Are GI Joes easy to customize?

[thor16]

Can you swap out parts on them easily?

[thor16]

[img]graemlins/rain.gif[/img]

[White Line Nightmare]

YES, Joes are very easy to customize.

Like Pairadocs said, it's as simple as removing the screw and trading parts. There're also screws in the legs that'll allow you to break the figure down further and trade leg parts.

Joe torsos, waists, and upper legs are made from hard plastic, so they take very well to Dremel work. The rest of their limbs are constructed of soft plastic, so you can boil & pop them with good results.

Painting them is also relatively easy... the key is to get the figure completely apart (with the exception of the arms) and prime & paint each piece separately. You may encounter paint rub on the elbows and upper arm joints, but I recommend carefully painting AROUND the articulation instead of over it. To avoid major paint rub problems, use pieces that're as close to the color of your paint as possible.

If you've got anymore questions, feel free to ask. I primarily customize 3.75" Joes, so I can offer a lot more help. Good luck, man.

[thor16]

I've never done any custom work before. I've done a bit of modeling, but nothing too hardcore. But, these things look like they would be fun to mess with.

How do you actually go about painting them, and what kind of paints do you suggest?

[White Line Nightmare]

Prior to painting, I try to wash all parts with soap and warm water. The new Joes are kinda infamous for being coated with an oily mold release agent, so you don't want that messin' up your paint!

Next, I do whatever Dremel work/sanding that needs to be done, then I wash the pieces again and prime.

If the surfaces are smooth with no imperfections, I'll move onto painting. As I said before, I completely disassemble the figure (except for the arms) and paint each part separately.

For the arms, I carefully paint around the articulation, using the seams of the joint as stop points... like they said in pre-school, I color inside the lines but don't cross them. Painting over articulation may gum it up.

After everything's painted, I reassemble the figure, which is a snap.

As for paints, I use:

-Model Masters ACRYL
-Tamiya
-Citadel
-Pactra

I'm sure you could use other kinds of acrylics with the same results, but just make sure you don't use enamels! They react badly with soft plastic and won't dry properly. Since soft plastic is a major component of the new Joes, you've gotta ditch the enamels.

Good luck and feel free to ask anymore questions!

[thor16]

I've seen other people's customs online, and on most of them, the paint looks cakey, and just really ugly. How do you prevent that from happening?

[White Line Nightmare]

To avoid "the cake," the key is to gradually layer your paint instead of doing it in one or two coats. If you prime your figure, you really won't have much of a choice, as you'll have to apply a few *THIN* layers of paint in order to have one uniform color.

A lot of newbs (myself included, 12 years back) are impatient and don't prime their pieces, which is the fast track to bad, easily-damaged paint jobs.

New customizers have to realize that customizing is not a race. It's not about making as many figures as you can in a period of time. Five well-made, well-thought-out figures will always be more impressive than 500 half-assed customs.

As long as you take your time (what's comfortable for YOU) and carefully sand/sculpt/paint, etc., you shouldn't have too many problems. There'll definitely be a few flubs, but that's always part of the learning experience.

It's also important to pay attention to the work of other customizers. Here're some of my favorite links to custom Joes:

Invisible Wraith-

http://www.loserville.us/~invisiblewraith/

Teknokyo-

http://www.geocities.com/teknokyo/

Dye Customs-

http://home.bellsouth.net/p/s/commun...erpw=.&uh=1,0,

True Gritt Customs-

http://www.loserville.us/~truegrittcustoms/

Joe Customs-

http://www.joecustoms.com/

*Joecustoms.com is a forum geared towards 3.75" Joe customizers. There you'll find places to view and critique new work, an ideas section, and custom discussion page. Some work will be very good (Burn Rourk, Adrien Veidt) and others are still in the formative stages. What's cool about Joecustoms.com is that you can follow the progress of a customizer as they learn new techniques and improve their work, like the member Sharkbait, whose newest customs are lightyears beyond his first.

<font color="#cd6600" size="1">[ September 04, 2004 09:06 PM: Message edited by: White Line Nightmare ]</font>

[pairadocs]

Yes... ALWAYS wash parts with warm soapy water (even you touching it can leave oils that'll mess up the paint job), and then do thin coats of primer, preferrably spray. Then use good, thin acrylic paints and seal with a coat afterwards, preferrably matte, but to your taste...

Good luck and have fun! [img]graemlins/thumbs_up.gif[/img]

[pairadocs]

If the new ones are anything like the old ones, all you had to do is unscrew the screw in the back, and they came apart. It's all a t-hook and a black rubberband, with the one screw that hold it all together. I used to mix and match my old joes all the time. My first customization if you will!

[img]wink.gif[/img]

[thor16]

Do you get rid of the paint that's on there, or just go over it with the primer?