Hot Toys Sandtrooper and Dewback 1/6

[LoveMinusZero]

This is not an OT Dewback - it's the Mando Dewback with a few OT tweaks to a sculpt HT were going to use for Mando to ride. Overall it's a decent match to how the Dewback looked in the Mando episode, which to me was a bit unnatural and CGI looking.

I did a custom Dewback to match ANH and considered getting this HT one to use with a chrome-suit Mando (because I love that look for Mando, and Mando on the Dewback feels very classic SW for me.)

If I can find this Dewback discounted a bit I'll grab it - the Blurrg is sitting unsold pretty much everywhere, which I assume is the reason HT dumped the idea of another Mando creature and instead sold their Dewback as OT with a few tweaks.

I'd like to see your custom Dewback!

This is as much an OT Dewback as the SSC one, or as any one can be really, no one wants a giant lizard head mounted on a rhinoceros dummy body. Like SSC and their TaunTauns, this designs seems to be from a mix of sources. The head is obviously modelled on the OT "puppet", but the body is indeed that stocky version seen in The Mandalorian. (the show's head seems more pointed toward the nose) The SSC Dewback seems to have tried to merge the SE and OT versions, and as great as it is, this new version looks more natural. Thick and stocky, big ol' sand lizard.

 

[Felinx]

I'd like to see your custom Dewback!

This is as much an OT Dewback as the SSC one, or as any one can be really, no one wants a giant lizard head mounted on a rhinoceros dummy body. Like SSC and their TaunTauns, this designs seems to be from a mix of sources. The head is obviously modelled on the OT "puppet", but the body is indeed that stocky version seen in The Mandalorian. (the show's head seems more pointed toward the nose) The SSC Dewback seems to have tried to merge the SE and OT versions, and as great as it is, this new version looks more natural. Thick and stocky, big ol' sand lizard.

Definitely some design tweaks needed to get a "movie accurate" ANH Dewback that also looks cool. The only Dewback ever produced that is pretty close to the screen-used prop is the vintage Kenner one. I wanted to get it very close to the 1976 Fred Pearl model while making it look cool plus the slightly larger sized Dewback GL supervised for the SE.

The use of the Rhino body (and feet/legs) was critical to me, so no t-rex style legs/feet as seen on most produced Dewbacks. I added scales to the torso and tail to unify the whole creature (rhino body has no scales and the iguana tail really tiny scales) and sized the 1976 prop up maybe 15% to match GL's SE Dewback.

I'm still waiting on the right scissors to trim/thin the applied fur, do a final dry-brush of the body to bring out the scales and add tan-taupe to the white fur on the reins, but this is 98% complete. And yes, blue on the lip and up to the eye is accurate to the 1976 prop (Pearl's original paint that Roger Christian's crew brushed over in Tunisia.)

 

[LoveMinusZero]

Damn that's wild, nice work! Where/how'd you source the different parts of the Dewback's body?

 

[wormlander]

Definitely some design tweaks needed to get a "movie accurate" ANH Dewback that also looks cool. The only Dewback ever produced that is pretty close to the screen-used prop is the vintage Kenner one. I wanted to get it very close to the 1976 Fred Pearl model while making it look cool plus the slightly larger sized Dewback GL supervised for the SE.

The use of the Rhino body (and feet/legs) was critical to me, so no t-rex style legs/feet as seen on most produced Dewbacks. I added scales to the torso and tail to unify the whole creature (rhino body has no scales and the iguana tail really tiny scales) and sized the 1976 prop up maybe 15% to match GL's SE Dewback.

I'm still waiting on the right scissors to trim/thin the applied fur, do a final dry-brush of the body to bring out the scales and add tan-taupe to the white fur on the reins, but this is 98% complete. And yes, blue on the lip and up to the eye is accurate to the 1976 prop (Pearl's original paint that Roger Christian's crew brushed over in Tunisia.)

No need to trim the fur i.m.o. It already looks great..

 

[Jmek]

I met Fred Pearl back in 1984 when I was 13, he was friends with my mum’s current gentleman friend at the time.
Lovely guy, the Dewback head was on his workshop wall and there were loads of dinosaurs he made for the natural history museum surrounding the place.
That’s about all I can remember sadly.
Man I hate getting old!

 

[Felinx]

I met Fred Pearl back in 1984 when I was 13, he was friends with my mum’s current gentleman friend at the time.
Lovely guy, the Dewback head was on his workshop wall and there were loads of dinosaurs he made for the natural history museum surrounding the place.
That’s about all I can remember sadly.
Man I hate getting old!

WHAT? Wow! I did try to make this Dewback as a tribute to him.

The two things I've made to display with my Dewback are Pearl's original "Art Models Ltd." sign (seen in his Dewback and Jerba reference pics) and the film slate/clapper board for the Dewback shoot in Tunisia (very hard to reconstruct.)

I even found some real estate pics for the sale of the Pearl family home that included pics of his backyard shed where the Dewback (along with a ton of other amazing things) was sculpted, and where GL came to meet Pearl in 1976 to describe what he wanted for the Dewback.

And yeah the rhino body he used for the Dewback he sculpted for the museum but was also used in a film, and the Dewback's "giant iguana" tail was a re-use of a prop made for a British creature film in the 1960s which I haven't been able to identify.

 

[Felinx]

Damn that's wild, nice work! Where/how'd you source the different parts of the Dewback's body?

My buddy and I supervised a 3D sculpt and printed it in a quite durable resin. It took a long time to sculpt as we wanted to try to get every small detail as close as possible to the prop.

The paint is a very careful reconstruction of the prop's paint which has some of Pearl's original purplish/blue paint overlaid with the paint added for Tunisia.

No need to trim the fur i.m.o. It already looks great..

Thanks - the Dewback does have much more fur than most people realize. I tried to match the gradations of color - it has dark brown, reddish-tan and a sandy-blond colored fur graded from bottom to top. There was a lot of work done to try to match everything very closely.

One of the Tornisters (fur flapped German army backpacks they used for the saddlebags) was even customized to be the telephone variation because that's what the "less-photographed" side of the Dewback has for the rear saddlebag.

A detail that no produced Dewback I've ever come across has included - that I had sculpted and included - is the long cattle horn seen positioned right next to the large furred "saddlehorn" just in front of the sandtrooper belly which they'd use to pull themselves up onto the Dewback.

The sandtrooper rider is about 3/4 customized armor with custoim helmet (one of the Solo Bones helmets) with weathering that precisely matches the second white pauldron trooper. The rider in the iconic promo shots is in fact "look sir droids" but obviously to be truly screen accurate it should have been the other white pauldron trooper. My understanding is that only the two "hero" sandies spoke English, the rest were Tunisian extras, the reason for the swap for the promo shots (so the photographer could give instructions.)

 

[LoveMinusZero]

One of the Tornisters (fur flapped German army backpacks they used for the saddlebags) was even customized to be the telephone variation because that's what the "less-photographed" side of the Dewback has for the rear saddlebag.

A detail that no produced Dewback I've ever come across has included - that I had sculpted and included - is the long cattle horn seen positioned right next to the large furred "saddlehorn" just in front of the sandtrooper belly which they'd use to pull themselves up onto the Dewback.

The sandtrooper rider is about 3/4 customized armor with custoim helmet (one of the Solo Bones helmets) with weathering that precisely matches the second white pauldron trooper. The rider in the iconic promo shots is in fact "look sir droids" but obviously to be truly screen accurate it should have been the other white pauldron trooper. My understanding is that only the two "hero" sandies spoke English, the rest were Tunisian extras, the reason for the swap for the promo shots (so the photographer could give instructions.)

Do you have a better close up of the saddlehorn and saddlebags?

 

[LoveMinusZero]

I'm really excited for this release. It can't come fast enough.

 

[wormlander]

My buddy and I supervised a 3D sculpt and printed it in a quite durable resin. It took a long time to sculpt as we wanted to try to get every small detail as close as possible to the prop.

The paint is a very careful reconstruction of the prop's paint which has some of Pearl's original purplish/blue paint overlaid with the paint added for Tunisia.


Thanks - the Dewback does have much more fur than most people realize. I tried to match the gradations of color - it has dark brown, reddish-tan and a sandy-blond colored fur graded from bottom to top. There was a lot of work done to try to match everything very closely.

One of the Tornisters (fur flapped German army backpacks they used for the saddlebags) was even customized to be the telephone variation because that's what the "less-photographed" side of the Dewback has for the rear saddlebag.

A detail that no produced Dewback I've ever come across has included - that I had sculpted and included - is the long cattle horn seen positioned right next to the large furred "saddlehorn" just in front of the sandtrooper belly which they'd use to pull themselves up onto the Dewback.

The sandtrooper rider is about 3/4 customized armor with custoim helmet (one of the Solo Bones helmets) with weathering that precisely matches the second white pauldron trooper. The rider in the iconic promo shots is in fact "look sir droids" but obviously to be truly screen accurate it should have been the other white pauldron trooper. My understanding is that only the two "hero" sandies spoke English, the rest were Tunisian extras, the reason for the swap for the promo shots (so the photographer could give instructions.)

Lots of new info in here. Fascinating that a creature with so little screen time is still such a huge fan favorite. Star Wars stands the test of time like no other movie in history...

 

[Felinx]

Do you have a better close up of the saddlehorn and saddlebags?

Hopefully this covers it (and sorry, pics are through glass of the display case.)