I was about to say that it's been forever since I posted something here, but looking back it's only been a month and a half. That's a very long time for me this year. I've been busy working on a few big projects, none of which are getting posted today. But even as I worked away on those, I did a bunch of other customs along the way. So those are getting posted today.

First there's a prototype version of the Baroness which I posted here:

viewtopic.php?f=14&t=46745

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Chromedome
Star Squad Leader

This figure was one of two figures I made for a recent LBC custom contest. I decided on a space theme, making them members of Star Squad, a subunit of the Star Brigade specializing in space assault operations. With no paint allowed, the colours of the parts were important, so that they work together. I found a Corps figure in my fodder and put its top half on the bottom half of Zap v2, and that was that. The name is lifted from Transformers.

Head, arms, torso – Lanard the Corps!
Waist, legs – Zap v2

Rifle – Marauder Inc.

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Dragonfly
Attack Helicopter

You might think that this is just a Dragonfly with a few details painted and some custom armaments. But no, it's actually the Locust released in 2000, which was just a tan version of the Dragonfly but could not be called Dragonfly for trademark reasons. So this is actually a complete repaint, with some 3D-printed rocket pods and reproduction stickers. It comes with a custom Wild Bill, and since Wild Bill needs a co-pilot/gunner, I used Slick from the custom HORNET helicopter I posted a while back. I know people tend to put Airborne in the front seat, but in reality that seat would be occupied by a trained pilot, not an enlisted soldier. Also I don't know if you can see it in the pics, but this Locust's left front skid support was cracked, so I had to repair that first. It was a bit of a beater.

Helicopter and Sidewinder missiles – Locust
Rocket pods – Yetibrew Design (Shapeways)

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Dusty
Desert Reconnaissance

This custom was inspired by a random post in a GI Joe facebook group, where someone posted a figure that he found in a lot, asking who it was. It was actually Ambush's body with Rampart's head. I liked the look of how those parts went together, so I used the combination to make a new version of dusty. With the mic on Rampart's head I figured recon was a good rule for this figure, and with the many, many grenades on Ambush's bandolier I made sure he had a rifle with a grenade launcher.

Head – Rampart
Arms, torso, waist, legs - Ambush

Backpack – Footloose
Rifle – Python Patrol Copperhead

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Grand Slam
Cadre NCO

In issue #82 of the Marvel series, Grand Slam made a surprise appearance (only his second appearance since issue #19) as one of the Joes training new recruits. This custom is inspired by this appearance, equipped as he was when he and the new recruits headed out to battle some Cobra Vipers...or were they Iron Grenadiers? At any rate, I always thought he looked pretty cool in that issue, so here he is.

Head – Grunt
Arms – Duke v2
Torso, waist – Firefly v7 (modified)
Upper legs – Major Bludd
Lower legs – Duke v8 (modified)

Rifle – Cobra Trooper

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Metalhawk
Space Assault Specialist

This figure was one of two figures I made for a recent LBC custom contest. I decided on a space theme, making them members of Star Squad, a subunit of the Star Brigade specializing in space assault operations. With no paint allowed, the colours of the parts were important, so that they work together. I found that Barbecue's head matches very well with the Headhunters Stormtrooper, and that was that. The name is lifted from Transformers.

Head - Barbecue
Arms, torso, waist, legs – Headhunters Stormtrooper

Rifle – Marauder Inc.

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Neo-Viper
Cobra Elite Infantry Trooper

This is a New Sculpt-era figure done up in the correct ARAH format. The head of the original figure works just fine with the ARAH parts, and there are ARAH parts available that produce a pretty accurate reproduction of the Neo-Viper as you can see in the recipe below. The Neo-Viper had a variety of colour schemes; this one is based on the original figure's colourations since it has a nice blue uniform as Cobras are wont to do.

Head – Neo-Viper v6
Arms – Destro v2
Torso – Techno-Viper (modified)
Waist – Dr. Mindbender v2
Legs – Dr. Mindbender

Rifle – Cobra Officer (reproduction)

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Retaliator
Multi-Role Helicopter

The Retaliator is a strange looking thing. But the biggest issue it has is not the downward configuration of the tail. I'm not sure there's any reason why that wouldn't work on a helicopter; take that for what it's worth from a guy with a degree in business rather than aerospace engineering. The biggest flaw with the Retaliator to my mind are the comically-small rotors. There's no way they'd be able to lift a vehicle of this size off the ground. So they had to do. I took the rotor assembly from a True Heroes Apache Longbow, and epoxied it to the lower half of the Retaliator rotor assembly.

This massive helicopter is a two-seater, so we need a two-man crew. Updraft is the pilot obviously, which means we need a co-pilot/gunner. Since the Battle Copters released in 1991 are more gimmicks than actual vehicles, I assigned Major Altitude to this role. Or rather, the G.I. Joe formerly known as Major Altitude. I call him Airlift, as I explained when I posted both him and Updraft earlier this year. I gave them both aircrew helmets from Marauder Inc. with the same markings to emphasize that they're a team.

Upper Rotor Assembly – True Heroes Apache Longbow
All Other Parts - Retaliator

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Royal Sentinel
Cobra-La Elite Guardsman

Earlier this year I did a custom version of the Cobra-La Royal Guard, by painting a multitude of details on the figure to give it quite a different look from the original. This is the next step in the evolution of the figure, by adding insectoid wings to go along with its arthropodic carapace armour. I thought this was a big enough difference to give it a different name, as these guardsmen would be the very best of Golobulus' foot soldiers.

Head, arms, torso, waist, legs – Royal Guard
Wings – Geonosian Warrior (Star Wars Attack of the Clones)

Pistol, bigass blade weapon – Royal Guard
Antenna – Royal Guard (reproduction)

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Wild Bill
Rotary Wing Pilot

I needed a Wild Bill to go with the custom Dragonfly I did. The original Wild Bill figure is a classic, but his head is rather oversized, and he has kind of a wimpy Build. I definitely wanted to keep the gunfighter look, so I took some upper legs from a Corps figure that had nice revolvers on them, and built the rest of the figure to give him a good flight suit look. I just used the later version of his head and hat to make sure he looks like out beloved Mr. Hardy.

Head – Wild Bill v2
Arms – Action Soldier
Torso – Ace v2
Waist, lower legs – Wild Bill
Upper legs – Lanard the Corps!

Hat – Wild Bill v2







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another great showing!

that wild bill should of been for sale @ retail! just perfect!

though simple the figure that steals the show for me is RAMBUSH....tm

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So much good stuff going on here. Love the vintage style neo-viper. Keep it up!

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Awesome Customs

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I don't love the head, but the build is great. Can't fault you on a part that Hasbro made for Wild Bill though.

As always, love the work and creativity here.

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Posted customs of the Devilfish, Beach Head, Hawk and Wet-Suit made as an homage to the cover of Marvel issue #47 in a separate thread.

viewtopic.php?f=14&t=46927

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