GUIDE TO CUSTOMISING - PART 2

 

FIRST STEP - CHOOSING YOUR BASE FIGURE

To be honest, in some more of the more involved projects I take on, the base is nigh-on irrelevant - if you're planning to sculpt over every surface, what lies underneath is less important. But if you're prepared to choose cannily, you can sometimes save yourself some work.

Picking the base figure is a mix of aesthetic and practical concerns. The second is nuts and bolts stuff - how readily available is the figure, how much does it cost, etc. This sort of thing is up to you - if you want to buy a Krynoid figure for £100 and then chop it to pieces, who am I to stop you?

When it comes to aesthetics, things are less simple, but there are standard questions. How tall is the character you're creating? Does it have specific costume details (coat, tunic, etc) that an official product mimics? If your custom has discernible humanoid features under the latex (i.e Draconians, Sontarans), you may well find it easier with a human face to work over. This may be less of an issue for robots and the like. Do you need the figure to hold any specific, iconic pose, and if so, is the articulation up to it?

In some cases, a base body calls out to me from the get go - Leela for the Cheetah Person. Occasionally there are handy costume details that lead me in a certain direction (the texture of the coat on Seeds of Doom Tom is perfect for the Teller). But there are also some reliable warhorses that are good for a number of figures. Here are some of the ones I come back to...

TENTH DOCTOR

Possibly the one I've used the most. This isn't so much it being a perfect base, as much as it's the cheapest and most easily available (coming from the good old days when the figures were produced in abundance). Any bulk figure buy on Ebay is liable to have at least one poor Tennant bulking out the ranks. That's not to say he's useless - it's a fairly skinny build, which means less dremelling down for a decent base figure. If you buy the long coat version, that's also a handy spare part for lots of jobs. On the other hand, the articulation is among the worse in the range (no bicep swivel!), so it's not the best choice for a more limber character.

 (see also, Eleventh Doctor, Captain Jack)

CYBERMAN (new series)

Fairly easily to get hold of again, though its suitability for army building tends to keep the price a bit higher. This scores in terms of scale - it's a nice tall build. The articulation is also excellent - arms that can swing out to the sides, and a mid-thoracic joint that allows for some very different character silhouettes (Kandyman being the obvious example). You can also pop off the legs, feet and head fairly easily, which allows for easier sculpting. The major disadvantage is the amount of prep work involved getting him to a blank body - chopping off all the bars and rods, plus a lot of heavy dremelling. It's usually worth the effort though. I try to have at least 5 Cybes in at any time, as they're super handy.

(see also, Ice Warrior, Sea Devil - though both of these are far scarcer at the moment.

AXON MALE

Probably the best blank body out there. With minimal dremelling you have the perfect 'nude' body for any normally scaled humanoid. The articulation is also excellent - again, arms that swing out which is good for the classic 'arms outstretched' monster pose. It's not readily available in this country, alas. But there are various Chinese ebayers selling factory knock-offs that are pretty much the same thing.

Next up - prepping your custom...