Body Swapping for SW 12" - Do you do this?

[humsup]

We all know the quality of SW 12" bodies and they are as good as stiff lump of useless heavy plastic. I usually buy nudes bodies from 21st Century or Blue Box Toys 12" to swap over the dang Hasbro's offerings. This greatly enhance the poseability of the figure and increase their play-value tremendously.
But I was just wondering, any of you guys bother to do what I did for our 1/6?

[Darth Cruel]

I read a great many posts about this. It seams to be quite common. On the other hand, I have only just begun this last night. If you look at the thread "12" body styles in general" you will see it mentioned a few times. I am going to start a thread about customizing where you will probably see it more.

[Laserbrain]

Body swaping is the most common practice in 1/6th scale modeling. You'll see more of that than any other aspect of kitbashing.

And these figures these days really do have more in common with models than "dolls", ya know, so the term "kitbashing" is used all the time to describe any modification to a base figure...

[JediTricks]

I wish I could do it more offten, but it's just so expensive. I have a few special figures that are already swapped, which works for me just great because besides the added articulation, there's also the issue that the non-Hasbro bodies make the oversized heads look a little smaller.

[fettbounty]

Has anybody on here removed the head from any Jedi figures like the 12" EP1 Obi Wan and put it on another body? I'm wanting to make some custom Jedi's and I need to remove the Obi Wan head and place the new head on the neck post. Is this difficult to do and would a 12" JI Goe figure's head fit on the Obi Wan body or vice versa?
Any help would be great!
-Keith

[derek]

it's rather easy. just pull the obi wan head off with a gentle tug.
next, look at the head, and you will see at the bottom of the neck, a seam that "rounds off" at the bottom. get an exacto knife and cut along that seam, making sure you have a good straight cut.
lastly, look inside the neck and you will see some plastic in there. hollow that out and it should fit easily on a better articulated body. the head will fit snugly, needing no glue.

i suggest you use the "ultimate soldier" body made by 21st century toys. it is taller than hasbro's joe body, and has a shorter neck post. if you do use hasbro's body, you will have to shorten obi'wan's neck, or he will look like a giraffe.

you can get a ultimate soldier body at toys 'r us for $9.00. just don't get the short sleeved cop or fireman, as they have an older style of body.

scroll back a few pages and you will see this topic discussed in depth, along with some photos of anakin, who has the same style head as the episode 1 and 2 obi-wan.

[derek]

because of the style of body hasbro used on the obi wan figure, none of their G.I. Joe heads will fit on that body, which is no loss, because it stinks. if you want to make a custom jedi, just use the clothes on a joe or ultimate soldier body. hasbro has a GI Joe indian with long hair that looks great as a jedi.

some cool things you can do is dye the jedi outfits so they have a different look to them.

[K M Toydarian]

I do really like the Hasbro "long necks". The seamless necks used on Star Wars 12" look very good to me, without that ugly seam, and more importantly, you don't get a colour variation from the head to the neck post that you get when you swap heads. I swapped Anakin's head onto a Palisades Reservoir Dogs body and was able to keep the neck. I carefully popped the torso open so I could put the whole head and neck on. It was a little tricky, but I like the result.

[derek]

kraigmc,

did you use the tall "mr. blonde"? i like those figures, except their joints are kinda loose, especially in the knees.
which torso did you crack open, the hasbro or palisades body?

[K M Toydarian]

I just poppe the head off the Hasbro body, then had to crack the Palisades chest. It is hit or miss when it comes to loose loints though.