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, January 9, 2022

ANIMATED "SIEGE OF MANDALORE" DARTH MAUL by Customs for the Kid

So we're aware that it has been a long time since we have posted an easy custom that you can do at home in just a few minutes. That is the very reason for today's custom. 

There are a subset of collectors that are unhappy that Hasbro never properly finished the Clone Wars action figure line. When Hasbro started releasing long desired figures from the Clone Wars television series in TVC with realistic sculpts these collectors were greatly disappointed feeling as though their collections would never feel complete. Well, we can't do much to push Hasbro in the right direction other than do our best to build the prototypes of what could have been and maybe provide you all with a few tips and tricks to help fill some of those gaps.

This is a custom action figure that could be thrown together in less than a minute provided your glue gun is already heated up, locked and loaded. All you need is the new TVC Darth Maul that was just released and one of the old animated Darth Maul heads from the old Clone Wars line. Just remove the head off TVC figure leaving the barbell neck joint attached to the body, squeeze a small amount of glue into the animated head, and place it onto the neck post until the glue dries. remove any unsightly glue that may have spilled out with an X-acto knife and the figure is complete. It is a great custom for beginners and a great way to fill out your animated Clone Wars collection.



ANIMATED
"SIEGE OF MANDALORE" DARTH MAUL
created by Customs for the Kid






SKILL LEVEL: BEGINNER







"SIEGE OF MANDALORE" AHSOKA TANO





Friday, December 31, 2021

"CUSTOMS FOR THE KID" - 2021 YEAR IN REVIEW

Another year comes to a close. This year was a little quieter than previous years due to me wrapping up high school this Spring. Focus was more on school than the blog unfortunately. The silver lining was that for my Senior year, I did a Capstone Project exploring turning my custom action figure creative process into a full-blown business. I was also sure to include 3D design as part of my curriculum to add to my skillset. By the end of the school year, I had a few original digital designs under my belt and a fully functioning business model.


Senior Capstone Presentation (Audio quality could be better)


After graduating high school, I started to do commissions for full-time work and entered into business with Rebel Kid Creations the exclusive retailer for casts of my sculpts. It is mainly just a storefront full of resin casts and kits available to our readers so they can replicate some of our custom action figure projects for themselves in their own homes. 


Click store logo to visit


To make it happen, most of the summer was spent molding our older sculpts for casting. To do so we added a pressure pot, air compressor, vacuum chamber and pump to our workshop. Thankfully we are now completely done with our mold making and going forward the store will be carrying all new never seen before designs.




As you can expect with such a heavy workload, making customs for the blog took a backseat, While we were still able to do a lot of fully sculpted figures this year, we also took the opportunity to introduce our readers to other Star Wars artists in the community who currently offer parts and kits to make your customizing projects a little easier and a lot less time consuming. The custom pieces we shared from these artists definitely helped us provide you all with new content every month without losing too much sleep making it happen. It was because of them, we were able to keep you all entertained and coming back for more.

That said, check out the video below for a slideshow of what we were able to add to our own collections as well as a few figures that we were commissioned to add to other people's collections. Here's to another year of Star Wars custom action figure art!


2021
STAR WARS 
CUSTOMS
created by "Customs for the Kid"




Sadly, at the beginning of this year, we lost one of our most prolific customizers to the pandemic. Friends of Stanley Opiel II knew him to be an incredibly gifted Star Wars custom action figure artist who breathed so much life into the Star Wars customizing community. His steadfast determination to bring the definitive versions of all the unreleased characters to fruition was truly admirable. He will be truly missed by his friends and Stan will forever stand as an inspiration to us all.


Customizers gathered from all over the world to pay their respects.

Dad put together a video to commemorate Stan's contributions to the artform.



Customs for the Kid's
Last Custom for 2021
Duchess Satine Kryze

Thursday, December 30, 2021

"THE CLONE WARS" DUCHESS SATINE KRYZE ("THE LAWLESS") created by Elias

This isn't the first Satine Kryze action figure in our collection, and it likely won't be the last one that we add to the collection either. The first was made by our friend Chad Peak aka Peak-OB1 Custom Creations that Dad bought for me as a gift. The Satine pictured below is the first custom action figure of the character made by Customs for the Kid.  

To make her, I used a resin printed head we purchased from Moff Glidden's Customs. To make the body, we used the torso, upper arms and thighs of a Clone Wars Assaj Ventress action figure with the forearms and boots of a Clone Wars Aayla Secura action figure. Once the parts were assembled, the sculpt was completely modified with a Dremel and ProCreate sculpting putty to make the torn dress of the Duchess from her appearance in The Clone Wars episode "The Lawless". The action figure was specifically from when Darth Maul confronts Obi-Wan Kenobi on Mandalore in her presence. It was one the most memorable scenes from the entire show and making her ourselves was the only way we would see her represented in our collection at home. 

It took about 24 hours to bring her to life from start to finish so it wasn't a quick and easy project, but well worth the time invested to make it happen. We couldn't be happier with the final result.



"THE CLONE WARS"
DUCHESS SATINE KRYZE
created by Elias















SKILL LEVEL: ADVANCED







OBI-WAN KENOBI
in MAUL MANDO ARMOR

Sunday, December 19, 2021

"STAR WARS RESISTANCE" NEEKU VOZO painted by "Customs for the Kid"

Earlier this year, we made a Star Wars Rebels Ursa Wren from a 3D printed model kit from Angry Racoon Miniatures that we purchased from his Etsy store. The kit arrives attached to the scaffolding from the print and once clipped free and sanded it's ready for paint. This kit was one of several of his resin printed figure kits we bought and we have been thrilled with the quality of his offerings. The sculpts are incredibly well done and this kit in particular really helps fill out the underserved Star Wars Resistance action figure collection line. Neeku really deserved an action figure release so getting to add him to the collection was thrilling. Now we just need a Tamara Ryvora on our shelf to make the collection feel more complete.

Highly recommend checking out the other model kits from the Etsy store of Angry Racoon Miniatures. You won't be disappointed!


"STAR WARS RESISTANCE"
NEEKU VOZO
painted by Customs for the Kid





















SKILL LEVEL: BEGINNER