WIP - Custom Leonidas from 300

[zedex9r]

G'day All

Having seen some other great looking custom Leonidas figures on this board, it has given me some inspiration to do my own.

I have only just started him, and there is still a long way to go, but I thought I might put up some initial work in progress shots.

I started by picking up the NECA 12" Talking Leonidas figure. Wow, this guy is heavy. He is full solid plastic, so I knew that the trusty "Ryobi" Rotary tool was going to get a work out! I have never done this sort of thing before, so it was all learn as I go.

1) I cut off one of his arms, and both legs and went to work:

2) While waiting for his new body to arrive, I cut and bored out the shin and wrist guards. They are a bit rough now, with more work to go. I need to sand and milliput a few nicks where I was a bit heavy with the tool:

3) The new body arrived. A full muscle body from the Hot Toys PMC figure:

4) It looks like the NECA head will almost fit straight on. Only very minor modifications were needed to do this:

5) With the head on, I did a quick mock-up to see how he looks. So far so good:

Like I said, he is still in the early stages, with a long way to go. I will post another update soon hopefully.

Cheers

 

[Lord Vicious]

Great work, mate!! I'd love to see how this turns out

 

[Ryan1982]

Awesome. I love the Leonidas body swaps. I can't wait to see him in all his articulated glory

 

[The Mike]

Looks great!! I want one!!!

 

[galactiboy]

When I made mine I found the standard hands and feet were too small looking and not great for holding the weapons. But you can dremmel out the Leonidas hands and feeth and use the wrist and ankle pegs. Also the Neca parts take paint a lot better.

[

But good work so far, I found the dremmeling to be the worst part... after that it was pretty smooth sailing

 

[Sachiel]

Goes to show Hot Toys would have been great for a 300 line.

 

[Rogue Trooper]

Going to be another cool figure for your awesome collection.

 

[pixletwin]

Not only is it s brave custom to make but it is rally turning out to be something cool. Keep us updated.

 

[Jen]

Can't wait to see this finished!! So far it's looking great!!

 

[zedex9r]

G'day All

Thanks for the great comments everyone, makes me want to complete this even more.

galactiboy- Your Leonidas was the main one that inspired me. I had given up hope of getting wrist and shin guards until I saw your work. Using a dremel to carve them out of the original Neca figure was pure genius. I decided to follow the same path. Thanks for the suggestion about the feet and hands. When I get to that stage I will keep your tips in mind.

Now for the updates. Been busy today, sourced materials for his cape, pants and shoulder straps. I also finished the second wrist guard and puttied up the shin guards where the dremel slippped

1) Thin leather straps for the shoulders.

2) Used Milliputty to fix small nicks on the shin guards. Once dry I will sand and paint them.

3) To give Leonidas some modesty I finally got around to making some leather pants for him. I was pleased with way these turned out

Hope you all enjoy the updates, more to come

cheers

 

[drunk_leprechaun]

that is one beautiful custom zedex9r, great codpiece too. cant wait to see this completed

 

[galactiboy]

Great work on the leather loin cloth... I was stuck using the NECA, but that looks loads better. And I think once you get the belt on there it will be even better.

BTW, where did you find the leather strips for the shoulders... I could never find anything around here that would work.

 

[xenoviper]

Looking good!
:chew

 

[Grange Wallis]

Looking great Zedex9r! You're build and impressive custom collection there! A little bit jealous yeah!

 

[dedguy]

I hate to be the one to mention this (well not really) but... well he doesn't look like he's packin' the kind of heat you'd expect from a king... in the pants department. In fact he looks like he left his heat at home if you catch my drift. Otherwise it's a pretty damn awesome custom so far. Are you going to be adding the metal pins to the loin cloth as well?

 

[zedex9r]

G'day All

Been a bit busy again with Leonidas so I thought I would post another quick update. Thanks again everyone for the great comments

galactiboy- Funny enough the leather strip I used for the shoulders was actually from the "Troy" Achillis figure that I have. This is the strap that was on the back of his shield but I found that it was to soft to support his shield so I replaced it with a stronger strap. I kept it incase I found a use for it, I guess I did find a use for it, another warrior who needed it

dedguy- I did consider this. It's not that I often think about Leonidas's package. I found that it seemed to ruin the smooth lines and fit of the pleather codpiece. I thought the hot toys "bulge" would be enough to portray this look, but the codpiece smoothed this out a little. Anyway enough about this subject


1) Added the metal pins and sword belt. I actually ended up using small nail heads for these pins so they are real metal.

2) Painted the inside of the wristguards black and added leather retaining straps.

More to come.

cheers

 

[Reinhardt]

outstanding work!!!!

 

[galactiboy]

Wow, great work on the wrist guards! This figure is really coming along nicely

 

[figuremasterles]

I just caught this! zedex9er, this is a FANTASTIC custom! So far, so INCREDIBLE!
It looks freaking storebought! Absolutely amazing. And thanks for the careful step by step too. That is amazing. Galactiboy really started something great with this.
BTW, where on earth can one get that body?!?!? I can't find ONE, much less one for this idea. I want this figure now!

 

[Darth Steff-Han]

Excellent !!!
I would like the same ...