yet more DBZ figs! - Piccolo and future Trunks

Truly fantastic stuff, Nick. The Piccolo is excellent, and works well with or without the added 'turban' and . . uh. . whatever the shoulder drapings should be called. Well done. Trunks, when I used to watch the show, was one of my favourite characters (along with Vegeta and Android 17), so it's cool to see him done - and expertly so. Can we get a shot of him with his sword drawn?

Beautiful work, Nick. Now one question - when do we get to see an Android 17?  ;)

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MCN Moderator of Customization Tips, Techniques & Questions

Yes! These are perfect! Future Trunks is my 2nd fave DBZ character. You truly did him and Piccolo justice. Are you going to do a super saiyan version of Trunks? I know they'll look great! Can't wait to see the next wave of characters.

-M

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B-Shelf

Thanks for the comps!

Trunks sword wasn't exceptional so I didn't take one with him carrying it (I also didn't want the blade breaking on me). Btw, if you've noticed, his sword is EXACTLY LA's sword. I like the Androids too, and I'm actually waiting to see if Lego does come out with new hairstyles that I can use for them.

I'm still having problems making super saiyan hairdos. But El, who IS you fave DBZ character?

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~MCN Brick Talk Moderator~

Nick's MOC Page.

With work like these I am sure no one will mind even if u started 2 threads  ^^

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Heh, let's not be greedy... :P

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~MCN Brick Talk Moderator~

Nick's MOC Page.

Well, you did a great job on Vegeta's hair piece. Not that much different with the super saiyan hairdo. Oh and my fave character is a tie between teen Gohan and Goku.

-M

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B-Shelf

Trunks sword wasn't exceptional so I didn't take one with him carrying it (I also didn't want the blade breaking on me). Btw, if you've noticed, his sword is EXACTLY LA's sword.

Why would it break? I'm curious as to what you did -- I'm guessing you cut off the blade and exchanged it with a different one?
And they're not -exactly- the same . . Trunks' sword has a spherical, not disc, pommel, and a full grip rather than an extended grip, and a different blade. ;)  Still, they are about as similar as you're going to get without some heavy modifications. (There's a project I might consider though. . .hmmmm.. )


As for new hairstyles, I thought about this once before, and wouldn't the standard 'female' hairpiece in black work really well? Especially if you filed down the curve at the ends to make the hair appear to hang straight down? Also, the new Exo-Force hairpiece, filed down and cut up, could do a nice Android 16. And if I recall 18 correctly, she'd just use the blonde/tan standard 'female' hairpiece.

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MCN Moderator of Customization Tips, Techniques & Questions

I find the supersaiyan hair to be more angular than non-saiyan mode. And frankly, I was never really quite satisfied with Vegeta's hair piece.

 

Yup! I just cut out the hilt and attached a sanded 1x4 tile for a blade. It broke when I attached the sword to his hand (colourful words censored). I've since glued it back, but unfortunately, it has some white fume marks on the edges now). I think I'll leave the swords stuff to you at Pharazon from now on.

I actually did think of using standard female hairpieces and filing down the curves (for Android 17 & 18, but I was more concerned that their hair is basically combed "up", rather than centre parted. But that's just me being fussy..

Now for Android 16, he's my all-time favorite character! The Exo -Force hairpiece sounds like a cool idea! I don't think the material can be filed down, but it's worth a try! I did attempt to make his armour, but failed miserably, so he'll have to wait till I improve on my techniques.

 

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~MCN Brick Talk Moderator~

Nick's MOC Page.

Oh Nick I have a question! I'm not sure about it but iI believe the hair of trunks is the hair of that creator fig ( jack or john ). How did you get it sepperated from the head, I've tried this once, but it didn't turn out right.... Can you give a tutorial?

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Ah yes, that's Jack Stone's hair.

Firstly, I had to decapitate a jackstone fig. You'll then realise like I did, that the hair is GLUED to the head. I slowly removed as much of the yellow plastic with a pair of pliers before using a dremel to painstakingly remove the rest of the yellow. I then filled the inside top with sculpey; forced in onto a normal head stud, filled any remaining gaps with sculpey, removed the headpiece and boiled it.

Wha la! Jackstone hair piece.

If this sounds like it's a lot of work, it's because it is! Let me say that this is something I would never EVER do again.

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~MCN Brick Talk Moderator~

Nick's MOC Page.

Those are great! Now I know why you are calling yourshelf NickGreat!

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Yes, they are amazing. I really like the way you work with sculpey, it looks much better then most of the other sculpey things ( I like your Vegeta hairpiece)

I'm waiting for your next costums!

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You have made the perfect Piccolo. But, do you plan on giving Piccolo a sword?(he had one sometimes) Piccolo is exactly like from the show and Trunks is just great too. You are the best DBZ customizer out there. Great job man. -Pac

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( < wakka wakka wakka wakka

Proud brother of a United States Marine

OMG! I LOVE THEM!

~Loki, please try adding some more content to your future comments, why don't you explain what it is you like best about Nick's new customs? ~Lamanda2

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Rage Against The Machine 1991-2000

Crazy amazing Nick! Great work with sculpey for Piccolo and I have to respect the tedious work that went into getting the hair piece for Trunks. I love the functional scabbard. I know its for the cartoon so it's supposed to be over-sized, but I think it could work for many sword carrying figs. Once again the level of detail in your decals are outstanding. I hope you can out-do yourself with your next customs, which I'm eagerly anticipating!

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~MCN Moderator of the Minifig MOCs Forum~

Nice work Nick, as always!

My favorite of these two would have to be Piccolo, the work you have done with the shoulderware and turban is truely amazing, I used to have a Piccolo action fig with his cape and this looks perfectly like that, I also like the use of the creator hair for Trunks, it is very suitable, his sheath is also very nice, what Lego pieces did you sand down to make it?

My favorite character had been teen Gohan, I think making a custom of my favorite character would be quite difficult..It would have to be perfect.

Looking forward to more of your work Nick, it's all 'Great' ;-)

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MCN Brick Talk MOD
My B-Shelf (Under Construction)

I am ashamed to say that I do not have a favorite character, but I love the Trunks fig and the use of JS hairpiece. But I agree with Amanda, the custom-sculpted pieces for Picollo indeed look great! Truly 'Great' work, what can I say... ;)

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- Unknown Artist, Moderator of MCN

Unknown Artist Studio | MOCpages | B-Shelf

Wow, truly amazing work. Picollo's sculpey pieces appear flawless and his decals are great too.

Future Trunks decals look great too. Nice job getting the hair piece off Jack. I too would like to know what pieces the sheath is made out of.

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Protest the Hero

Come on! You always make the DBZ characters I am in the middle of finishing.

Future Trunks is my second favorite character in the whole saga, not to be mean, but I think that you could've done a lot better job portraying Trunks. The scabbard/sheath looks nice, but parts of him aren't that accurate. His Jacket is closer to being Dark Blue than regular blue, though Dark Blue parts are harder to find, His pants should be Dark Gray/Dark Bluish Gray, and even though it probably was hard to get the hairpiece it isn't very accurate looking.

The Changing of the pants isn't that hard to do because you didn't put the belt on his pelvis and the decal shouldn't be hard to change, but it might take a while to get it printed. The hairpiece might be hard though. Even though you are a wonderful sculpter you have to admit that sculpting isn't always easy.

Piccolo is much better looking in my opinion. The only thing I would change is using Bright green instead of regular green, but that doesn't matter. I think that you also need to paint the top of his turban purple like in the show. I don't really like the fact that you have been putting the belts on the torsos, but it's your choice not mine.

Sorry if that was a little harsh,

babyjawa...

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Just one breath... incase that's all that is left...

pacman110011;
I don't recall Piccolo brandishing any sword; so my version will remain weaponless. Sorry.

Pharazon;
I'm quite proud of the scabbard as it's pretty versatile and can be detached like actual lego parts. Fixing it on a neck stud allows for it to be placed at any angle; even vertically like Blade carries it.
JackStone's hairpiece was not an original idea. I once saw someone use it on Brickshelf and thought it looked similar to Trunks. What I really didn't expect was how difficult it was to get it done...

Lamanda2;
The only character I have of DBZ is a mini Trunks gashapon. All my sculpey are done with the manga comics in front of me for reference. I'm glad you find Piccolo's pieces accurate!
The sword sheath is made with;x2   x1   x1

One of 1x4 tiles is sanded till it's only a "sheet" of plastic and glued over the other. A slot for the sword is also opened on one end. After glueing them, I filed the other end to get the angle and used scupley as a filler. Next, I ground the top off the round stud and glued it onto the sheath.
I won't be doing Gohan anytime soon either . I think I'll just leave all the hard ones to you. :)

Unknown Artist;
Piccolo's pieces came out better than expected. The "turban" is the second one I've done; the first incarnation just didn't look right after I got all the decals from RB.

Emily;
I did an explanation on how to do the sheath above. It might seem like a lot of work, but it's definitely worth it.

babyjawa;
Hey, don't let me stop you from finishing them! I definitely would like to see your versions too. Now that you've seen mine, yours can only get better, right?
I beg to differ on Trunks colours. From the reference pics I have, my colours seem pretty close. He does have black pants and a denim colored jacket. I `could' use dark blue, but I felt regular blue is closer to the original.
As for his hairpiece, I used JS as I thought it looked similar. I generally try not to do sculpey pieces unless I have absolutely no choice, as like you said; it's not easy.
For Piccolo, I actually contemplated 3 colours; Normal Green (what you are seeing), Bright Green and Sand Green. After viewing numerous pics of him, I'll say he is between regular and bright. But since there aren't any Bright Green hands....
Yes, his turban IS purple at the top. I just didn't want to spend any more money buying a particular colour just for a small area.
On the subject of putting belts on torsos; I'll still stick with them. I find that DBZ characters to have pretty high belt lines. It was a deliberate decision to have them on the torso. If you remember however, my Yamcha did have his belt on the hip; I did this only because his belt flowed to his legs.
No problem at all, commenting on my customs, whether negatively or positively, that's why we are here. We're all entitled to our own opinions!

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~MCN Brick Talk Moderator~

Nick's MOC Page.

Hmm... odd. I have tons of referance pictures, and three action figures of Future trunks that show him with Dark Gray paints. and on two of the action figures he has a really dark colored blue jacket. For my hairpiece I was actually going to make him Super Sayjian, but I still haven't actually decided.

I am actually making these characters: Future Trunks, Teen Gohan, Young Gohan, Piccolo, and Young Trunks.

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Just one breath... incase that's all that is left...

Wow, you put alot of thinking into your sheath, didn't you Nick?

Well, I must say it is really worth it, but jeez, how in the world did you come up with such a great design..Well, I guess you could have 'sparked' the idea right out of the blue, like when I came up with a new buster sword design for my Cloud Strife custom.

Oh sure, leave all the hard ones to me, sheesh! ;-)

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MCN Brick Talk MOD
My B-Shelf (Under Construction)

Hmm...my perception on colours must be giving way to age.... oh well...

Which is Teen Gohan and which is Young Gohan? My favorite version of him would be with Piccolo's cape. It''l be nice to see your versions.

 

My initial intention was to modify Little Armory's sheath, but it was a little too small for my liking (and I didn't want to waste it as I only have one).  Sometimes, ideas stem from desperation.

Oh yes, I think you could make a cool Android 16 too! He's my ultimate favourite character!

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~MCN Brick Talk Moderator~

Nick's MOC Page.

hey, been a long time since ive veiwed the board. Good to be back, and just as soon as i do. Wham. Im smaked in the face by yet more, amazingly accurate dbz minis, Big fan and well as for you probs with dbz ss hair, try sculpting individel tufts as one helped when i did dbz customs. 1 prob and thats on the way the decals turned out theyre a bit see thru. Con grats cause those decal images are so spot on it lookk like its straight outa the show.

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http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?m=CrimsonElixer  For Fullmetal Alchemist and Naruto Minifigs.

Hej Nick, I've been following your intstruction about the hairpiece and then suddenly I got to the point of:

Using a dremel to painstakingly remove the rest of the yellow.

First of all I dont know what you mean with painstakingly, and secondly I don't own, or know anyone who owns a dremel.... So how can i get the rest of te brown out? Any ideas?

And what you said about making the hairpiece:

If this sounds like it's a lot of work, it's because it is! Let me say that this is something I would never EVER do again.

Is VERYVERY true!

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Great work, truly great idea for the scabbard, I could have sworn it wan an LA one! Great job on the turban-wear aswell, I love it all.

The decals themselves are fantastic, as I love the expression on Piccolo's face.

I used to love Trunks when I watched it too, except I didn't know his name back then =D

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The Brickshelf  (It works now)

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