1/6 SSC Hoth Luke Skywalker (Echo Base) Modification Thread

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I just sent you a bunch of photos in pm, generalgrevious. I forgot to mention that I did a custom repaint on it with acrylics to emulate the life-size prop better. The ball-and-socket joint I didn't even get started on, except for removing the head and cutting out the under side of it. I also cut a slit under the tail (now resealed) so I could insert some ballast, in the form of steel nuts. This shifts the weight toward the rear and makes it much easier to keep it standing.
Just so you know, it's the Han Solo version with both horns unbroken.
View attachment 177618

Love the repaint!:clap
 
Thanks TaliBane.

DID YOU KNOW??? -- on the belly strap you can see several oval shapes with cross-hatching.
These details are screen-accurate, (to the life-size prop) and the Sideshow Tauntaun doesn't have them.
 
Thanks TaliBane.

DID YOU KNOW??? -- on the belly strap you can see several oval shapes with cross-hatching.
These details are screen-accurate, (to the life-size prop) and the Sideshow Tauntaun doesn't have them.

Really makes you wonder what they use for reference. They got the number of toes completely wrong, they got the details on the saddle wrong and the reins are webbing instead of leather. :slap
 
One detail that has never been done right by anyone- On the life-sized prop, when Han's tauntaun dies, you can see one of the claws on the front paw is missing- there's an empty socket where the claw used to be, and there are FOUR digits total, not three.
 
Thanks TaliBane.

DID YOU KNOW??? -- on the belly strap you can see several oval shapes with cross-hatching.
These details are screen-accurate, (to the life-size prop) and the Sideshow Tauntaun doesn't have them.

Really makes you wonder what they use for reference. They got the number of toes completely wrong, they got the details on the saddle wrong and the reins are webbing instead of leather. :slap

Yeah, I've become a bit of Tauntaun expert in the past week or so (quite a catalog of pics now) and the Sideshow one has size, majesty and cool factor, but it's not very screen accurate. Even the 1980 Kenner toy has four toes. I'm gluing in my extra toes tomorrow.

The leather reins are going to be a pain to make though - this custom is going to go slow I predict. I'm really worried about hiding the neck ball joint - it's glued to the body but I haven't fitted the head yet because I'm mulling how to hide it.
 
One detail that has never been done right by anyone- On the life-sized prop, when Han's tauntaun dies, you can see one of the claws on the front paw is missing- there's an empty socket where the claw used to be, and there are FOUR digits total, not three.

Hmm - I've noticed the missing claw but didn't notice the extra digit. I'll have to check that out. All the pics I've seen seem to show three fingers, but there is hanging fur bits there that could hide a fourth finger.

Another thing I may do is add the "pimply butt" that no Tauntaun figure has ever had. The prop has what appears to be a really bad case of warts right where the tail meets the body. I have a spare Hasbro Greedo head set aside to do it with, but the bumpy-butt might be a "truth-stranger-than-fiction" thing where it just looks wrong.
 
I have a suggestion how to hide the joint:

1) Cut the under side of the head completely off as shown in the photo below.
2) Use some gray Sculpey baking clay to sculpt an extra 2 inches or so onto the neck stump, ending in a ball-shaped tip. Match the grain of the sculpted hair so the extension blends to the neck as well as possible, and sculpt hair grain into the entire ball. Now bake it... After it's baked solid and cooled, glue it onto the neck and fill in the seam with super-glue. Re-sculpt the hair grain within the dried super-glue so the sculpted hair is uninterrupted and the seam is gone. Paint it, and SHAZAM!

The new ball at the end of the neck can fit up inside the head, and the head can tilt and turn. When tilted, you'll see the sculpted hair grain on the ball shape, while the bridle at the base of the head (stock or custom-made) will cover the head-to-neck transition. (Of course you'll need to make room inside the empty head for the 'neck ball', which my head doesn't have because of the wire I used to control the horns.)
This way, the neck IS the ball and the head IS the socket.
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It's there, I've seen it a hundred times... Claw, empty socket, claw, claw.
View attachment 177674

Yeah, took a look - no, they are three clawed hands actually. What appears to be a socket with missing claw is actually a curved "webbing" between the fingers. The giveaway is the other hand has the same thing and only three claws visible. It's a bit of an optical illusion because it really does look like a missing claw at first glance.
 
You mean Jack Torrence was wrong, and the Snowcat is still functional?

Yep, you're absolutely correct. I carried this misperception around with me for decades.
The age of the four-clawed tauntaun has come to an end. I have been destroyed and remade. A portal has been opened before me, and I have stepped through into a new world, the land of truth. The webbing between my toes has been cleansed, and I walk this planet with a new gait, like a primitive humanoid standing erect for the first time. I stand naked before you, corrected.
 
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View attachment 177345 I just did the hot toys luke hoth mod. and I switched out the body and used the dx luke body.i was surprised the ssc ankle joints in side the hoth boots fit on the dx body with out having to remove the joints. I decided to use the Hasbro hoth jacket and the Hasbro scarf I think it turned out good.

Fantastic work!:clap Would love to see more pics of that tauntaun
 
since I have been getting request for pictures of the custom taun taun here it is. now not all is my work another member on here started it and I added some touches here and there. i cut his tail and straighten it out as you see in the second photo. every one knows how the lukes Hasbro taun taun tail looked. I might cut the tip off and turn it like the ssc version of lukes taun taun looks like. I know it look`s fat from the fur job but oh well this is what you call the poor mans taun taun I still have to gloss up the neck area and give it the snow effect but this is what it looks like as of right now .:). IMG_0005.jpgIMG_0007.jpg IMG_0009.jpg
 
Generalgreivous, that looks very good. I have a Hasbro TaunTaun still in the box, I might be doing the same to mine . Not to get off topic....One quick question, is that a Hasbro electronic Stormtrooper on the bottom shelf? How does it look in scale to the Sideshow figures?
 
hey darthrazz that`s the Disney talking stormtrooper there out of scale with the sideshow figures I believe they were 13 1/2 inches tall
 
since I have been getting request for pictures of the custom taun taun here it is. now not all is my work another member on here started it and I added some touches here and there. i cut his tail and straighten it out as you see in the second photo. every one knows how the lukes Hasbro taun taun tail looked. I might cut the tip off and turn it like the ssc version of lukes taun taun looks like. I know it look`s fat from the fur job but oh well this is what you call the poor mans taun taun I still have to gloss up the neck area and give it the snow effect but this is what it looks like as of right now .:). View attachment 177962View attachment 177963 View attachment 177964

You are a brave man! I wanted to do this to both my Han and Luke Hasbro Taun Tauns but never got around to it. Mine would most likely come out looking like Falcor the Luck Dragon!
ImageUploadedByTapatalk1428512354.028817.jpg
 
As much as i would love one of those new SS tauntauns i just can't afford one:( I did do some work to the hasbro version as well,broke off and repositioned both the horns and legs and gave him a repaint and base. Not the best in the world but i think can still look good on the shelf. Im hoping to upgrade solo with a few parted out pieces from the new SS fig
View attachment 178050View attachment 178051View attachment 178052
 
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