I Make Custom GI Joes.
Posted by kingphilbert | Filed under Customs
About two years ago I started customizing GI Joes with parts and pieces from the 25th Anniversary line. When I tell people this they don’t always understand what I mean. I guess they wonder how, but maybe why. Here’s a quick look at the how part. For the why part, well if you know me, you know why.
You essentially start with a base figure. In this case I was inspired by the similarity between RoC Agent Helix and Abbey Chase. Here’s what is referred to as a Frankenjoe. Essentially busted up and pieced back together. Pretty simple as all the parts except for the arms are from Helix. The limbs came from Lady Jaye.
From there you can move onto paint. I def recommend painting part by part and piece by piece. It’s much cleaner and much easier. As for the paints I like Testors Model Master Acrylics. I don’t have any shot of the small parts propped up with toothpicks, but I started with the legs. Each leg breaks down into 5 parts: Outer thigh, inner thigh, knee, lower leg, and foot. Classic Abbey has green on the outside of her pants and blue on the inner thighs. The leg separation made this extra easy. The green below the knee, above the boot was much harder, but I used a real small pointy brush. I also like the contrast between using flat and gloss blacks that you can see on the knee pads and boots.
When I move onto the upper body I worked a little broader. A base coat of light grey to cover any portion that would be white. A sandy color for the body armor and darker grey for the armor padding. You can see I taped off the arms to keep the fleshtone they were molded in. Others may repaint all the flesh so the color is more consistent, I don’t think it’s necessary for most figures. By this point I had pried the hair from the Helix head to paint as well. It’s a combo of three colors: a medium base of a dark yellow/brown, a wash of a darker yellow/brown to seep into the grooves, and a dry brush of a lighter shade for highlights.
Once those broad coats are laid down it’s all about detail. I explained what went into painting the hair, well those same techniques translate to all parts. I used a brown wash on the body armor for wear and weathering. A dry brush of white over the light grey on her shirt. Then a lot of small brush work with flat black and gloss black for all the straps and buckles as well as to fine up an messes around the armor and shirt. Even a touch or grey on the zipper pull.
She was finished off with a repeat of the body armor paint on the belt pouches with a coat of flat black for the belt itself and a quick coat of green on her gloves. Reassemble the torso and armors with glue. Add the legs, head and hands, and a pair of tiny little Desert Eagle pistols and she’s ready for danger. In the end I now have a nice Abbey Chase figure inspired by the cover of Body Shots issue 1 with a few touches of classic Abbey. Click on my Customs link to see more images.
