http://www.wesoteric.com/toyimg/customs/ratkingwip.jpeg

Just a very early WIP, obviously. I need more tiny rats!

Where'd you get that tiny rat, since I've been trying to find one to put next to my neca turtles (small ones)?

How about a compliment instead of a self servicing question?

Lovin the concept. You aiming to have your customs be in scale with the NECA turtles to some extent, or just trying to make em SICK?

Ah, good point Powder, I shouldn't write comments just after waking up...
Anyway, altho being a WIP, it does look good, Ratkings head fits surprisingly well into that body. Can't wait to see finished versions of that and Shredder :)

:) You da man topsu. Haha this is just a guess but I think the rat came from the 2k3 ratking? I know he comes with 2 or 3 just like that. Orrrrr he may have chopped it off of the ratking that he's already decapitated. I'll go with the latter.

No worries -- questions are totally fine and fair game! I mean, I'm asking questions myself, so you guys should feel free to offer answers if you've got 'em whether you have compliments or not. :)

This is not to say that I don't appreciate compliments, of course -- so thanks, guys! :D

Topsu: The rat is from the Silent Screamers Graf Orlok -- he comes with six. I actually don't want to keep this rat with Rat King in a permanent capacity (I'd like to keep my Graf Orlok "complete" as it were), but I've been thinking of tracking another one down for its rats. Unfortunately, I don't quite want to pay $15+ for three of the little guys (which is about how many I'd need), so I'm still looking for other options.

Powder: Well, I'm an articulation junkie, so I'm all about making new representations of the characters with additional poseability! As far as the scale goes, they're more to scale with the 2K3 Turtles than the NECAs -- I don't have any of those, but they look large enough to be in a 7" scale rather than 6". Of course, the Rat King on X3 Juggernaut body is particularly large, but I'm going for the TMNT Tournament Fighters interpretation in terms of size. I'll probably glue rats and creepy crawlies to him a la the original Playmates figure, though. :)

Can you get a better shot of the rat? From this angle it looks like a slug with a rat tail.

I'm very confused, but also inspired. I'll probably be mutilating a MOC Movie Star Foot Soldier in order to do something similar soon.

Your progress on these is looking fantastic! That Shredder looks really cool, and I can't wait to see what your Rat King finally looks like.

Sure, soon. Those guys are little, though -- hard to get proper shots of them. :lol:

Why confused?

Thanks! Rat King is quite far from complete -- who knows when I'll finish that guy! -- but Shredder should be finished before too much longer. Really all I have left to do is paint some of the metallic areas and he'll be good to go.

Nice work so far.. Cant wait to see dem finished..

Maybe I won't be as confused when I see the final product. It looked as if you used a bunch of "parts" to make a slightly more accurate Super Shredder, and then tore him up again and further mutilated him.

I got my own Shredder custom to worry about though :twink:

Oh, you mean for the claw pics? Yeah, I took his legs back off to work on the paint rub, since there was a bit at the tops of the thigh pieces. I also sand the connecting areas down a bit so they weren't so darned tight -- I didn't want to risk snapping his leg off when trying to turn them later!

I also detached the legs at the knee since I'm preparing to paint the lower legs silver -- rather than trying to mask off the thigh pieces to avoid getting silver on the pink, I figure it'll be easier to paint them separately and then reattach them afterwards. :)

Rat King's head looks suprisingly good on Movie Juggs' body--it'll be interesting to see how the final version turns out.

We need another contest, Patraw...

The thought has crossed my mind on several occasions, but now isn't a particularly good time for me, as I intend to shortly begin work on an entry for a contest/challenge on the Shifflett Bros. sculpting forum that I belong to.

That said, any of you should feel free to start a TMNT custom contest of your own if you like--you don't have to wait for me to do it. You could even just copy and paste the rules I've used in the past (other than obviously changing deadline dates and stuff like that) if you wanted to use them instead of coming up with guidelines of your own. I really think it'd be better for the Technodrome Forums in general if different people were to take turns organizing the custom contests instead of one person--variety is the spice of life.

If I have the time, and the rules are agreeable to me, I'd probably participate if someone else were to put a TMNT contest together in the near future (maybe Ectocooler would be interested, as he did the one prior to the three I did).

Still no tiny rat pics, but another WIP shot and a BONUS blast from the past!

http://www.wesoteric.com/toyimg/shre...idestance.jpeg

Same as before; this one just depicts the results of my modifications to the ankle articulation. The XMC Magneto's ankles originally didn't allow for much tilt action, but now Shredder will be able to hit wider stances while keeping his feet flat on the floor. :)

I'm also rethinking my lower on the arms idea for the forearm armor... which puts me back in the camp of needing to find out what to use to make the hand gauntlets. Arrrgh.

http://www.wesoteric.com/toyimg/childshredder.jpeg

And in response to Oroku_CJJ's excellent movie Shredder custom, I mentioned that I particularly liked it for reasons related to my childhood Shredder figure. Here's why: after seeing TMNT 1990, I liked the film depiction of Shredder so much that I wrapped my own figure in glittery red cloth and covered him with tape to keep it on. He's since lost a shoulderpad, but his glittery outfit has remained intact all these years. :)

That Shredder is going to be so tight when you finish him... :twink:

yeah... if he ever finishes it. :lol:

what is on the eyes, and why did you paint the blades black?

That's poster tack over the eyes -- rather than trying to paint around small areas, I just use that stuff to mask them off. :)

And as far as the reason for the black painting, that's prep work for the drybrushing! First I paint the areas black, then I drybrush them silver to get that gritty metal look. I still need to give them a few more coats of black to get everything (the helmet could use another as well), and then I'll be ready to drybrush those parts silver.

And then all I'll need to do is figure out how to do the gauntlets and the cape and I'll be good to go!