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| Harrison Ford as "INDIANA JONES" in RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK, 1981 Every now and then, when I'm updating my site, I'll browse some of my earlier pages. The one figure that has always bothered me was my first Indiana Jones custom. The sculpt was too big/fat, the hat was a modified cowboy hat, the shirt was wrong, the jacket was wrong, the pants were wrong, the holster was wrong, the shoes were wrong... there wasn't really much "right" about the figure, and the gap between my standards/skills and what they were at when I created that figure became more and more obvious. It was time to take another stab at customizing good ol' Indiana Jones. |
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| The technique that I used to make the hat I developed trying to figure out how to make the fedora for my Green Hornet custom. I sculpted another, with a wider brim and higher crown for Indy, molded it, and then cast this new one. I sprayed felt texture on it, stained and weathered it, and then added the brown band/trim. What's best is, it's still completely soft and flexible, like a real fedora. |
| The leather jacket is exactly that--real leather! I scuffed and weathered it by using a dry brush enamel with some oil-based paints. The jacket is fully lined, complete with the film-accurate metal rings at the sides under the arms. The zipper is out of scale (as they always are on action figures), but rather than remove it (as I had done on my T2 Arnie custom), I liked having the option of being able to keep the bottom of the jacket zipped up. The shirt is also completely film-accurate, complete with the special pleats that run down the front of either side, through the shirt pockets. At the collar, there's even a working buttonhole. |
| The pants have real pockets, and feature the same flaps over the back pockets as the actual pair Harrison Ford wore in the film. The whip is also genuine leather, and even at 1/6 scale, features the braided texture of a real whip. |
| The green gas mask bag that he wears over his shoulder and under his jacket has real leather straps, and matches the one in the film as well. His belts are accurate, both the one which holds his pants up, as well as the one which keeps his holster (also real leather). |
| I spent a great deal of time on this headsculpt (my fourth attempt at Harrison Ford, after version 1, Deckard, and Han Solo) and although I think it's good (probably my best Harrison Ford sculpt), there's still something not exactly right still. I'm happier with my Keanu/Neo sculpt, as well as both T2 sculpts at this point. |
| Still, all in all, I'm very pleased with how Indy turned out. Making sure the clothes were completely accurate, as well as the scale of the headsculpt, helped create a far superior custom figure than my first attempt. I think I'll leave my first attempt page up so that you can compare. Personally (and maybe for you), I am inspired by the improvement in skill to keep getting better. |
| Keeping this new figure with my custom Henry Jones Sr creates a really nice duo display. It also really makes me want to get to my Marion Ravenwood custom and my Short Round custom. I think also I'll build a display case to house these four figures, the accessories I got from Daryl Williams (1/6 diary and accessories), and the German motorcycle sidecar... |