Faction Contest - Modern Military Extravaganza

I'm in the process of moving, purchasing a new home, and starting a new job in the next couple months, so my figure posting will be much more sporadic than it has in the past! However, I have been working on these figures for several weeks, and am extremely happy with how they have come out. As some of you may or may not know, I started and have been participating in Project 365 x 7, in which I wanted each figure to be better than the last. Sometimes I was able to make each figure better than the last, and other times I feel I may have been less successful in that.

With these figures I focused on several areas:

1) I really wanted to step-up my BrickArms weapon modifications.

2) I suppose this is an offshoot of the above goal, but I really wanted to spend some time making the various lenses on the rifles and night-vision goggles.

3) Building off of one of Brandon's (Catsy) ideas, I have recently been wanting to make the body armor for my figures more... bulky; or more true-to-life versions.

4) I also wanted to make the best military figures I could, which included varying types of camo designs, as well as armor/helmet/weapon combination's.

Well, as many of you may be aware, within the last month (+ or - a week), I have been spending a lot of time on military figures; some which were better than others, but all of which were learning experiences. That still doesn't answer how did I achieve these goals? Well, let's get to the figures, and I'll answer that question at the end of the post (I will mention, throughout this entry, I will be putting images of BrickArms weapon modifications and other items, which I will place in the corresponding threads; however, they were so integral to the creation of the figures that I really feel they should be included in this topic as well. With that, here you go:

Modern Warrior - Commander:

Front:

Sides:

Back:

Gear:

Pack with Items (The machete, combat knife, combat shotgun, and grenade are all removable):

Helmet:

Weapons:

Obviously the AC8 mods were inspired by Brandon's (Catsy) versions, however, I would like to show the evolution of my two designs to illustrate the growth over time of complexity in the figures:

Modern Warrior - Scout:

Front:

Sides:

Back:

Weapons:

Overview:

Primary Weapons:

Showing the progression from my previous Jungle Trooper's BA M4 Mod (before I had an ARC; and yes, I did do some painting on the ARC):

Although I am wanting to save the majority of my thoughts until the end of the figures, I do want to point out the progression from a plain red colored dot and some white color, to the gemstone technique used on the ARC proto - a technique that I feel adds a lot of complexity to the weapon, and the figure as a whole).

Modern Warrior - Sniper:

Front:

Side:

Back:

I made his wire-cutter's from a red-coated paperclip and ribbon - I am not ecstatic about this design, however, it works at this point :) To note: on his arm is a topography map (which I don't know is used anymore, at least in this manner, on modern troops), but I am happy with how it turned out!

His Barrett M82 Sniper Rifle:

Modern Warrior - Close Quarters Specialist

Front:

Closeup on the Trench Gun (with wood grain):

Modern Warrior: Demolitions Expert:

Front:

Side:

Back:

BA HAC Mod:

Modern Combat Heavy Gunner:

Front (with Minigun)

Front (without minigun):

Side:

Back:

His Auto Shotgun:

So, my final thoughts - how did I do in achieving my goals, or how do I feel I did?

1) I really wanted to step-up my BrickArms weapon modifications.

Well, with the use of a separate vendor, as well as many items from a variety of BrickArms items (primarily AC8's) I really feel that the weapons I have included with these figures are a step up from what I have done in the past, and certainly reflect many of their real-life counterparts. Although I know there are a great many areas that I can continue to improve in my weapon modifications, I feel that these have come off very well and are a step above what I have done in the past. I also spent my first time attempting to give a weapon some wood pattern designs on the trench gun, which I think look great in the image, and even better in real-life (in my opinion).

2) I suppose this is an offshoot of the above goal, but I really wanted to spend some time making the various lenses on the rifles and night-vision goggles.

In addition to the BrickArms weapon mods, I also spent a great deal of time working on improving the weapons sights. I spent time looking at War Gaming gemstone painting techniques, which I spent a great deal of time working on. As you can see in the above weapon evolution images, these have changed dramatically!

3) Building off of one of Brandon's (Catsy) ideas, I have recently been wanting to make the body armor for my figures more... bulky; or more true-to-life versions.

4) I also wanted to make the best military figures I could, which included varying types of camo designs, as well as armor/helmet/weapon combination's.

I think this will answer both questions: I think this area really shows the work on these figures - I began incorporating clothe elements and ribbon in my designs, which allowed a great many things: In my opinion, I feel that the armor looks very realistic, and it very much enhances the figure; in addition, it allowed me to make the armor extremely playable - ALL grenades, knives, machete's, and guns are removable. The only items that are not removable are the shotgun shells and the caribeaners. In addition to the body armor modifications used here, I also used cloth/ribbon to accent the BrickArms Modern Combat Helmet's, which I think really helped to enhance an all-ready great product. Finally, I really LOVE the REAL CLOTH Lego Bandanna (created originally more due to a lack of Lego bandanna's) - it turned out amazingly well (in my opinion), and really helped enhance the figure! I also was able to make knee-pads for the Lego military figures using ribbon and a couple modified pieces - I think these also help enhance the figures! Overall, I think these figures are my best work yet, and I hope I have done the BrickArms proud. Feel free to share your thoughts, criticism, or agreements - I appreciate them all!

As always, thanks for looking, and I hope you enjoyed them!

Very very impressive figs there! Cant help but think those first two guys are gonna be very tired after carrying all that equipment about! Its a tough choice but the sniper is my favourite,love the gun and figure.

They are all awesome,fantastic work sir!

This is simply an amazing customization work, the sheer amount of effort and the undeniable creativity spent on planning, trial-and-error, and finishing these are clearly evident on the high level of detailing and professional quality of these customs. Congratulations on this wonderful collection!

Charlieboy - Thank you very much! I wanted to do varying levels of complexity on the figures - obviously the commander and the scout are loaded to the max, whereas the close-quarters expert is given only a trench gun. I don't know which are most effective, and to be honest, they are all completely playable (I can absolutely vouch for that ;). I figured the scout and the commander are given full field packs, whereas the others are a little lighter (and I tried to keep the sniper as light as possible ;) I do really enjoy the sniper, and his rifle surprised me with how pleased I was with the results. Thanks!

KielDaMan - Thank you very much for the kind words! And no kidding on the planning/trial-and-error - I was playing with designs on the figure one evening, and about 1:30 am decided to go to bed, and as I was about to fall asleep I woke myself up thinking - "what about making a Lego carabeaner..." which then kept me up thinking how I could do that - and when morning came, I was up and making my idea happen! Anyway, I'm glad that all the hard work comes through in these creations!

Wow! The effort and detail in this is amazingly high, the painting is also a excellent job well done!

Wow! The effort and detail in this is amazingly high, the painting is also a excellent job well done!

Thanks Fuzzylegobricks!

I uploaded this last night on my Flickr and other forums, but thought it would help some of the people out there to know what I use and how I make a lot of my figures:

I usually don't post how I make things for my figures, however, I did want to share some tools to use for making figures for yourself.

A lot of times, people email me and say they don't have many items or money to make great mods - well, I'm here to tell you that there should be no excuses - most of what you need for core details on figures can be bought for less than $25.

Go to Walmart -

Get some good scissors, wire cutters, and tweezers - these should be fairly cheap, and most likely you all ready should have several of these around the house. In addition, go to the crafts section and purchase some Acrylic paints (yes, they will be thicker than what you want, but will work) - these should be $1.99 each, and if you get a few core colors, you can begin working on mixing colors.

You can also go to Hobby Lobby, and pick up the following: Get scrap sections of black, brown, grey, or other colored cloth. If you have the ability, purchase a fabric stiffener. If you watch the sales at Hobby Lobby, you should also be able to go purchase some good sets of brushes at Hobby Lobby for 50% off each - which can let you get some very nice sets. Finally, pick up some ribbon - which has sizings and price indicated in the image above.

If you have the ability, I would suggest looking at a store called Harbor Freight for a Hobby Drill (pin vice) (should be $3.99 or less), and pick up a utility knife set. I would recommend going for the nicer utility knives, as the rubber handle is very nice to work with. Finally, I would suggest getting a small file.

The other things that I use VERY often in my mods are coated paperclips - Red's and blacks are used the most for me.

With that said, you should be able to make a great deal of figures, and do a number of different things - as illustrated in some of my recent figures.

Please understand - these are just a few items that I have found useful, and by no means is exclusive. I will not claim to know everything that is useful, but these should be fairly inexpensive, and should allow for much more flexibility in your mods.

I hope this was helpful!

GoN2Broadway WOW you seemed to capture the details perfectly and my favorite is the scout and my favorite weapon is the Trench Gun. is it a modded brickarms BAR? any ways keep up the good work

GoN2Broadway WOW you seemed to capture the details perfectly and my favorite is the scout and my favorite weapon is the Trench Gun. is it a modded brickarms BAR? any ways keep up the good work

Thanks Dan! You have a very good eye - most people who have tried that mod in the past (from my knowledge) have used the BrickArms SMLE or M1 Garand Rifles (most likely because they come in brown), but I felt the BAR worked better for the stock and receiving end of the Trench Gun as it fit perfectly with the barrel, and it even had a nice ejection port.

Cracking stuff! Stunning levels of detail and very good work on the camoflauge. I have to say I am incredably envious. I love the scout in particlar.

GoN2Broadway thx and i might try the trench gun mod,got and tips for me? ..... by the way i never modded brickarms before.

Thecrazyone - Thanks - I've been working on various types of camo for a while :)

dan3324 - Thanks - and in regards to modding BrickArms - it's not a difficult thing to do, but like anything else, the best results come from taking your time. That applies to designing (before you do any cutting or gluing), cutting, gluing, and painting. If you rush any of these steps, you will have a messy mod - there are a number of areas to look at for modding help - several places here on the Eurobricks forums, on the Minifigure Customization Network, and perhaps in this case, most importantly the BrickArms forums (specifically the Weapons Modification section). I hope that helped a little!

Well, after making some short comments on flickr, now a bit a longer one. :)

At first, a big WOW.

I know customizing is a lot of work, and releasing so many figs at once...

I like all of these figs, so I'll just start with the first.

The Commander is GREAT. Although he seems a bit overloaded, but that makes it just more realistic.

The XM8 mod is great, as are the little details such as the flag or the skull on the shoulders.

The NVGs fit in well, I'm still wondering how you made that.

The colors on the weapons are also fitting, you found the right balance between tan and black.

The grenades and so on are superb, there are just enough to give him quite an arsenal of bang, but there isn't too much.

Same thing on the scout, whose camo pattern is similarly great.

Maybe a bit too much weapons for my taste, but it's your fig.:)

Nice mod on the BF ammo pouches, and the scope is great.

Btw, you're not one of these guys who just keep their protos, but who are actively including them in their figs and aren't afraid of modding them.

Even if some 'tards on flickr may say "Burn the witch". Personally, I like your way.

Here again, some nice details and modding.

Again, same thing with the sniper. Not as overloaded, just as it fits the fig.

The wirecutter is a great idea,, the golden bullets add a nice touch and you did some great work on the sniper.

One of my favourites is the CQ Specialist.

He could be the girlfriend of the TF2 Scout. :D

Nice wood on the gun, and the hair idea is great.

The Demoman and the gunner (great Minigun display fig) are also nice, although I like the demo expert more.

Nice HAC mod, the net on the helmet is a great idea and the gas mask fits in the whole fig scheme.

Same here on the minigunner, you just found a nice alternate use for the Emile torso armour.

In total, some of the greatest military figs I've ever seen, this will take a while to be topped.

KalSkirata -

First of all, thank you for the very thoughtful response - I always love hearing someone say they love my figures, but it is always more helpful to here why they love the figure, and what can be done to further improve on future figures. With that said, thank you very much.

Although I have made military-like figures before, it is only recently that I got into making a semi-real life modern military figure (well, figures). I am really happy that these figures have pushed some boundaries on military figures, although there are a lot of inspiring builders that I looked to in designing my figures. I won't hesitate to state that I looked at several of your figures for inspiration (in addition to Pecovam, Shobrick, and the Knight (KJ) among others), and developed from there. I am sure, in the near future, someone will take some of my ideas and improve on them, and we'll get some new amazing figures.

Now to the figures - I tried really hard to balance my figures and have some who were packed to the max, and others who were armed, but only with what they needed. I agree that the commander and the scout were heavily packed - for me I also thought it made it look realistic, but I haven't done enough research to know what is typically included in a true-to-life field pack, or extended field pack, and so I may have beefed it up more than usual ;) I tried to keep it in the vein of everyone getting a sidearm, everyone getting an assault rifle of some sort (BA M4 or AC8), everyone getting some grenades (of varying types), and a few getting some advanced explosive items (such as the MGL or the bazooka). Obviously, some figures (such as the close-quarters expert shifted away from this approach).

I am really glad that you noticed the flag and the skull and crossbones on the commander - not many people have noticed those, or brought attention, but I really tried to focus on the detail of those.

The NVGs are from minifig.cat - search them on bricklink or google, and you'll find their store. For the goggles, NVG's, and other items, they are very reasonably priced, and the items look great!

I'm glad you like the balance between tan and black - I noticed a lot of real-life images of troops in Iraq and Afghanistan utilized a more jungle-camo on the vests, but I wanted a more flat approach, and felt the black would look good. I'm glad to say that it turned out well, and I agree totally with you, in that it is a nice balance!

In regards to modding protos - I try very hard to not just post pictures of my collection (in fact, if you look at my Flickr, you will not find a single image of my BrickArms proto collection - rather, I like to ensure that they are used and showcased on my figures rather than just collect them. Do I enjoy having varying types of protos, and "collecting" them - yeah, but I feel it honors the work and generosity of Will to showcase them with figures or in dio's rather than just posting images of my complete collection. I also don't mind modding the weapons (although I do understand the argument against doing so, as they are a little more special than the readily available production items), however, if I feel that a mod to a particular BAP will help enhance the item (and if I have more than one of the particular item) then I am perfectly willing to do it. Anyway, I'm glad you liked my approach with these mods!

I'm glad you liked the wood grain on the trench gun - it was my first attempt at doing so (surprisingly), but it turned out well, and looks cooler in person than it does in the photos (isn't that almost always the truth?).

I think the Emile armor worked great on this figure, and as I cut the back of the armor off to allow for the addition of the backpack to the figure, I have another piece of AMA armor that I can mod to something else - which gives triple usage for that armor set that I bought (I used the EVA helmet for my Future warriors commander).

Thank you again for the very thoughtful, and kind response Kal!

Thanks for your opinion on the topics I spoke about.

Respective to the NVGs:

I do have them myself, it was more the question how you attached them.

Did you just glue them on or have you found a possibility where you can still remove them (without cutting a Minifig.Cat helmet)?

Thanks for your opinion on the topics I spoke about.

Respective to the NVGs:

I do have them myself, it was more the question how you attached them.

Did you just glue them on or have you found a possibility where you can still remove them (without cutting a Minifig.Cat helmet)?

I used coated paperclips, and secured them to the BrickArms helmet. They are still movable, although perhaps a little tighter than on the Minifig.Cat helmets. Hope that helps!