Using that crappy Stone vest was an idea I had earlier this week when I was digging out my parts... Glad to see it actually works! It's a great base vest for gluing gear to, but awful by itself.
As usual, the paint apps look fantastic. I'm going to wait until we get that Retaliation Beachhead, so I don't waste a Stalker, which can be used for an O13 update.
You inspired me to try my hand at painting more realistic camo. I have about 5 "spare parts" figures I'm making into original characters, and I already painted one up today as a full repaint. I think I'll play around with some other patterns so that when I get around to a real figure, I can try to make it look as good as yours.
Yeah, the Retaliation BH is an excellent base figure for customs. I like the web gear it comes with better than the Stalker web gear too.
Personally, after making my Wry1 inspired RB, I started to like the real world camo better than the primarily 2-toned camo that Hasbro has been giving Joes since they started in the 80's. Not to say that I still don't dig the ARAH designs, but I figured that if I was going to update some characters w/new gear and loadouts, I might as well update their camo.
Painting camo that consists of more than 2 colors can definitely be tedious and time consuming, but I think it's worth it when it's all said and done. You may already be doing this, but I highly recommend Googling the desired camo pattern and finding an image of what you're wanting to paint on your figure. You can then either get the general idea of how the camo is done and freestyle it (what I do), or try to replicate the exact same camo pattern in the image and paint it on the figure (might actually be a better approach...). Like I said, you may already be doing something similar with your camo, but just wanted to try and be helpful, if I could.
I definitely look forward to seeing your original customs!
i have glued things , and as though it seemed it was on for good, plus i even clamp it with tweezers while drying, i still had things pop off. i thought for sure the glue worked great on that type of plastic. i don't glue to many things on no more, it was elite force pouches and shit like that.
I use the quick drying Gorilla Glue. It's way better than Super Glue as it creates a stronger bond. I usually hold the piece in place and squeeze as hard as I can for 30 seconds, per the directions on the bottle, and I rarely have anything come unglued. In the case of BH's vest, I've handled the vest like any other vest that I haven't modded and everything is still holding strong and in place. I'm not saying that Gorilla Glue is perfect, as it's not like solvents that melt plastic and fuse them together, but it seems to hold up well, IMO.
