"Vintage" Custom Long Snoot

 

One of the things that's awesome/infuriating about the vintage hobby is the randomness of the original Kenner lines in terms of character selection. For example, in the original 12-back selection, did we really need a "Death Squad Commander" instead of getting Grand Moff Tarkin?

That's the infuriating part. The awesome part is that with the insane expansion of subsequent Star Wars waves, vintage enthusiasts now have the tools to roll their own vintage figures! One of the hobby's greatest proponents in this regard is Matt of Iron Cow Productions, whose business I've featured on the blog before. Matt makes some amazing customs and isn't afraid to share the recipes, which is admirable. I took him up on one yesterday to make my own custom vintage Garindan ("Long Snoot"), the snitch who ratted out Han and Chewie to the Imperials in Mos Eisley.

Here's what you need - a modern Garindan and a vintage Death Squad Commander (I guess he is good for something after all - j/k). Pop them in boiling water for a few minutes, then take them out (carefully) and pull their heads off. The bodies are quite soft so it's easy.

Now you've got a Garindan head with a hole in the bottom and a DSC body with a hole in the top. I had some hard plastic tubing around from a modelling project that fit perfectly. I cut a short length and secured it in Garindan's head with superglue.

It's a simple friction fit into the DSC body. Bonus - the head turns just like a real factory figure, but fits nice and tight so it won't come off.

I painted the DSC body with grey craft paint (this is necessary to cover up the chest insignia on the DSC's uniform) and put on a coat of gloss varnish to match the factory finish. The donor DSC had some nice vintage patina already that looks great, and it's not unusual for vintage bodies and arms not to match exactly due to aging. The last touch was to cut down a Darth Vader cape (repro from eBay seller) and voila - one "vintage" Long Snoot.

Here's another one I made earlier...

Have fun kids!!