DSB's Terminator super thread

[Dropshipbob]

I'm just going to go ahead and make this thread to contain all of my up-coming Terminator customs.

First off is this male refugee. Dirty and tired, starving in the ruins, he fights the metal mother f*@#$ers day and night. What he wouldn't do to trade his shotgun for one of those fancy plasma rifles.

He's not one of Connors men, although he fights the machines when necessary.

Upper body: Indiana Jones Sala
Head: DG black Cobra officer
Lower legs: ?

 

[Meddatron]

Right on. That works. There has to be plenty of survivors that are not affiliated with Conner's group.

 

[Dropshipbob]

Indeed! I don't plan on doing many of them because I think they would be too "Mad Max" looking, but I do plan on doing at least a woman and a child.

 

[K-Tiger]

That all actually works pretty damn well.

 

[Dropshipbob]

Danke! I actually got the idea from Star Wars Geek when he posted WIP photos of his Osama Bin Laden custom a few months ago.

 

[Dropshipbob]

Terminators are a funny bunch.

Well, not *haha* funny, since you've seen them kill family, friends, etc. Bbut sometimes, they just do the strangest things.

Example: One day, the fire team I was attached to were doing a recon of a small local town. There wasn't much left after the HK tanks plowed through, but we always need supplies and this was a spot to check. We belly crawled most of our way up to a set of ruins...must have been a farm house at one point. We could hear what sounded like the soft clanks of toasters on the other side so we proceded slowly until we reached a brick wall. Brody carefully looked over the edge and signaled a 2-20 to the rest of us. A few meters away on the other side of the wall was a group of five toasters standing side by side moving abreast of each other looking down at the ground moving slowly. One would stop once in awhile and pick up a piece of rubble, inspect it, then throw it aside. Most of the time it looked to be rocks!
That's what was weird, these things looked like they were playing amateur rock hunters! You just can't picture these things looking at rocks without being there.

Then they all the sudden straightened up, got in a formation and just started walking away like nothing. We decided not to enguage as we were slightly out numbered and we had better things to do.

I guess if we want to distract these things, we should just throw rocks at 'em!

TechCom Morris, 1-32nd recon

 

[Dropshipbob]

Well, they are done...for the most part. I have a pair of hands I'll be sending off to Vortious to have molded and copies made. The hands I'm sending off just look more detailed and more like that on a Terminator Endoskeleton.

I have seven regular units (the line in the back), while the unit in refugee clothing is a commader of sorts and the one in pants is second in command. Not sure if that structure would apply to nameless machines that would get replaced at a moments notice, but it's something the human resistance came up with to tell them apart.
The unit crawling on the ground is more for decoration when I get my diorama going.

All the heads have been replaced with copies of a better version, they came from Star Wars Geek.
All the arms were modified to have a rotation point just below the elbows on both arms, so that they could hold their weapons. There wasn't enough room to do this at the wrists.

 

[Dropshipbob]

"It didn't seem to know what to do, it just kept looking back and forth at...it. Maybe it was waiting on orders or maybe it was stuck in some kinda logic loop.

First Sergent Blaine upon seeing a Terminator unit trying to "help" another

 

[Meddatron]

Looking good! Height fixed and damn do those heads look more menacing. Got plans for one with half its skin gone? Seems to me its all you need yet. The one with the pants works well but I am trying to figure out if its battle damaged that way, or "manufactured" that way. If battle damaged, maybe dirty him up a bit?

 

[Dropshipbob]

The height wasn't actually fixed on purpose...I think that happened when I replaced the head, I had to make a new neck so that probably raised them up a bit.

The one with half the skin...can you be more specific? The only plans I have are for the diorama, if that's what you mean?

The one with pants...I'm not sure how to explain that one. I once saw an illustration in an old STARLOG magazine and there was a Terminator in it wearing just pants...no torn flesh or anything, just pants. So he was kind of a homage to that. I like to think that maybe it's a glitch in it's system. They are supposed to make themselves blend in, wear clothing...but that only works when they are encased in flesh. Maybe this one forgot that little point?

It's kind of funny if you start thinking they have these little idosyncracies...it gives them a little bit of character.

 

[Dropshipbob]

Oh, I also forgot to mention that I put a swivel in their waists as well.

 

[Meddatron]

Right on. I see now with the pants one.

Guess I should have said torn flesh instead of half the skin. An Endoskeleton with bits of flesh here and there would be awesome.

Kinda like these.

 

[Dropshipbob]

Ahh, I see. Well, the African American Terminator I have has some battle damage/torn flesh on his arm and leg and as few tiny bits of endoskull showing (when his hood isn't on).

 

[Dropshipbob]

Resistance fighter with captured 40 watt plasma rifle.

 

[Obi-Shinobi]

Ahh, I see. Well, the African American Terminator I have has some battle damage/torn flesh on his arm and leg and as few tiny bits of endoskull showing (when his hood isn't on).

Ahhh, I see... you mean the "black" guy. Pix of the skull, or it never happened. And for Pete's sake, weather that guys poncho! For having leg flesh missing, his clothes are too damn clean! Do it!

Resistance fighter with captured 40 watt plasma rifle.

Must have taken you hours to put that guy together! :lmao:

I kid, I kid...

 

[Dropshipbob]

Ahhh, I see... you mean the "black" guy. Pix of the skull, or it never happened. And for Pete's sake, weather that guys poncho! For having leg flesh missing, his clothes are too damn clean! Do it!



Must have taken you hours to put that guy together! :lmao:

I kid, I kid...

I did weather him, but it was mostly on everything BUT the poncho...I'll have to fix that. His skull doesn't really show, it's really just a few tiny "dings".

Well, I was going to make some resistance fighters using the Dollar General black cobra trooper and changing/sculpting a few details...except I can't find enough of them. But what I can find plenty of are those BBi Chaos figures...and they are much cheaper, so I'll probably use a bunch of them and just change around the pouches and such.

 

[Meddatron]

I think the BBI will have a better look in the long run. Sure less articluation at hips, but overall I think they will fit in better.

 

[Dropshipbob]

The BBI figure certainly fits in a bit better. I mean, in T2, what are the chances that there would be a uniform after all the nukes fell and they are basically fighting a running battle with Skynet and the terminators? I liked the more rag-tag look of the resistance fighters in Terminator Salvation.

 

[Meddatron]

totally agree!

 

[Dropshipbob]

I could re-fit the BBI figure with Joe legs if I could remember where I saw how to do so.

 

[Meddatron]

BL4CKSH33P did one http://www.fighting118th.com/forum/all-other-customs/8108-bbi-joe-mashup-wip.html

I don't mind the t-hips. I think you can still get plenty of good poses. Up to you if you want to mod though.

 

[Dropshipbob]

Another battle damaged Terminator

I'm not sure how to feel about him wearing a wife beater, jeans and boots as most of my customs are for the "future war" aspect of the Terminator universe, and this looks a little too clean and present-day for that.

Terminators will wear whatever they can get their metal hands on though!

For this one I simply thinned out a Luke Skywalker head with a Dremel until it fit over a endoskull I had. I did this because that seemed the easiest way to get "skin over endoskull" parts without having to sculpt over the endoskull with putty or some such...which isn't something I could pull off even on my best day. Sadly, I had to remove much of the endoskull so the "skin" would fit over it, so I don't have the ability to remove the Luke face and have an endoskull showing. Well....I could, but it would look dam goofy.

 

[niknak96]

I agree with you on the outfit not fitting in too well for the grimey future vibe but that face looks pretty cool! Did you hollow out a Luke head and put it on over an endoskeleton skull?

 

[Dropshipbob]

Maybe I can dirt him up, put some sort of ponch on him? I hate to do that as the other battle damaged terminator I have is wearing a poncho and hood.

Maybe some sort of tactical vest or some such?

And to answer your question, that's exactly what I did on the head.

 

[Dropshipbob]

Another thing I noticed, just about all of my pictures are taken from the same angle (body pointed left, head facing right)! As if it's not bad enough I take all my photos on my work desk.

And it's funny how some customs or parts get re-purposed. This figure started out as a First Blood Rambo, then went on to Die Hard McClane and now this.

 

[Dropshipbob]

I've been replacing the stock hands on the endoskeletons with robot hands from Vortious, and I have to say it's a change for the better...much more detailed. I wish I could take a close-up photo of this little change but my camera isn't capable of it.

 

[Dropshipbob]

My little group of resistance fighters. Yes, I know they don't look much different from straight out of the box, but I just like them that way. I did add some weathering and the Social Clash Lady Jaye had her outfit completely repainted and the collar turned down. The Channing Tatum figure is a DG black Cobra officer with an OD and dirt dry brushing. I choose the helmet because I wanted something slightly sci-fi and that was all I had.

But....if anyone has any suggestions on what I could do to improve any of them, I'm all ears.

 

[Dropshipbob]

Connor....John Connor. The one who led us to storm the wire of the disposal camps, to smash those metal mother f*%#ers into junk.

-DG Cobra officer body with added details
-25th Anniversary Comic Pack Wave 5 Lt. Falcon lower arms
-GI joe pursuit of Cobra Zartan head with sculpted hair and repaint
-And one itty-bitty custom made name tag

 

[K-Tiger]

Fuck yeah, Micheal Edwards John Connor!

 

[Dropshipbob]

As close as I could get him!

His hair still gives me fits, but I'm not sure what it is exactly.

And he's got one of those dam legs that's shorter than the other!!! DAM IT! I tried fixing it using the method once mentioned over on HT, but it didn't keep. So now If I try to pose him standing straight, his hip juts out to one side.

 

[K-Tiger]

There's a solution for that leg length thing?

 

[Dropshipbob]

Indeed but nothing sophisticated. Heat the leg up that you want longer and squeeze the hell out of it with a pair of pliers with the "teeth" covered up.

Of course this tends to leave the part of the leg that was crimped a bit skinnier than the rest.

Unless it does like mine and reverts back to it's original length and thickness.

 

[K-Tiger]

Oh. Yeah, that sounds iffy at best.

 

[Contraband]

As close as I could get him!

His hair still gives me fits, but I'm not sure what it is exactly.

And he's got one of those dam legs that's shorter than the other!!! DAM IT! I tried fixing it using the method once mentioned over on HT, but it didn't keep. So now If I try to pose him standing straight, his hip juts out to one side.

^
Did you ever try crossing knees? two of the same knee? Or different knees all together. Its surprising what changes by swapping knees of all things! especially since both sides aren't symmetrical on these figures.

 

[Dropshipbob]

I had not thought of that! So do you think the trouble is the knee joint, the leg, both?

 

[Contraband]

^
Idk which is at fault in this case,or even if it'll help or not. I have played with those legs in the past tho...changing knees out can change the way any figure stands from what I've seen. I'd take apart some blue DG troopers,and use their knees as guinny pigs...everyone has spare blue DG troopers laying around once you get them the way you like you can implement that on your custom.