To all,

Guys, (and gals if applicable) I'm totally blown away by your kind comments.  Thanks so much for the worm reception and positive feedback.  I'm thrilled to be here.  I've heard so many great things about this site and I can honestly say that they're all true. 

I'll try to answer all of your questions so here it goes,

Jesse James -

you asked about the harnesses and belts that I make for the figures.   Basically I cut thin ribbons of my sons old Power Rangers costume into 3/16 inch strips.  The material is similar to vinyl -basically Halloween custume sheet plastic.  Its very rugged, cuts very well, and paints flawlessly. 

The y harness is nothing more than a staple bent into a triangle with strips of that vinyl material carefully folded and secured to the staple surface.  Its a bit tricky and ya can't rush this.  I paint all of the straps brown first, both sides.  Then I sharpie both sides black, then paint them black with HOBBY SCALE brand acrylic paint.  Its available at most hobby stores like RC truck and model making shops etc.  That paint lays down better than any other brand that I've ever used. 

The holster and belt system ar that vinyl material as well with another staple bent into a "D" or "O" shape with a small notch left open to allow the 2 ends to connect.  I have posted a tutorial about this process at my own site and also at thejawa.com.  I invite all of you to visit the sites and try it out.  PLEASE try to improve, elaborate, and basically put my patterns to shame.  I'd love to somebody to create a superior version and share it with us all. 

 I pretty much make the harness systems permanent and the holsters and belts removable.  I like the idea of making 1 custom figure but giving him several play values.  Hats, helmets, belts, etc,  you can display 1 figure about 5 different ways.  I like to be able to make some of my imps lefties and some righties, therefore the holster can swing around to either side of the belt.  Its makes for some variation in the troops.

The Solo torso was a POTJ imperial officer torso (but just about any torso can be used) 'cuz the black bib is custom fitted vinyl (just like the straps) and painted and glued etc.  Its not too hard to do, just another time consuming ordeal.  The trick is to make either side of the piece the same size. 

Han's head is a redone VOTC Solo head, retooled and refitted slightly.  I obviously gave han a haircut and I had to modify the head to be accepted onto the post. 

I really like the military look of the WWII era soldiers, especially the uniforms of the Germans and Japanese.  Many poeple slammed me in private emails thinking that I was some sort of nazi because I made that Ozzel fig.  Let me state that I HATE NAZIS, but I liked some of their uniform styles and I thought that the SW imperials were begging for some of that influence.   Thanks for commentng on the Ozzel figure.  I like it because its so different looking to many other custom figures out there.  Its probably not ever going to be popular with the masses but I was trying to push the limit and connect SW imperials to earthly evil. 

That era is a big source for my customs,  Thanks so much for looking and letting me know what you think

hyourittaai- you can call me anything that you like, except late for dinner!

Darth Ennis, thanks so much for looking its the POTJ Imp Officer torso

p.s. if you'd like to view my tutorial on how to make those holsters please visit this link:

Hi,
I'm new to this site and I checked out your home pages and I really like your work and your creative ideas.  Visiting your site has given me some cool ideas for new customs.  Keep up the great work. 

GReat job on all and especially that ARC.  Nice work.  I'm impressed with thise gauntlets.  I never though that either of those figures wouldever prove useful- I stand corrected.  Looking forward to the finished pics

NO but thanks for that tip.  I've never thought of that as a material so thanks.  I use my sons old roloe play power ranger uniform, same type of material.  Dont tell them though

Thanks, I'll go for that too.  I'll try to get some pics on later tonight

Thanks so much for the welcome.  Its great to be here.  I can't help myself...I prefer the rebel blaster to the imperial verison.  Its true- it should be the E11 but I tried to sneak my preferred blaster in there.  When his new helmet arrives I'll take pics with the correct blaster!

Thanks again for the warm welcome everybody

I'm NOT through with my Rise of the Empire series by a long shot but I thought I'd mixthings up a little bit with some WIP clone commandos that I'm working on.  NONE of these dudes are finished yet but they're getting close.  They all need decals, and finish detail painting and weathering.  I hope that you enjoy this update of commandos.  I'm having lots of fun making htem.   


This first series of pics details the weapon and pack of commando #2.  This figure is named Domi (after my middle name Dominic)  He's really into rockets and he carries a barrage of interchangeable rockets for his modified weapon.  These rockets are all tot ally interchangeale between the rifle and the pack storage area.  I hope that you like this but let me know what you think. 







The second set of pics details a grappling hook fitting for Clone #3's rifle.  His name is Tambo...those of you who know me may understand this reference.  This grappling hook attatchment was very difficult.  I wa able to make it so that the line actually rolls off of the spool and throught the hollowed out barrell.  It can wind back up onto the spool by simply rolling the spool in reverse.  Please let me know your thoughts and feedback about this as well. 









Here is the #4 commando of the group.  Obviously he's not painted yet but he's at least under way.  His name's LLEO.  I'm not sure what his specialty gear will be just yet but I'll come up with something.  Anyway here's the very early WIP pic of him









O.K. here's the special ops commando within the special ops team.  This dude has a plasma torch to cut through any obstacles in their way.  Also I armed him with a Fett style rocket pack.  What the heck right?  Tell me what you think about the crew so far.  Thanks...


















O.K. here's the second member ofthe Republic team nearly complete.  They will all get custom unit decals at the end and so forth but you'll get overall idea of what this crew will look like.  This is #2 of 4.  Please not that the stripes while similar are not exactly the same.  I figure that this is a way that others can identify them.  Let me know what you think












Here's a proposed Republic Commando design basically finished except for detailing the clone head and some more weathering.  This is sort of a break away from many other commando's that I've seen so hopefully it will be a hit with DA.  By the way Steve, if you don't like it I'm totally cool with it.  Let me know and we'll do something else nor prob...Let me know what y'all think of it. 


       









Here's 'n update with a sort of radical paint scheme I was thinking about.  Tell me what you guys think.  Obviously there's a whole load of strap, holsters, gear etc to add but this is the base paint figure minus gear.  Accessories will be either black or grey-to be determined












Here's a few pics of a Republic Commando side project that I'm working on.  These are NOT part of the ROTE line but I'm sure that they were busy at the time of order 66.  I'd like to do some customized gear and here's some pics of the early weapons and gear.


















Hello all,
I'm new to this customs forum but I've been around customizing for a while.  I'd like to thank all of you from various other sites for inviting me here to share my custom figures with all of you.   I'm known as slave1jango at rebelscum, legolas77 at thejawa.com, and outrider at my home site galacticarchives.com

Here's a figure that I recently made for a series of figures that I've been working on for a few months.  The figure series is known as Rise of the Empire and its set a between ROTS and ANH.

First up is Imperial trooper.