AWESOME American Aviators— This custom, 1:6 scale, US Navy VF-1 “Wolfpack” fighter squadron helmet was created by master customizer, L.R. Aponte utilizing a set of ProSeries waterslide decals from Patches of Pride (see HERE). Out-STANDING work, sir! (Photo: L.R. Aponte) Click to enlarge.
There’s nothing more rewarding than seeing products you’ve manufactured being put to use by talented customizers out there in the 1:6 scale “universe.” Of course, that must happen all the time to Mark Otnes of Patches of Pride, who filed the following report regarding the latest accomplishment of one of his longtime “customer-customizers,” L.R. Aponte. According to Otnes:
“It’s true. We get letters, emails, photos, online posts, and everything else you could imagine from thousands of customers we’ve supplied with our products over the years. Whether it’s miniature patches, decals or any of the thousands of other 1:6 scale-related accessories we sell, it’s always exciting to see how individuals are using them to enhance their own unique, custom projects.
For example, this week, longtime PoP customer and customizer extraordinare, L.R. Aponte, wrote in to share some STUNNING photos of a 1:6 flight helmet he’d just completed customizing, using one of our more, oh, let’s say, “challenging” helmet decal sets. It’s a ProSeries set—aka “waterslide”—that we created a few years ago to commemorate the heroic aviators of the US Navy’s VF-1 “Wolfpack” fighter squadron.
That set includes a pair of giant wolf heads and some seriously lonnnng stripes that require a steady hand (and patience) to install correctly. As you can see from L.R.’s photos, they look absolutely AWESOME once installed. He’s done a SUPERB job creating a custom VF-1 helmet. Congratulations, L.R!” —Mark Otnes
Opposite 3/4 view from the front. Out-STANDING! (Photo: L.R. Aponte) Click to enlarge.
LR Aponte added the following intel regarding this amazing custom helmet, stating:
LR Aponte, Customizer of 1:6 scale action figures (Photo: LR Aponte)
“Hi Mark, I just wanted to send you some pics of the helmets with your decals. They came out good. Thank you so much and I will be making more purchases soon. When I am not buried in work, I try to set time aside and work on 1/6 scale figures. I repaint head sculpts and come up with some original figures. My work area is whatever area around the house that is close to a panoramic window, I LOATHE being enclosed in an ‘office’ area. My line of work is aerospace and I travel now more than when I started 32 yrs ago. I have seen all types of jets from all our friends and foes around the planet. I hope you like the pics. Your website (Patches of Pride), is an excellent site and your products are VERY good.” —LR Aponte, Jacksonville , FL
This side view shows how the stripes curve perfectly on the helmet. (Photo: LR Aponte) Click to enlarge.
SCRAMBLE!— Another of LR Aponte’s amazing custom pilots. (Photo: LR Aponte) Click to enlarge.
U2 Lookin’ at Me?— Aponte’s U2 pilot w/ custom-painted headsculpt. (Photo: LRA) Click to enlarge.
The Rear-View is sometimes the BEST View— In this case, we’d agree. Seriously, we’d pose the figure wearing this helmet with his face to the wall and his back facing out so that the viewer could see this side of the helmet clearly. It’s THAT cool. The paint, the decals, it’s perfect! (Photo: LRA) Click to enlarge.
Bottom Line: LR’s mastery of the application of waterslide decals is obvious. In fact, his skill levels are so high, he could probably open a sideline business making 1:6 scale custom helmets! Our sincerest thanks and best wishes to Mr. Aponte for his generous contributions to this article. If you’d like to try your hand at creating a VF-1 “Wolfpack” helmet like this, the ProSeries decal set (shown above) can be purchased from THIS PAGE of the Patches of Pride website. Enjoy!