25th Samurai Budo WIP

[starwarsgeek]

This is a mostly completed figure, I just need to do a few paint touch ups, I think I'll repaint the face/mask, and make some weapons (the ones in the photos are just stand ins)....

http://www.starwarsgeek.net/images/wip/budo02.jpg

http://www.starwarsgeek.net/images/wip/budo03.jpg

http://www.starwarsgeek.net/images/wip/budo05.jpg

http://www.starwarsgeek.net/images/wip/budo06.jpg

Pretty much a continuation of my recent/current ninja madness...

[ecsmith7]

Ace!

[Wry1]

Awesome freakin' job man. Very well done, paint work is superb. Pardon my ignorance, but whats up with the milk 'stache? It doesn't even matter, this fig rocks, just curious.

[Fierce Krypton]

epic! but... can he move in all that?

[starwarsgeek]

Pardon my ignorance, but whats up with the milk 'stache?


LOL

I should have included a parts list... the head/helmet is from the Age of Adventure (or something like that) Samurai, and was painted that way. I didn't even really notice that till you said it, but Samurai masks were often made with "mustaches" of horse hair as a decoration. Like this one:

http://www.elvenforge.com/images/helm_PC-2082.jpg

[daremo]

Looks good so far. I was planning something similar too. Now I know what it will look like.

[Wry1]

O.K. Yeah I see that, as I stated before ignorance was to blame for that question. It's good to learn.

[MeLikeJinx]

Awesome... yup. Awesome.

[M_renegade]

HOLY SHI....

Now THAT'S a Budo i would buy!
I always thought that the original was corny and fugly and prefered Bushido, but your custom is superb! (plus, i always liked more samurais than ninjas lol )
Is the armor sculpted or from another figure?

Flawless Victory

[TheLongestDay]

awesome mate! A bushido in this style would go really well with him!! *hint* :)

[darkshadow]

i love it!!other than gi joe line,he can be used in a samurai vs ninja setup.

[Obi-Shinobi]

Looks good, D! Nice combo on the parts, no doubt. Did you consider using a different head, 25th ball joint style? Giving the head better articulation would be a big plus, but maybe the helmet would hinder it somewhat. Either way, good job.

[machiwoomiapoo]

Sweet figure!

[Mercenary696]

That is very nice looking. Great job!

[Konigstiger]

HOLY SHI....

Now THAT'S a Budo i would buy!
I always thought that the original was corny and fugly and prefered Bushido, but your custom is superb! (plus, i always liked more samurais than ninjas lol )
Is the armor sculpted or from another figure?

Flawless Victory


Armor, daisho and kabuto from Unimax's Ages of Action samurai.

[starwarsgeek]

Looks good, D! Nice combo on the parts, no doubt. Did you consider using a different head, 25th ball joint style? Giving the head better articulation would be a big plus, but maybe the helmet would hinder it somewhat. Either way, good job.

Well I'm still tossing around the idea of bashing a 25th neckpost on there and adding a different head, but I'm not sure... I mean, really the 25th heads just turn left and right, the up and down action is virtually non-existant. And that huge helmet would certainly not be able to go up and down much, it has a problem just turning left and right.

A few things that I do want to do to it before I call it done, tho...

I'm thinking about resculpting the face mask, the way it is now it's not very... not sure how to describe what I mean, but it's not very thick. It looks almost as if it's just his face sculpted differently and painted red. I want to have something that looks more like a mask, and sticks out from his face a little.

I need to counter-sink the arms a little better too, the ball joints on the shoulders stick out a bit too much for my liking.

I also want to repaint the entire armor on him, and then make a custom samurai sword. That's about it I think...

[TR1ER]

Yo my man he looks dope you did a great job on him.

[xhairs]

killer take on him.

[zuludelta]

That is a great take on Budo. Kudos.

I'm trying to think of a suggestion to "GI Joe-ify" him a bit more so he's more identifiable as Budo and less as a generic samurai warrior... perhaps paint the pants olive green and the armour brown like the original figure's were (http://www.yojoe.com/action/88/budo.shtml)?

[hifipinkie29]

Damn, I'm jealous of you guys who are so great at customizing. I tried just painting a beard on Breaker and it ended up looking like he had mange or something.

[hifipinkie29]

I also tried making Scarlett look a little more attractive and she ended up looked liking a crack whore clown. I had to buy another figure because it looked so terrible.

[Joerhyno]

What about dremeling the mask off and then doing what Obi said and adding a ball jointed head. Go with a SW one( maybe a clone head) I've always found that the SW figs have better neck balls than Joes, then re attach the mask with some wire or something. Dremel out the helmet and then add some green stuff and mash it on the head so it creates a reverse mold of the head inside the helmet and stays on better.

[Obi-Shinobi]

Well I'm still tossing around the idea of bashing a 25th neckpost on there and adding a different head, but I'm not sure... I mean, really the 25th heads just turn left and right, the up and down action is virtually non-existant. And that huge helmet would certainly not be able to go up and down much, it has a problem just turning left and right.

True about the 25th heads, but here's something you can do to give it more range -

Very carefully trim the neck post down(backside), right under the ball, about half way down the neck(where the bottom edge of the head sits), and half way around the neck from side to side. Test fit/move as you go along. I've done this to just about every 25th fig I've customized, and it works beautifully. You can see this technique below(notice the inward cut just below the head) -

http://www.majhost.com/gallery/ShadowofDeth/Custom-figures/GiJoe-Cobra/raven2.jpg

[daremo]

Well I'm still tossing around the idea of bashing a 25th neckpost on there and adding a different head, but I'm not sure... I mean, really the 25th heads just turn left and right, the up and down action is virtually non-existant. And that huge helmet would certainly not be able to go up and down much, it has a problem just turning left and right.

To get more head movement out of the 25th heads you need to open the neck hole more. Please excuse the crude diagram. I basically cut into the head at an angle with my knife to allow more room for the neck post. This allows for greater range of motion. Just make sure you don't cut it so deep that the head won't stay on the neck post.
http://www.majhost.com/gallery/daremo/daremo/head_movement.jpg

I'm thinking about resculpting the face mask, the way it is now it's not very... not sure how to describe what I mean, but it's not very thick. It looks almost as if it's just his face sculpted differently and painted red. I want to have something that looks more like a mask, and sticks out from his face a little.

You could also use a green stuff stamp mold to copy it or make a cast of the head and dremel the mask off

[Tracker]

wow looks great

[Obi-Shinobi]

Oh hey, one more thing D. You might want to consider lowering the helmet a tad bit on whatever head you choose. As is, it sits rather high. The brim should cover over the eyes, like a ball cap - more or less.

[starwarsgeek]

Oh hey, one more thing D. You might want to consider lowering the helmet a tad bit on whatever head you choose. As is, it sits rather high. The brim should cover over the eyes, like a ball cap - more or less.

Not sure if that will be doable. The helmet kinda sits on his shoulders as it is, unless I can figure a way to make his head/neck sit higher without looking like a giraffe.

[Joerhyno]

You could always make those back lower parts of the helmet separate pieces form the helmet... maybe glue them onto some sort of material, so it can flex a little when put on the head. I'm pretty sure that's how they were made in real life, where they were movable or something like that.

[docfairday]

It's ok.



JK Budo was and still is in my top 3 favorite Joes of all time and I just don't have the skills to do him justice so I avoid even trying. Great to see some one else be brave and succeed.

[Badgumbo]

Amazing. That armor looks superb.

[Obi-Shinobi]

Dude...look at the real helmet that you pictured earlier. See how the back plates sit more wide, as appossed to long? The AoA helmet looks like it might be a bit out of proportion to me. I have the fig also(thanks Daremo!), and looking at it close up - the neck plates are too long for the overall helmet, imo.

The other thing to always consider(imo), is that most of the parts we all use for our customs are not to scale to begin with. The shoulder plates on this AoA fig are probably too thick anyway, plus they look to be sitting a little high at the attachment points. Add this with the ballooned shoulders, and things just don't lay correctly.

I think you have some real good potential with this custom, if you can manage to tweak some of these finer details. Which I hope you do, 'cause I want to see the blasted thing finished!

[babyjelly]

This is a mostly completed figure, I just need to do a few paint touch ups, I think I'll repaint the face/mask, and make some weapons (the ones in the photos are just stand ins)....

http://www.starwarsgeek.net/images/wip/budo02.jpg

http://www.starwarsgeek.net/images/wip/budo03.jpg

http://www.starwarsgeek.net/images/wip/budo05.jpg

http://www.starwarsgeek.net/images/wip/budo06.jpg

Pretty much a continuation of my recent/current ninja madness...

Wonderful!!! I'm collecting parts for a 25th Budo too, and this has helped!

[starwarsgeek]

Dude...look at the real helmet that you pictured earlier. See how the back plates sit more wide, as appossed to long? The AoA helmet looks like it might be a bit out of proportion to me.

Oh, it's totally too huge. I have a really bad ass TGC Samurai head/helmet that I got recently and was comparing the two... this AoA helmet is frakkin' HUGE compared with the TGC version. So I guess I'm going to try and do something with the helmet...

I'm going to make it a little shorter, and maybe not flair out so much... plus the fukigaeshi seem to be really big, so I may try and take them down a bit...

I'm also thinking of removing the AoA shoulder pads, since the Storm Shadow arms have shoulder pads on them already. Or maybe at the least trimming them down so they aren't as thick or cover so far down the upper arm...

So it looks like my almost complete figure is actually pretty far from it, LOL.

[Lt. Faceless]

I think thats an awsome custom.But,it doesn't scream Budo to me.He looks more Shogun,than Samurai warrior.