Posts Tagged ‘Abbey Chase’
Why Recondo?
Posted by kingphilbert | Filed under Customs
I was asked this question recently when I was offered some old RAH Joes and immediately yelled out “I call Recondo!” The answer, I really don’t know why. I barely remember him from the comics and he only had a few supporting character roles in the cartoon (rem the episode “Red Rockets Glare” about Roadblock’s uncle’s burger joint?) yet he always ended up a member of my team when I was a kid. Maybe it’s the hat. Maybe it was the mustache. Either way before we had him added to the 25th Anniversary line at the very bitter end I was intent on crafting my own. I had a Tiger Force version planned as one of my first major customs (still the influence for the final). I even started and had him near complete before abandoning him altogether when the actual figure hit in classic jungle gear.
Like any custom I make it seems to be all about the inspiration. Obviously for Recondo it was just a matter of the right parts to make him the way I wanted him and though one may not think to use the beefy lower legs from a Resolute Roadblock for a shorter character, when paired with the front pocket uppers and knee pads from City Strike Snake eyes I immediately saw what I need. For those familiar with the 25th version it was obvious to stick with the torso he already had. A quick arm swap later to short sleeves and a few custom accessories and I had all that I needed to get this one together. (more…)
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.
