Sideshow Darth Matul - repainted

This is the Sideshow 12" Darth Maul figure from the film Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (which I actually really like!)

This is another really good figure that Sideshow produced, and looks great just as it comes... however the eyes always looked a bit sleepy for me. And although you can use that to get some great arrogant cocky looking poses out of him... I just wanted a tad more anger out of him. But not too much. So I repainted him.

The problem I quickly found was that it wasn't the paint on the eyes that made him look sleepy, it was the sculpt.. they were sculpted quite closed (as are many of Sideshows figures it seems), so it was impossible to give him any kind of look that I wanted to recreate from the movie or the promotional images.

I didn't have time to resculpt the eyes (which I would have liked to have done) so I cheated. When I was painting the eyes, I carefully took the paint of the eyeball slightly over the eyelids... essentially making the eyeball appear larger when you're looking at it. This allows me to give him the expression I wanted.

If you look at the figure really close up in hand, then you can see what I've done... but if you look at the figure from a normal distance? It just looks like he's got wider eyes. Fantastic!

I also repainted the tatoos, as I've never seen any figure of Maul that have the design of these accurate to the film. They always seem too thin and 'weedy'. So I fixed that ;)

Here's a before and after pic to give you an idea. I'll post some more pics when I take them, hopefully soon.

(as always click on the images for larger versions)

BEFORE

(I got the before pic off the internet, my apologies to whoever it belonged to, but I forgot to take my own... duh. This was the closest one I found that has a paint job similar to my own)

AFTER

Old Ben Kenobi - repainted

This is Sideshow's (brilliant!) old Ben'Obi-Wan' Kenobi figure from Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope. This is one of their better figures that they've released, and even without anything done to it just looks AMAZING when it's on display on our shelf. The detail on the sculpt is unbelievable, as is the likeness. (Well done Trevor!)

You all know me by now though, and I can't leave anything alone for long.... so along with another one that I was doing for a customer, I repainted this head. Here's the results. It really shows off just how great this head sculpt is!

Enjoy!

Darren

(as usual click the images for larger versions)

Luke Skywalker - ROTJ - repainted

This is the Sideshow Jedi Luke figure, from Return of the Jedi.

This was the first modern 1/6 figure that I bought (ignoring old crappy Hasbro figures from years ago), and unlike several figures which came out after this... I always loved it. I thought the sculpt was great, it looked to me just like Mark Hamil, and it made a great display figure on my shelf.

There were a few things I thought could have been better however. The arms were too long (which has been covered at great length on various forums), the fitting bodysuit showed off the bad shape of the Sideshow base body, especially around the hips. (large gaps between the joints meant that the fabric would fold inwards, to where there should not be a gap, ruining the illusion of a real person). Also the paint job on the eyes gave him a strange 'surprised' look (although not as bad as some people complained)... but I thought it could have been better.

I repainted the whole head, instantly bringing out the excellent sculpt. I also shortened the arms by cutting a section out of the forearms and glueing back together, and I used tissue, padded and taped to the body to pad out the parts I thought could use some help. All of this improved the figure a great deal for me, and it has been one I have always loved having on my shelf.

I intended to keep this until I got myself a good Darth Vader (like the one Sideshow is releasing soon) but later this week I'll be selling this figure on eBay, just like I did with my Legolas, Anakin, Obi-Wan and Aragorn figures, to help raise funds for my upcoming honeymoon.

Anyway, enough talk... here's a few photos. (I'll post here when the figure is up for auction)

Luke Skywalker (ESB) repaint...

I finished this for a customer yesterday afternoon. Finally starting to get some things finished alongside the sculpting I'm doing. These aren't the best pics... my camera makes things too dark or too light when I take them at my desk, but these ones are good enough to show it.

Click on the pics for larger version...

Hot Toys 'Future Wars' Kyle Reese - repainted & weathered

I finished this commission recently. It was for a client who was giving it as a gift to a friend who was leaving the country. Apparantly the client (and the recipient) both loved it... which makes me happy. Anyway... on with the photos

my Obi-Wan Kenobi 1/6 custom is UP FOR SALE!

How Ripley looked last week...

I've done more work on the face since these pics were taken, so at this stage it was looking a bit rough and innaccurate, but it just lets you see the direction it's going in.

It's almost finished now, I just need to try and make a couple of sample casts, then it will be sent away for molding... but enough talking, here's the pics from last week.

Aragorn auction now on!!

Click on image to go to auction!


Good luck!!!

Terminator heads are in!

For those of you who have been waiting for Terminator heads, they finally arrived here today, and they look great! I'll start sending out the unpainted orders within the next day or so, and start painting the rest on Monday alongside my other scheduled work.

Also I can shift more focus back to the full-figure commissions. Can't wait!

Terminator casts on their way...

Good news for those waiting for a Terminator head cast. I just heard from my guy in America, and apparently the casts were sent last week... which basically means I will be getting them any time soon.

I will post out any unpainted orders within a few days, and I'll get the heads which need painting on my desk pretty much straight away, and I'll merge them in with my normal schedule.

Finally!

Anakin custom sold..... and next?

A huge thanks to everyone who was watching or who was bidding, you've helped a huge amount with my honeymoon-fund-raising. Selling this figure will pay for a few hundred miles driven across America... so thanks!

The figure will soon be flying it's way to it's happy new owner here in the UK. Thanks!










and the next figure?











........I'll tell you next time ;)

Darren

Anakin Auction now on!!

It's up!!!

(click on image to go to auction)

Good luck folks!

Legolas auction now on!!!

click the image to go to the auction!



Good luck!!!

Video showcase - Aragorn & Legolas

About a year ago I made a video of my Star Wars Anakin & Obi-Wan customs. At the same time I shot some footage for this Lord of the Rings video, however I only got halfway through editing the thing together because of my exploding workload.

Because my Legolas figure is going up for auction this Sunday *snif* ....I suddenly realised I should get this thing finished! So I spent this afternoon getting the thing edited together. I hope you like.

(and for those thinking about bidding on this Legolas figure, maybe this will give you a better idea of what the figure looks like in person)

CLICK HERE FOR VIDEO

Honeymoon funding figure sale!

Some of my online friends already know about this, but it hasn't been mentioned here on my blog yet, so....

As some of you know I'm getting married to my partner of almost 12 years (Jane) in September of this year. Woohoo! And we figured this once in a lifetime happening was the perfect occasion to try to make one of our long time dreams come true.

We've always had this dream, since we very first got together, of flying to America, hiring a 30 foot RV, and driving from New York to LA seeing as much of the country as possible in between. But we always knew it would never actually happen. Well now that we're getting married... we can't think of a better time to try to make this happen!

We've made all the plans, and put them up on a website for people to see (including a map of our planned route). This website also has a 'leading up to the wedding' blog (with some posts already made), and some links where people can 'buy us miles' for the trip. Essentially a honeymoon donation pot.

(Yes, we're being a bit shameless about this.... but you know? we don't need any normal wedding gifts having been together for 12 years, and getting to see places like New York, Monument Valley, The Grand Canyon, Yosemite National Park is quite possibly the best gift anybody could give us.... ever. We've never been to The United States before, and we may never get another chance... but it looks like an incredible place. (The support we've already had with this from our online friends is beyond generous!)

Obviously we're trying to find ways to save money on the wedding, so that we can save more for the Honeymoon. So we're doing things like making our own wedding invitations, our own wedding cake, and anything else that we can do ourselves for the day.

And here's the big thing I'm doing

You know the custom figures that you've probably seen on this site? (or on YouTube) ...Anakin, Obi-Wan, Legolas and Aragorn.... the ones that have been splashed around the internet, and that I've been interviewed about here and here.? The figures that each represent the very first time I made these characters, my prototypes if you like... and part of my personal collection, to be kept forever as a record of my sculpting/painting career as it progressed, and most importantly... never to be sold! ...those figures?

Well I'm selling them!

I cannot explain strongly enough how much of a difficult decision it was to decide to sell these very personal figures of mine... but you know what, I think it's worth it to get this planned Honeymoon. There's already been a lot of interest from people who would love to own one of these, and over the weekend I'll be deciding which of the figures I'll be putting up for sale first. Hopefully I'll have decided by Monday or Tuesday. (obviously I'll let you all know when the time comes!)





...so which would you like to own?

Interview on CoolToyReview.com

I've been really busy lately working on some custom sculpts, so haven't had much time to post on here or show new things... but I've just had an interview posted on www.cooltoyreview.com about my Terminator custom figures. It was a pleasure to do this, and something I hope to do again in the future. (who knows, maybe with the T1000 custom I'll be working on as soon as time allows)

click the image below to read the interview and look at the photos

New battle damaged Terminator finished - pics

well.... i suppose I should post my latest bundle of joy, lol

When I did my Arnie/Terminator custom... i knew pretty much straight away that I'd want to do this version as well....

so almost immediately (in my spare time before bedtime or on sundays.... too many commissions to take time out for myself, lol) I started planning where I needed to drill out, and what I needed to resculpt. Gathered tons of reference photos and screencaps, and set to work


anyway..... several weeks of sculpting, one resin test cast and a week spent painting the thing, and here's what I ended up with... the first 2 pictures were taken late at night under the desk lamp... the rest were taken the following day using my better camera and a full close up flash to show all the details (and flaws?)






now I know the clothes all need weathering, but i just put this on the body quickly to take the shots. I'll get round to all that. And I'll be making a chest piece to show the battle damage through the t shirt too.

People have been asking me about these heads already, lol.... I'm making the standard Arnie ones as we speak, should be able to work through the waiting list at the rate of about 5 per week, but I won't have time to start these new battle damaged ones until sometime in January at the least. (too many already paid for commissions I need to get done)..... although obviously I'm continuously adding people to the waiting list... and I'll get to them

Terminator meets Robocop...

Terminator 1/6 figure gets some sunglasses...

Custom Terminator figure (Arnold) finished...

Hello again. I've been working on this resculpt for a while now in between other (paid) commissions, and I've just finished it. Let me know what you think...







I'd seen photos of the Sideshow T800 Terminator figure, and whilst quite good there were things that stopped it being 'Arnold' to me. The body shape and the clothes didn't seem right, looking out of proportion somehow.

The main problem for me though was with the head sculpt. The face itself looked pretty spot on, but the neck... just wasn't Arnie's. It was too small, too thin, and the angle his head was at made him look like his chin was tiny (and Arnie has a rather large jaw) and his head looked huge.

I could see what I wanted to do to the figure, but I never bought this Sideshow figure so I couldn't do anything about it. Luckily I received the Sideshow Arnie head in a trade, so I thought I'd better get started!

I went hunting for a body that I thought represented Arnie's physique better than the large Sideshow body that was used on their figured. And I found a really rather amazing set of leather clothes. Trousers, jacket and t shirt.... all with amazing detail, and made incredibly well. This to me looked more realistic that the version Sideshow put out... although this jacket was modelled on T1 I believe... and not T2. Although I didn't mind about that... it would still look like the Terminator!

Also I got some leather World War Two boots, which were very close to the ones Arnie wore in the film. Certainly close enough for a custom figure.



I made a cast of the head so I could start working on it, and popped it on to see how it would look. (I bought the shotgun off the internet... it's the one that came with the original Sideshow figure)



I spent the following few weeks working on the head during spare time whilst waiting for paint to dry or whatever on other jobs. Also I spent some time working on the body and clothes:

• trouser belt (removed some fabric, glued it thinner), also removed stud fastener from trousers
• folded the jacket belt down and put a spot of superglue there to give the impression the belt it falling down at the sides.... sells the scale better.
• removed metal spurs that were on the custom boots I bought, and glued leather straps and buckle down
• and some dremel work on the body underneath to make the waistline look better underneath the belt

The following photos show the unpainted resculpt sat next to the original head. It was mainly the weird banana shaped neck that didn't sit right with me. It made his chin/jaw look too small.... his upper head look too large, and it was just an unnatural shape for a human neck.

.....especially Arnie's

I cut off the neck completely at the jawline, under the ears and back to the base of the hair. Sculpted a new one, trying to give it that distinctive 'Arnie' shape.

Also I resculpted the ears slightly, making them stick out further on his head. (they were too flat and squashed when compared to photos of the man himself)











Apart from the neck and ears, the facial sculpt itself is pretty damn spectacular. All I changed (and this was more a personal preference than a fault) was to make the mouth corners more defined and downturned... always an Arnie trademark for me, and I shortened the furrow lines on his brow which i felt went up onto his forehead a bit too much.





and then my rushed paint job. Not the best in the world... and a messed up cast that I had to clean up a bit for myself (it was done in between coats of paint on the 3 Aragorns and 4 Anakins I'm painting) .... and halfway through I completely lost my mojo... nothing was going right, it felt like I had forgotten how to paint.... eek

Thankfuly this head is just for my own personal Terminator figure I've put together... so it doesn't matter if it's not perfect. But it gives an idea of how it can look. I'm really quite pleased with it in the end.











next up (inbetween 'real' projects for people... this is done in my spare time... if you can call it that, lol) will be the obvious battle damaged version.... gotta figure out how damaged I want him.

And also the T1 version. Different hair, and slightly more weight to the face.

.....when I can, lol