Building your MARINES - CORRECTLY

[dano669]

Im currently customising a ripley at the moment and Ive noticed a few things about other customs that no one has picked up on.
correct me if Im wrong but like all the other marines,are her pants and jacket way to bright.she also has some sort of watch on,thats a watch not a pdt band.she also never at any point wears gloves.
If you look in some of the scenes the watch actually changes,now thats continuity.
And the biggest problem(dont know if its really a problem)Im having is when you display her as she is in the final scenes of the movie she has a masive nipple fat
seriously her tits are huge compared to the movie.has anyone done something to there own figure to remedy this,if so let me know so I dont go hacking at her chest and make her look like tara reid or some plastic surgery victim

 

[THE IMMOBILIZER]

Im currently customising a ripley at the moment and Ive noticed a few things about other customs that no one has picked up on.
correct me if Im wrong but like all the other marines,are her pants and jacket way to bright.she also has some sort of watch on,thats a watch not a pdt band.she also never at any point wears gloves.
If you look in some of the scenes the watch actually changes,now thats continuity.
And the biggest problem(dont know if its really a problem)Im having is when you display her as she is in the final scenes of the movie she has a masive nipple fat
seriously her tits are huge compared to the movie.has anyone done something to there own figure to remedy this,if so let me know so I dont go hacking at her chest and make her look like tara reid or some plastic surgery victim

Thats true dano,
And vasquez her tits R to smal as a HT figure,
I think its beter 2 make her bigger then to make ripleys smaller.
but ok if you R realy super into the details of the body,s, do them both.
Iam waiting for some arm sleeves i just purchased for my hicks and hudson, these guys realy need that s#it to make a perfect marine
BTW Dano,what do u think about my hicks so far, with the added desert color on the camo.
and please dont look at the joints...
may need to blackwash to get a darker look........

 

[Mudshark]

I think quite a few people who customized their Ripleys used entirely different bodies for her. The HT body is way too short, for one thing, and as pointed out, she never wore gloves in the film.

There weren't any HT female hands without gloves available when Vasquez and Ripley were first released several years ago, but with the two new generation female bodies HT is releasing, you should finally be able to replace those gloved hands on either Ripley or Vas.

The Ripley head sculpt also leaves something to be desired. A good repaint can make a noticeable improvement, but it's still not Ms. Weaver, unfortunately.

 

[dano669]

I think quite a few people who customized their Ripleys used entirely different bodies for her. The HT body is way too short, for one thing, and as pointed out, she never wore gloves in the film.

There weren't any HT female hands without gloves available when Vasquez and Ripley were first released several years ago, but with the two new generation female bodies HT is releasing, you should finally be able to replace those gloved hands on either Ripley or Vas.

The Ripley head sculpt also leaves something to be desired. A good repaint can make a noticeable improvement, but it's still not Ms. Weaver, unfortunately.

I dont know about that,my ripley repaint is passable I think.
yeah your hicks looks good definently needs arms sleeves.who did your head sculpt,looks good.I just finished my hicks just need to make the lighter pouch and wait for someone to sell a fml head,got the lonnie one but not the best likeness,Im getting a hudson head which Im going to repaint since its really hicks.where are you getting your arm sleeves from and are they expensive?

 

[dano669]

I cant believe you went as far as repainting the camo,that must have been fun.I had to repaint a patch on the back of my armor because I put the wrong markings on the back of the armor.

 

[THE IMMOBILIZER]

Well ya dont say,

 

[THE IMMOBILIZER]

I think quite a few people who customized their Ripleys used entirely different bodies for her. The HT body is way too short, for one thing, and as pointed out, she never wore gloves in the film.

There weren't any HT female hands without gloves available when Vasquez and Ripley were first released several years ago, but with the two new generation female bodies HT is releasing, you should finally be able to replace those gloved hands on either Ripley or Vas.

The Ripley head sculpt also leaves something to be desired. A good repaint can make a noticeable improvement, but it's still not Ms. Weaver, unfortunately.

Yo Mudshark i saw the H2O ALIENS ripley head, and a open mouth ALIENS ripley head.
Do you know if there R there any more heads available for ms Weaver??
skip the ALIEN ripley head, i already know of its existence.

 

[dano669]

my almost finished hicks and my finished Drake

 

[THE IMMOBILIZER]

I dont know about that,my ripley repaint is passable I think.
yeah your hicks looks good definently needs arms sleeves.who did your head sculpt,looks good.I just finished my hicks just need to make the lighter pouch and wait for someone to sell a fml head,got the lonnie one but not the best likeness,Im getting a hudson head which Im going to repaint since its really hicks.where are you getting your arm sleeves from and are they expensive?

You can get arm and leg sleeves at Sovereign studio here on the forum.
Muscle arms, normal arm sleeves, and there will b more in the near future ,

 

[THE IMMOBILIZER]

Yo,
is there anybody who would like to show of there painted hudson sculpt?

 

[uscmbuzz]

And the biggest problem(dont know if its really a problem)Im having is when you display her as she is in the final scenes of the movie she has a masive nipple fat
seriously her tits are huge compared to the movie.has anyone done something to there own figure to remedy this,if so let me know so I dont go hacking at her chest and make her look like tara reid or some plastic surgery victim

wow I guess thats an interesting observation for aliens.. I think she had a boob job later, well it sure looks like it anyway in "galaxy quest" I guess its hard to redo the bodies sometimes. What bodies work for ripley if someone decided to change bodies out..

 

[dano669]

This is my hudson I just finished,hope you like d-chaos
Still have to add sweat and fix his left eye(bit wonky)
Cant wait to get it onto a body

 

[dano669]

wow I guess thats an interesting observation for aliens.. I think she had a boob job later, well it sure looks like it anyway in "galaxy quest" I guess its hard to redo the bodies sometimes. What bodies work for ripley if someone decided to change bodies out..

Fixed her,she went under the knife for some breast reduction

 

[THE IMMOBILIZER]

Not bad dano not bad,
Space Jockey is doing my Hudson head at the moment.
Once i got the head, I will make some pictures of it on my HT Hudson.
\how did that breast reduction workt out?

 

[dano669]

Not bad dano not bad,
Space Jockey is doing my Hudson head at the moment.
Once i got the head, I will make some pictures of it on my HT Hudson.
\how did that breast reduction workt out?

not bad shes recovering nicely,should be back battling aliens in the next few days :chew

 

[Randy of AFTimes]

So I've read through these pages and was wondering about Apone.

Are there as many changes necessary as Hicks, Hudson and Vasquez?

I know these off the top of my head:

-Inaccurate head scupt
-Doesn't need flame unit (YES, he uses on in the movie, but it's Frost's)
-Too many loops on the harness for grenades
-Grenades need to be sanded and painted
-Inaccurate combat boots.
-Can opener key on lower armor removed.

Is there anything else I'm missing?
I'd really like to know as I'm spending the vacation "updating" my marines.

 

[THE IMMOBILIZER]

US COLONIAL MARINE ARMOUR WEATHERING - PART 1 (PAINTWORK)

Okay, for this tutorial, I'm going to paint up and weather a set of Sargeant Apone armour from Hot Toys. I've had this figure for a few years; three years ago I repainted the hands and headsculpt (infact, this was my first headsculpt repaint, ever) and the sculpt is actually really good. I like it, anyways; I'll cover that another time.

IMAGE 1
Here we have an original Apone figure to the left; the only amendments thus far have been the headsculpt repaint, and I've taken off the 'tin opener' on the abdomen plate (the only character that wore this was Hudson, though this appeared on the Hicks figure as well as Apone).
On the right is what we are going to turn the armour into. I started this Hicks a little while ago; not quite done, still got some dings and scratches to do, plus add other accessories such as the correct knife and lighter case, but I've already painted up an unpainted Figuremaster Les 'Spikey Haired Hicks' headsculpt.

IMAGE 2
A rear shot of the armour and BDU's. I also dirtied down the BDU's on the Hicks figure.

IMAGE 3
And another shot without the Rifles and Flamethrowers in the way.

IMAGE 4
Close-up of the helmets. Apone on the left, Hicks on the right (a before and after, if you will). The helmets are terrific and really well detailed, but the colors are not quite right. So in Part 1, we'll sort out the paintwork, and in Part 2 tomorrow, the weathering.

IMAGE 5
Another comparison shot.

Here a some things you could do. page 97 and 80 if i am correct
And take a look at the first page .

 

[Mudshark]

I added a couple of things to your list. Hope you find them helpful.

So I've read through these pages and was wondering about Apone.

Are there as many changes necessary as Hicks, Hudson and Vasquez?

I know these off the top of my head:

-Inaccurate head scupt
-Doesn't need flame unit (YES, he uses on in the movie, but it's Frost's)
-Too many loops on the harness for grenades
-Grenades need to be sanded and painted
-Inaccurate combat boots.
-Can opener key on lower armor removed.

-Remove hasp from front of chest armor and fill holes, touch up paint.

-Ammo counter on M41-A PR should be red background w/white numerals.

-Mic cable should be brass rod, painted black. It should be curved, not angled like HT has it. Tip of mic should be flat w/slight cup depression on end. Color is black, not olive green.

-The HT BDU colors are yellowish compared to the screen used camo cloth. Some people on the board have successfully lightened them by soaking the uniform in a very thin mixture of white paint & water to give them a faded & weathered look. I believe this was the technique used: Using great care and working in stages, let the uniform dry completely before each dipping, until you achieve just the amount of fading that you want. Btw, I think the best color reference shots of Apone's uniform are aboard the Sulaco, during the mission briefing, and later in the cargo bay.

* Optional:
-Apone wore a black ballcap aboard the Sulaco, with a Sulaco patch on the front which was without the "U.S. Colonial Marines" rocker beneath it (like in my sig). It looks like it could have been custom made for the movie. The closest looking military issue ballcap is the Hot Weather Field Cap, which was issued during the Vietnam War. I don't know of any 1:6 military figures that come with a Hot Weather Field Cap, so if you want total screen accuracy, you might have to make one yourself). There are other black cloth ballcaps that would work, though. Monkey Depot sometimes has them. Anyway, here are some reference pics of the 1:1 HW Army ballcap.

https://www.vietnamgear.com/kit.aspx?kit=71

Is there anything else I'm missing?
I'd really like to know as I'm spending the vacation "updating" my marines.

* Edit: Sorry if I got a little carried away... These are from notes I've made for modding my own Apone. You may not even want to do this much. I just thought I'd share some observations in case you wanted to go the whole nine yards.

 

[Randy of AFTimes]

I added a couple of things to your list. Hope you find them helpful.

* Edit: Sorry if I got a little carried away... These are from notes I've made for modding my own Apone. You may not even want to do this much. I just thought I'd share some observations in case you wanted to go the whole nine yards.

Not at all, Mudshark! I'd rather go towards "the crazy" detail and work back as necessary!

Thanks as well to you D-CHAOS!

I should've mentioned that I'm trying to make my Apone, Hudson, Vasquez, Drake and Ripley as accurate as possible for when the Marines and Ripley enter Hadley's Hope for the first time. (So not S&W pistol for Vasquez and such). Since I also have the Power Loader, I'll probably do a second Ripley from the end of the movie as well.

Now if I could affordably put a Hicks together...

Plus a few customs I'm trying to finally put together with the extra HT equipment.

BTW-this thread has been invaluable for doing up the proper changes in the figures. I distilled down al the post to five great pages of info that I constantly refer too.

Photos as soon as I can.

 

[Mudshark]

I did some rechecking of Apone's ballcap and took a few pics off the TV screen for anyone who's interested. I think the caps that Apone, Hudson, and Spunkmeyer wore on board the Sulaco were just regular ballcaps, not the military ones I mentioned before. They all had those adjustable plastic straps on the back, which you can see on Hudson's cap in the scene where he says, "How do I get outta this chicken**** outfit?"

* In this pic you can see the Sulaco patch is off center and looks like it was sewn over something already embroidered on the cap, which is just visible under the patch. There's also a little label/sticker on the bill.

Lt. Gorman's cap does resemble the OG Hot Weather cap, but the peak is higher and looks like it has a stiffener in it, so it may have been custom made for the movie. It is a fitted cap, not adjustable like the others.