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 Having discovered the blank custom action figures produced by Takara Toys from Japan , featuring 30 points of articulation rolled up in a compact little 3 and 3/4 inch tall miniature , can you blame me for wanting to try my hand at turning them into AC Comics' Femforce ? Having begun my initial experiments with my customization of these outrageously poseable tiny wonders with Tara the jungle Girl and Ms. Victory it has taken me a while to get back into production , but Tara is once again in the works .   It was my intent from the beginning to utilize sheet brass to handle the costuming base structure for the Femforce customs , such as Ms. victory's boots and gloves and Tara's armbands and bracers and turn to Kneadatite for the actual costuming and head sculpts . However I just had to try my hand at creating a tiny little brass mesh bikini with 20 gauge steel wire straps simply to see how it would work . These shots actually show that the end results are not half bad , and once painted would probably look pretty good . I still intend on sculpting the costuming , just to get that skin tight fit , but it was a fun experiment ! As you will see , I did end up using the wire mesh to serve as the base armature for Tara's hair . So let's proceed shall we?  It would have been easier to do my " Deadly Quarry " version of Tara from Femforce #190 since her long flowing locks were in a pony tail , but most Femfans love the original Camo-bikini Tara with her long raven tresses cascading about her shoulders freely . With a 1/6 th scale action figure this wouldn't be a problem , since most have synthetic hair that looks quite natural at that scale . With Microman sized figures though there are certain limitations as regards wigging , I won't say it can't be done using synthetic hair , because I've used that method on a Stikfa , but the hairstyle was in a ponytail , not a straight middle part that was free flowing . I'm sure that eventually I'll try it , but not this time . I did not want to limit the figure to a single piece hair sculpt simply because that would limit the poseability so I had to devise a hinge method to create a two piece hair sculpt . I had contemplated using sheet brass , but again the consideration of poseability was a factor , I needed a material that was more supple so I could shape the hair to the body prior to sculpting , thus I decided to utilize the wire mesh that was used in my initial bikini costume test .  This time out , for the sake of speed , I have used Super Sculpey for the head and hair sculpt , though I think Kneadatite is a far better material to use for custom sculpting at this scale . A special note , the heads of the Microman Material Force figures are rather oddly shaped for non-Manga portraits , but they will work for a more realistic head treatment . I did not do any modification to the base head , I just started sculpting over it . With Kneadatite , a very realistic facial sculpt can be executed , Super Sculpey at this size tends to force a simplified style that while not a negative trade off may not be what an individual customizer might prefer . I didn't really care either way , since attractive female faces tend to come out better approached simply . There is a certain blandness to beauty .  You may have noticed the c-shaped piece of white plastic underneath the wire mesh form of Tara's hair in the above photos . This was originally a piece from a trading figure stand , that went around the waist of a 1/12th scale PVC figure . Size wise it was perfect to serve as the hinging mechanism for Tara's hair , so with a little bit of cutting , and the drilling of seat holes at the base of the Microman head made a very quick and simple hinge for Tara's hair .  The benefit of the wire mesh is evident here , the contours of Tara's hair are formed by moulding the mesh , allowing thin amounts of Sculpey to be applied and detailed while keeping the weight of the hair piece light , essential for maintaining a pose .  Getting a natural look from something as unnatural as hinged hair requires careful fitting and adjusting of the sculpture . The hair needs to be shaped to allow free movement and the contouring of the strands needs to work whether the hair is positioned up or down . The more detail here , the more difficult the job , so it's best to keep the hair fairly simple .  As you can see , this is a fairly simple hinging method , just two shallow pin seats at the base of Tara's head .  As shown here , the c-shaped hinge is a simple device , the shape allows it to wrap around the head and the seating pins clip right into the head's seating holes . The hairpiece has been dremeled down a bit to allow it to sit closer upon the back when in it's lowered position .  When you are dealing with a rigid form , the more shape you can give it the better the result . Even though Tara's hair is solid , the contouring and shape make it seem much more supple and flowing .     Adding Tara's trademark Camoflage Bikini can be approached in a variety of ways . With cloth , paper , simple paint , polymer clay , really whatever happens to suit your particular fancy at any given moment . I decided to use Kneadatite for it's durability and easy modelling at this scale at such thin application . I have not yet added the connecting string ties , which may end up being actual thread or cord .   In combination with other toys , sculptures and Microman Femforce customs , and manipulated within Photoshop and other graphics programs , some really fun FF2K fumetti adventures are just waiting to be created , as these samples suggest .  Some shots of the very beginnings of the Ms. Victory Microman Material Force custom action figure . The brass boot sleeves and gloves have been cut and preliminary shaping completed . 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