USS Flagg Carrier Carrier Strike Group project

[Jedi_Master_Ben]

Hello everyone,

A few of you have asked me to post a few things about this massive project I have been working on for the past year: U.S.S. Flagg Carrier Strike Group project.

Back Story: I always wanted a USS Flagg playset when I was a kid, but because I was overseas at the time when it came out, my folks could not get it. I finally got one 10 years later from a comic shop in Tucson, AZ for $75 in used condition (aka missing parts). At that time I was also in the Army and had a better appriciation for all things military. One thing that drove me nutz was the lack of support crew for the USS Flagg playset. I remember in '93 at the Pasadena, CA. JoeCon, someone had set up a Flagg with like 50 Shipwreck figures on it. It looked odd to me back then. I also talked to the Hasbro rep that day about an idea for a Battleship playset and a Submarine playset, but was quickly shut down (no unsolicited ideas). Coming out of that experience, I wanted to do two things, create a deck crew for the Flagg and a command staff. Sometime later after my military career was cut short, I had to let go of my Flagg and abbandon the project.

Fast forward up to last year or so, and I reaquired a USS Flagg by purchasing it piece by piece thru e-bay. In addition too, I purchased a GI Joe USS Destroyer (3ft long Destoyer (WWII type)) and a GI Joe USS Tigershark (3 ft long Submarine (Los Angeles class I think)) in preperation for the ultimate Navy GI Joe project I ever took on, the USS Flagg Carrier Strike Group!

This project will include the following:

- Restoring/ Custom painting a USS Flagg tolook more like a Navy Carrier (starting by turning the deck numbers the "Navy" way.

- Sculpting and casting Deck Crew in all colors departments, race and gender.

- Casting suport crew for bridge and other areas of the ship including a Command staff, Sailors, and Marines

- Casting/ customize support equipment like the Weapons Transport vehicle and other items

- Costomize the USS Destroyer to accept Joe figures ( this will not be true scale but rather GI Joe scale custom vehicle modification)

- Somehow be able to cast duplicate the USS Destroyer and make 2 more out of it with names like the USS Jane and the USS Colton

- Costomize the USS Tiger Shark to accept Joe figures ( this will not be true scale but rather GI Joe scale custom vehicle modification)

Whew!

So Where am I:

USS Flagg:

I got most of the parts for the my Flagg except for the same small parts everyone seems to need (Bulkhead Doors, Mast Cap, Fan Tail Rail, ect.) but I am not looking for originial parts, reproduction parts work just fine for me. The ship was in bad shape allowing me to get the parts at a reasonable price. This was never about restoring her mint condition, but to be used for this massive dio and some day my fugure grand kids will want to play with it. I plan to get the parts I need for her, thanks to Alyosha cast reproductions parts. I got in some reproduction stickers from Ruben awesome site: www.rattlerrepros.weebly.com - Home. Most of the stickers were in very bad shape or non existant like the deck pieces. Over at HissTank, customizer wertdog91 just finsihed his restoration project. He painted his superstructure and it turned out so great that he inspired me to do the same. I painted my superstructure the color of a Navy superstructure using Testor Model Master Navy Agressor Grey. to display the Flagg, I picked up 2 4ft folding tables to set the Flagg on and get her off the floor. At the moment, the table is only wide enough to support the Flagg, but I plan on putting sheets of plywood on top to widen the table to allow the support ships to sit on. At this point I am waiting for some more stickers from Ruben to replace the ones I screwed up (don't ask).

Here are some pics of my Flagg on the floor in my studio, at this point, no new sticers have been applied and the tower has not been painted yet:

The Deck Crew:

I started watching the documentary called "Carrier" and it was full of useful details to feed this project. It had lots of video of all the differnent posstions each colored deck crew functioned on the deck. I started looking at howI was going to make the deck crew, what part construction to use, ect. Over at Terrordrom.com, I came across a custom that used Tripwire head and ROC Breaker body and vest to make a Deck Crew custom. It looked great but was not really accurate to the real deal. I sculpted a new head with cranial and goggles and MK-1 Lifevest. I molded and cast the sculpted parts along with a cast copy of the ROC Breaker body. The first head was a Caucasian male. I went on to make an African-American Male head version for this figure kit. Check out the pics:

Later on I went ahead and made a female version of the Deck Crew using newly sculpted female crainum head (both Caucasian and African-American) and same MK-1 vest. The torso is a new original sculpted torso based on the ROC Breaker design. Amrs are from ROC scarlett (modified) and Legs are from ROC Breaker legs. She stands shorter than her male counter part, easy to spot out on deck. Currently in WIP stage as I need to cast 2 of every color female deck crew to fill out the ranks. Here is a picture of one of them:

More to come, stay tuned.

 

[NSA]

The crew is a nice touch, looking forward to seeing what else you do with this.

 

[Monkeywrench]

Awesome!!!

Like NSA said, I 'm really liking the crew!

 

[fogger1138]

Ambitious project!

 

[Meddatron]

That crew is awesome. Thanks so much for sharing how you did them. Very great work! The hat in the attached pics is a work of art as well.

 

[Jedi_Master_Ben]

Continuation:

The Sailors:

I wanted to change things up. I did not want use the same Shipwreck head over and over or use a cast of his hat. The sailors in modern Navy boats wear baseball style caps with a patch that has the ship name, silhouette of the ship, and the ship number. I had a cast of a baseball hat laying around, so I sculpted the USS Flagg patch on it. It is by far my most smallest detail work to date. Here is some pictures:

From there I went and mold and cast the 25th 5pack Shipwreck body and made a few male sailors by using random head casts I had laying around from my days with SDS (now The Angel Forge). I created a female sailor by sculpting a new torso based on the 25th 5pack Shipwreck body uniform, sculpt new arms, new thighs and made a mold and cast of the lower legs of the first 25th Shipwreck. I used random female head casts that I had laying around that can support a baseball cap. This same tooling was then used to do a dark blue top and dark blue bottom work uniform as well as cast in khaki to make officers uniforms. Check out the pictures:

The Command Staff:

Up 'til now we did not have a modern Admiral Keel Haul. A lot of good customs out there, but not what I was looking for. Even the new FFS version is not what I wanted. I was looking for a modern Navy Officer. So I took the extra General Hawk figure torso and arms, cast legs from my Agent Shades figure, sculpted a new hat on a modified SDS Tom Selleck head. The idea is that he is wearing all Khaki uniform with his flight jacket on. I was thinking of putting the Ghost Striker Squadron patch on the back and maybe some other patches. The Admiral should be in charge of a fleet aka Carrier Strike Group, so the Flagg needed a Captain and XO. Using the male sailor arms and torso, I cast a set of SDS Agent Shades' legs in khaki to make officer uniforms. Heads were random casts laying around. To top them off, I added the gold leaf pattern on the bills of the Flagg hats to set them apart as commanding officers. For the female officer, I cast the female sailor arms, thighs, and torso and cast the Agent Shades lower legs in khaki. The head was a Mon Mothma head I had extra of and topped her off with a Flagg hat. This one was a junior officer. The next figure is a male officer tooling but made him the ship's doctor. Waiting on a stethoscope and some other medical gear for him. Also, one of the white shirts is a SMO (Senior Medical Officer). He is made like the other deck crew with Agent Shades Legs. One more officer was needed to be made, the Air Boss. This one was made with the ROC Breaker arms and torso with cast legs from Agent Shades. The head is a random cast head from SDS along with a modified head set from another cast head that was dremeled for the headset. Here is there pictures:

More to come, stay tuned.

 

[Maritime96]

Your work is amazing. Your work on that hat is AWESOME. Looking forward to seeing what you have in store for this project

 

[YT1]

Great work to be sure!

 

[Cloud Strife]

Such an awesome project and everything looks great so far!

 

[Jedi_Master_Ben]

Here comes the Marines!

Marine Security Guard detachment:

Over at the 'Tank, someone asked about a Marine detachment for the Flagg. I recall seeing some Marines on the documentary "Carrier", so I decided to do a BDU version of the Marine uniform, which by adding a weapon and vest, I can take him from guard duty to combat ready. (Upon further research, these Marine figures are designated as Marine Security Guard detachment. Thanks to Dannyc for pointing me in the right direction). I decided to go with the ROC Zartan/ MP figure as the base figure with the arms from ROC Sgt Stone. This is the same configureation used for the Pitt trooper from the TRU multipack. I mold and cast the figure and the additional Sgt Stone arms. I was torn as to what version the uniform should be, 80's woodland or modern digital pattern. I opted to go with the digital pattern and the color scheme from the ROC Jungle Ripcord. My favorite Marine movie is Heartbreak Ridge and I awlays wanted to make a Gunny Highway figure. Thanks to SDS, I modified their Clint head by giving him a flat top. To top off the Marine figure, I took my sculpted Gung Ho head I made for SDS and dremeled the hat from the head and then hollowed it out to fit the head, making it removable if needed to be. I took my time and painted the figure to somewhat match the digital pattern. I liked how it turned out. I casted a second figure, this time used the cast of a Renegades Ripcord head. I want to make 3 more Marines to finish the set. Here's the picture:

Master of Arms - Shore Patrol:

Ok, this was a byproduct from the Marine casting. I figure I would have some fun and make a Master of Arms/ Shore Patrol set. I figure I needed someone to haul in Shipwreck's drunken ass from the port bars back to the ship. This figure use the whole tooling of the ROC Zartan/ MP figure with random cast heads from SDS. The hats are the same 8 point hats as the Marines with the Marine logo removed. I went and found some close to Navy NWU digital uniforms colors paints and painted them up similar to the Marine figures. I searched online and found an image of that shoulder band with SP on it that match the type of arm band that is on the ROC Zartan/MP figure. Above the SP was the American flag. It was the only one of that type of arm band I found, all the others I saw were either MP or a rectangle arm band with SP on it. I painted the SP and the flag on the arm band. I think it turned or great. I would like to get a cast of the 30th Law vest and gear to turn these into Navy police as well as Shore Patrol. Here are some pics:

Work in progress

Painted

Taking Shipwreck back to the ship after a long night of hard drinking.



Missile Rack Transport:

In addition to the figures, I feel the Flagg needed other support equipment and vehicles. I came across an image that showed something like the Weapons Transport tractor on the flight deck both in white and in yellow. So I got one on e-bay for a decent price and mold and cast it in yellow. I still need to cast one in white. The trailer needed to be longer to transport the missiles to the aircraft. In the documentary "Carrier" I saw the Ordnance crew pulling these trailers with an handle as well as being pulled by a tractor vehicle. I still need to mold and cast the longer trailer and make some handles for it. Here are some pictures of were I am with it:

That's it for now, stay tuned for more updates and thanks for the comments so far.

 

[Fled74]

Oh. My. God.

That is some phenomenal work, on a truly epic scale.

In my humble opinion, this is by far the most impressive and ambitious custom project ever shared by a new member, and that's saying a lot, given the sheer level of talent and ability of our forum members.

 

[G.I.*EDDIE]

Holy balls!!...your work on creating a full crew is outstanding!...my personal fave is the flight deck crew...the head sculpts are just so cool...

Do you happen to have a JSI F-14 Ben?...I'd love to see a dio with it and your deck crew...

 

[Jedi_Master_Ben]

One more thing I forgot to add. Can't be a Carrier Strike Group without the support ships. As I said before, I have acquired the GI Joe USS Destroyer ship and the GI Joe Tiger Shark sub to convert so they can fit modern Joe figures. At the moment, I am more focus on the crew and restoring the Flagg, but once that's done, I will turn my attentions to these two.

USS Destroyer:

For now I am thinking of extending her by another foot bring her to 4ft long, Arleigh Burke-class destroyer. As I was repainting the superstructure of the Flagg, I had the idea to use parts of the structure (mold and cast copy of one) to build a new superstructure for the destroyer. I got an extra Flagg gun for the deck of the destroyer. And that's as far as I got with the planning stage. I am not sure I want to cut this one up and was thinking of ways to make a mold of the hull and other structures and work off the casts parts, but I am drawing a blank on how to start. All well, here are some pics to show this beauty with some figures on her:

USS Tiger Shark:

This one is not so complicated as the destroyer. Simply gut the rooms out and make new stations to accommodate Joe figures. I got two of these subs on line to make a complete exterior. Was thinking about changing out the propeller and extend the back a bit. It has potential to be a cool playset vehicle. Anyways, here are some pics:

That should do it for this initial posting. From this point on will be updates as I showcase progress on this dream project. Stay tuned for more updates down the line.

 

[G.I.*EDDIE]

I love the idea of lengthening your sea vessels

 

[Fled74]

I love the idea of lengthening your sea vessels

What's long and hard and full of seamen?

 

[G.I.*EDDIE]

Oh! Oh!...I know! I know!...my wife's esophagus!

:hijack:

 

[Jedi_Master_Ben]

Holy balls!!...your work on creating a full crew is outstanding!...my personal fave is the flight deck crew...the head sculpts are just so cool...

Do you happen to have a JSI F-14 Ben?...I'd love to see a dio with it and your deck crew...

Thanks for the comment. I don't have JSI F-14, but I have seen pictures of one next to a Joe F-14 which dwarfed it. Over at Small Scale Military Headquarters (http://www.warbird-photos.com/gpxd/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=27162) a member over there (pizzaguy) made a carrier tractor kit, 1:18th scale. In his pictures, he used that jet with tractor. I personally do not have the funds or the space for that scale jet in my studio. I am sure my deck crew figure kit would look awesome next to it.

 

[Monkeywrench]

Holy Smokes!!!

What a project! You posted more crew members since I last checked. How many crew members will be on the Flagg total?

 

[Jedi_Master_Ben]

Holy Smokes!!!

What a project! You posted more crew members since I last checked. How many crew members will be on the Flagg total?

I have not set a real number, kind of been playing by ear for now, but lets see what we have so far (just for the USS Flagg crew only):

Have/ plan to have:

- 6 Red shirts (3 male ordinance, 2 female ordinance, 1 fire suppressor(for now))
- 5 Green shirts ( 3 male, 2 female)
- 5 Blue shirts (3 male, 2 female)
- 5 Purple shirts (3 male, 2 female)
- 5 Yellow shirts (3 male, 2 female)
- 5 Brown shirts (3 male, 2 female)
- 5 White shirts (3 male, 2 female)

- 6 Officers (5 males, 1 female)
- 10 Light Blue Sailors (7 males, 3 females)
- 5 Dark Blue Sailors ( 3 males, 2 females)
- 2 Shore Patrols
- 5 Marines

for a total of 64 figure crew (so far).

I also picked up on e-bay the GI Joe Piranha Attack Boat as my patrol boat for the fleet. I figure a 4 man team of sailors will crew her. I wanted the sailors for that boat to designed based on the uniforms of the patrol boat in "Battleship" movie.

Then there will be the crew for the USS Destroyer and crew for the USS Tiger Shark. So we are looking at least 100 figures more if I figure out a way to duplicate the destroyers which will nee their own crews, and this is not including visiting figures like SEAL team, Pilots, visiting GI Joe members, and anything else I have not thought of. I would like to have this all done by the time JoeCon comes back to Atlanta, GA. I think it would be a show stopper diorama piece for the show.

 

[Jedi_Master_Ben]

Just a minor update:

I got in my GI Joe Piranha Attack Boat today. I put in one of the Dark Blue Sailors at the helm. It dawn on me, I have a Patrol boat, a Destroyer, a Sub, and a Carrier. The only thing I am missing is a Battleship, ha-ha.

B1.........Hit

 

[Monkeywrench]

I have not set a real number, kind of been playing by ear for now, but lets see what we have so far (just for the USS Flagg crew only):

Have/ plan to have:

- 6 Red shirts (3 male ordinance, 2 female ordinance, 1 fire suppressor(for now))
- 5 Green shirts ( 3 male, 2 female)
- 5 Blue shirts (3 male, 2 female)
- 5 Purple shirts (3 male, 2 female)
- 5 Yellow shirts (3 male, 2 female)
- 5 Brown shirts (3 male, 2 female)
- 5 White shirts (3 male, 2 female)

- 6 Officers (5 males, 1 female)
- 10 Light Blue Sailors (7 males, 3 females)
- 5 Dark Blue Sailors ( 3 males, 2 females)
- 2 Shore Patrols
- 5 Marines

for a total of 64 figure crew (so far).

I also picked up on e-bay the GI Joe Piranha Attack Boat as my patrol boat for the fleet. I figure a 4 man team of sailors will crew her. I wanted the sailors for that boat to designed based on the uniforms of the patrol boat in "Battleship" movie.

Then there will be the crew for the USS Destroyer and crew for the USS Tiger Shark. So we are looking at least 100 figures more if I figure out a way to duplicate the destroyers which will nee their own crews, and this is not including visiting figures like SEAL team, Pilots, visiting GI Joe members, and anything else I have not thought of. I would like to have this all done by the time JoeCon comes back to Atlanta, GA. I think it would be a show stopper diorama piece for the show.

Wow! That's a crew!

This is so crazy awesome that I can't believe it

 

[lancelot]

I just have to say that this is a bad ass project.

 

[Joerhyno]

I always wanted to join the navy(that looks like my Trigate noggin on the left )!!!!

 

[G.I.*EDDIE]

Just a minor update:

I got in my GI Joe Piranha Attack Boat today. I put in one of the Dark Blue Sailors at the helm. It dawn on me, I have a Patrol boat, a Destroyer, a Sub, and a Carrier. The only thing I am missing is a Battleship, ha-ha.

B1.........Hit

Haha!...well get that battleship and then stack them all on top of each other all cheaty like

 

[Jedi_Master_Ben]

I always wanted to join the navy(that looks like my Trigate noggin on the left )!!!!

Yes, you were drafted. Just so you know, you are piloting the Patrol boat.

 

[Rick]

Wow, very cool. Awesome realism with crew customs

 

[Slaymaker]

WOW! Awesome project!!!

 

[WVMojo]

Why don't you just double the order on all those crew and ill take half for my MiB Flagg I plan on breaking open?

 

[Tria]

awesome!

 

[dannyc]

Here comes the Marines!

Over at the 'Tank, someone asked about a Marine detachment for the Flagg. I recall seeing some Marines on the documentary "Carrier", so I decided to do a BDU version of the Marine uniform, which by adding a weapon and vest, I can take him from guard duty to combat ready. I decided to go with the ROC Zartan/ MP figure as the base figure with the arms from ROC Sgt Stone. This is the same configureation used for the Pitt trooper from the TRU multipack. I mold and cast the figure and the additional Sgt Stone arms. I was torn as to what version the uniform should be, 80's woodland or modern digital pattern. I opted to go with the digital pattern and the color scheme from the ROC Jungle Ripcord. My favorite Marine movie is Heartbreak Ridge and I awlays wanted to make a Gunny Highway figure. Thanks to SDS, I modified their Clint head by giving him a flat top. To top off the Marine figure, I took my sculpted Gung Ho head I made for SDS and dremeled the hat from the head and then hollowed it out to fit the head, making it removable if needed to be. I took my time and painted the figure to somewhat match the digital pattern. I liked how it turned out. I casted a second figure, this time used the cast of a Renegades Ripcord head. I want to make 3 more Marines to finish the set. Here's the picture:

Shore Patrol:

Ok, this was a byproduct from the Marine casting. I figure I would have some fun and make a Shore Patrol set. I figure I needed someone to haul in Shipwreck's drunken ass from the port bars back to the ship. This figure use the whole tooling of the ROC Zartan/ MP figure with random cast heads from SDS. The hats are the same 8 point hats as the Marines with the Marine logo removed. I went and found some close to Navy NWU digital uniforms colors paints and painted them up similar to the Marine figures. I searched online and found an image of that shoulder band with SP on it that match the type of arm band that is on the ROC Zartan/MP figure. Above the SP was the American flag. It was the only one of that type of arm band I found, all the others I saw were either MP or a rectangle arm band with SP on it. I painted the SP and the flag on the arm band. I think it turned or great. I would like to get a cast of the 30th Law vest and gear to turn these into Navy police as well as Shore Patrol. Here are some pics:

Work in progress

Painted

Taking Shipwreck back to the ship after a long night of hard drinking.



Missile Rack Transport:

In addition to the figures, I feel the Flagg needed other support equipment and vehicles. I came across an image that showed something like the Weapons Transport tractor on the flight deck both in white and in yellow. So I got one on e-bay for a decent price and mold and cast it in yellow. I still need to cast one in white. The trailer needed to be longer to transport the missiles to the aircraft. In the documentary "Carrier" I saw the Ordnance crew pulling these trailers with an handle as well as being pulled by a tractor vehicle. I still need to mold and cast the longer trailer and make some handles for it. Here are some pictures of were I am with it:

That's it for now, stay tuned for more updates and thanks for the comments so far.

the carrie crew is great although just to let you know if you want an accurate carrier crew there are no more marine detachments on carriers only marine squadrons and the squadron crews my dad served on the uss coral sea in the marines from 1979-1981 so he should know s

 

[Obi-Shinobi]

Awesome work, Ben. I would expect nothing less from you.

 

[Jedi_Master_Ben]

the carrie crew is great although just to let you know if you want an accurate carrier crew there are no more marine detachments on carriers only marine squadrons and the squadron crews my dad served on the uss coral sea in the marines from 1979-1981 so he should know s

This was a quote from a search I did regarding Marines on a carrier:

"Onboard aircraft carriers, the Marine Security Guard detachment performs most of the duties of the MAs; however, the ship's MAs assist the Marine Security Guard detachment as required or assigned by the ship's CO or XO. During a port of call many years ago as a senior Marine 1stLt, I was assigned as the Shore Patrol officer with a Chief and PO-1 MAs to assist me. Our job was to grab any sailor or Marine who was misbehaving and put them in the Patty Wagon (yep, that was what it is called) so that they can be taken back to the ship before they caused trouble with the local populance. The Marine Security Guard remained aboard ship and provided security of the ship itself to prevent anyone from sneaking aboard who were not allowed to be there. For non-aircraft carrier ships that did not have Marine Security detachments, the MAs did the same duties."

For the full posting, you can go to this web site:

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20110607120859AAiUwPv

From the movie "Final Countdown" (awesome still today), and the documentary "Carrier", these Marines I made fill the duty positions of Marine Security Guard detachment. In addition to the Marine figures I made, the Sailors with the SP armbands will be my Master of Arms for the Flagg. That should cover things. Thanks for your comment, It helped me to do some more research and learn even more about this project and make it better. Thanks.

 

[dannyc]

This was a quote from a search I did regarding Marines on a carrier:

"Onboard aircraft carriers, the Marine Security Guard detachment performs most of the duties of the MAs; however, the ship's MAs assist the Marine Security Guard detachment as required or assigned by the ship's CO or XO. During a port of call many years ago as a senior Marine 1stLt, I was assigned as the Shore Patrol officer with a Chief and PO-1 MAs to assist me. Our job was to grab any sailor or Marine who was misbehaving and put them in the Patty Wagon (yep, that was what it is called) so that they can be taken back to the ship before they caused trouble with the local populance. The Marine Security Guard remained aboard ship and provided security of the ship itself to prevent anyone from sneaking aboard who were not allowed to be there. For non-aircraft carrier ships that did not have Marine Security detachments, the MAs did the same duties."

For the full posting, you can go to this web site:

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20110607120859AAiUwPv

From the movie "Final Countdown" (awesome still today), and the documentary "Carrier", these Marines I made fill the duty positions of Marine Security Guard detachment. In addition to the Marine figures I made, the Sailors with the SP armbands will be my Master of Arms for the Flagg. That should cover things. Thanks for your comment, I helped me to do some more research and learn even more about this project and make it better. Thanks.

sorry about that I guess my dad was wrong but hey the more you know right

 

[Jedi_Master_Ben]

Hi Everyone,

Just a quick update with this project. I got a lot done the last 2 weeks. Here is a breakdown of what I got accomplished:

- Finshed casting the remainder 3 Marines for the Marine Guard Detachment.

- Cast up crew for the Patrol Boat

- Modified the female sailor torso and arms and cast up some parts from Marine figure kit to make a female Patrol Boat crewman

- Modified the female sailor torso and arms and cast up some parts from Marine figure kit to make a female Marine

- Primered the Tonka Sea Knight and ready to spray paint in Aircraft Grey

- Cast the Weapons Transport body in white and wheels and seat in black

- Cast another female officer in khaki

- Cast another female sailor in dark blue

- Cast another male officer in khaki

- Cast another male sailor

(Additional photos will be uploaded later)

OK, first picture is of the painted dark blue sailors and the latest female cast sailor for this team. At this point, I was running multiple molds this figure was put together from extra parts. She will be painted from head to toe.

Next picture is my recently quired Piranha Attack Boat with the crew I made for her. This crew design is based on the uniforms used in the movie "Battleship". I love the sceen in the movie when they send out a patrol boat to investigate the object in the water. The two male gunner use the figure construction of the Marine figure with the substitution of the Marine hat with the USS Flagg hat. The Pilot is one of the dark blue sailors. The female sailor is a modified female sailor arms and torso with the legs of the Marine kit and shirt skirt. All but one of the heads were random casts that I had laying around, the other one is a ROC Heavy Duty head I had extra. I still need to make a mold and cast the Shocktrooper tactical vest for the crew.

Next picture is another casting of the Weapons Transport vehicle cast in white. I have seen pictures of deck vehicles in both yellow and white. I ordered 2 sets of stickers for these vehicles. I was thinking of casting a couple of the trailers and make some type of generators, heaters, and/or lights. Still researching how to pull that off.

Next picture is the Tonka Sea Knight. I managed to get it primered in order to get rid of the Coast Guard colors and stickers. I picked up some Aircraft Grey paint and started looking at what stickers to put on it. After researching verious designs, I figure I will go with Low Vissability markings. Cobra Stickers has two sets that should work with this: the Conquest X-30 version (for the star and bars stickers) and the Skystriker version numbers (for the numbers, NAVY and USS Flagg stickers) I figure I can use one of the nose cone art sticker like Flint's for the squadron logo. I can't do much with the insides of the toy because they used the triangle head screws. So until I find that type of screwdriver, I will have to be content with just a repaint at this time. Still, it looks cool all painted in grey right now, should have the final coat later this week.

Last up is the remainder Marine figure casts. I ran 3 more copies of the Marine male kit to fill the 5 Marine roster for the Marine Guard Detachment. After I did that, I had an idea to make a female Marine using parts from the female sailor arms and torso and the parts from the male Marine legs, shirt skirt and hat. To accomplish this, I needed to trim and mod the collar on the torso to match the male torso design. Then I shaved the arm sleeves and sculpted the rolled up sleeves designed after the Sgt Stone arms. I used Aves fixit epoxy instead of my normal wax sculpting method. I did not want to create another mold and cast these parts just for this figure as well as the tactical female sailor. The head was also a mod of a previous head sculpt of mine that I added a braid tail to the back of the head, keeping it with in regulation.

That's it for now, stay tuned for more updates

 

[ThunderDan19]

Not normally a Joescale fan, but, wow! I have to say these are some really nice custom crew members, and I can totally understand managing the scale for something so epic as this project. Bravo!

 

[Meddatron]

Every update gets better and better. That female is sweet. This is how I would love to see a Flagg at a con!

 

[Monkeywrench]

Wow! Another mind blowing update! Crazy crazy stuff Ben

 

[G.I.*EDDIE]

I am so insanely jealous of your ability to just cast up whatever the heck you need...luckyyyyyyy!

 

[Darkwind01]

I am so insanely jealous of your ability to just cast up whatever the heck you need...luckyyyyyyy!

What he said!!!
This is too epic!!!

 

[Slaymaker]

Amazing stuff, man. Amazon has the triangle screwdrivers you need.

http://www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&ke...=aps&hvadid=1472262744&ref=pd_sl_6konpqcot8_b