Psyguy

Really pleased about the New Mutants boxset.....but I am in the middle of a set of New Mutants customs for myself! Have finished Moonstar, Cannonball, Cypher and Magma so far. I guess I will finish them anyway and just have both sets on display.

Wow.....just stumbled across those Basterds. Amazing, inspiring work!

Hey guys, Have had a little bit of time over the last week to do a bit of customizing. Started work on a few comissions, but following advice have been working on a couple of my own at the same time. After we now have Crimson Dynamo, I'm starting to make a few members of the Winter Guard. Here's my first, Darkstar. She has a Yeoman Rand head and Magdalena hair. The hairband is made from milliput and the chest is a decal. Next is Sunfire with a modified Ocean Master mask, and a slightly modified chest decal from Luke. Will hopefully have a few more to share in the next couple of weeks. Thanks for looking!

Thank for the suggestion, Banners. I cut his feet down as far as I could do without spoiling the articulation, but I guess that's not that important. I could always just glue his feet on. His legs actually need sanding down a bit more, I didn't have great tools to work with so I ended up taking his legs down with a craft knife and some sharp pliers. Not the best! Have finished one more custom today. I go back to work tomorrow after having a week off, so I probably won't get chance to do quite so much over the next few weeks. Enchantress is made with a Valkyrie head, modified Scarlet Witch hair (I might sand this down a bit more, it's turned out a bit rough) and a modified SM3 Gwen Stacy skirt. I got some ideas from Luke's custom. I have her displayed with my Secret Wars minimates.

Thanks for the tip! Will look out for the early Star Trek mates as well.

It's a shame the LOTR hobbit mates weren't smaller, Puck is the one from the set that I'm still not massively happy with. I had about 4 attempts at the arm/leg decals. I managed to make him a little smaller but I couldn't go any smaller without losing articulation in the wrists and ankles. I'm planning on making a Sasquatch, I saw one on the boards that used DC's Gorilla Grodd as a base so I will probably try that. He is quite expensive though so I was thinking of putting a posting on the Flea Market section here. It's quite hard to track down cheap mates to use as parts in the UK. Nessex, do posters send their suggestions/pictures to dst? Thanks for all your comments again, really appreciate it!

Group shot of Alpha Flight so far. Finished Shaman and Guardian, just Sasquatch to go for now! Thanks to gentry who gave me the idea of using Khan for Shaman, and to Mattalica, whose Alpha Flight customs were a really good reference.

I used a Battlestar Galastuca minimate for Psylocke's face, Caprica Six. I haven't tried to do a face decal yet so try to find likenesses from existing minimates.

Thanks gentry, he would be perfect! Just had a look at him on minimate database. Managed to get him on amazon.

Here's Puck. He has a Batttlestar Galactica head (Baltar, I think) and a modified slip-over mask. I trimmed his arms and legs slightly to make him smaller, but it's not that obvious until he is standing next to a regular-sized mate. His arms and legs have waterslide decals on them. I'm almost finished on Guardian and am getting parts together for Shaman. Does anyone have a sugestion for a head that might work for Shaman? Have just re-done the decals on Puck, wasn't happy with them. Will post a picture at some point.

Thanks again everyone, you guys are too kind. youbastards, I didn't actually use a stencil design for the wrists/ankles. If I did I would happily share it, but I got some strips of 6mm Tamiya masking tape and cut 3 little "V" shapes out them, then wrapped the strips arond the wrists/ankles. I'm not sure if I am explaining this very well! Could always post a picture on here if that helps.

Hey... So, while hunting for parts I managed to put together another member of Alpha Flight. Still haven't finished the customs for the classic line up but while I'm waiting for a few parts here is Heather Hudson as Vindicator. She is made from Loki/Doc Oc parts and a Spiderman 3 Mary Jane head/hair. Her wrist gauntlets are from a Magdalena Indie mate.

Looking forward to seeing the complete line-up!

Thanks again for the comments everyone! Binaryan, I am hoping for a box set myself, but thought I could have a go myself just in case it never happens. Nessex, at the minute the customs I have made are all characters I would like to have myself. I'm still a relative beginner having only made 7 customs so far. To begin with I used Luke's decals so obviously I couldn't sell any if I were using someone else's resources. My last few customs have taken Luke's decals as a guide and have been modified for my own needs by a friend of mine on Adobe. I would probably consider selling customs at some point, if there were any takers! I'm really enjoying myself. youbastards, the detail on the wrists and ankles are done by making a stencil out of thin tape, wrapping this around the wrist/ankle and then painting over, then peeling it off. Then I just cleaned up any paint that had leaked under the tape with a wooden toothpick.

Hey... Have been working on some new customs over the last few weeks, one of my favourite teams from when I was a kid. I'm still in the middle of a few characters but am waiting for some parts to arrive from ebay and the US, so thought I would share what I have finished so far. The lighting isn't great, I'm using an unfamiliar camera! First up is Snowbird. She has a Supergirl face and modified cape, and a Scarlet Witch headpiece modelled with milliput. Next is Northstar. He has a Quicksilver face and Tony Stark hairpiece. Lastly is Aurora, with a Menace hairpiece and a Star Trek head, I can't remember whose. Here's a little group shot of the 3 together. I should have a few more members to share in the next few weeks. Thanks for looking!

Great to see some old-school Betsy love on the boards.

Cheers Luke! Your decals have been really helpful. Hope to be doing my own soon but I'm not great on illustrator tools at the minute. Am trying to learn, I slightly modified one of yours for Mockingbird, hope that's ok.

Haha! Well, I am but the majority of my favourite male characters have been released. I think as a whole, the minimate line does pretty well on the ratio of female characters but there's always going to be a slight imbalance with any toy line, I reckon. I do have some male characters in mind for the future, but to start off with I wanted to make some females that I really wanted. Thanks again for the comments, guys!

Great modern X-Force! Are there any other customizers fro the UK?

Thanks for the kind comments, much appreciated. Have just finished my latest custom, another character I am waiting for. Mockingbird is made with Hawkeye's mask eye-piece cut off, a modified Battlestar Galactica hairpiece (ponytail and curl at front are from milliput). I cut off the hands from a Deathstrike mate to make the sleeves.

I can't quite believe there will be an armoured Betsy release. I did not see that one coming. Amazing!!

I can't believe how many customs are on your gallery! Amazing work. I prefer your Multiple Man to the official release and really like your work on the Fantastic Four. My favourites have to be the Street Fighter mates. Any chance of some of the aditional characters from Super Street Fighter 4???

Wasn't happy with my first attempt at Dazzler so had another go with a spare Quicksilver. Am still hoping for a Longshot/Dazzler 2-pack but she will have to do for now.

Hey... Here's a repaint of 90's Jean to look more like the promo picture. Made a decal for the pocket details. Luke, your site has been a great resource for someone like me who is just starting out on customs. Thanks!

Thanks for the kind comments guys! Really enjoyed the experience of making my first customs and am already planning my next couple. Thanks for the encouragement.