The Stacked Deck

[goshou]

Ok, here goes--my custom group of Sky Grinders, or in my world of Xevoz ‘Harliquins.’ They’re team named “The Stacked Deck,” for as you might notice they’ve all got card and suite symbols painstakingly painted on their tiny bodies.



The symbols, by the way, are not of my creation; instead they are stolen from another group called “The Shuffle Alliance” so don’t give me any real credit there. They are going from the left:
Club Ace, Black Joker, King of Heart, Jack in Dia, and Queen the Spade.

Didn’t think I’d like the Sky Grinder at all when I first saw the pics, but that changed in a jiffy when I got my first one. Sure he was the only one I found and sure one of his lower arms had a production problem that made it so he would never have a hand, but something at that moment made me love him. Could be the cool heads or long puffy pant-legs.

Anyway, nothing truly special about them, but I was pretty proud of the detail job on the symbols-something that is sorta lost with my camera. Sorry. The two with the most work are obviously Jack in Dia and Club Ace.

Since I decided to have a group of 5 members, 2 of them would need new heads. Jack is based off of his original character, a French fencer and thus would need a shoulder cape. This worked perfectly because I had already given my Moon Stalker a pose-able cloth cape of blue, so I had the fabric. It still needs a gold edge, but I haven’t had the time to finish it since I did them this weekend. I like what I managed with his wacky hair thou.

Club Ace is a female I cooked up with some assistance from my lovely wife. I figured, why not try my hand at making something like the Stikfa Beta Female here and gave her a uni-boob that my wife ‘adjusted’ a bit, and then I sanded to it’s current shape. Her hair and face are all my wife’s handiwork. She sorta just grabbed the head from my hands, went to work on it, and in 10 minutes or less has molded a near perfect head. Once again, some sanding on my part and we were happy. Steph went sorta different with the facial structure as well, basing the strange shape off of a Female Giant Robot’s face (Aphroditie A from the show Mazinger Z). It’s different and distinct.

Here are some individual pics with somewhat better details.

www.goshouworld.com/xevoz/Stacked_Deck_b.jpg
www.goshouworld.com/xevoz/Black_Joker_Queen_the_Spade.jpg
www.goshouworld.com/xevoz/King_Of_Heart_front.jpg
www.goshouworld.com/xevoz/King_Of_Heart_close.jpg
www.goshouworld.com/xevoz/King_Of_Heart_strike.jpg
www.goshouworld.com/xevoz/Jack_In_Dia_front.jpg
www.goshouworld.com/xevoz/Jack_In_Dia_back.jpg
www.goshouworld.com/xevoz/Jack_In_Dia_close.jpg
www.goshouworld.com/xevoz/Club_Ace_front.jpg
www.goshouworld.com/xevoz/Club_Ace_back.jpg

Comments welcome!

[Squishee Slinger]

[glow=navy,2,300]Wow, that's kinda cool. It's real remenecessant of the Royal Flush Gang from Batman Beyond and The Justice League series. They all had high card names and even flew around on levitating surfboard cards.

~SS~[/glow]

[goshou]

Hey, the Royal Flush Gang another favorite. Something about me and 'Card Themed' groups. Playing cards, Tarot cards, I'm all about it.

[DFReaper]

Wasn't the Shuffle Alliance from G Gundam?

[goshou]

DFReaper said:

Wasn't the Shuffle Alliance from G Gundam?

Ding, you win! ;D

I should note that Club Ace's hair is based on Rain's, and Jack's is sorta based on George's (but in the end reminds me more of Maxi from Soul Calibur I/II).

Had to have something for me to go on. I'm too much into taking other idea and mixing them up rather than being as 100% original as I could be.

[Grayfox]

Holy crap that is awesome work! I just love them. And those detailed paintings on their shirts rule. How did you paint them? what brush did you use (if any)?

Also, how many pieces are form other kits? I can spot the Inferno Fury forearms and one of them seems to be having the Shadow Blade's arms. Are there any others?

And I was curious to know, what did you use to sculpt the hair, heads and chest on the female?

Great work man

[CJK Toy Bay]

Definetly some nice work there, it looks like they took quite a bit of time.

I'm also interested in knowing what you used for the sculpting. I've been planning on getting some sculpy to try out but your figs came out great so I think I'll wait till I find out what you used first

Is that a Skull Jack piece of armor you used for the shoulder on Jack? If so that piece looks totally different painted, took me a few minutes to figure out where it came from

[goshou]

Yeah! Q & A time. I feel happy.


First a general what I used for the paint and clay:

Paints used were either Tamiya or Citadel (my old stand-by's from the days when I used to paint Warhammer 40K lead minis) and any nice brush sized 3/0 or 10/0 (Nylon seems to work).

I used Milliput, a self-hardening clay compound, for most of the filling or new parts, except for Club Ace's head/hair was done with Super Sculpty (heat-hardened clay). Milliput starts nice and tacky and begins to harden in about 2-3 hours, so you better work fast. Super Sculpty requires baking or a Heat Gun (like a super-charged, 4000 degree Hair Dryer) to harden, but because of it's thickness in the beginning it is easier to get details out of (such as the hair). I fully suggest finding a heat gun if you do work with Sculpy; baking pieces in the oven that are attached to plastic Xevoz parts can get messy fast. Milliput is found at hobby and modeling shops, while Sculpy/Sculpty can be found at craft stores (like Michaels).
To sumarize: Milliput for filling in, non-detailed bit; Sculpty for anything that requires detail.

Oh! And when it came to heads I simply took my craft saw to some of the extra Sky Grinder heads I have and cut them down as low as I needed. Then with careful Xacto blade action I trimmed where needed and built the hair from there.

Anyone got a preference for other paint brands that might be better suited to the task? Tamiya dries pretty fast, and many Citadel's are gloss rather than my preferred Flat. MXC-087, I'm looking at you! O_^

Grayfox said:

Also, how many pieces are form other kits? I can spot the Inferno Fury forearms and one of them seems to be having the Shadow Blade's arms. Are there any others?

The Inferno arms are actually what started this all. As mentioned, my original Sky Grinder had a defective arm and since returning it was out of the question (it being the only one I found in the area at the time), I decided that he'd need some new matching arms from my collection of parts. And strangly enough, the Inferno arms gave him this sense of 'speed' or 'striking motion' that I really liked. That meant some painting and thus the ball was rolling...

You've guessed most of the parts I used; I wanted to keep the group looking somewhat the same/unified so I couldn't use too many really different parts. Club Ace has the waist and upper legs from a Shadow Blade (to make her shorter and petite). Black Joker is supposed to be a hulking guy, so he got the bare arms of the Shadow Blade who lost his legs; if the Street Punk has a more 'beefy' look I might steal a part or two from him. And Jack's shoulder is indeed from a Skull Jack (good eye CJK Toy Bay!).

Overall Time to do: About 30 hours at the max. I worked a couple hours in the evening for a week and then dedicated a good amount of time this last weekend to finish up.

[Temp Offline MXC087]

::is looked at by goshou::

Incredible/awesome work there. I've only done minor customizations of my repainted figures, such as cutting the sides off Bone Cutter's small hands so he can hold smaller items such as his EV-AC; I haven't tried real sculpting yet. Overall, I have to say I'm very impressed. (Hopefully I'll have some Wave 2 paint-detailed figures to post soon.)

[Temp Offline MXC087 again]

Oh yes, I mostly use Testors paints, but did just get a few Tamiya jars. If nothing else, a heck of a lot easier to open. I need to restock my Flat Black as soon as possible for paintwashing...

[goshou]

Ha! Thanks MXC087. I loved the repaints when you posted them originally and though that was something for me to aim for in the end. You're re-paints have all been stellar and I look forward to any future ones you do.

So, Testors, eh? How does it hold up to standard 'abuse'? I've noticed that to some small degree, both the Citidel and Tamiya paints chip off easy when roughed around--that's something I really don't want happening since I'd like to eventually make neat videos with my guys.

Out of Flat Black? That sounds like a familiar statement...

[DFReaper]

One what's my prize and two, I used to have the nickname of UOB, UnOriginal Bastige (close enough for government work...) Because I take an idea and mold it to my own liking. Goshou, I love the work and keep it up.

[goshou]

Oh, DFReaper, you win the famous no-prize. Isn't it great?

Hmm, is there a club for UOB's, cause I'll be darned if I can ever come up with something truly original. Maybe it comes from being a programmer or something...

[MXC-087]

Yeah, I'm admittedly always having trouble with chipping, especially at joints... Of course, the fact that I like to paint my figures "dirty" sort of helps make that look natural. So far, I've only used the Tamiya paints to paint Moon Stalker's dark green eyes; I'll have to see how it works on larger areas later.

[HooperX]

Re: Preventing chipping:
I use spray-on semi-gloss clearcoat. Testor's makes this, you can get it at model shops.

I also like Testor's "Model Master" paints. I know a lot of guys in the GIJoe fanbase speak highly of Badger paints, especially when it comes to military colors, but the Testor's line has a nice mix of military and street colors...

-HX