Timstuff's toy box: my custom action figures

[Timstuff]

Last summer, when Transformers came out, I got really pumped up like a lot of people who grew up with the toys did. However, while I actually loved Megatron in the movie, the paint job on the action figure of him sucked, so I decided to re-paint him-- the end result was my first custom action figure, which I ended up selling on eBay for a sweet $250. That summer I made a second, further improved Megatron with an even better paint job, as well as a custom Optimus Prime. I did these for my own collection, and to practice for future toy projects.

Here's my original Megatron.

Here's my second Megatron. This time I painted him entirely with Testors enamel sprays, and gave him a matte finish. I also added "tribal markings" on his chest, switched the spring in his arms so that his flail and gun worked properly. I also filled in the annoying screw holes on his wings, which violated a major no-no for Transformer toys. I also swapped out his boring yellow LEDs for some more intimidating red ones. I shot a laser into the light pipe on his head for dramatic effect in one of the photos.

Here's Optimus Prime. I painted over his gray parts with chrome, and added a significant ammount more red (including flames) to give him more movie-accurate color distrubution. I also swapped out the yellow LEDs for blue ones, which was considerably more frustrating than on Megatron due to Optimus's more complex innards. I think it was worth the effort though. Beyond that, it was a pretty straightforward task of adding in extra paint details. I also switched around his elbows, which were on the wrong sides out of the box.

To be continued...

 

[Timstuff]

Of course, my customization experiments did not stop with Transformers. After hearing the joys of Apoxie sculpt, I decided I'd try my luck at customizing a Sigma 6 GI Joe. They're stylized and slightly blocky looking, so they lend themselves well to customs. My first project was to make a Helghast soldier from the game "Killzone" out of a Iron Grenadier figure. The gun was a 1/6 Spas 12 shotgun that I modified. Most of the modifications were to the figure's head, and beyond that and the removal of some "Cobra" logos, it was mostly a straightforward repaint job.

More coming in a sec...

 

[Timstuff]

The next figure I finished was the elderly Solid Snake from Metal Gear Solid 4. I made him out of a Frontal Assault Duke figure. I did a lot of sculpting on his head, and I sculpted his tactical vest. His gun (the name of which currently escapes me) is a 1/6 scale gun, but I filed down the stock and raised the trigger guard to make it a better fit for the figure. He even has a little Codec / Soliton Radar on his wrist, which I printed with a decal kit. It looks blurrier in the photo than it really is, but you can see him having a conversation with his ol' buddy Otacon. Also, his Solid Eye eye patch is removable.

 

[Timstuff]

A few days ago I finished my Marcus Fenix Sigma 6, and today I finally photographed him. He's made out of a Leatherneck figure, but I borrowed the belt and gun from the Iron Grenadier who became my Helghast, and modified them to suit my needs. Namely, the belt had to be sewn onto a piece of elastic with a hook fastener in the back, as well as attaching the armor piece in front. I have experience with sewing, so putting it all together it wasn't too hard. I had to file down the stock on the gun so it'd be more the general shape of the real Lancers, and I snagged the chainsaw from a Leatherface figure and modified it into the chainsaw bayonet. Lastly, I cut the business end off another gun and mounted it to the top to give it some extra bulk, more in line with the game version's profile. And best of all, it can still fire spring loaded rockets! This was by far my most ambitious Sigma 6 custom yet, and I'm pretty happy with how he turned out.

And for reference, here's the before pic.

My next project is either going to be Master Chief from Halo, Dwayne Hicks from Aliens, or Riddick from The Chronicles of Riddick. It all depends on what ratio of lazy / ambitious I'm feeling this week (and how it meshes with my homework schedule).

 

[EdRyder]

Good stuff here Tim I never knew you were into that kinda thing,..

You should consider picking up some clear printer decal paper.Ive seen various modelers around the web make their own little graphics and whatnot in illustrator , and then slap them on.(Anime girls on the side of Macross Valks , etc) t:

 

[Timstuff]

Glad you like my work! Actually, I do have some decal paper that I use for some projects, like Megatron's tattoos, the kanji on Solid Snake's vest, and the logos on my helghast soldiers' shoulders. I need to order more of the clear stuff though since I only had one sheet, and it ended up getting misplaced.

 

[keith_v]

Timstuff, the work is great! Did you ever think about starting a website and doing cusom work for commissions? I know there are a lot of collectors that are always looking for really obscure figures they can't find. Pyramid Head from Silent Hill is a big one.

And I was wondering, what kind of clay do you use, and does it need be baked or air dry?

 

[Rocker22]

You have some great stuff Tim.

 

[DorkyFresh]

wow Timstuff, i didn't know you could do that! hehe

that Megatron looks TONS better than the original coloring. he actually looks awesome. Snake looks fantastic as well. he looks just like him. Marcus looks great too but his face isn't as rough as the game's. still...he looks cool. plan on doing anything else?

 

[chuckymack]

These are awesome!

 

[Timstuff]

Timstuff, the work is great! Did you ever think about starting a website and doing cusom work for commissions? I know there are a lot of collectors that are always looking for really obscure figures they can't find. Pyramid Head from Silent Hill is a big one.

And I was wondering, what kind of clay do you use, and does it need be baked or air dry?

I might actually be doing my first commission soon, and I'm waiting to hear back from the guy about it. I would love to have a website for commissions at some point, but I think I'll need a good amount of free time to put into designing it, because I don't have much experience in web design.

Anyway, the two types of "clay" I use are Apoxie Sculpt and Fixit Sculpt from Aves Studios. It's a two-part resin that you mix together, and then it cures rock hard overnight.

http://www.avesstudio.com/Products/Apoxie_Sculpt/apoxie_sculpt.html

http://www.avesstudio.com/html/fixit_sculpt.html

plan on doing anything else?

Right now, I'm working on a figure of Riddick from Pitch Black and Chronicles of Riddick, and I have plans and the materials to make figures of Master Chief from Halo and Corporal Hicks from Aliens. And as I said, I might be doing a commission piece soon, too.

 

[DorkyFresh]

sweet! i'll keep an eye out for those!

 

[knowsbleed]

Great stuff as usual Tim. I'm glad you were able to sell the Megatron for a good price.

 

[Timstuff]

I come with yet another customized Sigma 6 GI Joe. This time, it's Richard B. Riddick, anti-hero of Pitch Black and Chronicles of Riddick fame. He was made from a Sigma 6 Destro figure. For the most part he was a repaint, however I did have to sculpt his tank top from scratch, as well as fill in a few of his "metal plate" details with putty (and I had to remove the collar around his neck). The goggles were actually a gas mask that came with another figure, but i cut the bottom half away and added lenses to make them look more like Riddick's goggles from the movies. I still need to make him a proper set of daggers like he had in COR, so I'll post more pics when those are done.

 

[Comic_maniac]

awesome stuff dude. i'd like to see how the figures looked before they were customized so i can see how amazing you really are.

 

[keith_v]

Timstuff, thanks for the reply! That's crazy that you can mold those before the clay dries. You really know what you're doing!

And if ever find time and you are looking good pieces for your portfolio, check out the pics from the Batman: Gotham Knights anime movie coming out in July. Any of those designs wil gain a LOT of attention. Especially if you can showcase some toys before DC Direct shows their stuff. Also, Venom and Carnage always gain a lot of attention. No matter how many statues and toys are made of them, people always want more. I get more responses about my Carnage and Venom pieces than any other ones. People always love to see original takes on the both of them.

And that Riddick looks awesome!

 

[Mattchew]

I come with yet another customized Sigma 6 GI Joe. This time, it's Richard B. Riddick, anti-hero of Pitch Black and Chronicles of Riddick fame. He was made from a Sigma 6 Destro figure. For the most part he was a repaint, however I did have to sculpt his tank top from scratch, as well as fill in a few of his "metal plate" details with putty (and I had to remove the collar around his neck). The goggles were actually a gas mask that came with another figure, but i cut the bottom half away and added lenses to make them look more like Riddick's goggles from the movies. I still need to make him a proper set of daggers like he had in COR, so I'll post more pics when those are done.

so so cool! i totally knew it was riddick before reading the description. looked at the orginal figure and that fact that it became this it shockingly impressive! nice!

 

[Timstuff]

Muhahahah! I've finally concocted yet another toy from my lab! This time, it's Corporal Dwayne Hicks from Aliens!

I made him out of a Black Ops Shockwave figure with the head taken from a Hi-Tech figure, and the hands were taken from a Long Range figure. The helmet came from a Sigma Strike Duke, which I royally chopped up and modified. I borrowed the technique that Jin Saotome used on his Gordan Freeman figure's glasses to make his eyepiece, and I think it turned out quite nicely.

The gun is a resin re-cast I made of the M41A that came with the 90's 12" Hicks figure, and I even managed to stick a little decal on the side for the LED ammo counter (set at "79," a number which any Alien fan worth their hat should know the significance of). I'm quite happy with how it turned out, and I owe much thanks to Sabres from thehiveforum.net for hooking me up with the original to duplicate. It was a real pain tracking that thing down, I must say!

His codpiece thingie is made of real leather, which I got from an old purse that my mom donated to the project. I must say, using the real stuff makes all the difference in the world. It's thick, flexible, durable, doesn't fray at the edges, glueable, paintable, and sewable, which was everything I needed. The belt/ab armor on top was sclupted from Apoxie sculpt.

In terms of actual modification to the figure, the parts I had to sculpt myself were the armor on his chest and his leg armor. It was a bit of work, but I was able to get it all done within a few days. The padlock was a real challenge, though. I ended up making it from a plastic coated paper clip, which I scupted directly into his chest armor. Then, I made another horseshoe shape out of paper clip, fed it through the hoop on the chest, and then sculpted the lock onto it. It came out exactly as I wanted, and it even dangles around!

The most tedious part of all of this was likely the painting. It took hours to get all that camouflage on there, and ontop of that I had to be certain that the coloring and overall style was in tune with that of the movie version. In the end though, I'm quite pleased with how it looks, so I hope you enjoy it! And of course, check the link below if you want to see how he looked before I customized him.

http://s6c.joebattlelines.com/toys/reviews/combatsquad/wave1/shockwave.htm

 

[the_Horror]

wow dude! excellent job! I love the cartoony look that you've mastered!

 

[DorkyFresh]

i like your Hicks. i like your Riddick as well but i think his skin should be a touch darker and his eyes should be silver. they used mirror contacts on Vin Diesel so i guess the closest color you could use is silver. he kinda looks like he just has blue eyes there.

still awesome work dude.

 

[Timstuff]

I'll definitely look into your silver eyes suggestion, Dorky. However, I decided to keep his skin a tad pale intentionally, since I wanted to convey that he wasn't getting much sunlight down in Butcher Bay, lol.

 

[DorkyFresh]

yeah that's true...good point.

 

[Timstuff]

I painted Riddick's eyes silver tonight, as you suggested. It makes a very big difference, I must say! I still need to make him a pair of proper daggers, so I'll probably post new pictures of him in the near future.

 

[DorkyFresh]

cool man. hope the silver eyes were an improvement! i'll definitely check it out when you post some more pix.

 

[Phig]

great f---ing work... can't wait to see riddick with silver peepers