Vitruvianpro's Customs

[Vitruvianpro]

New to posting much on hiss, but I've been lurking and making customs, often using the awesome stuff from Stronox and Wry1 as...well, I'll call it inspiration, because that sounds better than "completely copying".

I have about 30 to post, so I'll start with Mr. Cobra Commander, Armored and unarmored, and will divy the rest up through this thread in individual posts. I'll try to post what parts I used if i can remember.

http://i1098.photobucket.com/albums/g379/Vitruvianpro1/CobraCommander.jpg
Dollar Store CC torso/arms/Head
Retaliation CC legs
Resolute CC scarf
IG Destro Scabbard

http://i1098.photobucket.com/albums/g379/Vitruvianpro1/ArmoredCobraCommander.jpg
ROC Doctor Torso/Upper Arms/Upper Legs
Retaliation CC Head
Rock Viper Arms/Legs
Mercenary Wraith webgear
Star Wars Savage Opress skirt with HD belt
IG Destro scabbard

[Vitruvianpro]

http://i1098.photobucket.com/albums/g379/Vitruvianpro1/Baroness.jpg

Baroness Straight up repaint of 25th with some MU head and ROC Baroness sunglasses

[Vitruvianpro]

http://i1098.photobucket.com/albums/g379/Vitruvianpro1/Batman.jpg

Batman
Sooo many fodder parts I can't remember

[Vitruvianpro]

http://i1098.photobucket.com/albums/g379/Vitruvianpro1/Zartan.jpg
Zartan
I know the head was from Star Wars Quinlan Voss or some such
Reset is mostly repaint resolute Zartan with POC Spirit Legs

[Vitruvianpro]

http://i1098.photobucket.com/albums/g379/Vitruvianpro1/Duke.jpg
Duke
Pretty much repaint of Resolute

[Vitruvianpro]

http://i1098.photobucket.com/albums/g379/Vitruvianpro1/MajorBludd.jpg
Major Bludd
One of my favorites so far
ROC Flash Web gear
Zanzibar legs (little resculpting)
Hiss tank arm
25th Major Bludd Head
Rest is a mystery

[Vitruvianpro]

http://i1098.photobucket.com/albums/g379/Vitruvianpro1/Destro.jpg
Destro
Straight Up repaint of 25th. Not the best one but meh.

[Vitruvianpro]

http://i1098.photobucket.com/albums/g379/Vitruvianpro1/CrimsonGuard.jpg
Crimson Guard
25th Repaint with ROC SS skirt, and combined Retaliation Trooper/Resolute CC scarf

[Vitruvianpro]

http://i1098.photobucket.com/albums/g379/Vitruvianpro1/Punisher.jpg
I'll end this thread with Punisher
He was mostly a Shock troop with hiss tankdriver web gear and some fodder for shoulder pads, neck armor and other stuff. Jungle Duke Head.

I guess I'll make a 2nd thread soon for all them G.I. Joes other than Duke who I posted here. Hope you all like em

[Hard-master]

they are all cool but i think the Crimson Guard is best

[turner]

Nice painting man for sure

[TYPHUS]

Damn dude your paintwork is just brilliant!!!!

[Weapon XIX]

That Retaliation CC is awesome! Great parts choice and a killer look! And that Major Bludd is truly badass! Great work all around!

[M_renegade]

That Crimson Guard is genius, the SS skirt matches perfectly!
It looks 100% better than the fugly Retaliation one.

[CobraOfficer999]

Cool as ice.

[DR.Sin]

Nice job on everything. I really like your version of major bludd and is probably one of the best I have ever seen.

[IIIzoeIII]

some of those are really wicked
the CG is the winner

[Snake Master]

Bad Ass Major Bludd! Like the Crimson too. Cobra Commander looks cool!

[figureware]

That second CC is fantastic!

[PA1911]

Love the paintjob you did on that Punisher skull.

Impressive stuff.

[A.V.A.C.]

Nice work, i especially like your Bludd and the 2nd Cobra Commander.

[jeffafa]

http://i1098.photobucket.com/albums/g379/Vitruvianpro1/Destro.jpg
Destro
Straight Up repaint of 25th. Not the best one but meh.

Not the best? Man, the detail you added is great. I liked this one the best of them all.
Great stuff. I wish I could do something half as nice.

[Kroenen]

My favourite is the 2nd Cobra Commander. I really dig that sort of look.

They all look very nice.

[spot138]

I love your Maj Bludd

[Tankster]

Major Bludd for the win man but the rest rock too!

[TheIRONSPQR]

Holy smokes that 2nd Cobra Command is straight up badass, hands down my Favorite! With the Crimson Guard close behind for second place. Fantastic work man!

[Xerofall]

Crimson Guard is terrific!

[sba]

Your paint skills are excellent.

[CyberJerry]

Very nice! Most of my customs are "inspiration" from Wry1 as well

[Scroll142]

http://i1098.photobucket.com/albums/g379/vitruvianpro1/majorbludd.jpg
major bludd
one of my favorites so far
roc flash web gear
zanzibar legs (little resculpting)
hiss tank arm
25th major bludd head
rest is a mystery

sick!

[wrw311]

That ROC Commander and Major Blood are the tits bro. Great work I am in love with them.

[greyfus]

that red cobra commander is simply inspired

[sithewok]

More amazing work. I would buy that bludd and that crimson guard so fast if they were available. That guard is much better than the upcoming retaliation one...

[RogueReSCuE]

How do you do the painting ?!

[Vitruvianpro]

How do you do the painting ?!

Well, I'll try to tell you what I do the best I can, but I'd say the best thing to do is practice on a bunch of cheapo guys till you know what works and what doesn't.

I use Model Masters Acrylics and a variety of small brushes, Tamiya brushes have been good to me so far. If you have hobby towns in your area, that's where I spend way too much money.

I don't prime or undercoat anything, I just go straight to the base color for all my stuff. Then I use a wash of a darker color (a wash is just paint mixed with filtered water till it has the consistency of milk), and then i cover the whole thing with the wash. I was told to mix a tiny bit of windex in there, which i do, but i have not idea what it really does. It seems to help the paint mix and be a little more consistent though.

Here's where I think I have a different approach from others. I then use my original base color and dry brush on top of the wash. I think lotsa people leave the wash alone and dry brush a very, very thin layer of a lighter paint. I find using the original base color in a thicker than usual dry brushing helps cover up sometimes splotchy or unrealistic washes. Then I move to a lighter color for another round of dry brushing. I don't know if you're totally new to painting, but washes and dry brushing tutorials exist out there and are better at explaining the process than I ever could.

I also tend to work on one at a time and work slowly. In the beginning I lost a lot of time redoing stuff because i was too impatient to let the paint and washes dry. Cleaning your hands a bunch helps a lot. I use a magnifying glass to do the eyes, but other than that the smaller details typically have some texture to them so can rely on the toy to pick up the paint on the raised areas and don't have to be so exact. I use a big old dinner table in my office so i have enough room to put my forearms on the table to keep my hands from being all shaky. I work on big areas first and then kind of work my way out to the smaller details like buttons, zippers and small pouches. The biggest mistake I made early on is trying to paint light colors on dark toys. It can be done if you have a ton of patience, but I found it's just not worth it. Takes waaay too many coats to turn a black shoe white...and yellow paint is the devil. There is no good yellow paint. Hope that wall of text helps you out a bit.

[Conway]

Wow, beautiful work! I have to agree with several other posters, that armored Cobra Commander is killer!

[kevuno]

They all look bad Ass! Great work bro!

[blsll]

Any chance this custom baroness is for sale??? Or one can be made for sale???

[Agent11b]

Just discovered this post, man your work is epic, that Bludd is BA. Also thanks for describing your paint process. Awesome stuff

[Vulkus]

Nice work, love the CCs and Major Bludd

[DARKWIND]

Awesomeness!!

[Letal]

I don´t care if they are copies or "inspirations", I just love seeing these customs!

[RevDarth]

Great stuff!

[Vitruvianpro]

Thanks to everyone for the comments here and for bumping my first post I made to hisstank a while ago. I haven't been doing much custom work lately but I'm getting back into it and hopefully will have more stuff to show pretty soon. I'm pretty pleased with how I've gotten the hang of photographing my toys so if you're curious, here's a link to all my different projects. Some are repeats of the same customs but with different photos.

HissTank.com - G.I. Joe - Search Results (http://www.hisstank.com/forum/search.php?searchid=4108631)

If the link doesn't work, doing an advanced search for "all posts by Vitruvianpro" pops em up.

[Mr Hebime]

Armored Cobra Commander, Major Bludd & Crimson Guard are my favorites to date. Keep making more!