Darkknight’s Customs

[DarkKnight07]

Here’s 6” Jess from Jabba’s palace. I’m kind of on the fence on this one. When I saw they were doing a 6” Marion ravenwood I was like ooooh I can make a 6” Jess. But then into the process I was like oh she has a different top than slave Leia. And there’s no alternative for tops so all I could come up with is just putting on some heavy layers of paint to make it look a little dimensional. I also noticed it’s kind of a rough looking bra in that it’s not like smooth metal so that helped. And the head/hair I’m not super thrilled with but it’ll have to do. I bought a marvel legends figure that I though had a better head/hair look but when I got it I realized the head was too big and it looked awkward so I ended up having to shave down and trim Marion’s hair. Not a great match but it is what it is I suppose.

 

[Tulgah]

It was an exercise in Plans B. Sometimes it’s fun to have to work within limitations. I think it looks great anyway!

 

[DarkKnight07]

It was an exercise in Plans B. Sometimes it’s fun to have to work within limitations. I think it looks great anyway!

I like that approach! Thanks!

 

[DarkKnight07]

Here’s 6” Yarna. I thought she’d be an interesting one to have in the diorama. I found a file for a 3.75” one that I thought looked pretty good and upscaled it to a 6” figure. She was tougher to paint than I thought she’d be. Another one I’m on the fence on. I left the white flecks on the skirt since it’s supposed to be a type of mesh material so I thought that would lend itself to that.

 

[Tulgah]

There she is, the multi-element herself!

 

[DarkKnight07]

Based on a suggestion from Real_Scooby, I decided to swap out the useless plastic chain on the prisoner Chewie and use a real chain.

I had an extra chain lying around from something and had to go out and buy the larger ring for Leia to hold onto. Paid $4 for the one I needed and have 209 extras…

But I think it looks better than the plastic one. But of course his back will be to me in the diorama so I may not really see it anyway.

 

[yodashizzle]

Your Chewie is .........................(ahem)............................off the chain, yo. Jess and Yarna are awesome, love that you did those. And that's the first I've seen of incorporating some Indy material in a 1/12 custom.

 

[VaderJay]

That looks so much better and accentuates the details of the figure way better than the plastic chain.

 

[DarkKnight07]

Okay, Chewie with metal chain take 2! I went to go get a new chain and when I was looking at a screenshot I was surprised at how “dainty” the chain is. I went with a darker chain that more closely matches his collar and the ring I added and has slightly bigger links. I also shortened it when I saw that it’s really not that long in the movie.

 

[DarkKnight07]

This one I’m kind of torn on. I was not at all happy with my first Yoxgit. I’m in the camp of he’s taller than your typical ugnaught. In this picture he’s kneeling and is about half as tall as Ree yees so when he’s standing he’s going to be taller still of course.



But here’s my first attempt which is just way too tall. And the head is way too skinny and not accurate.





The first head I bought was from a place online that sells 6” parts. But again wasn’t happy with it. So I found a file online for a 3.75” Yoxgit that I upscaled to 6”. I’m not too happy with the lack of detail on it. So I did the best I could with what I had. Looking at the mask it’s pretty messed up looking. So I added a little reddish wash to try and get some of the skin burn look it has. In some angles it looks okay, others, eh. Oh and I shortened him so he’s not so tall anymore which I think helps a lot.

So here he is, 6” Yoxgit #2:

 

[DarkKnight07]

I decided I’ve got one more 6” custom to do before I reveal my 6” grand finale which is almost done. I’m at the point where I’d like to get back to having some time to play video games in my spare time and not just be working on customs. Plus, while there are more I’m tempted to do, the reality is there’s just no room in the dioramas! But this one that’s coming up is one I’ve thought about for a while and have all the parts except one which will be here tomorrow so I figure I might as well.

I am very excited about the “grand finale” though!

 

[yodashizzle]

Yoxgit looks better in the 2cnd version for sure, he's more accurate. A far as your grand finale, BRING IT!!!! But it should be grand, and not a finale.

 

[DarkKnight07]

Here’s 6” Gauron Nas Tal. I was on the fence about making him but decided to go for it since I realized I had all the parts. I’m pretty happy with how he turned out.

 

[DarkKnight07]

Here’s the “prototype” version:

 

[VaderJay]

It's time for a large uodated group shot of all your customs in their places on the barge or cantina. Would love to see them in all their glory.

 

[DarkKnight07]

I’m very excited to present my “Grand Finale” for 6” customs! I present, the Max Rebo band in 6” scale!



These were all 3D printed. The files I found for the band members were all based on the vintage toys and I upscaled them to 6”. I found a file for a really nice looking organ.

The story behind the organ is that my library more or less has a 12 hour time limit on print jobs but they usually let me go a few hours over. The organ, in order to print at a setting that would show all the rivets and everything, was a three and a half day print job! The woman who ran the department was retiring and she was like what the heck, let’s print it over Easter weekend. Of course there was a malfunction when it was like 80% done so I had to carefully eyeball where it left off and then slice the file and have it resume from there. Fortunately it lined up nicely. It’s hard to tell in the photos but you can see some bronze undertones peaking through the black wash. I’m very happy with how it turned out.

Here are some more pictures with some close ups, how they looked before getting painted and the place they’ll have in Jabba’s Palace.

 

[VaderJay]

That is an amazing job on the organ, especially knowing about the failed print (the bane of my existence) and matching it!

Love that your used vintage style files for this set. And as always, painting is superb!

 

[VaderJay]

Just curious DK, do they have any articulation?

 

[Tulgah]

I can’t really believe what I’m seeing. The Max and organ are two of the most impressive paint jobs I’ve ever seen a customizer do. That’s truly just world-class. Nobody else has that. Your Jabba’s Palace is the only one in the world, absolutely for sure.

 

[yodashizzle]

That band is fantastic, what a lineup you have!!!! The Jabba and cantina figures are really great to see, so many on your roster now that Hasbro has yet to do. ARE YOU SEEING THIS HASBRO?!?!?!?!?!?!??! GET BUSY!

 

[keknivek]

Need a full Group Shot.

Bravo man. Wonderful work.

 

[yodashizzle]

Oh, I almost forgot. Grand? Yes, indeed. Finale? Ppppfffftttt....Please. You ain't done , man.

 

[DarkKnight07]

Just curious DK, do they have any articulation?

They have the basic articulation: Sy moves at arms and legs, Droopy moves at arms and legs and Max moves at arms, legs and head. Although after painting they may not have as much movement! I know Max’s arms still move so that’s an important range of motion. Droopy’s arms move. Their legs still should move. Sy’s arms may have gotten painted stiff. I generally get so focused on the painting and the pose they’re going to be in.

And thank you very much for the compliments!

Yeah, printing failures are a nightmare! And the thing that I don’t get about it is the organ job failed cause it ran out of material and then when it was refilled it was like ummm, I don’t remember where I left off, FAIL!!! And wouldn’t resume. You’d think an advanced machine would be able to remember where it left off!

 

[DarkKnight07]

I can’t really believe what I’m seeing. The Max and organ are two of the most impressive paint jobs I’ve ever seen a customizer do. That’s truly just world-class. Nobody else has that. Your Jabba’s Palace is the only one in the world, absolutely for sure.

Thank you very much!!! I utilized some new techniques I taught myself like doing washes. I also painted every rivet which didn’t take nearly as long as I thought it would. I was worried about how the organ would turn out as I really wanted it to stand out.

 

[DarkKnight07]

That band is fantastic, what a lineup you have!!!! The Jabba and cantina figures are really great to see, so many on your roster now that Hasbro has yet to do. ARE YOU SEEING THIS HASBRO?!?!?!?!?!?!??! GET BUSY!

Thank you! I will admit when Hasbro was announcing all the upcoming ROTJ stuff a couple months ago I was like, “please no max rebo band, please no max rebo band” as I’d already printed everything out and had started painting droopy and Sy!

 

[DarkKnight07]

Need a full Group Shot.

Bravo man. Wonderful work.

Thank you!! Group shots incoming soon!

 

[DarkKnight07]

Here’s my 6” cantina. In another thread I posted a before and after. The before is what a diorama looks like with only Hasbro made characters which proves why background characters/aliens are so important and is the reason I gave in and decided to do 6” customs which I swore I would never do in the first place.

When setting them back up I rearranged them and was like aw crap there’s room for a couple more…. I was thinking at the least I would do the grey gunner with the fur hat when the GI Joe Big Ben figure comes out. And maybe, just maybe do another one or two, but I definitely need a break and would like to finish my legend of Zelda map.

So what was I saying? Oh yeah, here’s the cantina with only hasbro made figures and accessories:





Pretty dull. And are Han and Greedo STANDING?!?!?

Here’s the diorama with my customs and some other accessories:










Definitely a little busier and full of more “life.”

But Jabba’s palace is an even bigger difference!

 

[DarkKnight07]

Here’s Jabba’s Palace. I think I enjoyed making these characters the most.

Here’s the palace with only Hasbro made figures. I didn’t put multiples of characters like the gamorrean guards and I didn’t use figures that do qualify (bossk, dengar, greedo, Jawas) but weren’t specifically made for this scene.




For such an amazing scene with an incredible array of aliens and denizens, this is a pretty sad showing on Hasbro’s part. So I took matters into my own hands as a lot of us have done.

There’s no question some of these characters should have been made by now and certainly there are a lot here that will never get made. But here’s Jabba’s Palace:















It’s been a lot of fun, but I need a break!

 

[VaderJay]

Totally amazing work DK! Your customs fit right in and truly bring the scenes to life.

Thanks for posting them all together and giving us a before and after.

Now I'll go and contemplate my own customizing shortcomings compared to yours with a bottle of scotch.....

 

[Tulgah]

It really is incredible. Well done indeed.

 

[DarkKnight07]

Totally amazing work DK! Your customs fit right in and truly bring the scenes to life.

Thanks for posting them all together and giving us a before and after.

Now I'll go and contemplate my own customizing shortcomings compared to yours with a bottle of scotch.....

Thank you very much! I hate to admit it, although I think I've mentioned it before, but I kind of shy away from checking out other people's customs which I feel bad about, but I hate to see others and be like aw crap, that's so much better than mine!!! Lol!

 

[DarkKnight07]

It really is incredible. Well done indeed.

Thank you!!

 

[DarkKnight07]

I had mentioned before I wanted to get back to work on the Legend of Zelda map. And all I have to say is oh my God this is soooooo tedious and I haven’t even gotten to the part where I have to paint the individual bushes and rocks!! I don’t know why I thought this was a good idea.

I’ve also got all the dungeons printed out but I’ll save those for some time down the road along with the inventory thing with all the different items.

 

[DarkKnight07]

Finally saw the movie tonight and before that I picked this up from the library. It was a two day job so they said they could print it over the holiday which was very cool of them. If not for that I would have had to slice it into three or four pieces and glue them and sand them and all that. I still need to trim the base and paint it. Also if I can figure out the right place for it I try and put the red paint the Germans put on it, but I’ll have to look at stills and see if it’ll work.

Here are some hasty shots:











It seems like there are going to be a lot of holes to fill in this line since they’re leaving so many characters out….

NOOOOOOO!!!!!!

 

[DarkKnight07]

Okay, finally finished my homage to my favorite video game of all time, The Legend of Zelda!

Ever since I saw some pictures of a 3D world map I knew I had to make one too. For the paint scheme on mine, I kept it pretty much in line with the colors on the original map, just more “adult” looking instead of the bright colors. I wanted to honor that original map while also sort of updating it.

Here’s the full shot:



Some close up from left to right:









Here’s a shot with a pencil for scale:



Here’s a shot comparing the size of just one bush to the tip of the pencil. Tedious is a word that came to my mind many times!



And here’s how it looked in the beginning:



My final step is to come up with some kind of wood base with the legend of Zelda logo etched into it or something along those lines. Fortunately my library has a machine for that too!

 

[Oofa]

It looks great. And it is a great idea - kind of like the maze from The Shining that was shown in Adam Savage's Tested some years ago.
A different kind of prop/memorabilia and it makes for a conversational piece as well.

 

[DarkKnight07]

It looks great. And it is a great idea - kind of like the maze from The Shining that was shown in Adam Savage's Tested some years ago.
A different kind of prop/memorabilia and it makes for a conversational piece as well.

Thank you!

 

[DarkKnight07]

I’m calling this done. I like the look of the uneven paint because it kind of captures that stone covered in a couple millennia of dust and sand look. I was thinking I could add the red spray paint the Nazis had marked off the wrong building with but ummm, yeah, I had no idea this Kenner set was waaaay inaccurate and I can’t even begin to figure out which building I would substitute for the one in the movie. I did see after I already printed this out you can buy more accurate files but they would take up too much room. I guess this’ll do for a little diorama piece.

 

[DarkKnight07]

I’ve been 3D printing and prepping things for my updated Jabba’s palace now that the new playset has arrived.

I was going to incorporate some sections of the cardboard pop up diorama but then seeing it next to the hard plastic pieces I decided I needed to make all of it plastic.

I’ve finished an alcove and a stairway and two slot machines. I’m waiting for the rest of the pieces for the rancor grate to finish printing.

And while the paint looks kind of sloppy on the alcove and stairway, that was done intentionally. I swear! Lol! I figured Jabba's palace isn't going to have perfectly painted walls. The sloppiness is highlighted because of bright light behind it. Where this will be displayed it's much darker so you won't be seeing the light highlighting the streaks.

 

[yodashizzle]

The alcove looks great and so do the slots. I need to get around to making those!