Star Wars Black Series - Jabba The Hutt

May the 4th be with you!

This weekend at Daxie Boy Toys I revealed my newest custom of Jabba the Hutt and Salacious Crumb in the new Star Wars Black Series 6" scale. I decided to make them as soon as I heard we were getting Boba Fett at SDCC! A big thanks to Gino Ybarra for helping me out.

The biggest compliment/question I kept getting this weekend was...is that the Sideshow Jabba?
Ha Ha, nope that is mine!

Below are a bunch of pictures of the figures and underneath those are some work-in-progress pictures of how I made them. There is a also a sneak peek below of the next figure we are working on.

 Jabba's arms are poaseable

 

 

Salacious Crumb is fully poseable

 Here is a DC Universe Batman for scale

 Gamorrean Guard in progress

Jabba started out in foam

 Next I covered him and shaped him using Magic Sculpt

Salacious was sculpted using Magic Sculpt 

Now I added my own mix of Sculpy for the detail

I am painting Jabba

 

Gino is working on the base

Star Wars RQ-22

I was reading this weekend that Ralph McQuarrie worked on several designs for Glen A. Larson's 1978 show Battlestar Galactica. Then later in 1979 when Mr. Larson was developing a new show, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, he used some of the unused concepts from Battlestar. 

I recently re-discovered Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, I remember watching re-runs when I was a little kid. That show did not age well. It's very dated with tons of Space Disco! But I still fell in love with it...especially Twiki! 

70's + SciFi + Robots = Love! 

However, I do not think that Ralph McQuarrie designed Twiki, I do not know who did, does anyone know?

Anyway, that got me thinking...
What if I went into my Ralph McQuarrie archive and used some of his unused concepts for some Star Wars custom figures? In particular his unused robot designs from the MOTU movie!

I used the 3D model of my robot and Photoshopped it to look more "Star Wars" like. I added more details and did some weathering on his paint and now we have RQ-22. I think he fits right in and will be perfect for my (future) 6" Star Wars figures! I am thinking he should be smaller than my MOTU version, about 1 inch smaller. That makes him about 3.5" tall, I kinda want him small like Twiki.

As soon as I get chance and clear my plate little more I am going to start on him!

Jabba that never was!

A while ago I decided to sculpt my own Jabba the Hutt. I think I mainly wanted to sculpt something from scratch, in real physical clay. Creatures are a lot more forgiving than humans to sculpt, I find.

I sculpted it and started to painted it but I never finished it. I have a lot of projects like that. Kinda sad because the paint was coming out really nice! I even started working on the base. Then I got lazy and just decided to buy the updated Hasbro figure and be done with it. Ha Ha...lame!

So now that the 6" Black Series was announced, I thought about going back and re-sculpting Jabba at a larger scale to fit the 6" figure scale. The cool part would be to make an articulated Salacious Crumb figure!!!

...Ugh, I feel a change is coming...am I going to get back into Star Wars now?
They are trying really hard to pull me back in!

Anyway, here are pictures of the sculpt and some work in progress pictures...

Hover Disc Update 2

The Hover Disc came out awesome!!!
I'll try to make some casts and post some pics of the final painted version.

Some of the guys are still trying to learn how to ride it.
Take a look at the pics.

Hover Disc

I wanted to show you a sneak peek at my first fan project of 2013, it's a Hover Disc!

I have always been fascinated with hovering vehicles, hence the Manta Raider. So for my next fan project I wanted to make something similar in concept but simpler and less complicated. Something that would be more of a stand issue weapon and less of big vehicle, I came up with this Hover Disc. It is about 3" wide and can fit most 6 - 7" figures.

Below is the 3D sculpt and a rendering. It still needs some tweaks and then it will be outputted. I have some projects to finish first, but then this is next on my work bench!

My buddy Xavier Marrero helped me with the Lion-O!

What do you think?

Back in the early 2000's I was all about customizing Star Wars figures. I even made my own Jedi Council diorama for the diorama workshop at Star Wars Celebration II.
I guess when I get into something, I really get obsessed, Ha Ha!

See pictures here:
http://www.niubniubsuniverse.com/C2W/journal/01SetUp/00setup2.asp

Lately I have been picking up the latest Ewok figures, which are awesome, but I really needed a better articulated Chief Chripa to match my current Ewoks! So I decided to make my own. I used the Vintage Collection Lumat figure and parts of the Saga Collection Chief Chirpa. It was pretty easy, but I decided to post it since I have not done a Star Wars custom in years!

I got some sad news, my buddy who is helping me with casting is in the ICU. He is having issues with his kidneys. My thoughts and prayers are with him and his family.

As a result the projects he is helping me with are on hold. I will not be able to have any more Manta Raiders or Hammers this year after the current orders are completed. Hopefully everything will be okay and we will be back on track in a couple of weeks. If not then I will come up with a plan B. I will not leave you hanging!

The Warlords of the Universe project has received a lot of attention, more than I expected! So I do plan on having some limited sets available for the fans. This is all done by me so it is not affected by anything. I hope to have some sets available by December in time for Santa.

Thank you for all your support!
-Joe