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Here is a female Steel Brigade Trooper.

The first version I did, I had painted her torso, sleeves, and legs to match the specific coloration of the male trooper, but when it came to playability, the legs proved very problematic. I boiled the paint to dry it, but even then, when I put the legs on the body and moved them, the paint immediately scraped off leaving the black plastic beneath. To make matters worse, when I did a repaint/repair job, the leg paint became too thick to work with, and it was difficult to fit them back onto the torso without rubbing, and sure enough, when I moved the legs, the paint once again rubbed off. That was very disappointing, because I worked very hard mixing paint to match the colors, but the legs just wouldn’t cooperate.



The second (and final) version uses the Sparta upper legs, and they worked great. They were still tan; albeit a darker tone, but they would not scape paint, so they were the next logical choice because my customs have to be playable, or I won’t do them. Then it was a matter of repainting the leg holes around the leotard, and the fabric on the lower legs under the knee pads to match the "Sparta tan". (And obviously I kept the arms black along the joints for playability.)

As for the knee pads, her colors are reversed compared to the male SBT. I figured it was easier to simply paint the knee pads green and leave the straps black, instead of trying to reverse everything and once again risk paint scrapping on moving parts by painting the straps green.

Her parts consist of a RoC Scarlett torso and arms, Sparta upper legs, Helix lower legs, a RoC Eels head, a Resolute Duke vest cut to fit, and a SB helmet. I would have preferred to use a Helix upper body so she’d have dedicated pants like the male trooper, but anything above the crotch was way too stylized to realistically work.

Because of her lighter gear, I have her as a sniper, not a frontline trooper.













I also did a Sparta up in field gear. Since I have no dedicated place for her, she is used as a SB liaison:






If you look closely, you can also see I added on a pistol belt for the SB SMAW Trooper for a back-up weapon, and I gave the SAW Gunner a closed telescoping rifle stock to make it easier to carry. (The normal stock is too long to fire from the shoulder.) I also made one trooper an urban breacher by giving him a short-barreled Pancor Jackhammer shotgun, and Resolute Flint's webgear with shotgun ammo. Ironically, the webgear perfectly matches his pants.

The only thing I haven’t yet done, is paint the upper knee pad straps black---but I probably won’t, since it doesn’t really look that noticeable, the male trooper’s knee pads hang farther down at the bottom than the top, and I don’t want to permanently alter the Sparta upper legs because she’s a pretty expensive figure.

I dig it kitty.


Good use of parts.

cool concept. looks like she has a wedgie. seems like Scarlett's MO

Yup, near-thong styled leotards will do that.

I finally finished the rest of my Steel Brigade squad based around the new real-world Marine Corps F.E.T. (Female Engagement Team).

I added another "standard" female trooper to match the first one, and I made two new ones. "Orb Weaver" is the sniper and is similar to the other two "standards", but I wanted a slightly different look by giving her black legs and the Resolute Scarlett boots. For whatever reason, I was really smitten with that color combo. (And I didn't want to buy a fourth JoeCon Sparta to get those tan legs!) The final one is "Equinox", a female Delta. When the Steel Brigade Delta came out with the 30th VAMP, I initially wanted to do a female in matching colors. Unfortunately in the end it became too difficult to do and still make her fully playable, so I scrapped the idea. For me, a custom has to be playable, otherwise it's just a statue and I'm not keen on that. However, as luck would have it, one day I was working on a "armored Sandy Newman" custom from the anime Gall Force: Earth Chapter, and like Orb Weaver, the body parts were intriguing. Despite that, things didn't really come together until I placed the green tacvest and Delta helmet on her as a whim because they matched the boots. It was then when I really liked how it came together. So I scrapped the Sandy Newman project, and just made her into the female Delta I had originally abandoned. Unlike Orb Weaver who I had to repaint the entire upper body, Equinox was very simple---basically a LBC, except I had to match the tan of her legs to the space around her leotard, and it took a while for me to find the right colors to mix so it matched perfectly.

Whole team:





Orb Weaver:



Equinox:



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