Customizing Figures: Hard Plastic Vs Soft Plastic
Ok since this is the New EF spot on the block I wanted to be one of the first members to put some useful information up on customizing figures, I have learned alot about the World of custom figures over the last three years, I have been lucky to communicate with some of the best in the Hobby in this area of EF. From Reginald Rutledge, Terry Popham, J-Boy Combs, Don Smith & Chris Robinson, all these men have shared with me there knowledge of making custom figures and I feel it is only right to share with my family. So I can make this post easy to understand to the New Hobbyist I will keep it simple and just discuss two main areas Hard Plastic Figures and Soft Plastic Figures. Hard Plastic figures like Miggle & Buzzball figures as we all know come in a standard pose, to some guys they may think well how can I change the pose, ok well first you need to understand what you want to create and have a method of doing so, for me I like to cut some figures at the waist, I will save different peices of different figures like Legs, Torso, arms and head, so it kind of like a small 3d jigsaw puzzle if you are a little creative and patient you can come up with different figure poses and combinations of figure designs, I use Super crazy glue or an Epoxy when I really want to get Ill. Ok guys like Chris R, Terry P & Don Smith use a different techniuqe, it is similar to what I first explained but more complex these guys use different part of figures and add smaller peices of plastic for more detail (Thigh pad, Shoulder pads, hands, chest and back plates) once these peices of smaller plastic are applied to the figure they use Dremmel tools with different types of drill bits to smooth out ans shape the areas that they applied the plastic to, Terry and Chris are masters at this style, they even use dremmels to carve in facial features and muscle tone to the figures it is quite amazing to see the finished product, (Hey Don you got to help me on the 300lb Lineman). Now Soft plastic figures like Football Figures.com stuff are alot easier to customize but still take practice and patience to get the skill of making unique poses down, Since these figures are soft they cut like butter, you dont really have to saw though them like you do with harder plastic figures the things you can do are limitless, the key is to know what you want your custom figure to do at each position and work according to what you want to create. It is cool to link different figure peices together to see what you can come up with. Balance: now here is where you really have to focus, alot of the guys I mentioned use different techniques in how they balance there figures on the platform for performance on the field, Chris R & Don use a technique I like to call the Leg Up style where either the left or right leg ius lifted by cutting it away from the platform and using heat to manipulate the leg bend, Tpop uses what I like to call the front to back style where the entire platform is used and balanced perfectly, Guys like Reg and Myself when chopping up FF.com stuff many use the left ,right center or rear to get different performance results , I have even done some research by watching surfing videos , yes that is correct surfing videos, are players really dont run down the field, they kind of surf on the bases so I watched how the surfers positioned themselves on the board and started to mimic some of those stances for the figures i was making making and came up with some interesting things, whatever you chose to customize hard Plastic or soft plastic, be creative have fun, dont get discouraged and let your immagination run wild you never know you might make that great EF legend you have been dreaming of peace.
Biglock
Last edited by Biglock : 11-10-2006 at 03:35 AM.
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11-10-2006, 03:28 AM
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