Guard Mod

1/6 Scale United States Marine Corps M60 Gunner Kitbash. This is my take on the typical marine gunner during the Tet Offensive. Naturally a majority of the parts are from the DamToys Full Metal Jacket figure, with some details tweaked. The flak jacket was from an earlier USMC figure from DiD, slightly better quality. I added an H harness over it to help support the heavily laden M1967 Davis belt. The choice of sidearm is inspired by a photo of a marine in Hue with a revolver in a holster on his side. In the last few months I’ve been going to sixth scale club meetings and seeing people’s work and talking shop with more experienced builders has really been an inspiration.  Full Photo Gallery Link

1/6 Scale United States Army 77th Infantry Division. I’ve been interested in exploring earlier uniforms and equipment setups ever since since starting to binge on Blueprint for Armageddon, and settled on an American trench raider. The uniform needed to be modified to resemble the pattern worn in WWI. An old GI Joe doughboy helmet made a good base that I painted and weathered in the late war style. The trench club was turned on a lathe, then stained, added nails and leather binding. The figure was heavily weathered and painted to look as muddy as possible. My favorite part of WWI uniforms are the puttees, really stylish and distinctive. Full Photo Gallery Link

1/6 Scale What Would Stoner Do? AR-15. Being a huge Forgotten Weapons and InRangeTV fan, I wanted to pay tribute to their joint project: the What Would Stoner Do? Rifle. At first I wanted to build the real deal, but the critical components are perpetually out of stock, notably the GWACS Polymer Lower which is the most iconic part of the build. While waiting on GWACS restart production, I threw together a couple of 1/6 scale M4 and M16 and picked up some new accessories. I modified the lower and the stock, painting it one solid color and weathering it to look worn and grimy. Taking off the forward assist and covered it with a panel is similar to how a modular upper works. Overall I’m moderately pleased with how this build turned out. 

1/6 Scale 1979 United States Army Kitbash. This is the first figure of mine that is based on the US infantry peacetime equipment setup. The majority of the parts are from Soldier Story’s 82nd Airborne in Panama, but retrofitted to conform to earlier equipment that was in service in 1979. The helmet is an M1 carried over from Vietnam, but with a two seam woodland cover. It is a one of a kind helmet made specifically for this project by Bandit Joe’s. Some fun details include Tie Fighter Pilot gloves, M16 from a Metal Gear Solid set, and a Patrick Warburton head sculpt. For this photo shoot I used a DSLR camera, and I won’t be taking photos with my smartphone anymore. Full Photo Gallery Link

1/6 Scale Modern Warfare 2 Arctic Spetsnaz Kitbash. And here it is: the main reason I took up sixth scale kitbashing. Modern Warfare 1 and 2 were very influential in my teenage gaming years. They were the first games where I felt as if you were part of a massive blockbuster movie. The multiplayer was the pinnacle of silly, unbalanced and overpowered weapons and perks, with a good amount of what I like to call “gun voodoo.” From the very beginning I wanted to apply my interest in weird and interesting uniforms and weapons. Before I replaced the uniform, it started out with a plain white top and WW2 era camo pants. I commissioned the flecktarn uniform custom made from cloth specially printed for this project. The Soviet patch was custom made by Patches of Pride. Arctic MARPAT was a late addition but it shows how the uniform is a makeshift mix of gear from all around the world. Full Photo Gallery Link

1/6 Scale United States Army Kitbash. For this Memorial Day Weekend I reworked my old US soldier in Vietnam figure that I posted about a year ago. Since then I have picked up some better parts and replaced the figure body. Where I had a Bandit Joe’s helmet (a very good budget option) I instead put a DamToys Full Metal Jacket helmet which is much more accurate. I replaced the  brown leather boots with  jungle boots and the Mk 2 grenades with M67s which were widely adopted after 1969. The other additions are period accurate, taken from photos of men serving in Vietnam. This figure got me excited about building Vietnam themed soldiers, and this won’t be the last. Full Photo Gallery Link

I’ve been considering a similar idea where I would migrate pony stuff from the mod blog to the main blog. The mod blog would keep the name but be 100% non-pony soldiers and models. There should be no practical change to the content, and mod blog posts will still be reblogged by the main blog. I’ll begin by changing the avatar and background of the mod blog, and will migrate posts in the coming weeks, eventually clearing the mod blog of pony posts entirely. I’d like to hear your ideas for the mod blog avatar.

1/6 Scale DIY Rifle Rack. I wanted a quick project to do this weekend on some new woodworking tools I got my hands on. I built the frame, reinforced the corners with aluminum and added the inserts. This build was very fast at only 3 hours. I’m looking forward to using this rack in the background of future soldier kitbashes.

Sketch that ended up not making it into an upcoming Worldbuilding drawing. These deer soldiers served in Equestrian Ground Forces during the Tartarus Wars. 

1/6 Scale French Commandement des Opérations Spéciales . Since the FAMAS’ inevitable retirement was announced I wanted to commemorate the classic French service rifle and the men who used it. The base is a Soldier Story body with windbreaker jacket and desert pants from a French Soldier Story set. For the chest rig setup I used a typical OD plate carrier and pouches with a tablet computer on the chest. The headsculpt is wearing an OD balaclava, MSA headphones and OPS-Core bump helmet. I’m really proud of this build and was very excited to photograph it outside with a little bit of forced perspective. Check out my FAMAS FÉLIN custom build in detail here. For every photo I took of this kitbash, here’s Full Photo Gallery Link

I have bought from monkeydepot.com quite often. They have a nice assortment of WW2 to Modern parts at extremely cheap prices. The downside is that the parts are generic and the inventory is on the smaller side. A decent variety of miscellaneous accessories like optics, gadgets and comms equipment. This site also sells pre-built figures. They ship out of the US. 

Various infantry helmets. On the left are Everfree helmets with armor plates to increase head protection, on the right are Equestrian helmets built to stop rifle bullets at 500 meters.

1/6 Scale FAMAS FÉLIN Assault Rifle. For converting a standard F1 FAMAS to the modernized FÉLIN model, I started off by sawing off the majority of the carryhandle, leaving only a portion in the back to serve as a foundation for attaching the new rail. The front portion had to be milled down closer in line with the barrel. I built up the new profile with sheets of hard matte board layers and superglued in place. I made the new horizontal charging handle out of a remaining piece of plastic. The finger grooves on the horizontal grip were filled with marble dust polymer paste that was sanded flush after it dried. I jigsawed the grip assembly out of black ABS plastic then shaped and sanded smooth. The grip was mounted to the weapon with two brass pins sunk into the plastic and superglued. The weapon was heavily weathered with acrylic and pastel. Unable to accurately replicate the IR scope, I settled for a readily available EOTech holographic sight. At 35 hours of work, this was easily the most labor intensive custom weapon build I’ve ever finished.

EQGF MP and Maj. Velveteen (in civilian dress) at the range. Shown here are some differences between unicorn and earth pony pistol setups. Most unicorns prefer griffon-designed pistols for their simple telekinesis profile. Earth ponies tend to pick concealable pistols with hoof-activated two stage triggers.

1/6 Scale Extraterrestrial Combat Unit Rifleman Kitbash. XCOM has been a massively important game for me and I’ve been yearning to make a figure influenced by the game’s aesthetics. The base is an OD flight suit with black body armor and an OD vest. To replicate the look and feel of XCOM helmets I picked the MICH 2001 which looks great with headphones. I milled the face shield out of a plastic sphere and attached it to the helmet with watch screws. The backpack I took off my old BF4 RU medic build. The patches were made by Patches of Pride. This figure is a gift to a great friend of mine whose character is the squad’s new commanding officer. Full Photo Gallery Link

1/6 Scale DIY Ruger Redhawk Revolver. My second custom weapon is a modification from a cheap $1 metal keychain. While the keychain itself is a decent replica of a Colt Anaconda, it’s a bit too bulky for most figures. I decided to modify one of the dozen that I bought into a Ruger Redhawk. The Ruger has a slightly shorter and narrower barrel profile, which I milled down and filed smooth. The checkered grips had to be ground down to the width of the frame and shaped to match the Ruger’s grip shape. After shaping the wood I sanded and treated the grip with a red oak stain. This modification took only five hours not counting the stain time. 

1/6 Scale Belgian Special Forces Group Kitbash. I’ve been enamored with the Belgian Land Component for over a year now because of the interesting combination of weapons and equipment. An accurate Belgian camo pattern BDU has never been made but I stumbled upon an unlabeled uniform that happened to match the colors perfectly. A regular 1-hole balaclava was modified to match the 3-hole version the Belgian Special Forces wear, although I prefer the headsculpt visible. Since no realistic sixth scale FN F2000 exists, I ordered an F2000 on Shapeways, added an EOTech and a foregrip, sanded and painted the print. This figure build was complex yet extremely satisfying, and a good centerpiece for my modern soldier collection. Full Photo Gallery Link