All right, these are my first custom Star Wars figures, and my first custom figures whatsoever that aren't in 1:6 scale (and in those cases, 97% of what I did was just gathering seperate outfit items and assembling them). Additionally, I've used some pretty old stuff here, and other than Han these customs look like they came from 2000, not 2006. So, bear with me here...
Also, I'm sorry for taking so long to get these done. Just today I managed to get another scanner we had hooked up, and it scans these to at least a seeable condition. Still, the picture quality is pretty bad, but at least it's something, right?
Custom #1: Luke Skywalker in traditional Jedi garb
Head: POTF2 Luke Skywalker in Stormtrooper Disguise (note the collar)
Body: Episode 1 Obi Wan Kenobi (Jedi Duel)
Lightsaber: POTF2 Jedi Knight Luke Skywalker (spare from Escape the Death Star game)
I made this back in December, and I have to say I'm not really all that wild about it >.> Actually, my first thought after seeing some Star Wars custom figures was that I wanted to make one of these ^^ But the painting didn't go that great and I think I'm going to try to strip it and redo it someday. As it stands, Luke is painted with Apple Barrel acrylics- the cheap stuff- and sealed with cheap Wal Mart acrylic sealer. I think I put too much sealer because Luke got this kind of sticky, glossy coat (despite it being flat sealer)- most of the really noticeable stuff I was able to get off, but as you'll notice he still looks kind of "shiny" and his "skirt" piece seems to attract tiny dirt and stuff over time. The lightsaber sealed great though, and isn't too sticky and hasn't worn.
I'm not sure when this Luke would really chronologically fit in- I planned it before I'd read any EU books and made it not too long after reading Heir to the Empire for the first time. I decided to paint the little "buckles" on the boots silver to add something different (and I was kind of thinking of Anakin's glove), and the color scheme I made up partially for easyness (wasn't brave enough to repaint his whole outfit). For some reason I had the hardest time getting the head to pop in, taking about an hour and a half to do it- I don't think I was doing it right. Later customs have gone much more smoothly though.
Custom #2: Han Solo in Stormtrooper Disguise (bet you've never seen one of these!)
Head: POTF2 Commtech Han Solo (Cantina)
Body, Helmet, Gun: Luke Skywalker in Stormtrooper Disguise
Once I got experimenting with making my other Han Solo, I found myself with some leftover Cantina Han parts, and I had a stormtrooper disguise waiting to be filled from my Luke custom. So, rather quickly, I whipped this guy up. Later, I went back and added some paint details when I repainted my other stormtroopers.
The body is terribly lame of course, but I like this custom better than the pictures I've seen of the official POTF2 Hantrooper; he had this weird pose with his arms, and the Cantina Han makes a better young Harrison Ford likeness. The collar is a small rubber band which I painted black. The blaster, along with several of my other POTF2 E-11s, has some silver paint (Apple Barrel of course) added in areas I think might maybe be accurate from a search for pictures of the prop.
Finally, I decided for some reason to try to paint his head some- I don't much care for the tannish brown Cantina Han was painted with, and he lookd kind of cartoony. I think I used Burnt Umber, and I wiped it off with a napkin immediately after application- this worked great on the hair after doing it a few times. The trouble was, it made the eyebrows look horrible, so I attempted to repaint them with a needle. The results aren't very good and probably need reworked eventually, especially if they chip/rub off sometime.
Custom #3: Paint Enhanced POTF2 Stormtroopers
I think I just won "Boring Custom of 2006." All I did here was use some black paint- testors on the torso and Apple Barrel on the legs, "neck," and helmet- to add some details and make these guys look more accurate. I think I'll do this to my future POTF2 stormtroopers, but perhaps I'll try popping the limbs first, and using enamel and dullcote.
Sadly, I was unable to magically remove the mega-buffness.
Custom #4: Han Solo (New Republic)
Head, torso, arms: TSC Han Solo (Carbonite)
Legs, pelvis, vest, blaster: POTF2 Commtech Han Solo (Cantina)
Yeah! A custom that's kinda cool in some way! Basically, I torso cracked Cantina Han- cracking quite a bit actually >.< - and after a bit of effort managed to remove the lower half from the upper half (mostly by destroying the upper half). Carbonite Han is made entirely of the soft plastic that used to be reserved to limbs/heads/accessories, so his torso actually pops off pretty easily via boil and pop.
I toyed with the idea of trying to cut and swap the posts for the torsos, since they didn't match, but in a moment of boldness I instead decided to try rewarming the Carbonite Han torso and then just pushed the post in and to my surprise, it worked and retains the articulation after cooling- though I suspect it warped the inside of the torso to do it. Nevertheless, it worked, so I'm happy about it
I decided to paint Han's pants black with yellow bloodstripes, to match the way the Heir to the Empire comic books (haven't read them, but I've searched around and found pictures) portrayed him. I think a number of other comic books like this combination, and I thought, why not. Painting was problematic though; I tried to use Testors enamel, and then seal it with dullcote, but it took way too many coats to dry I think, and even then it wouldn't dry around the joints. As it turns out I think I was supposed to prime the figure beforehand, but alas. So I spent about an hour stripping off all the paint and redid it with apple barrel acrylics which I carefully sealed, masking off the top half since it didn't need any. It might get changed later on, but it works for now- although there's a sport on the back of one leg where it's already chipped off slightly.
The blaster is simply painted with apple barrel acrylics, wiped away while wet, and that process repeated a few times. It makes the gun look kind of worn and retains some of it's metallic look, and it hasn't chipped off yet even in the holster or Han's hand. And the great thing is that this blaster fits near-perfectly in his hand.
I took a few more pictures of Han but figured not everyone would care to see them, and I didn't think I should clutter my post too much, so here they are:
Side-by-side comparison with VTSC Han SoloHan and MFC ChewieHan and Chewie againAlso of note is that I customized Chewie's bowcaster a bit- I stole it from buff short POTF2 first Chewie, repainted it with the wipe-away method to add some silver/black/bronze weathering, and added a strap. The strap is actually a green rubber band with some crude black weathering added, attached by jumprings. It doesn't always hang quite right, but with some care it looks okay, and it works for actually hanging the bowcaster over his back.
Any comments/tips/suggestions are appreciated. I know these customs aren't much, but I hope to do some cooler stuff in the future. You
can expect some more POTF2 parts to show up in them though, considering I just bought a lot of mostly POTF2 fodder (although I'm pretty happy with the lot, especially for the price I paid)...
NOTE: If some of the pictures aren't showing up, right click on them and click "Show Image"- maybe I have too many of them or something?
