The Process

We would like to share how we do our custom projects. This will at least give you an idea on how we do it and it may vary to the other customizer.

Conceptualization

Identify the character to be built. For us, this is related to our existing theme or a member of the team we are completing.

Research

Research for the reference pictures in the internet or comics. I also do research on my favorite custom forums. There you’ll find customizers who share their works. It will also give you an idea on how the other customizers build their projects. You may use their recipe or use your own depending on the availability of the custom fodders. The more reference materials, the better. As much as possible your materials should cover all angles including the back.

Identify your recipe. Based on your gathered reference materials, you can determine which figures, parts and other materials you’ll be needing. Some of the parts of your project may already be available in other existing toy figures. So its best to research on the previous toy releases that are suitable for your project. Otherwise, you have to come up with a substitute or customize it from scratch. The materials need not to be expensive. Be resourceful and use your imagination and creativity to come up with a more appropriate and cost effective materials.

Gathering

Look at what you have. Before buying your materials, it is best to identify what you have first in your custom fodders. Some parts could be substituted with what you have with no or minimal additional work.

Buy inexpensive materials, if possible. Customization need not to be expensive. You may use broken and/or old toys or very cheap ones. A good source of materials are the hobby shops, hardwares, school supplies and toy stores.

Trade your spare parts. If you have a spare parts lying around, you may use this/these to trade with the parts you needed to a customizer friend. Somebody might be looking for the parts with what you have and they may have the parts you are looking for.

Preparation

Organize your work area. This is the first thing I do before anything else. Ensure that you have all the needed parts, tools and safety gears.

Assemble your figure. Some customs may require bits and pieces from the other figures or materials, so you must disassemble some parts or put in some parts into your base figure. It is best to plan ahead in your assembly taking into consideration the other parts and painting of the project later on. Some parts maybe be easier to paint or assemble separately to be fitted on later part.

Here are some of the techniques we use to remove parts:

1. Boil and pop. Dip in hot water for a minute or so the part to be removed. Then pull out the part. But we always use a small screwdriver to help in removing the part. This is a very effective technique for us and lessen the possibility of breaking the peg or stretching of the peg.

2. Use a small screwdriver and pliers. This is mostly used on the elbows, hands, knees and feet joints. Using the screwdriver, untuck the peg on one side then use the pliers to pull off the peg.

3. Pull it off. In some cases, it is easy to remove the parts especially the boots, gloves and sometimes the head with a loose joints articulation. But make sure that your figure can take the pressure of pulling.

From the disassembled parts, its now time to assemble the custom project. Similar to disassembly, here are some of the techniques on how to assemble the figure:

1. Check to fit. Check if the parts would fit perfectly. If it fits perfectly, then its done.

2. Boil and fit. Similar to boil and pop, this technique is applicable if there is difficulty in putting it in. But you have to make sure that after putting it in that the fit is ok. Measuring the parts to fit may be a good practice to ensure the fit.

3. Sand/Cut down. It may be necessary to do some sanding down or cut a few on the joints to have
fit. Don’t cut too much otherwise you will have a loose joint. It is advisable to cut in small paces until you reached the perfect fit.

Painting

Clean your figure. It is advisable to clean your figure thoroughly to make the paint firmly stick. Below are some of our steps in cleaning the figure:

1. Sand Down. Using a sand paper, sand down the whole figure most especially the rough edges. If there are some sculpted parts, smoothen it too. There could be same fingerprints imprinted on the sculpted parts that may be noticeable when painted. Sanding down will also help the paint stick more to the figure.

2. Clean with Alcohol. After sanding down, the dust must be removed from the figure. Some do wash their figure with soap and water, but what we do is clean it with a brush and an alcohol. A good wash of alcohol after brushing with wash away some dirt. Alcohol dries up fast so you application of paint could follow soon after to avoid it accumulating dust again.

Apply primer. Though some paint their figure directly, we do practice to apply primer first. Its like having a clean canvass to paint on. It also helps in identifying some rough edges left unnoticed during the cleaning of the figure. Also, in the event of paint chip, the primer would show and not the original paint. So a good choice of primer is essential in hiding some paint chips. Primer is best applied by spraying, but since we lack the skills in using spray paints (believe me I tried), we contend ourselves with the use of brush. Common primer colors are White, Black and Gray.

Paint the figure. Now is the time to paint the figure. There are a lot of painting techniques that can be applied which I will share soon.

Here are some few tips we could share:

1. Apply the paints in thin coats and several times, especially for the light colored ones.

2. Depending on the costume design, we commonly paint the extremities first. Since we hold the figure all the time during painting, we paint the legs, arms and head first, so that we can hold the body while painting and place down the figure on its back while waiting for it to dry. Then by the time that we are already painting the body, we could keep it in up right position on its legs.

3. We paint the light colors first especially if its a major/big part. It doesn’t matter if some few paints touches the other part, this will be covered up by the other paint. Sometimes, we really let some paints overlaps so that there will be no paint gaps.

4. Put the paint details on the last part. Some details are small that it would require some steady hands and a magnifying glass would help.

5. Inspect and retouch some areas, if needed.

Share your custom project

Take a picture. After drying and completely finishing your project, take a picture on various angles. Here you could further see you project up close behind the lens. It you are still up to it, you could do some retouch or fine tuning. For us, we use a make shift foldable studio to have a better background and use an ample amount of light.

Lastly, share your work. Its best to share your work so others could admire and comment. In compliments, you get inspired and in comments/criticism, you improve your skills. You may share it at http://actionfigsphils.11.forumer.com

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That’s how we do it. Though, sometimes I get so lazy that I cut some corners. hehehe