23 April 2011

REPAINT: TRIAD TOYS JADE VAN HELSING

I finally on a spur of the moment inspiration got around to repainting my Triad Toys Jade Van Helsing. She started as this:

TRIAD JADE REVIEW (18)

And now looks like this:

JADE REPAINT (1)

I repainted her with a mix of P3 Formula, Citadel Color, and Americana paints. Giving her heavier eyeshadow and eyeliner, repainting her eyes side glancing, and redoing her lips in a darker bronze color.

JADE REPAINT (3)

JADE REPAINT (2)

There are a few other things I still have to get around to with her, I want to give her some different hands, different boots (the Triad biker ones are nice, but I don't particularly like the clunky look of them with Jade), and of course eventually make a copy of her sword from aluminum.

Thanks for following.

22 April 2011

REVIEW: ACI MILITARY SHIRT AND CARGO PANTS SETS

I received my sets of ACI's Military Shirt and Cargo Pants Sets.

ACI UNIFORM SETS (1)

These were a really nice offering that I was looking forward to. ACI makes nice quality stuff and this was no exception. Each set comes with a shirt, tank top, and a pair of 5.11 Tactical style cargo pants. The shirts have velcro closures, faux pockets, and faux buttons. The pants have a velcro fly, working pockets (sans the front thigh utility pocket), and draw string cuffs which the real ones do not, but this is a bit of a nice feature for anyone wishing to blouse them into boots. Each of these sets could have used one extra item... a belt.

Midnight Navy Shirt & Pants / White tank Top:

ACI UNIFORM SETS (16)

ACI UNIFORM SETS (15)

ACI UNIFORM SETS (14)

ACI UNIFORM SETS (13)

One downside to the shirts is that 3 out of the 4 long sleeve sets have no closure at the cuffs. I assume this was done to allow the customer to roll up the sleeves without having to deal with velcro getting in the way. This however makes no sense that they used velcro on the 4th shirt. Anyway, this problem is easily solved with some thread / fabric glue. I'll wind up sewing the cuffs on this set closed.

Tan Shirt / Black Pants / Black Tank Top:

ACI UNIFORM SETS (11)

ACI UNIFORM SETS (10)

Brown Shirt / Tan Pants / Black Tank Top:

ACI UNIFORM SETS (8)

ACI UNIFORM SETS (7)

Red Plaid Short Sleeve Shirt / Green Pants / White Tank Top

ACI UNIFORM SETS (6)

ACI UNIFORM SETS (5)

I hate the red plaid shirt... I don't mind plaid... just red plaid is horrible.

White Plaid Shirt / Charcoal Pants / White Tank Top:

ACI UNIFORM SETS (2)

This white shirt is the only one that came with velcro on the cuffs. I'll probably wind up removing it so that I can make the cuffs tighter or roll them.

All in all, at $24 a set, I am happy with them. As I said, these sets could have used some belts, but I'll just have to pick or make some extras. The first picture in this post has my mini me wearing a Playhouse plaid short sleeve shirt... the faux buttons are a bit big and it has metal snap closures and the pants are the same style but made by BBI. All pieces are of comparable quality, clean stitching, and nice materials. Now my mini me's wardrobe almost matches mine as I have each one of these pairs of pants in 1:1.

Thanks for following.

12 April 2011

REPAINT: GILLIAN V 3.0

Hey Everybody,

So we already know my insane obsession with Gillian... Starting with the Fashion Fever Gillian, Then making the less "Babsish" TTL Gillian, and now the Barbie Basics Gillian...

GILLIAN V3 (1)

GILLIAN V3 (3)

I'd fought with the urge to get her after Erica brought her to my attention a few months back... but after some prodding my others... I broke down and got her to see how she would look.

MODEL14BarbieJeans2

GILLIAN V3 (5)

I mounted her onto a TTL large bust body, and then repainted her eyes gradient brown, and gave her Gillian's trademark freckles.

I think she came out looking nice... but sadly... I'm just not feeling it. The head is pretty in it's own right, but I'm just not getting the same vibe from her. The wide expressive eyes of the other two emote a sense of fun, where as the Basics head seems more somber.

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Perhaps I just need to let her grow on me more.

LMK what you all think?

Thanks for following.

11 April 2011

MUSINGS: WHAT'S IN THE WORKS?

Hey Everybody,

Just an update on what's in the works with my hobby wise.

I've been juggling a couple projects. Working on an outfit for Gillian. I need to get some bias tape and sew a couple extra belt loops onto a pair of Triad Jade's booty shorts... I want the outfit design to have suspenders, but the problem is, the shorts only have belt loops on the sides, so I can't put the suspenders on without the belt tugging up in the back and the front and look like crap. I need to add about 3 more loops... two in the front center lined with each leg and then a single one in the middle in the back... then it should be good to go.

I finally broke down and bought the Barbie Basics Series 2 #14:

MODEL14BarbieJeans2

After my friend Corsetkitten showed her to me and mentioned that with a repaint she would make a great rendition of Gillian, despite about 2 months of fighting the urge, I finally broke down and got her (like I needed more Gillians lol). So being as I couldn't find her anywhere in stores, I ordered one online... and of course, what do I find the very next day... I find her in Target... on sale no less... so now I have two of her... lol So I'll be doing her up soon and I'll have her posted here.

Crazy Dummy has a neat new upcoming U.S. Army Ranger figure.

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I really like the headsculpt. After having just seen the trailer for "Warrior", considering his role in Inception and him playing Mad Max in the remake, and looking at other pics, I'm pretty sure they were going for actor Tom Hardy:

Just-Tom-tom-hardy-18950275-594-446

It reminds me a bit also of actor Erik Palladino:

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Palladino starred as Sgt. "Scream" Silas in the short lived Iraq War drama "Over There". The head is not exactly him, his face is a little more round, but no doubt I expect OSW to start being flooded with "Sgt. Scream" bashes when this figure is released.

Anyhow, it's a nice head sculpt and one I'll be looking out for when it gets released.

So that's about it for the moment.

Thanks for following.