Hi everyone,

I had  a long conversation with Glassman6 this afternoon and between him and I, we worked out a plan of attack for this project. I am going to open a new thread for collecting a list of body types that are most commonly used by you all for custom work. This will be the first step. The list should include the most commonlly used POTF2, POTJ, Episode 1, Saga and OTC peg head bodytypes. We want both male and female types, reguardless if they have been used alot by customizers in the past or not. Good examples would be uniforms, unique body sculpt, favorite costume. The next phase will greatly need your help with. I will need volentiers to send me bodies with out the heads, mostly torsos but whole figure also accepted (for taking example pictures of the head on the body). I asking to barrow them while I am developing this project and you will get them back to you all. I will also need to barrow ball jointed heads from a list I will post here. These will give  me the range of head sizes I will have to keep in mind while sculpting the neck posts. Once I am done, the will be sent back with my thanks. To give you all another example of what I am proposing, I have an Adi Gallia figure on loan from Bossk_in_E3. I did two neck posts, one for Mon Mothma's width, and one for Aayla Secura. I am guessing the diameters between these two neck types should cover the range of female ball joint heads. Here are the pics:



And a Groupe Shot:



Again the success of this project will depend on your support. Go to the "Neck Post Body List" post and enter your requests you can submit as many body types that you would want to see get this treatment. Please, read through the list before posting your request so we do not have duplications. This is not a voting thing. I will post the ball joint head list later today.

Thanks for your help,

Jedi_Master_Ben

Hi Everyone,

I know I have not posted a new alien head in the past 5 days, with all the work I have been putting into my Psadan Gladiator and the Gargan's Hoover accessory. But not to worry, I would not leave you all with out a little something. I have updated the alien list with a new alien head sculpt. Thanks to roron_corobb over at RS, for  loaner Colemen body, I was able to get one of my favorite heads made on Sunday, The Luxan Male Head!!! Thats right, its my favorite Luxan, Ka'Dargo from Farscape. It took all day to get his features just right. In doing some research for photo refrences, I came accross several male and female Luxans. So most likely I will return to this species.  I did win some loose ROTS jedi on e-bay and they should be here by the end of the week, so I will have other bodies types to showcase my alien heads. Thanks for stoping by. Next up will be some Bothans.

Jedi_Master_Ben

Hi Chewie,

Thanks again for the confidence boost . It is always great to get feedback from another master. On the Gargan kit, I am really proud of how this one turned out. I was planing to submit it to Hasbro for a commision as a freelance sculptor for them. It would be a dream possition. Of course, feet planted firmly to the ground, they most likely turn it away saying that do not take unsilisted work . If that happens, then you can bet your sweet  I will make it avaible to you guys just to dispite them . Thanks for all the support, Chewie.

Jed_Master_Ben

Hi everyone,

I have been very busy this weekend. I got a rough sculpt now of my Psadan Gladiator He is comming along nicely now. I thought this would be a good time to post a WIP pic of him. Oh, and RollaJedi, to answer your question, there is no base figure for this custom. This is a complete sculpt just like all my other figures. The only thing on him that is store bought are the weapons he is holding. Thanks for the interest and stay tuned for updates as I get them in.



Let me know what you all think. Thanks  for looking

Jedi_Master_Ben

Hi there Spectre,

I really enjoyed examining your custom medic. Really top notch. Great attention to detail on all the accessories and paint scheme. I do have to agree with Chewie on the Earthly look to the character. Right now, she looks like she is between two diffrent toy lines; GI Joe and Star Wars. I would recommend the design that is already on the med kit, the circle with verticle lines, should replace any red cross patches and the blue cross patch on her chest. Also, I am not sure you ment to do this or not, the colors you picked, tan and green, looks a lot like Doc from the '80s Joe line. I would research some of the costume designs used in AOTC or ROTS movie extras and compare the color pallet to your figure. Change these things and the figure would then look more Star Wars then GI Joe. Just my opinon. Again, really great work there,  I would love to see more of your work in future.

Jedi_Master_Ben

Thank you Gregorbian, i was getting to wonder if I was spinning my wheels for nothing. If at least one person could benifit from this project, then I feel better going into this. I just hated the idea that a good sculpt like Adi Gallia would be neglected because it is a peg head body.  Now with this idea of mine, you could use a Aayla Secura head on that body or even one of my alien head sculpts .

Thanks again for the support, it means a lot to me.

Jedi_Master_Ben

Hey everyone,

Now that I got the Bothan question squared away now, I wanted to go back to a previous posting and give you all an update. Here she is, Yarna D'al Gargan! I have finished the sculpt on her . I lengthen the back of her head and finished the detail on the back of the headdress. I am really happy how this turned out. Here are the front and back shots.





Now you are all wondering if I will include some sort of accessory. Would it be a staff like Leia had in the deluxe model?  Nah.... I decided to follow Hasbro's example with Oola when they gave her Salacious Crumb. I am going to include Hoover with my Yarna D'al Gargan!!! You will be able to kill two birds with this figure set in your Jabba's Palace diorama. Now how about that, lets see if Hasbro can top me !

All joking a side, now that I finished the sculpt of her; I can make molds of the skirt and headdress and a new head mold in preparation for the wax when it arrives.

As always, all comments and feedback are greatly appreciated.

Jedi_Master_Ben

Hi everyone,

OK all you doubters out there, I did it!!! I figured out how to do this conversion, with very minimal effect. Here is the breakdown:

OK, we all know that each head we boil and pop has different neck shafts and base disks. So I was rattling my brain on trying to figure out how to universities the peg to go into the body. I had an old POTF2 Obi Wan body that I boiled and pop a long time ago. I took my monster maker clay and started to play around with the torso. I pushed in some of the clay into then neck hole and then started to shape a neck post out of the clay. I had my VOTC Han head next to the body and started to fit it to the neck post. I sculpted then neck and got it to it was a working condition with the ball joint head. Now the interesting thing that happened was the post was stuck on the body and I just could not get it out and then it dawned on me... What is the most common factor amongst ball jointed figures? Their neck posts are part of the torso!!! That cracked it for me, the neck post conversion kit would be GLUED to the peg hole to be permanently fixed in place. Since all customizers make a custom, they do not try to restore the figure to its original condition, gluing the neck post would just be one more step in making the custom figure. So here are some pictures to illustrate the my concept:







Now the next task is to get as many sample custom fodder bodies without the heads and make the neck post to cover the various styles of bodies. The ball joints diameters would be a standard size one for females and one for males. This will be an on going work in progress since I do not have but a small few loose figures and hardly no custom fodder since I sculpt my customs not chop shop them. I will compile an initial list of bodies that I have notice that get customize a lot and then I will leave it open for everyone to submit their wish list. If I do not have the body, I would need someone to loan or donate the body for the conversion process. I will be making the cast of each neck post since it would allow me to provide customizers the purchase my alien heads to use them with the older bodies.

I would like to hear everyone’s opinion on this since this will greatly benefit you all with the direction that Hasbro is going with the design of the newer figures.

Thanks for your time,

Jedi_Master_Ben