molding and casting, as well as paint application. Parent Supervision Required!



PURCHASE HEAD HERE



Captain Rex





Friday, October 30, 2020

Audes_Workshop Added to "Customs I Wish I Owned"

 


Cal of Audes_Workshop is a customizer from the Midwest US. He grew up watching the original trilogy on VHS but was never aware that there were toys to be had until the third grade. When a friend brought an older sibling’s AT-AT to school one day for a class presentation, he was in awe. He bought his first Star Wars figure, a TIE Fighter Pilot, soon afterward, and has been collecting ever since.

Although Cal enjoyed swapping character accessories, action figure outfits and reading through the custom submissions in ToyFare magazine growing up, the process of building figures himself always felt a bit daunting. Having only performed head swaps and repaints previously, he made his first true custom figures to properly populate the TVC Tatooine Skiffs. The positive feedback and guidance he received after sharing them with the community at Imperial Shipyards encouraged him to continue his customizing journey.

What began as a sort of completist’s compulsion has become a therapeutic pastime (perhaps it is still sometimes a compulsion). Cal has come to love working with soft goods and experimenting with mixed media and plans to continue expanding his print selection. He feels honored to be in the company of so many talented artists and passionate fans. The ability to share his love for Star Wars with others has provided a wonderful respite in current times.

Dad said that Audes_Workshop is one of the best 3.75" figure makers out in the community today. What he loves about him is his ability to mix all the best elements of his favorite customizers. A true standout artist, his soft goods work is just amazing and some of the best we have seen this year. The 3D resin casts that are available in his eBay store are superior sculpts that are all must purchase items for some great Clone Wars customizing projects at home. 

What we love most about this artist is how generous he is with his recipes and his process which are listed in detail on his Imperial Shipyards thread in their forums. 

His talent is just off the charts and he is an artist who will have a lot of great customs in his future!

His custom action figures from The Mandalorian are just phenomenal and we felt his work would be a fitting way to celebrate the release of Season 2 of on Disney+ today.

Audes_Workshop




eBay page: Audes_Workshop


Audes_Workshop on Instagram


Audes_Workshop on Facebook


Audes_Workshop on Imperial Shipyards



Wednesday, October 14, 2020

STAR WARS REBELS "AZMORIGAN" created by Customs for the Kid

Azmorigan was a male Jablogian who was a criminal leader operating in the Outer Rim Territories about four years before the Battle of Yavin. On one occasion, the "galactic entrepreneur" Lando Calrissian tricked him into selling a puffer pig in return for the Twi'lek captain Hera Syndulla. However, Hera escaped and rejoined Lando and her Rebel crew aboard the Ghost. An enraged Azmorigan pursued Calrissian and his rebel associates to Lothal and attempted to exact revenge on Calrissian. However, the rebels fought off Azmorigan and his henchmen; forcing him to retreat.

Later, Azmorigan purchased five power generators from the Devaronian crime lord Cikatro Vizago and arranged to rendezvous with him on Nixus Hub 218. However, the Weequay pirate Hondo Ohnaka took over Vizago's ship the Broken Horn. Together with the Rebels Ezra Bridger and Chopper, Hondo traveled to Nixus only to be captured by Azmorigan and his henchmen. Seeking to settle scores with both Hondo and Ezra, Azmorigan decided to use a loading dolly to fire them into space. However, his plans were foiled by Chopper who attacked his henchmen, creating a commotion that allowed Ezra and Hondo to free themselves and turn the tables on him. Azmorigan and his surviving henchmen were forced to flee, with the criminal leader resulting in him losing his credits.

Despite his adversarial encounters with Hondo and the Ghost crew, he joined forces with the two parties in order to loot treasure from an Imperial Class four container transport. Azmorigan and Hondo were solely motivated by pecuniary gain but managed to convince the Rebels to help them after pointing out the presence of proton bombs aboard the ship. Following a harrowing mission, Azmorigan, Hondo, and the Ghost crew were able to obtain their goals.

This was a figure that Dad had parted out, assembled. and even had a preliminary sculpt for the body going before I took over. I added a headsculpt, refined his sculpt, and painted the finished product. The upper torso and arms were from a Clone Wars Castas action figure and the legs were from a Clone Wars Even Piel. The thighs were once a Force Link Chewbacca's before being completely reshaped.  The hands of a Clone Wars Aurra Sing were modified so that a finger was removed off each hand before being added to the custom to finish it off. 

While this is most likely stating the obvious, it should be noted that the torso was completely re-sculpted, and the headsculpt for Azmorigan was made completely from scratch.  Constructing the head in layers, allowing forms to dry before sculpting the next layer, the head was slowly constructed step by step, which allowed for more control over the sculpting process. 

As a character, I find Azmorigan pretty gross, but I wanted to make him as a gift on a special occasion for my Dad, and he's over the moon about it.  Despite how I feel about Azmorigan's looks, I must say I'm pretty happy with the way it came out.




STAR WARS REBELS
"AZMORIGAN"
created by Customs for the Kid

 















SKILL LEVEL: ADVANCED


STAR WARS REBELS "Cikatro Vizago"  
created by SWK Kustoms


STAR WARS REBELS "Hondo Ohnaka"
created by Customs for the Kid


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