Here it is, a first VERY EARLY look at that "next custom project" that I've been mentioning as I have been finding all the parts I needed. I didn't plan on starting it at all until BOB was done, but I was swapping the armor on another one of my figures and felt in the mood to start messing with it. Basically I got all of the structural prep done, which was totally fine to work on at this point. I've been itching to get into it anyway, because I was curious about certain parts and whether or not they would be a problem.
This was my first dip into what I would call true customization, where I'm going to do more than use some paint or a pen. Very exciting! Both shoulders needed their pegs filed down since the pink spartan that I am using as my base (as far as I know its the only female body without a robot arm) didn't have shoulder holes for custom armor. The grenade belt also needed its peg filed, since this spartan body also lacked the front waist hole for custom armor pieces. Both shoulders and the belt piece will need gluing to stay in place.
4 critical pieces were cannibalized from an Emile figure: EVA[C] helmet, security shoulder (with knife), the shotgun bandoleer for the left forearm, and the tactical pouch for the leg. Of particular concern to me was the shogun shell bandoleer, because looking at it on Emile it was hard to tell if the piece was a molded part of the arm or if it was a glued peg piece. I was also a bit concerned about the shoulder and tactical pouch if they were glued. Fortunately they were not and popped right off, as did the helmet. As it turns out, I was in luck with the shotgun shells, because after working my knife a tad under the lip of it, it too popped right off. It was indeed a peg piece! YAY! Of course, since the spartan body I'm using doesn't have the rectangle slot the shells require, I had to modify them by cutting and filing down the peg so it will glue flush onto the forearm. That was really the most fabrication that I found myself having to do, and I got it done pretty quickly and neatly at that.
Now, should the gluing of the main armor bits prove successful, I will have one last 'major' fabrication to do in order to make the figure as authentic as possible. The security shoulder has only the knife sheath without the kife handle of a stowed knife. As much as I hate to destroy a perfectly good kukri prop, I do have one with my Emile that's on display...so...the plan is to cut the blade away from the handle, file it down as well as I can, and then glue it in place to give the appearance of the sheathed kukri.
The only place that this custom recreation will end up lacking is the knees. It is supposed to have FJ/PARA but since there is no female figure with those knees, or a way to remove them from another (at least without doing a level of custom work that I am not skilled enough to attempt) the ones the figure already has will have to do. They are close enough, being the Air Assault knees.
That is pretty much all for now. I can also say that I plan to modify and improve the helmet, changing it to the black tint, and using silver in the skull etch. It will be a while before I do any more work on this, since BOB still needs to be finished, but cleaning and base coat painting will be the first step when the time comes.
