Rex's WIPs

[Mandingo Rex]

I guess it's time I started a WIP thread. Won't be as exciting as Cloud's but I need some help figuring some stuff out.

It's been about 9 months since I've even worked on a custom, but I've got about 15 in queue now in some format or another. First up, Metalhead:

Problems... The webgear is from the "Best of 80's" Cobra Para-Trooper. While I'm not 100% opposed to cutting up that figure since I have 5 more (I got a China 5-pack off eBay for $30 a year or 2 ago) he's still a damned rare and good looking figure. Probably my second favorite blueshirt version besides the POC/30th blueshirt.

Really, all that's left is 2 bigger issues and one small one:

• Figuring out the webgear. If I use the existing one shown above, the front is perfect... I'd cut off the leg straps at the waist belt and add a knife to the front below the top strap. Easily done. Problem is, there's no way to cleanly cut off the backpack/chute without leaving a big blank nothing on his back, and it doesn't really work the way I wanted (as paintless/cobbled together as little as possible). Question is, is there another option that's similar? Doesn't matter what toy line, so long as it's lighter in color and I don't have to do a lot of assembly. I don't mind doing all that, but I try to keep my customs as playable as possible lately.

• Missile gear. Ideally I'd get the vintage gear and scale it down about 15%. But that's not an option. The original is really bulky and I'm afraid would look absurd, yet I don't know what parts I could use to build my own. Any suggestions? Gundam parts? Etc.?

• Paint. It's the 30th Crimson Horseman figure, so the base figure was damn near spot-on for Metal-Head to begin with. I painted the red collar and flesh on the neck, and swapped out the lower arms for IG Destro arms. I may use the vintage upper legs but I think the current ones are fine. I'll probably do a little bit of red highlights and grey kneepads, and perhaps paint a little of the currently-red straps/highlights black to tone it down a little.

 

[Cloud Strife]

It's good to see you back making customs!

Excellent choice for a base for MH. I've not seen the Crimson Horseman before, but it definitely works nicely for an updated MH base.

As far as the web gear goes, the chute definitely works in the front. You might be able to shave the chute pack down and place the missile pods (whichever you choose to use) in such a way as to cover the shaved down chute pack area. Of course, this is contingent upon which missile pods you go with.

I can't think of any alternatives to the OG MH missile pods. I'll see what I can find though.

 

[pcsguy88]

Is that the same webgear as Crazy Legs?

 

[Cloud Strife]

Yeah, it's the same.

 

[unclassified]

i wonder if the missles from sky dive would work. i know on the tank a few ppl made metal heads, you should look into them for ideas.

 

[Mandingo Rex]

It's good to see you back making customs!

Excellent choice for a base for MH. I've not seen the Crimson Horseman before, but it definitely works nicely for an updated MH base.

As far as the web gear goes, the chute definitely works in the front. You might be able to shave the chute pack down and place the missile pods (whichever you choose to use) in such a way as to cover the shaved down chute pack area. Of course, this is contingent upon which missile pods you go with.

I can't think of any alternatives to the OG MH missile pods. I'll see what I can find though.

The Crimson Horseman wasn't my idea. A guy on HT who I can't recall at the moment used it straight-up for his. I hate the lower arms, but the rest of the figure works quite well. I could easily cobble a better construction together from other parts, but I'd have to paint it all, and I'm just not into doing that with my customs anymore considering how I want to keep them as factory/movable as possible without having to do touchups all the time.

But I think it works well enough. He's the driver for the 30th Crimson HISS. (I bought the damn thing for the driver, at full price. Now I have the tank to get rid of. Ouch.)

Here's another thought on the webgear: backwards Cobra Officer gear. I tried that last night. Again, my problem is that the only figure I own who has an almost all-white webgear is the TRU SRO 3-pack Officer, and he's not exactly cheap, either. I'd used that webgear on my "Jetpack Trooper" to make another kitbash custom, so I don't exactly wanna chop him up, either. Ugh.

Is that the same webgear as Crazy Legs?

I forgot about Crazy Legs having that gear! I need him to make a better Slipstream, glad you mentioned it! I could always steal his gear... Good call.

I'm still not 100% sold on ruining one of those chutes, though. They're rare-ish and look great. I'd hate to cut one up.

 

[Mandingo Rex]

i wonder if the missles from sky dive would work. i know on the tank a few ppl made metal heads, you should look into them for ideas.

Yeah, I've seen several use the vintage gear. It just always looks so silly and bulky. I want to be as close to the original gear-wise as possible, and there's no other Joe's gear that remotely matches.

I bought a figure off eBay last night (sniped that shit, I probably pissed off some poor guy!) that was all messed up, but his gear seemed to be fine from the pics. I'm going to see how bad the vintage gear looks, but I'm going to be it looks silly. It really does need to be scaled down at least 15%, if not more.

I know Asphalt can shrink stuff down, but that could get pricy, and not sure if weapons/gear is as easy to shrink as head sculpts are.

 

[G.I.*EDDIE]

get one of the best of CCs with a a chute harness...i think it looks much closer to M-Hs gear...you'd need a small strap across the top though....then use whatever waist belt you want...

 

[Mandingo Rex]

I have that CC. It still has a backpack on him that's a chute. Grrr.

 

[G.I.*EDDIE]

it helps so much that both harness' are white like M-H's...have you tried ebay?

 

[Mandingo Rex]

Oof. eBay on either of those two is bound to be insane. I'll give it a shot.

Like I mentioned before, I got a vintage set of MH gear off there last night, but with the holiday I doubt it'll ship till tomorrow sometime, and won't be here till the weekend. So I've got some time to figure it out in the meantime.

I'll post pics in a few of the Officer webgear turned backwards. That's the one I'm leaning to so far, and yeah... It's almost all-white (an off-white grey) which works perfect. I'd prefer to not paint any part of the webbing that touches the torso, since it's light on dark and would look awful if there was any paint transfer.

 

[Mandingo Rex]

Metal-Head is almost done. I'm just waiting on a knife sheath from Cloud, and I should be done. I may do a few paint apps still on the webgear, not sure.

And then here's my Leatherneck with the SDS head finally painted up to replace the Gung Ho head. He now looks like the rugged Marine he's supposed to be.

And my 30th Lifeline, with shoulder straps and vintage pack added, plus the chest pockets and knee pads painted more properly.

 

[bigbawsmcgraw]

very nice mate!

 

[Cloud Strife]

Nicely done all 3, Rex! The officer web gear looks to work nicely on MH. Nice job painting that LN head-sculpt. I know that the eyes on the LN sculpt can be difficult to paint, as they seem to be a bit small, and the hat brim doesn't help out any either. The UE on the LL's knee pad looks clean, man. Well done!


*Edit* Have you tried Croc Master's hands for Leatherneck? The one's you're currently using (Buzzer?) are a bit small for those forearms.

 

[Meddatron]

Metal head looks spot on. awesome, he is on my list to do someday and you just gave me some inspiration to get the parts. that Leatherneck head is all that. He is one of the best I have seen. Amazing paintjob on that head and equally amazing paintjob finishing the letters on lifeline's knees. all around excellent work as usual bro.

 

[rds13601]

They look great!!!!!

 

[G.I.*EDDIE]

nice clean work my friend...really like the paint work you did to LNs head sculpt...looks really smooth...

did you redo all of LLs letters or just the UE?

 

[Mandingo Rex]

Thanks fellas. The Leatherneck head was a major pain in the ass to paint due to the hat bill. Not as bad as Gung Ho, but close. If the hat was molded in 2 pieces, it'd be super easy to paint the eyes. That's one of the few complaints I've had on any SDS sculpts. Gung Ho, LN and Keel-Haul all 3 sucked to paint the eyes.

As for Lifeline, I just painted the UE on the kneepad. I painted the U 3 times. It looks too curved, but straight-on, it matches perfectly. The curvature of those bulky kneepads makes it weird to read from one angle no matter how I tried to paint it. An overhead photo makes it look curved, but it's straight.

I painted it that way first, then painted it to look right from a slightly above angle, then it looked weird from eye-level. So I repainted it yet again back to the way I had it originally.

 

[Monkeywrench]

Looking good brah. Leatherneck is my favorite out of the bunch

 

[G.I.*EDDIE]

Thanks fellas. The Leatherneck head was a major pain in the ass to paint due to the hat bill. Not as bad as Gung Ho, but close. If the hat was molded in 2 pieces, it'd be super easy to paint the eyes. That's one of the few complaints I've had on any SDS sculpts. Gung Ho, LN and Keel-Haul all 3 sucked to paint the eyes.

usually, with a molded hat, i paint the yes first then go back and carefully fix the brim

 

[Mandingo Rex]

That's what I do, too, ya mook.

But just getting the brush in under the brim, was the pain. Once the eyes were done, the hat itself was no problem. I did cringe, half expecting the paint to wick into the corners and flood the eyes, but I was really careful.

I had to repaint the eyes a total of 5 times, probably. His right eye took 2 more tries than the other one. Not sure why it was such a pain in the ass.

 

[MAJOR BLOOD]

Cool!

 

[Mandingo Rex]

Cool!

Great job! (I see what you did there.)

 

[G.I.*EDDIE]

Here's Xs reply since he rarely shows his face

WOW!!!!!!!!

 

[Push You Down]

I think I have to steal that Metal Head recipe.

 

[Mandingo Rex]

Thanks man. The Crimson Horseman body idea was stolen from a guy at HissTank, I'll have to dig it up for the credit when I post the proper final thread for the finished figure.

 

[Mandingo Rex]

Some SDS heads I'm painting up for Fogger... I'll eventually get the RnR V2 head myself... Erm, well, whenever my 2.5 orders from SDS finally arrive, that is. I need to clear-coat them and do a darker wash on the Resolute Scarlett, but they're pretty much done. Well, sort of...

I'm not happy with the chick on the left... I kinda fucked up her pupils, so I may repaint them. Not something I'm excited about, since she has a sculpted strand of hair that goes directly in front of one eye. Makes it extremely hard to do detail work like that.

My concern is that I'll repaint the eyes, though, and they won't be as good the second time around. Hmm. Thoughts?

I've got a Tollbooth in the works now, too (thanks to Fogger for getting me the head from SlayerCon2!). Along with a handful of "Spare Part Frankenjoes" that are original characters, and a Stretcher. Finally finished up Metal-Head. I just need to photograph him and make a thread. Also, I repainted Renegades Scarlett's eyes, so she's not so bug-eyed anymore.

This was the first weekend in the past month that I've had off. It was nice to finally catch up. I've worked three 90+ hour weeks in a row...

 

[Cloud Strife]

They look good, Rex! I see what you're saying about the pupils on the chick on the left. It looks like her right one (to the left in the pic) just needs to be touched up. The other one looks solid enough. I have that same head sculpt and never thought about the difficulty of painting with the hair in the way.

 

[Meddatron]

These look great, I too see what you mean with that eye. its not that bad off but noticiable with how clean the other eye looks. That RnR head came out sweet. The way you did that beard is great. Shows all the shadows and depth to it. His eyes, well, one couldnt paint them better even with a machine, Bravo. With Scarlett, I love that small underlining black line to show her eyeliner under her eyes. Gives them that feminine look quite good. I think Fogger is gonna be a happy man!!

 

[fogger1138]

Damn. I spent hours yesterday working on customs, including several where I was just practicing painting heads. I thought I was doing quite well until I saw these. Now I realize how much work I still have to do.

They look great, btw, if that wasn't clear from the above. You really didn't have to paint all three, though, honest.

 

[Mandingo Rex]

Haha, no worries Fogger. As much as I hate painting eyes, it gives me more practice. I realized I'd never painted female eyes before, and that extra lash line is a huge pain. Also getting their eyebrows crisper is more difficult.

You should see the heads I painted 4 years ago. Simply awful. I've just had 4 years of painting eyes under my belt, with about 40+ customs for practice.

I went ahead and repainted the upper lash line and was able to keep a steady hand to finish the girl's eye without a repaint. Looks much better now. I'll try and post pics shortly. Cloud-- it's a great head but that strand of hair was a PAIN to paint around. I almost clipped it off and said the hell with it, but I was able to get at the eye from around it.

 

[Cloud Strife]

I know what you mean about getting the eyelash effect on female head-sculpts. My recent Scarlett custom was the 1st female head-sculpt I've painted and it took some work to get the "eyelashes" decent and similar to one another.

I was thinking about using that particular female head for a short-haired Cover Girl, not totally sure though. Originally, I was going to re-sculpt the the back half of her hair to give her a ponytail and make Scarlet out of her. Obviously, I went a different route with Scarlett, but I still think it might work for CG.

 

[Mandingo Rex]

It doesn't feel much like Cover-Girl to me... Not sure who, but she didn't seem like an auburn/redhead. So I went with brunette. Blond wouldn't look half bad. Fogger, did you have a preference? I just dislike painting blond hair because it's hard to get eyebrows that show up (if I use yellow/blond hues) or they look too cholla (pencilled on) if the hair is blond and the brows are dark.

 

[fogger1138]

Nope, no preference, was leaving it totally up to you.

 

[Mandingo Rex]

Fogger, those heads are done. I just need to get them out to you. I'll post pics soon so you can make sure you're cool with them finished.

Here's my Tollbooth and Steam-Roller. Tollbooth is almost done, I just need to paint the patch on his sleeve, and put his vest on (it's drying, not pictured). Maybe a few more details. I have dogtags for him, too. They're drying as well (again, not pictured.)

Steam-Roller's vest is drying, I just glued the grenades on after modding a Captain America (Avengers line) vest to fit better. Still need to paint the vest up, and cut down some dogtags for him, too. Also, I've got some more details to do on SR, too. I'm still not sure if I'm going to put the "DOG" on his hat, or not. I don't want to do a sticker, and I have no source for water-slide decals. (If you know of something, let me know.) I also don't want to paint the letters, but an all-yellow trucker cap front will probably drive me nuts. Let me know what you guys think...

 

[flint-wo2]

Steam-Roller's vest is drying, I just glued the grenades on after modding a Captain America (Avengers line) vest to fit better.

Is the vest easy to remove?

 

[Mandingo Rex]

No, no it's not. I was super pissed about it.

It has a peg, like any 25th-forward Joes, but they glued the damn thing. To the strap, AND the side of the figure.

I had to pry it off him, and then trim a ton off it. The plastic of the vest is super rubbery, and if I wasn't careful, would have torn a lot more.

I mean, with work, you can take it off, but it didn't come off like I thought it should, and it wasn't clean. The Cap figure I'm going to throw away. I also had to cut off the stupid belt, too, because it was glued the same way (there's a peg, but then they glued it to the belt).

 

[fogger1138]

Fogger, those heads are done. I just need to get them out to you. I'll post pics soon so you can make sure you're cool with them finished.

Thanks, man. I appreciate you painting all three; you really didn't have to.

 

[Cloud Strife]

Looking good, MR. Is that a Slayer sculpt for Steam Roller? I don't believe I've ever seen that one. A water-slide decal would definitely be ideal for the "DOG" on SR's hat, but I'm in the same boat as you when it comes to water-slide decals . If you're not able to get one, I would suggest just painting the entire hat black, and get rid of the yellow panel.

That sucks about the Captain America vest. Why does Hasbro insist on becoming less and less customizer friendly? I've thought about getting that figure for the vest as well, but just have never thought of who to use it for. I'm looking forward to seeing you put it to use.

MH is looking pretty good in the background with all of his gear on, but it's a little difficult to make him out .

 

[G.I.*EDDIE]

Fantastic job on the reprinted head for SR...can't even tell he used to be zartan...and I'm really liking the SDS TB head...has a very east coast look to him if that makes any sense...though, he is kinda horse faced...

Your background figs really made me wish even more for a 1:18th TF line...thanks a lot

EDIT...have you thought about dry rub decals for the hat?...