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06-17-2021, 07:59 PM | #31 |
Hisstank.Com General
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Nice. Where did those boot covers come from? Eagle Force?
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06-17-2021, 08:13 PM | #32 |
The Man You Know & Love
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06-19-2021, 08:34 PM | #33 |
Iron Grenadier
Join Date: Feb 2017
Location: Kansas
Posts: 981
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Warning: Settle in. I should have doled this in parts throughout the week, but kept falling down the rabbit hole.
I’ve been messing around with the Stalker figure since I got him last Saturday, mainly exploring possibillities in an updated OG13 based on this new build figure. I don’t think Hasbro will ever get to re-releasing all 13 in this new build, but there’s a pretty good chance at least a few will be made. It’s hard to tell who Hasbro will actually release in the new future (at this time, Stalker himself hasn’t actually been officially announced). I’d really like to wait out for at least one of two more figures released, but I guess it’s never too early to experiment to see what works and what doesn’t with past and current available parts. 20210613_164311 (1) by HissHissFangFang, on Flickr The first one I was eager to try was Hawk, as I previously posted elsewhere. Body and webgear would all be the same as provided with Stalker. Hands could have been repainted Stalker hands, but we found that MTF bare hands work great in terms of size and fit. Finding the right heads for these figures somewhat of a challenge, many of the smaller and medium size 25th/POC heads just won’t work visually on the new build due to the larger and taller body and bigger wide neck. I don’t have many MTF heads (only 3 actually), but all seem to be the right size for this figure. Above is the Hank head, with repainted hair (and eyebrows). Heads will sit real high on the new body without modification. You can drill the neck/torso hole for the neck dumbbell to sit lower and/or drill the hole head deeper. I drilled the hole deeper with a 3/8” diameter Dremel ball engraver. I also made the hole wider and deep at the neck to make removing/replacing easier and without heat. No issues with painting encountered. I use Tamiya Dark Green on the body and it applied well with normal amount of coats, and didn’t loose the fine texture on the shirt and pants. Not much wear or rub at the main body with normal handling. Some text pictures below will start to indicate paint were, but that will be due to heavy handling due to part popping and replacement. At the knees, back elbows and shoulder undersides, I am getting complete paint rub off without specially treating those joints (sanding cutting), but is not abnormal. Most exposed joints at front elbows and top shoulders are actually holding up pretty well, with a little paint wear. With Hawk testing down with good results, I imagine Grunt and Snake Eyes can be easily made from this figure. Axonrey has already done a good Snake Eyes, using the original 25th head. I was thinking that was the best choice of available heads due to it size, and I’m glad it worked well. I also saw HissTanker Zpartikuz use a really nice head sculpt from Gigabread on p32 of his custom thread. It looks about the right size for this body, but I’m not seeing a 1/18th version of it for sale right now. Personally, I’m gonna keep testing out figure parts for others, and a fully black painted figure at this time won’t be as useful a green one. I also think Hasbro will release this as a new figure in the next year—it’s freakin’ Snake Eyes (also something about a movie coming out in the future). 20210615_195035 by HissHissFangFang, on Flickr Above is more testing of parts. The head is MTF I got from a prebuilt figure—looks like a “Dutch” head. The beefier parts of the new body work well for this head. Again, head sits high without Dremel work, but fine afterwards. Helmet is also MTF, which many have used for their MTF OG13. Personally, I don’t want to use vintage Hasbro helmets on a new OG13, and think this helmet works fine until we see if Hasbro makes a new redesign (which really could be very soon). Until then, I will be using this helmet going forward (it helps that I already got 3 spares already in hand currently). Hands and lower arms are MTF, also from the prebuilt green MTF figure I have. Upper arms holes need to be dremeled deeper close up the gap, otherwise fits great (peg is not too wide or skinny). The arm is a little longer than the Retro parts (see pic from previous posts), but probably acceptable to most (I can almost live with it). Then there’s the issue of texture. Obviously the smooth MTF part won’t have that cool new knitted texture of the new build, but visually may not be apparent or distracting at most viewing distances. Since most of what’s visible is the rolled over part, you eyes might not have an issue with it. Also, in the future we can test out with maybe the knit texture can be subdued with techniques (maybe overpainting). Belt is from Dollar General Duke, most associated with use with Zap, then Short-Fuse. I also use for my updated 25th Clutch and Flash, so I wanted to make sure it fits on this figure for future use. It’s a little tight and may need heating to safely get it on (by removing legs and sliding up on lower torso) to avoid snap or body custom paint wear, but belt fits fine and fairly easy to do. You save a step by not having to undo leg screws on this figure, but you’ll have to do that on the old figure from whom you got the belt. Last is to address the 25th Clutch vest. Clutch is high on my list of to-do figures with this build, so I got to this pretty quickly. Not surprising, it’s a lousy fit. The chest is chest to bulky on all sides, and the small arm holes keep the arms hanging awkwardly out from the body (it looks worse in person—I turned the figure to the side a little to make it look less bad as part of my easy camera tricks). Vest is also really short, hence use of the belt to hide that, but then the belt distractingly low. 2021-06-17_02-30-53 by HissHissFangFang, on Flickr Picture above continues testing of stuff from previous testing. Progressing a Short Fuze concept felt right, using the head, helmet, and belt from previous. I forget his correct parts colors for the brown and black parts (but know it’s a weird combo of the two), so I went with leaving the parts unpainted for now. Besides a proper visor, just needed to test out some Zap/SF webgear. I tested the Zap/DG Duke webgear and immediately did not like the results—more pics on that later. Instead, above pic uses the Renegades Tunnel Rat webgear, unpainted, also included with 7-Pack Resolute or late ROC City Strike Snake Eyes (v48). It has more beef to it as required for the beefier chest, and fits nice and tight (but not too tight). It can be slipped on after heating, or you can remove the arms by heating and place directly to the torso for fit placement. Downside is that arms will but stuck hanging away from the body, but this can be reduced by cutting away some of the torso under and just behind the arms (which may also help fitting the harness). I am finding that cutting torso at the sides under the arms is necessary for most uses for this figure build, even for Hawk and Stalker for simple better looking vanilla stances. Going back to this post’s first pic, both have the adjustment. Continuing with Clutch, not having any of the bearded MTF heads on hand, I wanted to test the 25th Clutch head, which was a bit on the larger side on the 25th figures. I think it works out well here, and fits well with that MTF helmet. I did fill the helmet at the top with a little sculpting clay to make it sit taller and make the head look a little bigger and more is size with the MTF and Stalker head. The vest is an MTF vest (86 version as I’ve seen it called), from my prebuilit green MTF figure, and my first use of this part for customs. I’m not a fan of where the holes in the vest are, and drilled one where I wanted the holster to fit. I may locate some of the other pouches similarly if I go forward with this vest. The vest sort of fits on the torso, but extremely hard to fasten both side of the vests. However even with only one side secured, the vest holds down naturally. In the pic you can see the left side sticking out at the pack, maybe not noticeable until I pointed it out. The vest is a decent analog to the old vest and fits better, but IMO is way too bulky—out of place when considering what Stalker, Hawk, Grunt, Zap, SF will all look like (also makes Zap and SF under accessorized). Looking at the vest’s underside, I saw that it could be thinned out by carving out a lot of plastic at the back size. I did just that on the version pictured but the vest still looks bulky—this has more to do with the chest which is very wide and bulky, and the combo of the chest and vest is too much. If only there were another torso that could be used… 20210618_022401 by HissHissFangFang, on Flickr Obviously, there is another chest available in the Retro Cobra Trooper figure released with Stalker in this same wave, whose chest is narrower and less pronounced—ideal for fixing the Clutch vest issue. However, the Stalker legs do not fit CT lower torso well at all. Because of the soft plastic of the t-bar and legs, the parts will fit and move. However, the legs look massive on the lower torso or the torso looks to small for the legs. The legs stick out at the front and back and especially on the sides. The sides sticking out is not so unusual to us as we’ve seen it for many years on the popular 50th/POC Snake Eyes and Cobra Trooper builds previous, but I was hoping to leave this design flaw behind on new builds. For Clutch, the MTF vest could conceivably conceal this somewhat, but another idea came to mind, shown later. Since legs were swapped, I thought a picture showing various parts swapped between the two figures would be a good reference for later use. The CT legs on the Stalker torso don’t look bad from the front, but are freakishly too small when looking from the side. Arms seem to swap fine, but visually don’t make much sense for anything yet (maybe in the future?). Also, right hand on left figure is the smaller MTF padded glove hand that I think looks better on CT figure. Feet on the left figure also swapped for Stalker feet. I was testing out various improvements for CT just before this latest Clutch trials. 2021-06-18_04-40-06 by HissHissFangFang, on Flickr Above are the same swapped figures from the back, mainly to shows the back harness of the City Snake Eyes/Renegades Tunnel Rat compared to 25thZap/DG Duke harness. The Zap harness doesn’t have much room for adjustment, and the harness will block the backpack hole. Although you may have noticed the Zap harness broken on the previous pic. This harness was a broken spare in my fodder bin, not broken by placing on this figure. But if it may struggle to get on this torso if it had problems on the old figure. The DG Duke harness will probably work ok, despite potential breaking issues. The arms should be removed be heating and the harness warmed up prior to placing. In the end I prefer the Renegades Tunnel Rat gear because its bigger and will work with the backpack peg hole. It may be a little expensive to get this gear though, I was luck to have a spare TR (which I bought to have an additional TR figure stand and neck scarf). 2021-06-18_04-48-17 by HissHissFangFang, on Flickr Side by side comparison of harnesses. Intermission time. I'm tired, you're tired. Go get a beverage. Or a nap before Act III/Reel 6, where we actually resolve the Clutch Endeavor… |
06-20-2021, 01:53 AM | #34 |
Iron Grenadier
Join Date: Feb 2017
Location: Kansas
Posts: 981
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Chapter 27: Will it fit in there?
I was going to leave Clutch as previously shown (Cobra Trooper full torso on Stalker legs), and call it good for now, but I remembered something from 46Zone’s complete part breakdown from page 3: the lower waist is removable from the lower torso, with pics as proof. That would seem to solve the all my issues: slimmer CT upper+lower torso and Stalker waist that fits the upper legs. So… 2021-06-19_04-53-51 by HissHissFangFang, on Flickr Above is a pic with the swapped waist pieces. Both combos work well—the holes and large (LARGE) pegs are the same size. Also, the waist lines are the same so both actually look correct. I wasn’t expecting this to work so well for both figures, and leaves for interesting things for future figures. But… Clutch on the left had already been painted because I forgot to take a photo the night I did the swap (Thurs nite). I forgot because I was tired and my hands were extremely sore. This is because swapping the waists was physically VERY DIFFICULT. I had done this swap on some older Star Wars legacy figures, but nothing like this. If you go back to 46Zone’s pic, you’ll see that the peg is huge, and not shaped for easier insertion. It will take a lot of heat to get the plastic soft enough for semi-comfortable removal. Even then, you’ll have to really work to get it pried out. I was worried about tearing off the peg, but breakage shouldn’t be a problem given how wide the smaller diameter is (I should have studied the photo first, and saved myself worry stress). Also note that the lower waist is hard ABS plastic, so all the softness for removal occurs at the torso, none at the waist. Technically, removal is the easy part. From 46Zone’s post, for reference here: Replacing the peg back into was the most difficult and stressful part. The parts were reheated (hot water baths in a bowl, at least a minute), but after several attempts I could not get that big peg back into the hole. I tried tipping in one edge first, but the edge on the opposite side was nowhere near being able to fit into the whole. Same unsuccessful results when I squeezed the peg into a football shape—the opposite side of the peg was just too far off. It was late, and I was getting nowhere, hands were sore from all the work trying to jamb it in, and hands being soaked with hot water for so long. Also, none of my adult industry friends were returning my messages for industry tips and tricks… The trick that finally worked was to heat the peg up really well, then take some pliers and squeeze the large peg head into a smaller and taller diameter. Keep it in a circular shape, not oblong else the last end you try to plug in their will never make it in. Squeeze it hard and tight without worrying about permanent damage. It should eventually bend back into normal shape. Plus if you’ve gone this far you really don’t have any other choice, as I felt when doing this that night. After squeezing the peg into a much more workable round size, you’ll have to work hard and fast. The peg enlarges pretty quick once away from the heat (maybe shape the peg while still in the hot water will help?). One my final try I got maybe half in, and had to push really hard and keep twisting/screwing until it was finally in, still afraid of doing permanent damage during the whole process—but again the plastic is pretty thick and strong (hence the difficulty in the first place). Also, it’s a little hard to get a grip on the smaller (and wet) pieces when replugging—especially that lower waist (nothing to grip). So we can confirm that the waist IS removable from the lower torso, and has good probably of being swappable with other new build figures (the waist hole and the plugs look to all be the same size on these two). The process is physically difficult and potentially stressful, pushing the plastic’s strength to limits you may not be used to or comfortable with. As we continue to work with these figures, hopefully with get improves ways for the process. I myself won’t be doing this again anytime soon, but it was worth it to try and luckily it worked out as well as I hoped: 2021-06-19_03-01-54 by HissHissFangFang, on Flickr Above, maintaining the Stalker torso kept the legs to torso fit as good as it gets, while swapping for the CT upper and lower torso let the MTF vest fit with fully closed clasps and room to spare. The overall chest and vest is more normal looking, less bulky and puffy, and visually consistent with the Stalker build. Note that carving down the underside of the vest was done and helps a lot for the final look, though not needed for fit. The lower waist is a little wider all around to the middle torso piece, but maybe only a thick belt’s worth of thickness. And could be concealed with another belt piece (or vest in this case). Waist twists fine still, feels just as strong before the swap. 20210619_035541 by HissHissFangFang, on Flickr And now we come to full circle back to the original vest, which also fits the CT torso. As shown above, the chest below is slightly exposed, but nothing compared to what happens with the Stalker torso, and even a little less than what’s exposed on the original 25th figure. I think the vest is a little thick, and can be cut done on the underside to better fit the new wider neck, to sit lower on the shoulders cover more of the waist belt, and to give more room at the arms. I won’t be doing that vest work described above on the vest pictured above because it’s from my DO NOT MOD OG13 25th set, and I don’t have any spares on hand (and really don’t want to get another 25th Clutch, four total was enough, most of them just for that vest). Instead, I will keep working with the MTF vest, despite being pretty busy looking and not as accurate as the 25th vest. 2021-06-19_05-40-23 by HissHissFangFang, on Flickr Above is a composite of the 2 vest options I played with, for reference for others who are looking to do this custom, or even using the MTF 86 vest for other customs on the new figure build. Also, Sbarty hinted at a whole other vest option that he will hopefully unveil soon. To close, I did composite of my one-week study for Clutch custom possibilities and early refinements possible. Thanks for checking in, and sorry if this all wasn’t more compacted. But time to move on to things—still so much to unpack with these figures… PhotoGrid_Plus_1624095694274 by HissHissFangFang, on Flickr
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HissHissFangFan(g) Flickr | Facebook GI JOE: T13 O13//1982 1983-? | COBRA: O13//1982 1983 1984 1985-? Last edited by HissHissFangFan; 06-20-2021 at 02:39 AM.. |
06-22-2021, 08:48 PM | #35 |
Crimson Guard
Join Date: Jun 2020
Location: America
Posts: 1,414
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those Clutch customs are amazing!
very nicely done |
06-25-2021, 08:21 AM | #36 |
Crimson Guard
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: Arkansas
Posts: 3,025
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Has anyone tried swapping out BFS arms with the retro torsos?
Jason |
06-25-2021, 08:31 AM | #37 |
A Cimmerian
Join Date: Jun 2016
Location: Mountain of Power
Posts: 10,998
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Given the mushroom size of the arm peg on retro, my guess would be BFS is going to be a very loose fit.
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06-25-2021, 06:19 PM | #38 |
Red Shadow (Lobo) :D
Join Date: Apr 2020
Location: Ireland
Posts: 1,020
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Hiss, really like the mix up of parts with the Cobra Trooper and Stalker, great for customs, oh yeah! Hoping future releases will be all compatible like these two are, great stuff man! ;)
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06-26-2021, 10:22 PM | #39 |
Iron Grenadier
Join Date: Feb 2017
Location: Kansas
Posts: 981
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Quote:
20210626_031414 by HissHissFangFang, on Flickr Clutch has messed up boots--the feet were cast into lower left leg wrong on the second Stalker I opened up, then again on a fourth Stalker I opened up. I panicked at first since both had the same left leg messed up (otherwise I could use good legs for a figure). Luckily, the sculpts on both left and right legs are verify similar--not perfect, but they fit in swapped location and the laces are only slightly offset. So above, Clutch has the two bad left legs, while one of the other figures pictured has the two good right legs. I meant to use the bad legs on someone who has black boots where it is less noticeable, but forgot to do that paint switch. So that's today's discovery: I am seeing QC issues with the feet to leg joint (on 2 of 5 figures bought), and lower boots are swappable, left-right. To tell which leg is correct, check how the back seem of the boot lines up (not pictured). Bonus: more lower arm comparisons: 2021-06-20_01-28-44 by HissHissFangFang, on Flickr Apparantly there are two different molds for rolled up sleeves by MTF. One has the wristband and longer peg (which needs mod to fit snugly into Retro Stalker arm), and one without the wristband and a shorter peg. This peg fits snug and tight into the Stalker Retro arm without mods. 2nd to right is 50th HitNRun arm (same as 50th Flint). If you cut the long tip, the arm fits nice and tight in the Stalker arm, but the arm gets way top long and skinny at the wrist and looks weird with a majority of available hands.
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HissHissFangFan(g) Flickr | Facebook GI JOE: T13 O13//1982 1983-? | COBRA: O13//1982 1983 1984 1985-? Last edited by HissHissFangFan; 06-26-2021 at 10:25 PM.. |
07-02-2021, 07:34 PM | #40 |
A Makeupless Clown
Join Date: Sep 2015
Location: Ohio
Posts: 5,241
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I cracked open a waist today. I'll share photos later, but whoever said the waists are soft plastic and can't be cracked was wrong. There are fragility issues though, so you have to be careful.
Stay tuned...
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