Spectre's Custom Vehicles

[Spectre]

I always felt that Jabba should have had a few smaller, armed vehicles travelling with his Sail Barge as he has alot of enemies who whould jump at the chance to attack him when he is away from the safety of his Palace.

These are just 3 of the Skiff Escorts I have built (I really need to get crackin' on photographing the rest of 100's of customs I have built   ). As usual, these craft are entirely kitbashed, this time almost exclusively from model parts. They are both suspended atop clear model stands to simulate flight. The pilots are custom as well

Style I:












Style II:








Style III:










I never got the One Man Sand Skimmer (or the other 2 Body-RIGs) as a kid because I had given up playing with toys by the time they were released. When POTF2 came out and I decided to collect them, I always hoped it would be rereleased as an original is far to expensive for me to justify spending on a small toy. I decided to recreate the vehicle with a more "modern/realistic" slant. This vehicle, like my others, is completely kitbashed from various toy and model parts. The pilot is a stand-in, the actual pilot has not been painted yet.










Here for your viewing enjoyment is my rendition of the Endor Security Scout. There is no pilot for this vehicle yet, but as soon as I design and construct him, I'll post pics of him flying the Scout

This vehicle is entirely kitbashed from model parts and a G.I.Joe backpack (Annihilator?) and has all of the original toy's features (head clamp, movable tail, support legs, blaster cannons) but adds the most needed one- A PROPULSION SYSTEM! The original toy did not have any engines to propell the vehicle! A major oversight by the toy design team in my eyes that has now been rectified

[Spectre]

This is one of the many "Uglies" I have made over the years. My Uglies are completely kitbashed. The primary components on this one are a vintage Y-Wing front, the rear section of a vintage Battle Star Galactica model, and vintage X-Wing wings. The rest of the parts are from several different sources, both model kits and toys.
















Here's another kitbashed starfighter i have built. The primary components are a G.I. Joe "Cobra Wolf" and the wings from an Ertl Star Trek "Bird Of Prey" model. The wings fold for carrier storage and there are 2 opening cockpits. The overall color scheme is based on a picture of a Vietnam War-era F-4 Phantom my uncle had hanging in his living room.











Here's another "Ugly" I built awhile back. The primary components are a G.I. Joe Skyhawk cockpit (hand laid glass panels), a vintage Ertl Darth Vader's TIE model, vintage Ertl TIE Interceptor model, and lots and lots of model and toy parts

Note: the forward landing gear is a last minute replacement as the puppy chewed up the original as I was about to take the pics (damn dog   ). The gear will be painted to match the rest of the ship eventually.









The pilot is made from a Duro body and Preview Mace head and hands with a bunch of other odds and ends.






Here is another Ugly that I kitbashed. The primary components are a vintage TIE Interceptor ball and Sebulba's Podracer's engines.













The pilot is a repainted "Robotix" figure with a custom blaster.

[Spectre]

This is a kitbashed Rebel starfighter based on the Vipers from the old "Battlestar Gaslactica" tv series. This is one of my very first customs. I made this back in the late 80's.

This ship was made from a vintage '78 X-Wing and lots of G.I. Joe parts. There is a non removeable vintage R5-D4 in the droid socket.










This first swoopbike is made primarily from a G.I.Joe "Cobra Jetpack" with parts from other Joe vehicles added on (Zartan's Swamp Skier, Serpentor's Air Chariot, Pom Pom Gun). There are some Playmates TNG accessories as well. The driver is made from several different SW figures and a McDonalds Happy Meal Action Man head (all modified).





This bike is primarily the pod from Sebelba's Podracer with vintage Speederbike steering vanes attatched. The rear engine exhausts are Krazy Glue caps. The rider is a repainted and modified Podracer Sebulba.







This bike started off life as a "Batman Forever" "Robin's Motorcycle". I added a bunch of different parts to it as I wanted a big-[censored] Harley-styled Swoop. The rider is made out of several different SW figures (all parts modified).





This last bike started out as a "Flash Gordon's Skybike" from the Playmates line. I had to cut off the Flash Gordon figure that was attatched to it and add new handlebars and a seat. I also had to close off several holes in the bottom that were left over after I removed the sparking and pull back and go mechanisms. The rider is made from several different SW figures and a Joe helmet (all parts modified).









All of my Swoops sit atop clear MicroMachines stands to simulate floating above the ground (they are all but invisible under the Swoops and look pretty good   ).


Way back in an early issue of "Star Wars: Republic" (possibly back when it was still only titled "Star Wars") there was a story set on Coruscant that had a high-flying Swoop Gang as one of the obstacles the hero had to overcome. I was intrigued by the concept of these flying Swoops, which I dubbed "skybikes" and decided to begin making custom skybikes. This was the first one I designed and constructed.

Left Side:


Right Side:


Front:


Back:


Top:


Bottom:


Parts: Front half of a "Xyber-9" Jack's Skybike, fuselage from an old Ertl X-Wing model, articulated panels from a "Total Justice" Superman's anti-Kryptonite armor, "Wing Commander" Kilrathi guns, lego pieces, etc. I'm not sure why I chose blue for this bike, but I think it looks pretty damn good in blue

[Spectre]

I designed this T-16 Skyhopper custom around an image on the cover of the "Secrets Of Tattooine" RPG sourcebook. I just fell in love with the markings and wanted to have one of my own for my diorama. I made addtions to the markings in the form of the black an white checkerboards and shield symbols on the sides of the body as well as the trophy images on the front for the races/championships he has won. I wasn't abl to get any shots of it with the wings open as no on was home to hold it for me while I took the pics.













I completely redesigned the interior so that the pilot coul actually see out of the windows. The interior is made from a bunch of Joe parts and part of Luke's Sport Skiff.









The pilot is made from a "Titan A.E." Deluxe Cale with a hole drilled in his back for the seat peg to be inserted into to hold him in the seat. The figure was further modified by adding a helmet made from part of a Xyber-9 figure's head. A Joe mic was also added to the helmet. The entire figure was repainted.






Here is my other T-16 Skyhopper custom. This one is not as flashy as the first one as I intended it to represent Luke's T-16 under a new owner. The entire vehicle was repainted to give it a nice weathered look.









I made a new interior for this one as well, also made from a bunch of Joe parts. I made custom controls out of a couple of POTF2 Han Solo blasters, a POTF2 Greedo rifle, and parts from Nabrun Leeds rifle.









The poor farmboy pilot is made from a Blastshield Luke with a Gunner Station Luke head. His crash harness is made rom Joe webgear. The Naboo helmet is glued to his head. A hole was drilled into his back for the seat peg.

[Spectre]

This is the largest custom vehicle I have completed to date, measuring over 2 feet in length and standing over 1 foot high. It is completely kitbashed. The primary components are the front of an "Exo-Squad" plane and the front of a "Voyager" hull. The hardest part of the fabrication of this vehicle was getting the railing to follow the curves of the Voyager hull. I made this vehicle vaguely insectoid like the majority of the Nemoidians' transports (and the Nemoidians themselves).






































Here is my latest custom vehicle, a Sand Pirate Combat Airspeeder. Look for this bad boy to appear in an upcoming chapter fo Chewie's Rykof Enlow eries!























The turret features a dedicated gunner as the opening is too narrow to allow the figure to be put in or removed without scratching it up. Also the interior is too shallow to allow the gunner to be inside when the lid is closed so I had to use 3/4 of a figure for the gunner (he has no legs below the knees and is glued inside the turret.








Parts: heavily modded Vintage Imperial Shuttle Mini-Rig, extremely heavily modded Chap Mei armored car, BBI Apache weapons pylons, PTE F-18 bomb racks and bombs, POTF2 X-Wing cannons, tons of model parts, tons of G.I.Joe parts, tons of Star Wars parts, 3/4 of a BBI Apache Pilot, G.I.Joe "Frostbite" head.

[CHEWIE]

You've made so many fine vehicles, I have no idea how you have perfected this part of your customizing so well.  The Nemoidian craft is so awesome.  Well beyond any other fan fic Separatist craft I've seen anyone do.

 

[hemble]

Man O Man there are some awesome looking custom vehicles, you sure do have a great skill doing them and the weathering is spot on.

Also if I'm not mistaken I think I saw parts of a Bird of prey and sections of a Voyager haul?

Ron

[coeli]

Holy Crap!! I love customized vehicles!! I really like your swoops and that vehicle that you made that is going to appear in the Rykoff series is awesome! What are you using to 'glue' the different parts and pieces together? Ever considered using PVC styrene to build with? It is relatively cheap and works well with plastic model styrene and  is easily glued with either super glue or PVC glue.

[Spectre]

I'm glad you are all enjoying my vehicles! Vehicle building is my favorite part of the customizing game

What are you using to 'glue' the different parts and pieces together? Ever considered using PVC styrene to build with? It is relatively cheap and works well with plastic model styrene and  is easily glued with either super glue or PVC glue.

I use plain old Krazy Glue (tm) to bond all of the different parts together. I will often use small screws to hold heavier parts together as long as I can hide the screws inside the vehicles or by applying additional hull details over them. 

I've used PVC on occasion, but most of my vehicles are just made from junked toys/models/etc. When I get to larger, more ambitious projects (my planned 4' high by 5' wide Imperial Garrison for one ), I'll most likely have to move up to balsa wood (for interior superstructure skeletons) and PVC styrene for the majority of the exterior paneling simply because there are few toys that would provide the necessary sized parts.