Kwinn_Lives' customs

Duke Two Ways

Alright, here is the first custom I've ever posted publicly. Actually two, that I did last week. A few months ago I got a handful of Joe-like figures in a lot of fodder I bought a few months ago, and was able to figure out that they are Unifighters from Galoob. See link:

http://collectorgene.com/2012/04/unifighters/

Anyway one of the heads just screamed Duke at me: blond and square-jawed, and fortunately not smiling like a doofus like the original Duke was. So I knew I had to make a Duke out of it. Actually, since I had two of that head, I decided to make two Dukes. Unifighters are very slightly larger than your typical Joe, but Joes often have slightly large heads for their bodies so there's no problem there. But Unifighters do have a significantly larger ball joint for their neck than Joes do. So for one Duke, I used the Unifighter torso, and for the other I trimmed down the ball joint to fit a Joe torso. Here they are:



The one on the left uses Crank Case arms and Lift-Ticket waist and legs, fully painted, while the one on the right uses Crank Case torso, waist and legs, and Beachhead arms, with only a few details painted. The upper arms actually match the colour of the shirt better in real life, the flash really accentuates the difference in these pics. Here's the backs:



When I figure out some accessories for them I might post some more pics. Let me know what you think!

they both look good, man... though i do prefer the one on the left. the knitted pattern on crankcase's waist doesn't match the torso... maybe footloose's waist? that way you could achieve the same look...

Dark Perceptor wrote:they both look good, man... though i do prefer the one on the left. the knitted pattern on crankcase's waist doesn't match the torso... maybe footloose's waist? that way you could achieve the same look...

Funny I've never noticed that before. I suppose you could say that only the hem of his sweater has that knitted look, the sleeves might have it as well if they weren't hidden by the gloves here. You can see a bit of a knitted pattern in the collar, so I don't think it's too big a deal. Thanks for the comment.

Touched-Up Recondo

Here's another quick one. This is just Recondo with a few extra details painted, mostly on his gear.

Arctic Stalker

Last one today. This is an arctic Stalker, with Stalker v2 head, Iceberg torso and waist, Frostbite arms and lower legs, and Snow Job upper legs. The main deal here is the backpack. I combined a Dusty and a Roadblock v1 pack together, to give him a substantial ruck and to provide a bar for the Manta machine gun to attach to. I also trimmed down the handle of the gun to fit in his hand.

Kwinn_Lives wrote:Touched-Up Recondo

Here's another quick one. This is just Recondo with a few extra details painted, mostly on his gear.

oh yeah, all those details really make the figure pop... nicely done.

Kwinn_Lives wrote:Arctic Stalker

Last one today. This is an arctic Stalker, with Stalker v2 head, Iceberg torso and waist, Frostbite arms and lower legs, and Snow Job upper legs. The main deal here is the backpack. I combined a Dusty and a Roadblock v1 pack together, to give him a substantial ruck and to provide a bar for the Manta machine gun to attach to. I also trimmed down the handle of the gun to fit in his hand.

this is really great, man! (i'm a sucker for arctic customs, heh!) like your mods to the pack as well.

Nice customs Kwinn. I really like Stalker's backpack.

Thanks guys, I'm quite happy with how these turned out.

Great job on everything Very creative and super clean paint job

Hey, that's a great find, using those Unifighters. Never heard of them before, but the torso and head work perfectly! No wonder I couldn't recognize the torso. I like that Duke on the left best.

Touched-up Recondo is quite an improvement, the rifle in particular.

Arctic Stalker is simply fantastic, that one just made my day! The head and torso make a wonderful combo. The modified backpack "steals the show" now that it can carry the rifle. Excellent customizing!

Thanks Tim, I've admired your work over at Joe Customs for some time.

I've got a couple of other Unifighters things in the works, like I said I got a handful of them in a big lot of figures. Looking at the prices being asked on eBay for them right now, I probably could have sold them and more than paid for the lot as a whole, so I guess they're pretty rare. But I'd rather have custom Joes than money, apparently, which I'm sure is fairly common around here.

Simple, yet effective customs, I can safely say that these improvements going to effect others works too.

Thank you for sharing them!

Very nice head for Duke, and I'm surprised to see the Unifighters' torso is pretty proportionate (unlike early CORPS figures). And excellent work on Stalker!

Unifighters? I don't remember that at all. I'm always amazed at learning about new sources of o-ring parts for RAH style customs.

Those Dukes are surprisingly fresh takes on the character, especially the one with the Unifighters torso. I also like the mods you've done on the accessories for Recondo and Stalker, but the clean paintjob and great parts combo for Stalker really steal the show. That looks like it should've been something Hasbro produced for a TRU 5 pack a decade ago.

cyko wrote:Very nice head for Duke, and I'm surprised to see the Unifighters' torso is pretty proportionate (unlike early CORPS figures).

I did have to trim down the shoulders on the Unifighter torso, otherwise it would have looked pretty goony with ARAH arms. But yeah the proportions are pretty good.

Stalker's getting a lot of love here, which I appreciate. It started with a whim when I was looking at the Manta machine gun, and from the first inkling of the idea to the final finished figure it was probably only about two hours. It was one of those flash-of-inspiration moments.

This first Dreadnok is my version of the convention-exclusive Crusher from 2004. I have lots of Street Fighter figure parts, so I decided to whip up my own in colours that didn't match Gnawgahyde.



Parts are Zangief top and Bazooka bottom, with a few details painted.



I also did a version of Demolishor but I don't have pics at the moment. Then I decided to expand on Street Fighter heads being used to make new Dreadnoks, which resulted in Chopper here.



He uses a Balrog head and arms, Heavy Duty torso and Ripper bottom half.

I like both of them.

Thanks, I think the Dhalsim and Ken Masters heads would also make good Dreadnoks, but I haven't put anything together with them yet.

These customs rock! Thank you for sharing.

Great additions! Adds some real muscle to the group

For this one, I can't decide whether it should be a Tiger Force figure or just a mountaineer version of Snake Eyes. Opinions welcome!



The arms, legs and waist are Nunchuk, the torso is 1988 Storm Shadow, and the head is 1985 Snake Eyes of course. The torso is the only thing that needed any paint. I really like how this one turned out, I think the parts really work well together.

Great custom Kwinn I have a ton of WIPS myself Justnned to finish my Cobra Castle dungeon in the basement and get to painting.

I like him for Jungle Force.

One of the best things to come out of the Devil's Due GI Joe series was the new look for Shipwreck. So here's my ARAH version of that look.



That's a Frostbite head, Roadblock torso, Skidmark arms and Shipwreck lower half. The colours aren't the same as in the comic, since I wanted to keep his original pants so I went with a green top instead of blue, and besides that let me get away with not having to paint the arms.  



The shade of green paint is actually called Hauser Dark Green, and I use it along with Hauser Light Green as much as I can on Joes for the serendipity. It happens to match the arms extremely well.