Last Updated:
10/31/00
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Darth Maul

First of all, I'll say that I purchased my Darth Maul over ebay, being unable
to obtain one locally.  Before I received him there was a significant amount
of anticipation, this was perhaps the hardest of all the 12"ers for me to find,
and with the rampant buying and selling of it going on recently, I merely
assumed that he must be a pretty damn nice figure, I was wrong.

Probably the least accurate as far as the 12" figures go, I was thoroughly
disappointed by his bland and inaccurate costume and that deer in the
headlights look he had on his face.

Let's take the first step shall we and examine what we can do about the head.


 
Here's the original Darth maul head still in the package, see that stupid look of surprise on his face.  I suppose you could just take a hacksaw to his midsection and use him as dead Maul, but not me, something must be done!

It came to me that the sculpt really doesn't look that bad, it seems pretty close in resembling Ray Park, so maybe we'll just try repainting it first.


 
I started by painting the areas where the black needed to be replaced with the red.  For this I used an off-white paint, as the red is somewhat transparent and needs a lighter base underneath to maintain it's color...

   . 
...While I was doing this I mixed a tiny bit of white with a bit of red and painted the corners of his eyes.

Then I repainted the black details on his face, more accurately than hasbro originally had, and it turned out rather well.  After I repaint the hideous looking horns on his head I'll post a nice scan of him.

I've finished painting the head to the point were I think I'll stop.
I added a scan with the original head next to the repaint.


Original Vs. Repaint  --  You decide!

Now I'm happy with the way the head looks, so it's time for the next step.

As with all of the Episode I customs I have planned, I converted the
head over to a Dragon body.  After placing the Hasbro costume onto
it I began to realize how inaccurate the thing really is.

First,...  The most noticeable thing are these hideously sculpted boots,
which look cartoony and greatly oversized.  Rather than using them for
the time being I've tossed them aside and gave him the boots off of the
Hasbro 12" Aliens Alien/Marine 2-pack, I think they'll do for now.

Second,... His tunic is too short stopping right above the knee when
it should go down to the tops of his boots, meanwhile his sleeves
are too long, a first in my conversions to date.  And lastly the material
which drapes over his shoulders is made out of some type of nylon
netting,... light, flimsy, transparent,... ugh!

Finnaly,...  He'll need gloves of course, but I don't want to use the
oversized monstrosities that hasbro equiped him with.  I've decided to
use a pair of Dragon gloved hands,... all I have to do is wait
till they come in the mail, then I'm all set.