Sideshow GI Joes

I haven't posted here in over a year! Holy Schmoly. Well, I am still collecting 1/6th figures, and sadly selling some (I really need to weed out some stuff. I decided I had enough German WWII guys so off to Ebay they went, and to good homes). I decided I needed to slow down on these guys, because my collection was getting way too big. I was running out of room.

However, when Sideshow came out with the GI Joe line recently, I had to get some of them. I was a huge GI Joe fan as a kid, in the 80s. Sideshow has begun making figures based on the 80s Joes. I decided to make a "comeback" here with some photos of those guys. These are the good guys--I do have some of the baddies as well. Photos of them will come at some point.

Above (from L to R): Stalker, Rock n' Roll, Dusty (just peering over R&R's shoulder), Duke, Flint, General Hawk.

 L to R: Rock n' Roll, Dusty, Duke, Hawk, Flint.

 Rock n' Roll in the foreground. I have a special place in my heart for him. He was my first Joe figure in the early 80s (when they were released in 3 3/4" size figures). Always one of my favorites, and I was thrilled when Sideshow released a 12" version of him.

 Another shot. All childhood favorites. I don't remember Dusty having a beard, but hey, he looks good.

 Love how they stayed pretty true to the characters--right down to Hawk's brown bomber jacket.

 General Hawk with his walkie talkie. These guys come with a ton of gear. Hawk doesn't even have half of what he came with on, I don't think...they come with lots of extra interchangeable hands and feet too. Just amazing.

 Dusty, Hawk and Flint. Ready to go kick some Cobra hiney.

 They are very photogenic.

 Closeup of Rock and Roll, admittedly my favorite.

 Rock n' Roll's bitchin' tattoo.

 Love the details on their faces. General Hawk looks intense.

And finally, R&R sans beret. Look at all that hair. Dang hippie.

New CS Kitbash Guy

Thought I'd share my latest kitbash project: A Confederate Infantry Sergeant. I really love how this guy turned out. I have to say one thing--BattleGear is awesome. It's a company that makes stuff for 1/6th figures and it is amazing. A bit pricy, but really worth it if you want your figure to look really snazzy.

Here is a head shot, showing his kepi (hat). The hat is made by BattleGear, as are the brogans (shoes). They are both just amazing.

Originally, I bought an In the Past Toys uniform set for this guy. The figure itself is a Dragon "Terry" figure. I think he was originally a Navy Seal.

Upon receiving the ITPT set, I had mixed opinions about it. The uniform itself (pants, shirt, vest and frock coat) were really nice. The buttons, amazingly, really button up. I mean, the little teeny 6th scale buttons have little teeny 6th scale buttonholes for them. Yikes. I appreciate authenticity but man. You almost need a gnome to button and unbutton these things. It's tedious and you really have to be nimble fingered. It'll try your patience. Most coats and things like that have buttons sewn on but actually have snaps on the inside that make it a heck of a lot easier to work with. So yeah, just a heads up there on the ITPT uniforms...at least the Civil War ones. You almost need a pair of tweezers to button the coat up. I was lazy and didn't button all of the buttons up. I think it'd driven me bonkers. I omitted the vest, or waistcoat, that went over the white shirt and under the coat altogether. Way too many teeny buttons for me to deal with....

Now, as said, the hat is BattleGear as are the shoes. The ITPT set did not come with shoes, oddly enough. I was kind of disappointed--the Sideshow Civil War uniform sets come with shoes, a lot more gear, and weapons. Oh well.

The set did come with a hat however, and it was a joke. It was awful looking, didn't fit the figure's head properly, didn't really even resemble a kepi in the slightest. I will probably add a picture here later to show how ridiculous it looks.

So yeah--went to BG for the hat. It was a great choice. It was around 10 bucks, but worth it. It has a nice shape and fits his head perfectly. I have to say, after buying BG stuff I highly recommend them now. You can buy some of their stuff at GoodStufftoGo too, which is actually where I purchased mine from. Another great place to get your 1/6th stuff from, I might add.

So here is the final shot I got of the Sarge for today. I was going to take more, but the camera battery konked on me. I will post more later.

Oh yeah--the sleeve chevrons came with the ITPT uniform set too. You have to glue them on though.

Kitbash of an 1880s Cavalry Officer

This is a kitbash I did awhile back of a Cavalry Officer. The uniform is from Dog Soldiers and the figure is a Dragon figure. As with "Ambrose", who I posted pics of a few days back, I sculpted the mustache myself out of Sculpey clay. I liked the fierce expression on this figure, which is why I chose him.

Just Some More Photos of Stuff!

So I opened Hermann ze German (I just love his nose and nifty hat). He is standing in front of a box that contains two more figures I bought recently (got a real bargain on them) --the machine gun team Heinrich and Erich. Scored them for 58 bucks!

Here are Heinrich and Erich in the box. I have loved these guys since I first saw them back in (I think it was 2003) at a flea market. I could have bought them then and there for 150.00! Too rich for my blood though. I found them at Amazon.com for 58 dollars, as mentioned. Pretty good deal!

So that is a couple of my newest additions. I also recently bought Dragon's Red Army Tanker "Vassily" and German Feldgendarme "Hugo," which I will post pics of soon.

It's all about finding the bargains!

Also, as mentioned in an earlier post, I am doing a video review of Lewis and Clark figures from Manitou Free traders.Still working on that so stay tuned. I am thinking video reviews might be easier than photo reviews, so we'll see how that goes. I have seen a few on YouTube that were very informative and helpful, so I think that may be the way to go.

In fact, there is a nice one of Heinrich and Erich right here. It's an "unboxing," which is fun.

In-The-Box Shots of Lewis and Clark

I got Lewis and Clark today, made by Manitou Free Traders. Here are some in-box pictures:

Lewis

Clark

Closeup of Lewis

Closeup of Clark

I've never done this before, but I am thinking I will do a video review of them. I'll post it here when I do. They are too awesome.

Ooo! Lewis and Clark!

Yes!

I have ordered a couple of new figures this evening. I was going through an old Cotswold Collectibles catalog last night and noticed that a company called Manitou Free Traders had released Lewis and Clark. I did a search online for them and found a good deal on them at a site I love called GoodStufftoGo, so I snapped them up.

Michael Crawford did a good review of Clark, I can't seem to find one of Lewis by him (or anyone) though. Anyway, here's the link to the Clark review:

Clark

Of course, when I receive them I'll do one of my own.

Woohoo! I'm jazzed about this because I love the American west, I love the whole Lewis and Clark exploration thing...man. EEE! Looking forward to getting them. Now if someone would just come up with a Zebulon Pike figure... >___>

Ambrose

I found some pictures of this guy I kitbashed a few years ago (2006 or 2007, I think), so DOUBLE POST TODAY! Yayyyy.

This wasn't my first kitbash, my first was a Luftwffe officer (which I'll share in a later post). This was, however, my first attempt at making facial hair on a clean-shaven doll--oops--I mean action figure.  >__>

Anyway, not the greatest pictures. I need more, and I need bigger ones. And ones where the dang flang doll stand isn't showing. *doh*.

I'm not sure what made me name him Ambrose. I guess because he has some massive sideburns and the word "sideburn" was coined from an admiral Burnsides who fought for the Union in the Civil War. Anyhow...

The Dragon figure I used was actually a German figure called "Helmut". Up there on the top left (above) you can see what he looked like before I added the Sculpey sideburns and mustache. I had no clue about how to attach the Sculpey to the face, and I am sure there is a way better way to do this, but here was what I did and it seemed to work (his facial hair is intact to this day, at least):

1. I applied a bit of superglue to the face where the facial hair would go (i.e. down the sides of the face, on the upper lip). Then I had to act quick, because the glue dries fast.

2. I applied the first Sculpey layer, texturing it with a toothpick as I stuck it on. That provided sort of a "foundation" on which I could build up on the' burns and 'stache.

3. I built up the facial hair till I was happy with it. I used a needle tool from some ceramics tools I have (I use it a lot with Sculpey) to make the texture. A toothpick would also work well.

4. Sculpey has to be baked, but I obviously couldn't stick this guy's head in the oven. So I used a blowdryer to harden it. Seemed to work just fine.

5. I mixed some acrylic paint up umtil I had a color that matched the figure's hair. First, though, I painted the entire "beard" with dark brown paint. I drybrushed the blond color on top of it. Since acrylics are water-based, if I happened to accidentally get paint anywhere on the face I didn't want it, it wiped right off with a wet paper towel.

6. I sprayed over the facial hair with Testor's Dullcote (clear, non-glossy sealer). Testor's is the only brand of clear overspray stuff that I have ever found that will dry on a painted Sculpey object. For some reason, any other glosses or clearcoats of any kind I have used tended to stay tacky, therefore, every time the object was touched, it got screwed up, usually a big ugly fingerprint being left embedded in it.

Here are a couple of closeups:

I'm sure the more of these I do I'll improve. But, being my first ever, I'm pretty proud of it. It's amazing how different that facial hair made this figure look.

More pics, including a full body shot:

Yes, next time the doll stand will be hidden...

So, the complete specs on this guy are:

Name: Ambrose
Title: Private, 1st Texas Infantry, Confederate States
Uniform made by Sideshow Toy
Figure by Dragon

I had a ton of fun doing this. My next project was a 1870s Cavalry Officer, which you'll see in the near future.