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 Making Your Custom A Character Deciding what to make with your Shockini Custom Figure is as easy as figuring out what action figure you want but are unable to get . When I was 4 years old I had a Fireball XL-5 playset , licensed from the Gerry Anderson Super Marionation TV series of the same name , and that is one particular toy I wish I still had . Having completed my custom head sculpt it now came down to who I wanted my first official Shockini custom to be . It sorta looked like Steve Zodiac , not a perfect match since I was just shooting for a generic head , but close enough that I figured it would work nicely as Steve . I gathered together some Steve Zodiac photo reference , and working in XaraX , created a character design mockup to see how my kini would look as the hero from Fireball XL-5 .   Creating the costume for your character can be tricky when working with a 3 inch tall figure . When designing costuming you need to consider not only the scale of the figure to be clothed , but how any particular material is going to appear when scaled down to fit the figure . Actually sewing a costume would be troublesome since most fabric doesn't translate well at such sizes . The easiest method is to sculpt it on ; making the clothing part of the figure itself , this works with most action characters , who always seem to have a closet filled with inumerable suits that are exactly alike ( at least this is the impression given by most action character TV series ! ) With Steve , the major feature of his costume is his tunic , so that is where I began . In my very early days of figure creation I used whatever I could lay my hands on for supplies , most often cardboard of one form or another , sometimes plastic liquid containers cut up and trimmed to shape, I even used soda cans . As my wallet and skills matured I turned to more professional approaches , sheet plastic and sheet metal that was available at better hobby shops and art supply stores .  The tunic could just as easily be sculpted onto the figure without an underlying base of brass , so you might be wondering , " Why bother ? " Here is your answer : Economy and Function! With a solid base of brass , you can use less sculpey . With a rigid form underneath , you can sculpt quickly with no deformation of shape and it's easier to control where your sculpey is going . It also adds strength to the sculpey . The brass is attached to the figure with Kneadatite epoxy resin , which will form a strong bond that will easily withstand the heat of the hair dryer when you get to the curing stage .  Once the tunic was attached , I put Steve thru a variety of pose tests to make sure that his poseability wasn't compromised . When using a solid foundation of brass you are not going to have any flexibility for movement so you want to make sure there's plenty of room to allow good articulation . If full articulation is a concern you might consider opting for a different method or material for such a costume attribute , such as vinyl or plastic that is simply cut to shape and glued on after painting .  Regardless of your costuming method take the time to consider different materials to use for different aspects of your costuming . While painting everything is fine , you can enhance the appearance of your custom job by adding a variety of materials and textures in addition to the paint . In the instance of Steve's tunic , there is a fine gold trim of piping along the outer edge , which could have been cut in with the knife . I decided not to go that route and instead purchase some gold thread or wire to glue on the figure after the final paint job . The benefit being I won't have to worry about painting a straight line of gold along the edge , and the look of the actual piping will be much finer .   If you are like me , your mind is typically 2 to 3 steps ahead of you during your work , considering potential options as you bring your figure to completion . In Steve's case my mind was wondering about the way to handle the cuffs of his sleeves and his turtleneck sweater . As to his turtleneck , again this is something that could just as easily be handled in the painting . However handling it just in paint limits how it will look while also forcing you to worry about painting straight lines very close together . By adding sculpey and cutting in the lines that problem is solved , as well as giving me the option to use a wash on that portion where a darker color will be allowed to seep into the grooves while keeping the surface color light , which will add to the appearance of the figure in the final paint . Varying your paint techniques is another aspect of figure modelling that I will be covering in successive features . The cuffs too, could be painted on ; but I wanted to do a bit of exploring and experimentation with this piece so i handled them merely as a base to have some type of material glued over . This will add more dimensionality to the figure .   Once again facing an aspect that could potentially be handled with paint alone , I decided to sculpt the boot details . I did this primarily to make them look like a costume accoutrement rather than part of the stock figure . Handled in much the same way as the sleeve cuffs , I did make a bit thicker application of sculpey so that I could add rolls and wrinkles . To further enhance their appearance , when I smoothed them with the turp I purposely dabbed at the sculpey giving it a texture similar to that of suede . Attention to such details will add a great deal to the final finish .  I don't know just what is occuring within the human mind during creative exercises , but I am happiest when engaged in pursuits that allow me to unleash my creative spirit . I would imagine that it is the same high I used to get as a kid playing in the backyard , which for some reason tends to disappear in most adults as they enter puberty ( probably not enough room to compete with the drive to reproduce ! ) . All that aside , this is the closest we adults can get to actually playing outdoors without having people look at us as though we've lost our marbles . Certainly we have the option of going to the store and buying a ready made action figure , but that pales in comparison to actually creating one of your very own , a one of a kind that no one else has .  The figures used in this customization tutorial are 3 inch high action figures called Shockinis , made by Shocker Toys . Featuring 18 points of articulation and styled in a block figure appearance . I found out about them from a licensing deal with AC Comics ( with whom I used to work as an illustrator ) and have been hooked on Shockinis ever since . If you like action figures , or enjoy customizing your own action figures , then I would highly recommend checking out the Shocker Toys website . www.shockertoys.com Stay Tuned : Coming To Geeb's Toy Box , here at Geeb-O-Rama , will be my Shocker Toys Fan Site , filled with as much cool Shockini Madness as I can generate ! | Let's Paint ! | PaintinKini2 | Steve Zodiac Shockini Custom | Sword Making | Swordmaking1 | Swordmaking2 | WarhorsePreview | Simple Masks | EasyVelcro_fro | Cool Girl Wrist Conversion | samurai_saddle | DX Disaster | Fix It! Loose Ankles | Fun With Texture | Body Armor | OneSixthBlades | Body Armor2 | One Sixth Blades PT II | Otaku Repair 101 | | Mail-O-Rama | Geeb's How To | Head Sculpts Using Polymer Clay | Customizing The Batcycle | 1/6 scale diorama | terrain diorama | 1/6 Scale Boots | Re-Rooting Hair | BimBott | Read_A_Book | WorksInProgress | Aki Ross Repaint | Gun-Bashing | painting heads | | Return Home | Updates | The Archive | Gorby Site Map | Geeb-O-Rama's Model Workshop | Geeb's Toy Box | Geeb-O-Rama Goodies | Movie Madness | World Of The Bizarre | Cool Beans | |
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