[Breakerfan]

That is amazing. I love it!

[HissHissFangFan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Breakerfan

That is amazing. I love it!

Quote:

Originally Posted by edgecrusher

Superb!

Quote:

Originally Posted by 46 Zone

Awesome!!!

Quote:

Originally Posted by CavScout

Absolutely nailed it

Quote:

Originally Posted by Drfaireborn

Flawless victory!

Great work.

Quote:

Originally Posted by OreoBuilder

Terrific work!

OB

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yeet

Looks sick!!!

Quote:

Originally Posted by ARBCO Avenue

I absolutely love this!

Thanks for the comments guys. Greatly appreciated. Some last bits:

PROTO PHOTO
Below is a photo of the test setup, when I got the urge to attempt this thing the day before.

20190608_195830 by J Perez, on Flickr

This was the last shot of the day’s worth of trial and error on arrangement (build that triangle formation around the tank) perspective and angle (stay worm’s eye and close for depth), before running to Michaels for the red background board. The more neutral colored backgrounds of this shot are my preference, but I knew the red was part of the icon image’s DNA. The rest of the night was striking this all down, getting the background in, and trying to recreate the whole setup, which was a pain.

FALLEN JOES
There were two unfortunate casualties to this photo op. One was Rock n Roll, whose left knee blew out. The connection around the peg to the lower leg split when I tried to bend the knee. So his poses were severely limited for the shoot. Thankfully I checked and have one last spare Dollar General Duke for knee replacement (but figured the fix could wait til later).

The other was Steeler, who wasn’t originally going to be in the shot. At the height I wanted him sticking out of the turret, I thought that he would be obstructed by the turret and cannon because of the low angle of the shot, but figured I would go get him, and stick him in there to verify this. But when I adjusted an arm, the upper torso—previously cracked open as part of his custom mod---split open again.

[pic of decimated Steeler fig removed due to graphic content]

This was actually a good thing for this shoot because I could then fit him in the turret at a more natural height. He ended up being visible, so he made the final cut, but couldn’t pose him with hand on his visor as both arms were holding that up the half-figure in the turret. As for a fix, we would be glue back up later (though the web harness helps keep him together as well), but he’ll likely snap again. Too bad I cut the little pegs that joint the two torso halves together.

MORTAR MIX
Pulling out Short-Fuze again (he’s in the shot based on the collector case recreation of the cover) reminded me how much his mortar bothered me. You may not have noticed on the proto shot I have his original mortar piece, but for the final red shot I switched to the more slender one that came with the 2005 comic book version of the figure.

I think the original’s stand is too short, resulting in the mortar pointing too low, but really like the sculpting of the pieces. For the comic book figure’s mortar, I like its angle, but don’t like its slender and less detailed tube (plus the legs kick out way too much when trying to get the tube base flat). What I always wanted to try was getting the stand of the comic figure’s mortar onto the tube of the original figure’s mortar tube. But since Short-Fuze and his mortar were more in the background (and was really in a groove with getting the shot done), I figured the mortar mod could wait.

Well, I had some time for figure modding today, so after fixing my damaged Joes--and doing some Star Wars ESB 6” mods {a whole Hoth Han, Hoth Luke, Cassian extravaganza), I was able to get to the mortars. The result is below, in the middle of the comic one (left) and original one (right, 25th), showing the difference in standing angle for all.


20190630_013402 by J Perez, on Flickr

I took the comic mortar’s stand and cut it right at the top of the drum//barrel and drilled a hole at the top. Then I took the stand of the vintage version just below the top of the stand’s main post, leaving enough to act as a peg into the hole drilled into the other stand. The sections were then Gorilla glued together—with the whole peg and socket thing protecting the new stand from snapping apart. So the whole thing is pretty sturdy, and at a nice aiming angle that doesn’t feel too high or too low (at least to me, but I’m no mortar soldier).

MAGNETS & MAGNETS & MAGNETS
Before I a struck down the “set”, I wanted to get the photo below, showing the effectiveness of the foot peg magnets using the thin tin plate as a base. I left the figures in their poses for a week, and they didn’t seem too bothered by it. So my next task to learn cheap effective and precise metal plate cutting for all my stepped display stands…


20190622_122852 by J Perez, on Flickr

COVER OF A COVER
And finally, thanks to logos available on 3DJoes.com, I have a closer mockup of my cover (but without trade dress or smoke or explosions):


PhotoGrid_1560546713979 by J Perez, on Flickr

[HissHissFangFan]

Grunt, Eighties Marvel Comic Logo, Take 2 (previous take post #80, #81). Took my original extra Comic Style prototype and put an imfamous head to good use.


GiJoe_O13-82MarvelLogo_2019-0708ae~2 by HissHissFangFang, on Flickr

B/W study, Original Raw, Final Post-Processing:

GiJoe_O13-82MarvelLogo_2019-0708bd by HissHissFangFang, on Flickr

Post-Processing Saturation Study:

GiJoe_O13-82MarvelLogo_2019-0708bb by HissHissFangFang, on Flickr

Inking vs Shadowing Comparison:

GiJoe_O13-82MarvelLogo_2019-0708da~3 by HissHissFangFang, on Flickr

Take1 vs Take2 /w Extreme Processing:

GiJoe_O13-82MarvelLogo_2019-0708ca by HissHissFangFang, on Flickr

[Adventure Fun]

Love the use of the head, if you gave him MTF/50th hands you could get the arms/hands even closer. Oreo has used them on the 25th buck before.

[HissHissFangFan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Adventure Fun

Love the use of the head, if you gave him MTF/50th hands you could get the arms/hands even closer. Oreo has used them on the 25th buck before.

Yeah, I know about those MTF hands, and love the OB-OG13 build. But you lose the ribbed cuffs, end up with a shorter lower arm, and likely end up with oversized hands forbthis specific figure build. Plus I like the purity of using Hasbro stuff only for these O13 figures. But thanks for the suggestion!

[HissHissFangFan]

Nothing real new here, just new composites.

Last few months been resizing older photos get entered in the JoeCustoms gallery. They looked kinda neat all together in the file explorer so I indulged myself and photogridded(?) them together in poster style, influenced by old catalogs, cardbacks, and the G.I. Joe database pages of yojoe.com.

The "82" Joes (minus Stalker, who wasn't entered into the gallery):


GiJoe_O13-13set-Classic25th_2019-1101bb by HissHissFangFang, on Flickr


GiJoe_O13-13set-Classic25th_2019-1101cb by HissHissFangFang, on Flickr

And a little Joe v Cobra, 1982 concept style:


GiJoeVsCobra_82-00_2019-1116bc by HissHissFangFang, on Flickr


GiJoeVsCobra_82-00_2019-1116dc by HissHissFangFang, on Flickr

Feel free to print out--to cut out and rearrange per your individual preference, or use for your Santa list for this year (but please make note of which ones you have and and which you want per a consistent color or marking system)...

[sbartek1974]

Your work is so amazing bro! It would be my dream come true if Hasbro were to do an offering like this.

[Yeet]

Awesome as always dude!

[HissHissFangFan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yeet

Awesome as always dude!

Waffles! Waffles...

[HissHissFangFan]

GI JOE OG13: MODERN VERSION

I always wanted to do a true modern-day version of the original 1982 13 figures. My vision of this set would be a different take from my previous OG13 sets as well as a departure from modern OG13 sets by others—where I would take one to three excellent modern-day sculpts with modern grounded gear, weapons, and BDUs and make “tributes” to the OG13.

For colors/paint apps, I wanted to depart from the dominant greens of the past and move more towards a greenish tan base, accented by greys and green-greys. Further, I wanted to get camo into the base look of all the figures, maybe saving solids for characters like Hawk, Snake Eyes, and Stalker. Finally, I wanted to reuse the same base figure dominantly as a tribute to the design of the 1982 figures and as nod to real world troopers—differentiating the different figures mainly through heads, headgear, and weapons (then maybe by small changes in accessories and secondary colors).

This interpretation of the OG13 would return to the heart of the toyline idea being a modern day “strike force” rather than a “delta force” squad—where the original MOS’s make more sense.

For the last few years, I was resigned to this being a concept in my mind only. While the 30th Snake Eyes is an excellent base, I wanted something more in line with photos you see on the interwebs. My true choice had been the 2012 Ultimate Duke, which had the right sculpt and colors (though not great for poses due to arm and vest bulkiness. However, I never found enough of these figures for a decent price to make the set, and these days won’t pay $30+ current market value for 8+ of these.

This all changed when, as the 2019 Assembly Required in Iowa, I got to check out Joy Toy’s 1/8” U.S. Armed Forces figures (via SmallJoes.com’s table). There are multiple styles of five-figure sets and while the other two may be “cooler”, the U.S. Army Cavalry Regiment, decked out in tight green/tan/brown camo and grey tan modern webgear is what I was always wanting.

I’d seen pictures of these and read CIAD’s glowing news reports on Surveillanceport.com—they looked unbelievable, but I wasn’t convinced they could have the movement and articulation of the modern G.I. Joe line. And if they did, I didn’t believe they would be very durable (having bought 3.75” ultra/super/hyper articulated figures by Revoltech where pieces would purposely come apart less break).

But seeing and handling these in person quashed all my doubts on these figures. They are awesome in almost every way. The only issue I had was that they had “diaper” crotch syndrome, which don’t allow them a proper sitting position. However, the waist piece is of a more flexible/rubbery material which is easy to carve—and such carving does not interrupt the sculpt and camo paint flow of the figure.

The sticker price SmallJoes had was $80 dollars. I initially thought the price was for one figure—which seemed plausible for an import and for a boutique like SmallJoes—so these were initially and insta-pass for me. But he clarified the price for the FIVE figure set (plus and additional display case and accessories), so $16/figure. This was more than current Star Wars Vintage figures of the same scale, but not too much more—and still less than current Hasbro 6 inch figures (and a whole lot less and more abundant than aftermarket Ultimate Dukes).

I ended up buying two five-packs at the show to start messing with. I’ve got a long way to go before I really start presenting these in OG13 envisioned form (still have to work through concepts for Snake Eyes, Hawk, Scarlett) but be on the lookout for these in 2020!

GiJoe_O13-xx-NewModern_2019-1124ad by HissHissFangFang, on Flickr

Note: the set comes only with 2 unique face heads then 3 identical helmeted and masked heads (with helmet and masks sculpted on). So the first challenge is to replace those all those masked heads. Luckily Joe heads and casts work pretty well. But it will likely be a while before I settle on the right heads and headgear...