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12-14-2020, 01:45 AM | #131 |
Iron Grenadier
Join Date: Feb 2017
Location: Kansas
Posts: 981
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Quote:
Those forearms are the work of Bobby Vala. In the effort to make the MCC CT and CO look as close to the vintage figures as possible, he decided to use those forearms instead of the usual forearms that that torso came with. I guess the elbow pads was a deal breaker. That's why the legs are all messed up too.
Anyway, I guess the mustache just used that build as that was the last time that torso was used. Another example not not doing any research on what figures have been out before. Why spend the time designing new thighs (even though they have messed up engineering) and not just looking at the previous figures. How many times have we seen that torso, upper arms and lower arms since 2011? Cobra Trooper, Steel Brigade, Night Viper, etc... Why not just look at what's out there and use that? Damnit!!! Here I go again!!! I said I would stop getting upset at these poor builds and lazy work. Ok. I'm done. The lower arms of the Retro HISS Driver figure released do have a better/longer cuff to match the original, whereas the POC Shock Trooper arms barely have a cuff. But those are some damn long arms and hands... Love when you get going--we see the same things on almost all these 2020 releases, where it seems most are pretty content with the offerings. But I guess it doesn't really upset me at this point. Fixing and tweaking these guys to me liking has been my thing for a few years, and has made the 3.75 modern Joes my all-time favorite toy line due to that interaction with the figures mixed in with the nostalgia of my youth. The only thing that really irked me was Scarlett, but I'm over most of that. Your own recent fixes have been great, and it had to be kinda fun to figure out, execute, and show off. So why complain, eh? |
12-14-2020, 09:24 AM | #132 |
Crimson Guard
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: Arkansas
Posts: 3,025
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Quote:
Also, from the Bobby Vala conversation, "sprue" is the word I've been looking for. This is has got to be why certain figures come with the parts they do! All the parts are combined into one sprue. So, where it is easy for a customizer to swap legs and arms with a certain torso, Hasbro has to pick what is already "sprued" together. The problem here is when we have complete figures that would make awesome repaints as another character, like DOTD Flint/Retaliation Firefly repainted as Duke (not a perfect modern reproduction of ARAH Duke, but better than "O" face-Duke). I guess when Hasbro picks some terrible figure as an alternative we can say they "sprued" us again! Jason |
12-14-2020, 07:32 PM | #133 |
Hisstank.Com General
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: Georgia
Posts: 14,798
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Quote:
I was going to mention [blame] Bobby for the arms, but he was going to best sculpt accuracy to originals on the ComicCon set, and went to great lengths of search and trial/error to get there. For me, size, proportion and of course height must come first--or at least not be sacrificed.
The lower arms of the Retro HISS Driver figure released do have a better/longer cuff to match the original, whereas the POC Shock Trooper arms barely have a cuff. But those are some damn long arms and hands... Love when you get going--we see the same things on almost all these 2020 releases, where it seems most are pretty content with the offerings. But I guess it doesn't really upset me at this point. Fixing and tweaking these guys to me liking has been my thing for a few years, and has made the 3.75 modern Joes my all-time favorite toy line due to that interaction with the figures mixed in with the nostalgia of my youth. The only thing that really irked me was Scarlett, but I'm over most of that. Your own recent fixes have been great, and it had to be kinda fun to figure out, execute, and show off. So why complain, eh?
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12-15-2020, 02:53 AM | #134 |
Iron Grenadier
Join Date: Feb 2017
Location: Kansas
Posts: 981
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FANG Pilot [2020 Update]
2020-12-12_02-57-08 by HissHissFangFang, on Flickr Build: • Head, Legs, Chest Armor: 2020 Retro Collection HISS Driver • Upper Torso, Lower Arms: 2014 50th Night-Viper • Belt: 2008 25th HISS Driver • Webgear: 2008 DVD Battles Pack Cobra Commander (painted black) • Mask: 2011 50th Blowtorch (modified), spliced with 2011 Renegades Ripcord • Hands: MTF male hands, gloves with pads Notes: This is the final of three updates for the 1983 set, “upgrading” from the 2008 HISS Driver build to the 2020 Retro Build. The straps and back plate of the webgear were cut, so that the front chestplate would work with this webgear. I chose this simple webgear to maintain a stripped-down look compared to those used for my later year pilots (1984 Rattler pilot, 1986 Air Viper). 2020-12-12_02-54-12 by HissHissFangFang, on Flickr The mask was the most dicey part of this update. The mask on the Ripcord is a cooler sculpt but was too large on the head. However, I hated the hose on the Blowtorch mask, so I spliced the two sculpts together at the bottom of the mask—held to together with a cut steel pin and glue. Both the mask and the head face needed to be cut back to have the mask fit right. 2020-12-12_02-35-23 by HissHissFangFang, on Flickr If you haven’t been reading this thread since its 2017 origins, my FANG pilot was a concept to fill out a larger 1983 figure concept set of Cobras, explained in early posts. The FANG pilot is meant to be purposely derivative of the HISS Driver to tie it back to something visually familiar to all—plus FANG pilot abilities were specifically noted on the original HISS Driver file card. This is something that I always remembered as a kid since I had the FANG, but my Joe buddy had the HISS. 2020-12-12_02-50-02 by HissHissFangFang, on Flickr Above is my previous 2015-2017 FANG Pilot on the left, and a recreation of my “custom” in 2009. Back then I stole the helmet+mask idea from Hasbro’s 2008 Cobra Pilot, and used the 2008 HISS Driver (Silver Chest) for a similar but different look than the normal HISS Driver. Later I went back to the HISS Driver head in 2015 because I felt it needed more use/presence in my Cobra Collection. GET IN DA CHOPPA!!! I keep saying this guy is THE FANG pilot, and have explained the concept—but I realize the only way to “sell” this concept to myself and others is to throw him in the chopper and snap shots--especially in light of the upcoming Wal-Mart FANG pilot by Hasbro (which I guess I'll be ignoring). So I took apart my usual lightbox rig, and tried to do some decent shots of this: 2020-12-12_02-34-42 by HissHissFangFang, on Flickr Above was my first shot. He fits in a lot better than my 2017 figure because his legs are shorter and smaller. The nice thing about this new figure is that I don’t have to remove his feet to get him decently seated. 2020-12-12_02-33-36 by HissHissFangFang, on Flickr Above is first shot of my 1983 vehicles and their corresponding figures together, to get a feeling of how they’d look together “in action”. The Pilot came out well in the shot, the FANG kind of gets lost in the overall. I cropped this photo for the teaser photo of the pilot from a few days ago. 2020-12-12_06-15-11 by HissHissFangFang, on Flickr Above is another shot of FANG and Pilot, to show how he fits. The explosion in the background was weirdly created in post, by combo of adding vignette effect to my usual shiny black/grey background, then using the using the RGB color tone curve adjustment to light up the various shades in red/orange/yellow. Adventures in Lightroom... 2020-12-12_02-09-14 by HissHissFangFang, on Flickr Above is another shot of the three Retro HISS FANG figure rebuilds, to get a better shot of both HISS Driver and FANG Pilot, both in their respective vehicles. I like the idea of the vehicle drivers and pilots in red—very unique for Cobra in 1983 following 1982—and also why I can’t see the blue version as the HISS Commander. I tried to do my motor vehicle driver (proto Stinger Driver) in red well back in 2017, but I didn’t look and feel like a retcon figure/design--maybe too derivative off a an already derivative idea. 2020-12-12_02-34-28 by HissHissFangFang, on Flickr Above is the final reshoot to get the FANG more readable to the eyes. My phone camera doesn't have bokeh effect, or do I have access to masking effects to blur elements, but I was able to find other ways to get push the FANG and pilot forward in the shot. This completes my Walmart Retro Collection HISS Driver figure reuses for now, although I’ve loved to get two more to do a Black Jungle version and Grey Desert version for my 1984-1986 collections in the future. It was nice to go back to this 1983 set—my second set to be unveiled when I officially joined these forums back in 2017. It was also nice to complete the rebuilds of HISS Driver, HISS Gunner, and FANG Pilot to 30th figure construction as I had hoped to do back then. 2020-11-26_01-13-15 by HissHissFangFang, on Flickr 2020-12-12_03-05-34 by HissHissFangFang, on Flickr 2020-12-12_03-44-49 by HissHissFangFang, on Flickr 2020-12-15_01-52-52 by HissHissFangFang, on Flickr 2020-12-12_03-24-16 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; 03-23-2022 at 10:08 PM.. |
12-15-2020, 10:15 AM | #135 |
Crimson Guard
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: Arkansas
Posts: 3,025
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Quote:
Jason |
06-24-2023, 05:26 AM | #136 |
Iron Grenadier
Join Date: Feb 2017
Location: Kansas
Posts: 981
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MAJOR BLUDD (2023 40TH REDUX)
2023-06-24_12-41-03 by HissHissFangFang, on Flickr BUILD: Head, right arm, Rocket launcher, backpack, dogtags: 25th Major Bludd (cardback version) Left upper arm, lower legs and feet: 25th Major Bludd (7-pack Desert version) Lower right arm: 50th 2-pack Cobra Commander Torso, upper legs: Retaliation 3-Pack Firefly Belt: 25th Hiss Driver Chestplate: Retro Collection Hiss Driver Helmet: Retro Collection Cobra Trooper Hands, Kneepads (armpads) : Marauder Gun Runners Paints: Tamiya XF-90 Red Brown 2, Testors Acrylic Flat Black, Tamiya XF-1 Flat Black NOTES (part 1): I sat on this one for a while now, about half a year. Started out fast, but slowed down due to work overload and making sure I was satisfied (enough) with it. I think I got everything I wanted except for the slots in the chestplate?that will have to wait for another time when I?ve gotten a good technique to do it clean and even enough for it not to be a distraction. In Nov 2022, I set upon taking my photos of my ?last? iterations of my Cobra Big 13 along with their Hasbro vintage o-ring and Hasbro initial 25th versions, all of which have become very special for me. In the process I found that a few (Copperhead, Tomax/Xamot) could use a few relatively quick tweaks. But Zartan and Bludd seemed to need overhauls. Zartan I covered in my Cobra 1984 thread a few months ago (Zartan 2023 40th Redux (post #93). 2023-06-24_12-58-51 by HissHissFangFang, on Flickr I had not changed this figure at all since I first showed him in 2017 ( (HHFF?s Cobra Shelf). I thought the figure looked great with this collection of figures, even as most of them got tweaked in the last 6 years. It was only when pictured with his o-ring and 25th unmodified counterparts that had me unhappy with the figure?mostly because he visually deviated from the other two in color and in upper torso styling. I had never really had these versions side by side until above, and now my Bludd didn?t feel like Bludd anymore. 2023-06-24_01-44-23 by HissHissFangFang, on Flickr Back in 2020 with all my updates using the then-new Walmart Retro Collection Hiss Driver, I had some notions of using that Hiss Driver?s chestpad over a 50th Firefly torso atop Retaliation Cobra Commander upper legs and 25th Desert 7-pack lower legs. But getting all those different parts would be expensive if bought on the spot, I wasn?t sure if they would all fit and work together. I was really counting on Firefly, Flint, or an updated Duke being released with that Retro line?instead we got those new ?Vietnam Builds?. Instead of sulking about that, I dove right into messing with those for a year or so, while also accumulating my desired Bludd parts. 2023-06-24_02-21-59 by HissHissFangFang, on Flickr Above is pretty much the final build for now, photos taken back in April 2023 this year. It also took me a while to get myself to accept this as final, and also sit down and write this all up. It also took a while to sort through hundreds of test and comparison shots. There were a ton of tweaks done from first initial test build and paint this the versions above. This is not a brag, but more of a disclaimer, in that the recipe given above won?t necessarily come out as pictured above, if you want to try this build. Below are selected from all those test/compare photos, along with some descriptions of the various things done: INITIAL TEST SHOT: 2023-06-24_02-26-16 by HissHissFangFang, on Flickr Above, the initial pieces were assembled just to see if they would even it, lots of different parts from lots of different production eras. Things seem to fit enough to continue with the project. The helmet need quite a bit a fill (sculpting clay initially) to fit on the 25th head properly. I was afraid the head would look too small with all the other pieces, but the helmet helped balance it all out. For final, the front and back edges were cut down to shorten the helmet, while SuperWeld was used to fill out the underside to further help fit and final shape. 2023-06-24_02-41-51 by HissHissFangFang, on Flickr Above, I progressed to fitting the chestplate a little better to the torso (shaving down inside face of gear and shaving down shoulders), then getting those pesky dogtags to work. Credit to Mr Nighthawk for that idead back in 2014 (!). Lots of stuff I?ve done over the years has been inspired by is early and prolific mods. 2023-06-24_03-01-17 by HissHissFangFang, on Flickr Also taken from his mods (https://www.hisstank.com/forum/g-i-j...mjr-bludd.html) was the articulated right arm mod. I had done this arm my previous Bludd but did not want to go through that mess again, so I swapped that previous arm onto this new build. Not an easy swap because arm ring on the torso joint was a total different size from this previous arm. I don?t crack open torsos anymore to swap arms?I just slice through the arm peg through the shoulder ring and swap. Also, at some point I switched to MGR hands, for both increased articulation as well as that nice padding detail that works for Bludd (replacing that weird green patch on the o-ring?s left lower arm). 2023-06-24_03-08-41 by HissHissFangFang, on Flickr In photo above, I was getting set to paint the green triangle emblem on my initial upper left arm: the 50th 2-pack Cobra Commander one that went with the lower arm (no other short-glove accurate lower arm ever worked for me). Really unable to see what has generally going on with the symbol, I took a closeup, and was shocked find the fine detailing of sword and bolts. I wanted to keep this tampo, but knew I could not replicate it by hand. Instead, I switched out the upper arm, requiring more tweaks at the elbow joint and shoulder joint. Fortunately, the crease sculpting was pretty on par for this older 20007 sculpted arm piece (first Cobra trooper!) compared to the later piece made in 2012. 2022-12-18_12-17-29 (1) by HissHissFangFang, on Flickr Above is from December 2022. I thought I was done with this guy?having a build a little more faithful to the vintage figure and aligning all three version pretty well. I even found a raw brown paint I was finally happy with. He looked a bit tall, but nothing bothersome to me. I also really liked the Firefly/Flint left hip holster, which could hold the rocket launcher without rocket (would have been more ideal to have it on the right hip though). 2022-12-22_04-11-41 by HissHissFangFang, on Flickr A nice closeup, for his showcase. I know many don?t like this 25th head and prefer the later one from the 2018 JoeCon set, but I find that one too big. The original 25th heads aren?t well painted, and need retouch on the moustache, gnashing teeth, sideburns, but eye and eyebrow are decent?just needs to be the carded Zartan-torso version, not the other two HissDriver-torso ones. Later on I realized the chestplate needed cleanup, as well as full removal of the Cobra emblem before repaint. 2023-06-24_03-31-36 by HissHissFangFang, on Flickr A shot of him with some blueshirts 82 and 83, inspired by the Sunbow cartoon somewhat. He?s taller than the troops, legs look a bit slender, I am somewhat bothered with it at this point, but at the same time I keep studying photos taken before this like below? 20230118_224806 by HissHissFangFang, on Flickr Though a pretty picture (taken in January), after a few months I am full on bothered by his proportions. At quarter turn and side views I thought he looked fine, but at full frontal and with the other big-time Cobras (his collection display mates), things seemed way off?legs, torso, head?one or all I wasn?t sure. But in the end I decided not to end this figure this way, and hold off on presenting him back then. It is late?more pics and notes tomorrow or the next day. Thanks for allowing me to induldge, as I near the end on these collections and threads? 20230121_204842 by HissHissFangFang, on Flickr 20230204_061248~2 by HissHissFangFang, on Flickr |
06-24-2023, 02:49 PM | #137 |
Hisstank.Com General
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: Georgia
Posts: 14,798
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That Retro hiss driver chest plate is sweet on MB!!! I don't know how, but you always make 25th parts combined with POC part's look great. Awesome job!!!
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06-25-2023, 11:08 AM | #138 |
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Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: .
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tweaking a custom to one’s satisfaction -ah, the struggle is real. It seems few put as much scrutiny into the little things over the long haul as you do. You painted that head to look better than it ever has. You mentioned the exclusive head being too big - I was betting that was your reason before you stated it. It seems you tend to use casts quite sparingly, but you did use the shrunken baroness head. If a slightly smaller version of the 2018 JoeCon head existed do you think you would prefer it?
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06-25-2023, 04:37 PM | #139 |
Shabba
Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: England
Posts: 1,343
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Great photos
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06-25-2023, 04:39 PM | #140 |
Molded by the Tank
Join Date: Jan 2020
Location: Mindbenders Laboratory
Posts: 6,404
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Great photos. I like the different filters .
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