Custom Spike Witwicky (G1, see finished pics) & Sparkplug coming soon!

[Octopus Prime]

Thanks guys, I'm glad you like it! I'm pleased with the way it came out too.

I'm glad you'll be doing different characters Paul, variety is the spice of life! You're also lucky that the figures you got both have "normal" heads. I'm still left with a figure or Racer X that I don't know what to do with! (Any ideas? Anybody?!)

 

Looks great, the only thing I dislike about it is a flaw in the mold, I think. I hate that the legs get bowed, but I think that's the sculpt itself, right?

Wonder if you were able to make a little more articulation in the boot, and angle the leg so the pieces fit back together better?

 

Yes, the knock-kneed effect is because of the mould. Or possibly the rubbery legs have been distorted by the packaging. But I did manage to correct the angles somewhat when I reset the legs, but not completely (as you can see). It probably wouldn't be too difficult to significantly mess around with the angles, particularly if if you wanted to resculpt the shin/calf area to give him bigger boots anyway. Just retain the foot and the knee joint and completely rebuild everything in between!

 

Do you mean that you want to add articulation to the ankle? I guess you could, although there won't be much room to play with so I'd be a quite careful there. Simply setting the foot at a different angle would be much easier, but of course it would be stuck that way ever after.

 

Hi Sami, thanks for the suggestions, I love the Revoltech line! The only down side is that they'd probably be way too big for the Alts. I was able to reduce a 3 1/2 inch Speed Racer figure to 3 inches without too much distortion, but going from 5 inches down to 3 might be a little tougher. But they would make gorgeous larger-scale figs for display in their own right. Hey, imagine the humans in 1:6 scale with cloth clothing like the big GI Joes and Actionman lines?! That'd be pretty interesting...

[Paul Prime]

Thanks guys, I'm glad you like it! I'm pleased with the way it came out too.

I'm glad you'll be doing different characters Paul, variety is the spice of life! You're also lucky that the figures you got both have "normal" heads. I'm still left with a figure or Racer X that I don't know what to do with! (Any ideas? Anybody?!)

 

In fact, tehy have the whole series of figures. I took my time thinking about which were the ones that better suit my needs. I want to make a soldier to drive Hound, of course, and then we'll see.

 

By the way, I have posted the first of my new customs. I post a few more in the next days. Please take a look a tell me what you think. I want to improve my skills, and the best way is with your advices.

[Mandingo Rex]

In fact, tehy have the whole series of figures. I took my time thinking about which were the ones that better suit my needs. I want to make a soldier to drive Hound, of course, and then we'll see.

 

Yes, forgot to mention that. There's a girl, you could possibly use as a base. She's the love interest of Speed if I'm not mistaken. (I should just see the movie so I know their names).

 

I also changed the post title & description... it's no longer a discussion, it's actually got customs in it! Thanks Paul & Octopus Prime (are you 2 brothers?!?!) haha.

 

Glad to see such interest started, can't wait to start on mine. I'd love to see everyone else's too. Great work!

[Paul Prime]

OK, I have something to tell you. Do whatever you want, but please, DON'T GO TO SEE THE MOVIE.

 

Yes, it's that bad.

[Mandingo Rex]

OK, I have something to tell you. Do whatever you want, but please, DON'T GO TO SEE THE MOVIE.

 

Yes, it's that bad.

 

Haha, it looked terrible. All my friends know I'm a nerd, "so why don't you go?" they ask. Oh, it looks terrible. Go see it they tell me. How can you NOT like it?

 

I'll trust you, it looks terrible. It has to be.

[Mandingo Rex]

Finally, some pics on my end:

 

Source image:

 

Note, Sparkplug always tends to have his shirt undone. Spike, the well-behaved lad he is, always has his buttoned up.

The kid's hair's not curly enough, but he could be a decent Daniel, for those so inclined. I actually got his 2-pack for the man in the suit, and you'll see why. His head is a lot more Sparkplug-y than the very-John Goodman head of the movie Pops. I'll admit, they did a decent job capturing John Goodman in a 3-inch figure.

 

Here you'll see the leftovers. A suited man, with a removable coat. I'm going to try and shave off the lapels, the handkerchief, and round the shoulder pads down so they meet up with Sparkplug's shoulders tighter. If it doesn't work, oh well, I still used his head. You can see the John Goodman head here. The neck's much longer, so I had to cut the mushroom-shaped (go ahead and laugh) tip off the neck post to get the suit's head to fit on the Pop's body. The neck post was way too long, and you can see that Pop's got quite a neck... Almost 3 times as long. Not to worry, I don't think Sparkplug looks too short-necked. He's always been a solid-built, stocky guy.

 

And here's a closer view of the pre-painted Sparkplug:

[Mandingo Rex]

And actually, if you wanted a shorter-legged Spike, with thicker legs, I think the kid's body would work better. He's shorter, not as lanky, and if you swapped the head, the only thing you'd be lacking would be the collar. Of course he's more kid-proportioned, obviously... Just another option.

 

I think the jacket/vest thing could be interesting. Problem is, the Pops figure already has a collar, so I don't know if it will end up looking right with an outer jacket on. I guess instead of a white undershirt, he could be wearing a maintenance polo or the like.

 

I think I'll end up doing a very similar paintjob as the other guys, except I think I'm going to sculpt boots. Any idea what would work well on the legs? They're a tad rubberier than the main body. To add the bulk of the boots, that is.

[Octopus Prime]

Nice pics Mandingo, I'm going to have to scour the shops for that Pops figure! (I'll shorten him to 1:24 scale, but his gut may prevent him from ever sitting inside the cars!) And I'm almost disappointed to see how much better the Inspector Detector head looks as Sparkplug, because now I'm going to have to buy another pair of figures. :roll

 

Do you think the suit jacket/vest will fit onto the Pops figure? I worry that it'd be too small. I'll probably trim the polo collar at the front and sculpt the open shirt front directly onto the chest if I get around to making Sparkplug.

 

So does anyone have any ideas of who to turn the suit guy into? (And not John Turturro from the recent movie, I still shudder when I think of such a good actor giving such an eye-poppingly awful performance!)

 

And speaking of sculpting, I'm partial to the Games Workshop's "Green Stuff" (you can see it in my WIP shot of Spike). It sets without baking to a rock hard solidity, and hold fine detail very well. It wouldn't require much to make the shin rigid.

 

Best of luck and keep us posted!! :thumb

[Mandingo Rex]

Nice pics Mandingo, I'm going to have to scour the shops for that Pops figure! (I'll shorten him to 1:24 scale, but his gut may prevent him from ever sitting inside the cars!) And I'm almost disappointed to see how much better the Inspector Detector head looks as Sparkplug, because now I'm going to have to buy another pair of figures. :roll

 

Do you think the suit jacket/vest will fit onto the Pops figure? I worry that it'd be too small. I'll probably trim the polo collar at the front and sculpt the open shirt front directly onto the chest if I get around to making Sparkplug.

 

And speaking of sculpting, I'm partial to the Games Workshop's "Green Stuff" (you can see it in my WIP shot of Spike). It sets without baking to a rock hard solidity, and hold fine detail very well. It wouldn't require much to make the shin rigid.

 

Doesn't the head look much better? At least the 2-packs are only around $8 at Target.

 

Actually, the jacket does fit on Pops, I had a photo but apparently I hit my upload limit last night, and I didn't feel like FTPing to my site. Does that ever change? I can't imagine 3MB being a total attachment space limit.

 

It will need some mods to turn into a proper vest/short sleeve shirt, but I think it will work just fine. It won't button, but have you taken a look at Sparkplug? He was always having a problem buttoning his top anyways. Plus it's really easy to fit on, all you have to do is pop off the arms. The figures are assembled solidly enough that they don't fall apart, but if you WANT them to come apart they do so fairly easily and snap back together just fine, with a little elbow grease and perhaps a fine-tipped screwdriver just to pry the elbow/knee sockets back onto the nubs.

 

I meant to include that with a comparison pic of Pop's and the Inspector's heads, to show the cutting down you'll have to do to accommodate for the neck difference, but I ran out of file size.

 

So does anyone have any ideas of who to turn the suit guy into? (And not John Turturro from the recent movie, I still shudder when I think of such a good actor giving such an eye-poppingly awful performance!)

Lord Chumley? I always hated that episode, but you could do a handlebar mustache on him and call it a day with the suit. You'd need to shave down the neck on the Goodman head, he looks like a giraffe.

[Whisky Tango Foxtrot]

Has anyone ever tried making a transforming Exosuit Spike? Or possibly a Daniel? When I think of making Witwicky figures that's the first thing that comes to mind.