Author Topic: Darth Simmons Customs  (Read 6069 times)

Offline Darth Simmons

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Darth Simmons Customs
« on: July 25, 2007, 03:52 PM »
Since I am early in my customizing career, I will post this thread and feature all of my customs to date. You won't see me building a whole bunch of customs. It's because I build them for my son (or me to play with them with my son!) So they have to be durable. I can't use glue and popsicle sticks because it just won't hold up. So my customs are either born out of a necessity for articulation (like my ANH Luke), a lack of liking for the Hasbro versions (my ROTJ Han) or something that has never been done by Hasbro (my Rodian Jedi).


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Here is my first custom, created back in April of this year. It's a Rodian Jedi, but not Badoo Bok. I have a different storyline for this Jedi. His name is Neela Chak. (Thanks to Ben Skywalker over at FFURG for the last name!)



I used the Kit Fisto body from the Jedi VS Darth Sidious Battle Pack. The hands are from the VSTC Greedo. I used the head from a POTF2 Greedo, even though it's a little bit small, because it looks the least like Greedo. I wanted a Rodian that had its own look.





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Next is my ultimate version of Han Solo from Return of the Jedi. I didn't like the Hasbro VTSC version because he was sickly thin, had articulation in some of the oddest places, and the ball joint head looked like his neck had been stretched. So I put together my own. The shirt color is a little off, but I had no choice. The arms/hands seem a touch big, but they are better than the teeny little VTSC arms. Plus these actually fit the torso without modifying. I also painted the blaster to look like it does in the movie. Eventually I will revist this figure and add articulated legs. I plan to use the legs from a commtech Han and replace the boots with the boots from TSC General Veers. First I have to figure out how I will paint the bloodstripe. Click on the pictures to enlarge.

To make this one, I butchered 4 Hasbro Han Solo Figures:
VTSC Endor - Vest, Trenchcoat, blaster for ANH version(see below)
Saga Endor Raid - Head for ANH version (see below)
POTJ Bespin Capture - Legs, waist, torso, blaster
Commtech ANH - Head
The arms are from the GI Joe Valor Vs Venom Dr Mindbender (Version 5)

This is a bi-product of my ultimate ROTJ Han. I had debated over using the Saga Endor Raid head on the ROTJ version, but after advice the FFURG forums and realizing that the head looked more like Harrison Ford in 1977 rather than 1983, I put it on the Commtech body and here are the results.


Here they are side-by-side:


Sorry for the fuzzy photos. This seems to be the best I can get out of my camera.





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The 30th Anniversary Collection Moisture Farmer Luke is possibly the worst sculpt I've ever seen. It inspired me to make my own custom version. Hasbro has had a hard time producing a good Mark Hamill sculpt. So here is my custom version of Luke from "A New Hope". First I went to Rebelscum.com and looked at the version comparison picture to pick the Lukes I wanted to use. I liked both the POTF2 Flashback version and the POTF2 Commtech version. The crazy thing is that one had good arm articulation and one had good knee articulation. Both had a pretty good head sculpt. I wanted the figure to have the best articulation possible. I ended up using the flashback torso for the neck ball joint, hinged elbows, and articulated wrists. Plus the flashback tunic has the removable macrobinoculars. I used the boil-n-pop technique to simply switch the legs and now I have 2 ANH Lukes. One with all the articulation I wanted for my oldest son and one with less articulation that I could give my middle son.







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Next are my simple but effective modifications to some Death Star Troopers and DH-17 blasters. Here's what I did. First, I split the tunic below the waist to allow him to sit. Next I added some sculpey inside the helmet to make it sit a little higher on his head. (Warning, if you try this be sure to cure the sculpey immediately after making the adjustments, otherwise it can take the paint off the hair! :( ) Third I switched the calf parts of the legs. One figure got both of the shorter pieces and one got both of the longer pieces. This looks better than the way they came.


I used 2 Hasbro accurate scale DH-17's for these figures being that's what they generally carry, not the E-11's that they come with. However the accurate scale versions Hasbro makes are like the ESB DH-17's which are NOT what the Death Star Troopers carry (but closer than E-11's). So I modded these to look more like the ANH version. I removed a portion of the top bar, trimmed the butt of the handle, cut off the magazine sticking out of the side, and repainted the nozzle and added a touch of silver where it should be on the ANH version.


I also modded the Death Star Troopers holsters to fit the DH-17s.
« Last Edit: July 29, 2007, 12:47 AM by Darth Simmons »
Hasbro, ball jointed heads suck! They make figures look like they've been hung by a noose. Please use neck ball joints like the late 80's GI Joes.

Offline David

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Re: Darth Simmons Customs
« Reply #1 on: July 25, 2007, 08:23 PM »
Nice! The DH-17s I sent you are being put to good use, hooray for accuracy!  ;D
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Offline Darth Simmons

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Re: Darth Simmons Customs
« Reply #2 on: July 26, 2007, 12:35 AM »
Nice! The DH-17s I sent you are being put to good use, hooray for accuracy!  ;D

Absolutely! You made my year with those, RQ. Thanks again. I saw your bridge diorama, it is AWESOME! You're a serious collector/customizer/trader for being only 13! Believe it or not that speaks a lot about your personality. I hope you put as much pride and care into all the other aspects of your life as well.

I forsee great things from you. We will watch your career with great interest.
Hasbro, ball jointed heads suck! They make figures look like they've been hung by a noose. Please use neck ball joints like the late 80's GI Joes.

Offline Darth Simmons

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Re: Darth Simmons Customs
« Reply #3 on: July 29, 2007, 12:47 AM »
I have updated the pictures of the Death Star Troopers to new clearer pictures.
Hasbro, ball jointed heads suck! They make figures look like they've been hung by a noose. Please use neck ball joints like the late 80's GI Joes.

Offline Phrubruh

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Re: Darth Simmons Customs
« Reply #4 on: July 29, 2007, 04:29 PM »
The mods to the DS troopers are very simple and effective. The legs do look alot better this way. Nice job with the guns too.
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Offline Darth Simmons

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Re: Darth Simmons Customs
« Reply #5 on: August 20, 2007, 01:38 PM »
Here is my latest custom, a fanfic Sith by the name of Darth Llaith. (llaith is Welsh for death)









I liked building this one because there was very little paint application involved. Just the breather on Croc Master's head.

Parts Used:
Head - Croc Master Version 2
Torso - Destro Version 10
Waist/Upper Legs - Zartan version 7
Arms/lower legs - Snake Eyes version 24
Cloak - POTF2 Jedi Luke
Lightsaber - Darth Vader (light saber attack version)

Thanks to the Spectre for the cloak and lightsaber in a previous trade.

Oh, and I have no real back story for him, just a time table. Feel free to come up with something. He's supposed to appear between ROTS & ANH to challenge Vader and the Emporer for power (and kill 1 or 2 order 66 survivors). He loses to vader & Palpatine but escapes. Then reappears between ESB & ROTJ when he confronts Luke. My lacks are: where does he come from, and how does he die?
« Last Edit: August 20, 2007, 03:23 PM by Darth Simmons »
Hasbro, ball jointed heads suck! They make figures look like they've been hung by a noose. Please use neck ball joints like the late 80's GI Joes.

Offline Phrubruh

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Re: Darth Simmons Customs
« Reply #6 on: August 20, 2007, 05:32 PM »
Very good use of GI Joe parts there. This is a much more sophicated custom from your last set. I wish I could see better pictures. They are a little blurry.
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Offline Darth Simmons

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Re: Darth Simmons Customs
« Reply #7 on: August 20, 2007, 08:38 PM »
Yeah, I'll try to get some better pics this weekend. My last customs were just some simple Death Star Trooper upgrades. Not really much in the way of customized. So far my most difficult undertaking has Been the ROTJ Han Solo, which I am doing an updated version of soon.
Hasbro, ball jointed heads suck! They make figures look like they've been hung by a noose. Please use neck ball joints like the late 80's GI Joes.

Offline Jesse James

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Re: Darth Simmons Customs
« Reply #8 on: August 21, 2007, 02:37 AM »
What you might want to consider doing Simmons, is put together a small "Light Box" to take photos with...  Pretty simple and easy to put together, and with the proper lighting then and a nice lighter background, you can really enhance even a lower megapixel camera.  It's something to consider if you're going to do a lot of figure photography. 

Hope that helps you out some.
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Offline Darth Simmons

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Re: Darth Simmons Customs
« Reply #9 on: August 21, 2007, 09:34 AM »
I really don't have the space for something like that. Plus I have 3 little boys under 4 years old who would get a hold of it and destroy it.  ;)

I'm learning to work around my camera's faults. It has no macros mode. The best lighting I can get is mid-day sun. Eventually I'll get a tripod which should make the biggest difference. When I brace the camera against something my pics turn out much better, like the later pictures of the Death Star Troopers. I didn't find anything to brace with yesterday when I took the pictures of Darth Llaith. I was in a hurry. I'll get some better pics this weekend.
Hasbro, ball jointed heads suck! They make figures look like they've been hung by a noose. Please use neck ball joints like the late 80's GI Joes.