Imperial Speeder

This little machine has been in the works for a couple of months. Twenty minutes here and there, and then a good solid chunk of time this past Sunday meant I managed to get it all together and painted. Think of it as the compact car of Imperial military armament. Styrene sheet is the medium, with some plumbers pipe fittings used for the engines. The blaster cannon swivels 360 degrees, and has a joint that allows it to move up and down. It sort of reminds me of a vintage Kenner toy...not as detailed as some of my past models, but I kind of like the design.

The Killer Moth Strikes!

Customizer Scott Rogers was the first person who really brought Killer Moth to my attention, as was no doubt the case with many customizers. A second string Batman villain, Killer Moth has had many wacky incarnations of his costume. I really wanted to capture a gritty feel, while also retaining the Silver Age insanity and foolish nature of the character. The result still stands as one of my most disturbing Batman villain customs. This fellow was made a few years ago.

PS - This custom was actually prepared for a CustomCon entry...check out the other amazing customs here.

Nazi Deathbot

Add this to the pile of old beloved customs that got detsroyed by a half-dozen moves in the past four years. Also, I wanted to post something so that I could get rid of that damn dirty ape as my blog banner image. This custom was based on a pin-up Mike Mignola did for Rocketeer Adventure Magazine, the title of the Rocketeer comic when it shifted to Dark Horse. It's made from a Spider-Man Buzzing Beetle figure, witha peroxide container slapped on and some doo-dads glued here and there. Who doesn't love a giant, killer Nazi Robot? Expect to see small projects and old customs from me for quite a while, as time for tanks and apes is rather scarce these days.

Ape Painting

While waiting for the inevitable, between household business and naps, I decided to tackle a painting this weekend. Nothing spectacular, but it was about time for me to try out the ol' paint brushes and make a feeble attempt at practice. Since the Ape thing won't get out of my head, I figured it would make a decent subject. If any prestigious art galleries are looking for a crude amateur painting of a rifle-wielding Ape, feel free to email me.

Hail Caesar!!

Did you know that humans suck? Just ask this guy! This'll be my last Ape for a while, but I really enjoyed making these customs. Plus, it finally prompted me to pick up the Planet of the Apes box set, and watch the really strange TV show from 1974. After the first film, Conquest of the Planet of the Apes is by far the best of the series. And it's mainly because of Caesar as played by Roddy McDowell. Conquest is without a doubt one of the craziest films I've ever seen from a major studio...watching it really is a revelation of how different the world is today than in 1972...we've become so coddled and sheltered in so many ways. I've heard that Fox is looking to make a film based on Caesar's story...it would be interesting to see if they could match the madness and potency of J. Lee Thompson's no-budget direction and the driving political commentary of Paul Dehn's script. With the exception of the "Cat and Dog Plague of 1983" bit, Conquest is a worthy bit of hard sci-fi cinema. Hail Caesar!

Death Dealer

Cue the death metal! I made this sweet fella two years ago...I was on one of many Frank Frazetta kicks at the time, and thought it would be a lot of fun to create an action figure of his iconic creation. Marvel Legends Sabertooth is the base (I think), and the armour is styrene and vinyl. The helmet is epoxy putty, and the horns are from a Marvel Legends Maestro (now that I look at them, they kind of look like big croissants stuck to his head). The axe is kebab stick and styrene, and the shield is styrene as well. Lots of fun, this one.

Crossroads and Hellhounds

Thought it was time for something a little different. This is another oldie...I made this three or four years ago for a 12 year old kid who loved Robert Johnson...I thought it would be a neat project that would mix things up from the usual superhero fare that I was mostly making at the time. He wasn't time-consuming, but the resculpting of the head was tricky, and the cloth work was a challenge for me at the time (I hadn't yet figured out a good method for making pants). One thing making this custom did do was prompt me to pick up a collection of Johnson's songs to get me in the right frame of mind while making him. Not a bad thing. The figure I used is beyond memory. The head is a heavily modified Professor X (the Patrick Stewart version, believe it or not). The guitar is from a McFarlane Toys Elvis...I wish I would have made it from scratch, but this was before I started utilizing styrene in my customizing, which would have been my material of choice.