Tiffany, Tanya, and Willie (Tauntauns and Wampas): Updated Oct 22 2022

Updated/continued HERE.

I have always wondered about improving the potential of these sets with a bit of customization, so here is a start, with a figure I purchased for this purpose a long time ago but only now had a little bit of time to experiment.

















So, what do you think (other than, "WTF, I thought this was supposed to be another tactical tease!" or worse), is it a bit improved?

Updated/continued HERE.

For other Star Wars-related goofery, you can check out these older threads:

https://onesixthfigures.forumotion.com/t6115-recovered-previously-unreleased-footage-from-return-of-the-jedi

https://onesixthfigures.forumotion.com/t5484-star-wars-spoof-banned-tv-advertisement-from-the-80s-nsfw

https://onesixthfigures.forumotion.com/t4234-rivals-photo-heavy#59153

https://onesixthfigures.forumotion.com/t4151-oops-photo-heavy

https://onesixthfigures.forumotion.com/t3671-star-wars-the-accident-story-photo-heavy-updated-with-alternate-deleted-footage

https://onesixthfigures.forumotion.com/t3240-star-wars-a-happy-endings-story-original-trilogy-updated

https://onesixthfigures.forumotion.com/t3178-star-wars-a-silver-linings-story-original-trilogy-updated-with-extra-photos

https://onesixthfigures.forumotion.com/t2799-star-wars-the-further-adventures-of-darth-maul-updated-with-part-ii-may-2020

https://onesixthfigures.forumotion.com/t2541-star-wars-a-love-gone-wrong-story

https://onesixthfigures.forumotion.com/t2206-star-wars-moving-on-solo-story

https://onesixthfigures.forumotion.com/t1862-star-wars-a-lone-scoundrel-story

https://onesixthfigures.forumotion.com/t1852-star-wars-a-negative-body-image-story

https://onesixthfigures.forumotion.com/t1150-star-wars-spacecops

https://onesixthfigures.forumotion.com/t909-star-wars-new-imperial-unit-aquatrooper-part-two

https://onesixthfigures.forumotion.com/t1076-christmas-reruns-star-wars-christmas-revised-edition-not-the-holiday-special

Updated/continued HERE.

#custom #repaint #hasbro #starwars #hoth #tauntaun #luke #skywalker #wampa #fiction #scifi

Awesome job, Ian. And cool that you have a Wampa too. That’s a pretty impressive upgrade.

Amazing what a repaint (among other improvements) can do to a, essentially, kids toy. Impressive!

My first thought on Willie was “Willie Wampa and the Rebel Base.” Or some variation of that

Stryker2011 wrote:Awesome job, Ian. And cool that you have a Wampa too. That’s a pretty impressive upgrade.

MeMyself&I wrote:Amazing what a repaint (among other improvements) can do to a, essentially, kids toy. Impressive!
My first thought on Willie was “Willie Wampa and the Rebel Base.” Or some variation of that

Thank you both very much, I'm delighted you liked it. It might not be quite as nice as the Sideshow statues, but then again it is a proper action figure (even if just five points of articulation) and now a little less toy-like.  Someone with more skill and patience could certainly make it better yet. By the way, one of the things about making the eyes smaller by adding to the upper eyelid was, not only greater accuracy, but also taking out the notorious "doll dot" they had painted there.

Willie Wampa... now that was fortuitous, thanks for pointing it out, MMI. Originally I though it would be Wally Wampa, but then I decided it should be female (and I have a notion it was, officially, in Star Wars canon -- but am not sure: contrary to popular belief, I rank very low on the totem pole of Star Wars fanboys). So... Wilma seemed too specific, Wilhelmina > Willie (like Indiana Jones' girl in Temple of Doom).

Anyway, some very minor customizations of Willie Wampa have begun. Wampas, by the way have bewildering inconsistency in their design, even keeping to what is seen on screen in the finished movie (there is more in deleted scenes). This one corresponds fairly closely to what is seen more clearly in the Special Edition, but it is undersized for the intended in-movie scale (although it might actually be about right for the actor in the suit, if not taller/larger than him).

Haha, I LOVE THEM BOTH!!!!

The upgrades on 'Tiffany' are excellent. Luke looks great on her! Poor Tiffany, now I rather I hope Luke is riding a different Taun Taun when it gets disemboweled, lol.

Brilliant work!! Love the resculpt and paint! As for suggestions, perhaps add the same paint detail to her claws on her hands and feet? Also just an idea, have you thought of using 'real' fur? You can get it in white shades and fairly short, very pliable backing if you look at the cheap fingerless 1/1 wool winter gloves on eBay, the come with cuffs made of this fur; I got a bunch and have used them for various things from Dwarven beards and hair to a (still) partially rebuilt Wampa of my own. Think it could work well on Tiffany too if you use the correct glue like Bison Kit universal etc..

skywalkersaga wrote:Haha, I LOVE THEM BOTH!!!!  

The upgrades on 'Tiffany' are excellent. Luke looks great on her! Poor Tiffany, now I rather I hope Luke is riding a different Taun Taun when it gets disemboweled, lol.

I'm very glad you liked her. This level of attachment is the ultimate praise. Especially since we lost the broken horn look option for now, she is a different Taun Taun than the one that got disemboweled.

shovelchop81 wrote:Brilliant work!! Love the resculpt and paint! As for suggestions, perhaps add the same paint detail to her claws on her hands and feet? Also just an idea, have you thought of using 'real' fur? You can get it in white shades and fairly short, very pliable backing if you look at the cheap fingerless 1/1 wool winter gloves on eBay, the come with cuffs made of this fur; I got a bunch and have used them for various things from Dwarven beards and hair to a (still) partially rebuilt Wampa of my own. Think it could work well on Tiffany too if you use the correct glue like Bison Kit universal etc..

Thank you very much. I'm glad the master of customs approves. Yes, I do mean "dirty" up more of the body (for realism and to bring out more of the sculpted detail) and especially around the claws (should also research and see if these should be another color). I have considered adding fur (but where does one stop and I wouldn't know where to go for the right length and adhesive -- thanks for the suggestions) and/or snow effect (but I might not want that to be permanent).

Very nice job Ian! Love it already. I think it is a nice action figure and not just a statue which is cool.
Yeah the head will always look a bit bulky compared to the real thing, but the eyelid does a nice job of increasing the realism of it. I did the same thing with mine.

I hope to see more photos of it once the first snow will show up this year

Very nice work on Tiffany, Ian! It looks much more believable as a real animal now. 1000% improvement!  
If I may suggest one thing, the sclera on the eyes still look a little too white and might be improved by adding blood vessels and a little pink color in the corners.

Valiarde wrote:Very nice job Ian! Love it already. I think it is a nice action figure and not just a statue which is cool.
Yeah the head will always look a bit bulky compared to the real thing, but the eyelid does a nice job of increasing the realism of it. I did the same thing with mine.  

I hope to see more photos of it once the first snow will show up this year

Thank you very much, Simon! Oh we don't get snow here -- certainly not enough for a Hoth scene. We'll be lucky if we get enough rain for a Dagobah scene. Will you be showing off yours soon? Or waiting for snow?

Randam Hajile wrote:Very nice work on Tiffany, Ian! It looks much more believable as a real animal now. 1000% improvement!  
If I may suggest one thing, the sclera on the eyes still look a little too white and might be improved by adding blood vessels and a little pink color in the corners.

Thank you very much, Ralf! I'm delighted you approve, and I've been doing additional repainting on the body. Thank you for the suggestion: I sometimes remember to do this with normal human eyes (which have so much space to work with), but forgot to do so here. One final touch.

More Tiffany and Willie upgrade photos soon.

GubernatorFan wrote:

Valiarde wrote:Very nice job Ian! Love it already. I think it is a nice action figure and not just a statue which is cool.
Yeah the head will always look a bit bulky compared to the real thing, but the eyelid does a nice job of increasing the realism of it. I did the same thing with mine.  

I hope to see more photos of it once the first snow will show up this year

Thank you very much, Simon! Oh we don't get snow here -- certainly not enough for a Hoth scene. We'll be lucky if we get enough rain for a Dagobah scene. Will you be showing off yours soon? Or waiting for snow?
.

Oh yes, I forgot there are countries/parts of the world with other climate zones. Well, you better make your own fake snow then.

As for my project, it's on ice (pun intended) for now. I can post photos of the face of my 'Tiffany' but it looks pretty similar to yours I think.

Valiarde wrote:Oh yes, I forgot there are countries/parts of the world with other climate zones. Well, you better make your own fake snow then.

As for my project, it's on ice (pun intended) for now. I can post photos of the face of my 'Tiffany' but it looks pretty similar to yours I think.  

I wonder if I can use it for baking after playing with it...

Whenever you're ready. Can you think of a better name than Tiffany (I'm pretty brain dead these days). The idea is (for me, anyway), to have alliteration between the name and species or breed -- Tiffany the Taun Taun, Willie the Wampa, etc -- I think I picked this up from the toys they were pushing on an episode of Are You Being Served?  Damn, I got it, Tanya the Taun Taun! Well, I've already gone with Tiffany, you can go with Tanya if you like it.

Yes, baking Soda should work pretty well! Never tested it myself so far though.

I like alliterations too. And Tiffany sounds cute, perfect for your taun taun! Keep it.


Might post some face pics for comparisons of Tanya soon. I think we even used a similar color palette (no wonder, as there is a original from the movies)

Valiarde wrote:Might post some face pics for comparisons of Tanya soon. I think we even used a similar color palette (no wonder, as there is a original from the movies)

Sweet, looking forward to it. Maybe one day Tiffany and Tanya will meet for a play date. I've really dirtied her up (before this it was mostly on the head), which seems appropriate for the screen stills I have been studying. Also doing the same to Willie.

What I'd like to know... how did Taun Tauns get dirty anyway? Where's the DIRT? All I ever saw was snow.

Maybe they like to roll around in smelly things? Han did say he thought they smelled bad on the outside...

Stryker2011 wrote:What I'd like to know... how did Taun Tauns get dirty anyway? Where's the DIRT? All I ever saw was snow.

skywalkersaga wrote:Maybe they like to roll around in smelly things? Han did say he thought they smelled bad on the outside...

Very valid observations. Perhaps it is not so much that they get dirty (although I lived long enough in the Midwest to see plenty of suspiciously dirty snow), as their not-so-light colors showing through, and my attempt to change their coloring accordingly makes me use the term "dirty up."

Here are some pics of my Tanya so far.
I did no weathering with dirt yet, but put some fur on it. It already looks a bit more "used look" this way, but hm, not sure yet. Still something is missing. The eyes are still a bit huge, even after the repaint, maybe a bigger eye lid would work here too.


Say hello to (WIP) Tanya and Zombie Boba













Tanya definately in for a play date with Tiffany.

Wow that's nice work on the Taun Taun!

Wooooooow, I love all of them! Great job on the customization. What a difference! I'll never look at even the cheapest figures the same way again. You've ruined me!

Wow! Holy …..! That’s impressive work on Tanya with the hair and repaint. Nice job.

Wow. That is most impressive, Simon! Beautifully done and it looks alive! You even chipped the horn! Now Tiffany is going to ask for hair (before any play date)! What fur did you use, if I may ask?
I would remark that the coloring (and I do like the warmer and darker color scheme) suggests this Taun Taun has been transported to the sweltering tropical heat of Carabino, but also that any attempt at permanent snow effect might mess it up, so don't change a thing! It's already perfect.

Thanks all glad you like Ian's and my Taun Taun versions of this Kenner model. I didnt know how much of this figure was salvagable, but i do like both updated versions with and without fur.

Oh and i didnt chip the horn, it came already chipped
I guess there are two versions out there, luke and TT as well as han and TT and the Taun Taun is slightly different here.

For the fur i bought some second quality lamb hair from this shop in different shades of grey/brown.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/144746810368?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=X5QbbbOWShy&sssrc=2349624&ssuid=rQrs1FeYTca&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=WHATS_APP

Thanks so much, Simon. I am very tempted to follow in your footsteps with the hair and Tiffany is pretty insistent on it. On the other hand, the paler color and more matted fur look of the sculpt is arguably closer to the set and film photos, although I find yours far more appealing visually. Of course, some of the darker coloring may come from artificial lighting in these photos (I noticed that looking at the seller's products). So I bought some more hair, we'll see where it goes. While I've been improving Tiffany (about done, other than having to restore the broken/unbroken horn option), but mostly working on Willie Wampa and some other Star Wars (and non-Star Wars) projects.
And you're right about the two Taun Tauns, Luke's and Han's. I guess mine was Han's.

I’ve bought plenty of Morezmore hair and other things.