Day 1
It's been awhile since I've posted. I've had multiple other events going on that kept me from dedicating the time to either finishing customs as well as setting the time aside to then take photos, clean them up, and then post to social media. A positive to this Covid Lockdown is the opportunity to work on hobbies; therefore I'm releases a barrage of customs of the next 10 days. Most of these I've had sitting on my WIP desk for close to 4 years in some cases and others are much newer inspirations. A new figure each day with a sneak peak for you in the thread thumbnail.
Starting things off for Day 1 today is:

Scoop









Scoop
Occasionally as a customizer I look at a character and realize I’m going to take on a big challenge. As a kid I liked Scoop, I was a pretty accepting fan of Gi Joe and went along hook line and sinker for most of the designs (albeit although I love Space, Hasbro lost me when they delved into Space Monsters and Ninjas). I thought that Scoop’s design was pretty kick ass and loved the green tactical vest (although in looking at it recently I realized it’s more of a sweater vest). I decided that in coming up with the design ideas for Scoop I would try to blend a tactical vest but trim away sections of it so it wasn’t as bulky. After that I had to come up with a color for his infamous “yellow”. I felt that a tan/beige tone with a little bit of yellow would get me close to the look I wanted but not be a too drastic departure from the original figure. I wanted to also find a head sculpt that captured the personality I felt Scoop had (although I thought he was a massive doofus in the DIC cartoon-although most of the characters were). Finally after I came up with my parts I had to decide if I wanted to just modify a vintage backpack or make my own. I have so many parts that I decided to make my own and came up with this 3 piece in 1 set. Magnets attach the three components together, with the laptop being the joining piece for the backpack and camera. All in all a figure that I’ve wanted to make since the Joe Vs Cobra era figures from the mid 2000’s.
Parts:
Head-cast from Avacs Lab (I think a Star Wars figure)
Torso, Arms-Retaliation Ultimate Duke
Legs-25th Beachhead
Tactical Vest-POC Beachhead
Backpack-25th Firefly
Antenna-suction cup from a Retaliation figure
Laptop-Rise of Cobra (pick your figure, came with a few)
Camera-Avacs Lab
Various bits and pieces were glued or sculpted to the vest.

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Day 2
General Voltar










General Voltar
I know I know. Everyone hates Voltar. I don’t. I remember playing Contra on the NES when this figure came out and for some reason I felt he fit in perfectly with that game, that along with the copious amounts of Star Trek The Next Generation I was watching at that time during it’s second season I saw Voltar as a Contra/Star Trek hybrid character. As I went about coming up with build ideas for this figure I realized that certain elements of the character were not working for me. The overly complex helmet and fins didn’t work for me. I felt that instead of looking like a General he came across to me as a circus character. Thankfully my casted helmet (that I got years ago shrunk in size and broke), therefore I went about thinking of how I would re-design his helmet to something more fitting of a General. I kept the overall shape and the bit of tech which always screamed “Voltar” to me, and that was the eye magnifier. That began to give me ideas about his overall uniform and I wanted him “plated up’ with various armor but his confidence and arrogance would not allow him to “hide” in camo, so I went about coming up with a color red/purple/violet that worked for me. There have been some really awesome customs of Voltar and I definitely borrowed bits and pieces from those that inspired me here. I did like the idea of him keeping his gold armor but also wanted to mix it in with black and just put the gold on various bits to showcase that Voltar egalitarian attitude. Finally unlike my custom Scoop I considered designing a new backpack for him but took another look at the vintage and picked one up for cheap on ebay. Just adjusted the peg hole to fit modern figures and moved it up to fit the new figure. I decided to drop his “bird” and instead felt that his backpack is truly for communication to be able to control his army of Iron Grenadiers remotely regardless of the challenges on the field.
Parts:
Head-cast of club exclusive don’t remember which caster I got it from
Torso, Upper Arms, Upper Legs-POC Beachhead
Lower Arms-Rise of Cobra Cobra Trooper
Lower Legs-Resolute Snake Eyes
Helmet-Night Viper cast, monocle from broken Voltar club cast
Gun Holsters-Retaliation GiJoe Trooper
Gun-Vintage Dial Tone modded
Backpack-Vintage Voltar
Chest Holster-Cut from a 25th GiJoe figure
Various pouches and Star Wars comlink accessory placed on belt.

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Day 3
Airborne








Time is kind to some figures and not so much to others. The 25th Anniversary Airborne was great when it first came out but as time marched on I became more and more unsatisfied with the proportions, the parts, the vest and how so many elements of what I loved about the Vintage figure were missing here. I had made a Joe vs Cobra version back in the mid 2000s and it bugged me that I felt that O-ring style figure was better than a modern one. The biggest challenge was in figuring out what I wanted to do with the vest. Sculpt it with the articulation point showing or could I find a tight enough fit to function as a pull over for a smoother look. I thought back to how much I liked the look of the vest from Rise of Cobra Breaker and quickly scoured ebay for an affordable version. After that I looked I broke down what parts of the 25th Airborne I liked and those that I didn’t. I realized that I mostly needed to just change out the torso piece and once that was done many of the proportion issues I had ended up working out. I grabbed a 25th Anniversary Beachhead torso and tried out the parts. Perfect. I did need to sculpt his collar as I wanted a high ribbed collar like the vintage figure. I also then cut down the front of the web harness from the 25th Airborne figure and after thinning down it’s thickness glued it to the new Breaker vest. Lastly I sculpted out his blue collar neck piece and finished it off by sculpting the rest of the harness pieces, marrying them up to the pre-existing 25th harness piece. I then realized how much I disliked the harness that the 25th anniversary Airborne came with. In looking at the vintage figure it made sense to me to just sculpt it and not worry about it be removable or not. I had this figure with the 25th anniversary helmet as well all the way up to a few days ago when I found an old extra weapon pack Airborne helmet. I test fitted it, sanded down the seem and painted it up. Finally I decided that I wanted boots closer to those of the vintage figure as well and found a pair of 25th anniversary Dusty boots. Threw in a set of Marauder gloved hands and a backpack that resembled the vintage, American Flag, and Stripes and there we go. Very happy with this guy now.
Parts:
Head, Arms, Upper Legs, Chest Harness front, Gun-25th Anniversary Airborne
Torso-25th Beachead with sculpted ribbed collar.
Lower Legs-25th Anniversary Dusty
Gloves-Marauder Gun Runners gloved hands.
Vest-Rise of Cobra Breaker with sculpted on neck protector, sculpted on top and back harness.
Helmet-Vintage Weapon Pack Airborne helmet
Backpack-One of the many 25th Anniversary Duke backpacks
American Flag-Marauder Gun Runners sticker

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Day 4
Big Bear








I see characters like Big Bear and pretty much any figure post 1987 and always wonder what Sunbow would have done with the characters. Big Bear is one of those characters/figures. It was an interesting time back then when Russians/Soviets, after years of being seen as the enemy of the United States, were now being seen as allies. This shifted drastically the story points for the Oktober Guard. I always saw Big Bear as a kind of exchange soldier for the Joes and used him in that way. I wanted a figure that looked bulky and intense. I hadn’t picked up any of Marauder Gun Runner’s figures yet (only weapons) and after seeing their World War II British soldier decided to take the plunge as I felt it was a perfect fit for the comrade here. I sculpted on a few Big Bear elements such as pouches on his arms and the square piece by his collar. After that it was a very simple and satisfying figure. I decided that I have an excess of the Duke backpack and tons of pouches I’ve cut off of figures over the last 15 years. I felt that I could get a reasonable approximation of the original figures backpack this way. Finally I wanted an “intense” head sculpt and decided on the Jurassic Park General figure that has been floating around for decades at this point. I used it previously on my Chuckles custom but felt with a sculpted on beard and different paint job he looked different and fit the character for me. Finally I had to figure out how to make the slinging pouch on his left leg. A few left over straps from other figures and a pouch crazy glued to a vinyl backing brought the figure together.
Parts:
Head-Jurassic Park General head from Ragin Spoon
Hat, Body, Harness-Russian hat from Marauder Gun Runners
Gun-Vintage Big Bear gun that came with a Joe Vs Cobra era figure
Backpack-25th Duke style backpack with added various pouches

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Day 5
Wildcard







A character who I think was in two to three issues of the comic. He made his first appearance in what was a stand out issue for me when the Strato Viper breaks into the pit and we get the sense that something is going on with the Joes in the pit. I loved the artwork in that issue and Wildcard was portrayed as a character who broke everything he touched. I found some concept artwork of Wildcard a few years ago and he was portrayed as an almost Dreadnok/Mad Max hooligan and I liked that idea. I tacked another first here and dropped some money on the Boss Fight Buck. Wow. That is an impressive figure. I needed to sculpt up his waist area with the new Procreate putty I’ve been using exclusively now. I also realized that I did not want to give you his violet pants and with my vintage figure I had switched that out and given him an extra pair of Buzzer legs. I didn’t want to go with blue jeans here so went with a darker brown with some red hues in it. The original figure struck me as a guy who was wearing tight jeans so I tried to replicate that here. I also had been holding onto a pair of Wolverine Origin legs for about 10 years for this very figure and finally could put them to use. The last thing was to figure out what to do with the helmet design. I did not like the original figure’s helmet and usually when I redo a figure I find a way to streamline design elements I didn’t like. That was the case here. I wanted the basic shape with some extra items on the front and I wanted a broken strap on his left side (if you notice Wildcard broke the strap on his right side for the left to join with). Finally I took the machete from the POC Stalker figure web gear and glued it to our friend’s back here. Yeah…give the clumsy guy a large knife to wield.
Parts:
Head-Steve Rogers First Avenger (modded with moustache).
Torso, Arms-Boss Fight Studios
Upper Legs-25th Storm Shadow
Lower Legs- Wolverine Origins
Helmet-BBI World War II soldier
Machete-POC Stalker
Gun-Iconic GI Joe Snow Job gun.

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good job engineering the 3 part gear!

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Off to a great start!

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Thanks 2Dark2C and DanOfTheDead glad you guys liked it. I couldn't fine my rare earth magnets so had to settle for less strong one's from Amazon. Will probably update down the road with the heavy duty ones.

Just updated with Voltar as well.

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voltar is a great figure! lots of parts that i can ID and still looks like something i never saw before. you ballanced the colors perfect. i was hoping in one pic you were going to add a bird

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The tan really works on Scoop. I knew immediately knew who it was and didn’t know it was tan right away.

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I think I liked these on FB already, at least I know I saw and liked Scoop. I love both of these and can’t wait to see what else you have in store for us.

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Thanks for the compliments. Haha yeah a few people have said they miss the bird. I had thought about it but ultimately, never having been a huge fan of the pet sidekick except for a few, I decided I liked Voltar better without it. I had thought about sculpting a Condor out of an extra Freedom I have hanging around but decided against it. Maybe at some point down the road I'll give it a shot.


Thanks Chad, that was what I was going for so I'm glad that it had that effect. I wanted to subdue it a bit and yet not be a total departure to where it didn't feel like the character anymore.


Thanks Pluv, Airborne has been updated today in slot 3 for today. Two more figures on deck for this week with another new 5 next week.

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airborn is the best yet! the posig is so fantastic! i can't stop looking down the drawn 45 pic!

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I think Voltar is great, but the little perch on his backpack does look lonely. Can totally understand not wanting to go with the "military pet" angle, but I wonder if there is some sort of drone that could fill that role for him. Seems like his helmet already looks like the type of thing that could be getting a direct feed from a drone, and while a little "near future sci-fi", it's not quite as outlandish as running around with a bird.

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Thanks that was one of those shots that just jumped out to me when I was taking the pictures. I found I was often posing him like this after I made him and this looked really cool with the forced perspective of the camera.


Hmm, the idea of a drone is a very cool idea. Actually gave me an idea or two. I have a bunch of figures set up to do over the next few weeks but may try to implement something with that idea that would fit.

Also Updated the Day 4 slot with Big Bear. Enjoy!

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