Head: Jonny Quest- Benton Quest
Neck: NS Alpine
Chest/back: Built to Rule Duke
Arms: 25A Tiger Force Flint
Waist: NS Snake-Eyes
Legs: ROC Storm Shadow

Admiral Ledger
Fleet Admiral, Flagship USS Flagg CVN-99
US Navy

Character:

Sunbow's Admiral Ledger and Admiral Colby (aka "Keel-Haul") were both presented as the Flagg's man-in-charge. For me, GI Joe was based on Marvel Continuity, where Colby was the king and there was no Ledger. So to happily display both characters on my custom USS Flagg, there has to be some explaining.

My first thought was to demote one of them to Executive Officer.

But Admiral Colby, a Tom Selleck clone of unimaginable awesomeness, is beyond demotion- but that doesn't mean he's the only admiral around.

But Admiral Ledger sure looked like he'd be at the top of the food chain.

Admiral Colby was given a codename, but Admiral Ledger wasn't... that's how I justify Admiral Ledger as being the higher ranking of the two.

I wasn't sure how the ranks would play out in real life. Thanks to my friend Richard and my brother Kevin, both navy veterans, who explained that an admiral could be in charge of an aircraft carrier as it captain, while another admiral could be in charge of the fleet in which that aircraft carrier is. In this case, we'll say Admiral Colby is the captain (though at the rank of admiral) of the USS Flagg, and Admiral Ledger is the admiral of the fleet and happens to use the USS Flagg as his flagship. One ship, tow admirals. Not the most likely scenario, but one that I'm told is theoretically possibly.

Design:

The only head to even consider for this figure was the '93 Star Brigade Rock 'n Roll. It's perfect for Ledger. I made a cast of one and it looked fantastic.

But.... I had a loose Benton Quest head floating around from another custom and realized it might be even more perfect than the Rock 'n Roll head. It would sculpted with a more determined look than Rock 'n Roll, and also look a few years older.

The body/uniform was not an automatic decision. I considered using a Raiders of the Lost Ark Toht body to give Ledger a look very close to the Sunbow appearances. Since the Admiral Colby figure doesn't have that character in a dress uniform, I figured Ledger should also have a similar hands-on look. But after playing around with several designs I went with one that is as simple as possible. The rolled up sleeves say that it's business time... but there's no justification for the grenades.

And, yes, this is a slimmed down version of Admiral Ledger.

Colors & Paint:

A navy blue uniform of the day, semi-accurate.

Sculpting & Modifying:

The head is blended onto a NS neck, with the hollow underside of the beard filled.

The body is mostly new sculpt parts, so they needed tweaking. The chest/back was lifted above the waist to correct the proportions, with a "spine" added. The gap was then filled with epoxy, a great excuse to give Ledger a belly, but I didn't go for it.

Thanks for looking.