Custom Tutorial Thread

Question for you experienced customizers out there:

What paint works well on the vinyl jackets the figures come with?

I tried some enamel once, and it never really dried properly.

No enamel, water based acrylics are the best for that. I use Polly Scale, made for models, but I hear Games Workshop is great as well.

Ya, stay away from enamels. Besides the fact they react poorly with the plastic that the figures are made out of, they're messy to clean up or undo a mistake you've made.

I highly recommend the Games Workshop paints. They flow beautifully, and you really don't need much to get a good paint job. It sticks well to figures so you can paint the joints and move them and the paint stays. They're extremely easy to clean. The finish has a wonderful professional look to them even after just one coat. But best of all, 3 years later your paint job still looks like you just did it. Amazing stuff and head and shoulders above almost all other paint brands. Tamiya comes a close second and is suitable substitute if you can't get any GW paints.

Thanks for the advice. There used to be a Games Workshop in my area, but it went out of business. Fortunately their mail order store seems very much alive.

QUESTION FOR ALL YOU DESTINY-DOC LAPEL-POPPERS:

I'm considering popping the labels on my "Destiny" Tom figure. Before I do, let me ask to be 100% sure: When you cut the lapels, do you cut ALL THE WAY THROUGH the vinyl to the shirt underneath? Or do you try to slice underneath the lapels to get them up off the coat material?

My understanding is it's the former, but I want to make sure before I end up with a coat with two triangular cuts in it.

If that's the case, I assume the scarf covers up the holes in the coat, then?

Many thanks!

Hey all,

Does anyone know a good mix formula to get the cream color of the 5th Doctor's coat?
Also, any idea what paint color matches the red outlines?

I'm gonna try to hit hobby stores near me this weekend (like Michael's and JoAnnes ... I don't know if they carry GamesWorkshop. Fairly certain they have Delta, but don't know if you guys like that brand for figures.)

I've never tried to match paint before, so if anyone has any tips on how to do it I'd greatly appreciate it! For instance, I know you can't accurately judge the final color when the paint is wet ... but if you let it dry, doesn't the lump of paint that you've mixed to get the new color dry up as well? Then you'd have to start over, right? Or do you mix paint colors in a container you can close up tight?

Sorry if that's a batty question, I'm just not sure how to do this.
Thanks!

I am copying this here so we don't loose it again! Thanks NewtonDKC!!

NewtonDKC wrote:

Shafty, I posted this awhile back on how I did the Collar Popping on the Season 18 Doctor figure- Hope it helps and can't wait to see your results! :-)
Newton

Someone asked me for some pics detailing how I sliced the shirt and coat lapels for the "popped collar" look. And here they are! :-)

Obligatory Wish for Safety! :-)
And as always, be extremely careful with any sharp object (not meant to sound condescending, but not sure how old the various people that may tr this will be, and even though I'm an adult I still managed to slice a huge "V" shaped incision that required 11 stitches when my matte knife slipped once during a customizing project. Not fun!!!) :-)

The Coat - It's much easier to do this by removing the coat first. that can be a tad bit tricky as almost all CO figures with coats have the coat attached to the torso with 2 "slots" and usually another 2 on the figure's back. There are molded tabs on the inner part of the coat that slide into these slots and are held in place with glue. Some people boil the figures for a few minutes to soften the plastic and to make the glue easier to pull away from, but I usually just slice the tab as cleanly from the inside of the coat as possible, so that the tabs more less stay glued in the tab hole/slots and frees the coat up.

NOTE: If you accidentally slice into the back of the coat or shirt under the lapel/collar flaps, don't panic! The lapels coupled with the scarf will hide any such mistakes, so always err on the coat/shirt side (i.e. it's better to slice too deep and wind up with a hole behind the flap - infinitely preferable to too thinly sliced lapel or worse, a lapel that is sliced thru, so go deep if you aren't sure - it's better to just sacrifice the back behind the flap rather than take the risk of a damaged lapel/collar. BUT - even if the worst happens, even it is fixable with some milliput/sculpey and some paint, so enjoy your project instead of worrying! :-)



Okay, to begin: Carefully place the blade almost flat against the chest area on the front of the coat beside each lapel. Then slowly and carefully begin slicing horizontally to separate the outer pointy section of the lapel/collar so that it can be lifted from the coat. NEVER cut the flap all the way off - you want to stop slicing when you get near the to the folded edge of the lapel (i.e. the section where the coat opens and the lapel flap folds over and back to lay down against the coat. Hopefully the picture above shows what I'm not doing a very good job of explaining! :-)



Now do the same thing for both sides of the collar on the shirt - and if you didn't take the coat off before, you will really want to now! Basically just repeat what you did on the coat, but this is easier as you don't have to remove anything first.

And get a magnifying glass and under bright light look carefully at the collar wings (have no idea if this is what they are called!) - there are actually 2 teeny little "?" marks sculpted on each wing! Absolutely amazing detail IMO - DesignWorks rocks (let your staff know they are awesome Missi!!!). :-)
Once you have liberated the shirt collar wings, you may want to use a very fine tipped marker or something to carefully color the ?'s. I think I read they were ivory on the S18 outfit as the costume lady hated them and didn't want them to show up on camera very well, but they always looked a bit maroon to me. And I know many fans HATE the ?'s - when I was a kid, I thought they were really cool. As an adult I see them as very silly and self-aware. SO I rationalize by pretending they are Gallifreyen symbols - a sort of shorthand Seal of Rassilon if you will - that just happens to look like the Earth Symbol for questions. And the Seal of Rassilon really does look like it has little question marks in the middle top and bottom of the design! :-)




Okee doke, you are now ready to put the coat back on, followed by the scarf. Once it's all back on, now you can reach in and lift the coat lapels and then the shirt collar wing flaps so they are sticking out over the coat lapel for max accuracy to the 4th Doctor as he usually appeared on screen. ANd now you have a S18 (or other season) Doctor with that ever-so trendy "Popped" look! :-)



The scarf will hold them both up and eventually they will tend to stay popped on their own after a few months of being propped up by the scarf (tho I suppose a dip in boiling water followed by a cold shower would do it as well, and faster too! :-)

Hope this helps, and let me know if anyone has any questions and I'll be happy to help anyway I can! Happy Customizing Folks! :-)

digby wrote:

Does anyone know a good mix formula to get the cream color of the 5th Doctor's coat?
Also, any idea what paint color matches the red outlines?

I matched the coat's cream colour by mixing a very light cream colour with a little light brown and a little yellow. I can't remember the exact ratio - it was about 2 years ago - but it didn't take long, however once the paint dried it was a slightly darker shade and I had to redo it.

The paints were "DecoArt" brand from Michaels, and the colours were Buttercreme, Daffodil Yellow and Soft Suede Brown. Sorry can't remember more.

Ronpur wrote:

I am copying this here so we don't loose it again! Thanks NewtonDKC!!

Good thinking! Don't want to lose it again.

rdks wrote:

digby wrote:

Does anyone know a good mix formula to get the cream color of the 5th Doctor's coat?
Also, any idea what paint color matches the red outlines?

I matched the coat's cream colour by mixing a very light cream colour with a little light brown and a little yellow. I can't remember the exact ratio - it was about 2 years ago - but it didn't take long, however once the paint dried it was a slightly darker shade and I had to redo it.

The paints were "DecoArt" brand from Michaels, and the colours were Buttercreme, Daffodil Yellow and Soft Suede Brown. Sorry can't remember more.
.

Thanks! There is a michaels down the road, I might try this.

i'm currently trying to make a coatless version of tom baker and im using the pom one as my base. i got simms as yanna masters arms to achieve that billowy sleeve look and it is quit effective. but ive run into a snag, im not sure what to do for the exposed grey plastic back, it has holes that need to be filled in where the coat connected in and i think i need to continue the vest around the back from the front. the second thing is the peg holes on the front vest where the coat attached. how do i fill in the peg holes in the vest and matching the paint seems like its gonna be a nightmare.lol i am an experianced fine artist in terms of painting drawing and print making but they fine work all of you guys on the forum takes all of those skill and then adds sculpture and print making to it. lol im not a total perfectionist, its a custom and i will be happy with it because it will be special to me, but having said that i dont want it to look like a total peice of crap either. if anybody has any ideas please help.

I would use green stuf or something similar to fill it in and sculpt a new vest. I have done that several times.

hitman hart wrote:

...and matching the paint seems like its gonna be a nightmare.

Matching paint usually is. My advice... don't bother. Repaint it all your desired colour, save yourself a headache.

I figured I'd ask here. Anyone have ideas on how to make a custom Amy in her Nightie? Also how do you remove the head on Amy? I see no wiggle room if you will. lol

Boil and pop should remove the head, as for the nightie, I don't know of a nightie figure the head can be swapped to,so you may need to sculpt it.

Ronpur wrote:

Boil and pop should remove the head, as for the nightie, I don't know of a nightie figure the head can be swapped to,so you may need to sculpt it.

Why not just make one from cloth?

jaredofmo wrote:

Ronpur wrote:

Boil and pop should remove the head, as for the nightie, I don't know of a nightie figure the head can be swapped to,so you may need to sculpt it.

Why not just make one from cloth?

oh good idea. thanks.

OK anyone know if there is such a thing as a astronaut figure that is black? I mean the suit color. I could always paint it too I suppose. I want a ring type suit. I want to make that custom outfit Matt is wearing in the Christmas special. that is why I'm asking.

Not in Who scale. Only thing I have seen, and I have a lot of astronauts (I live in Florida!) are white. And sometimes orange. I really hope we get that suit from the special, looks so retro 50s!

Ronpur wrote:

Not in Who scale. Only thing I have seen, and I have a lot of astronauts (I live in Florida!) are white. And sometimes orange. I really hope we get that suit from the special, looks so retro 50s!

Yeah me too. For the heck of it have any extra ones you don't want of the Astronauts? 2 perhaps?

what kind of paint can i use on diecast? I bought a diecast figure and want to paint it. Not sure what to use though.

I have a pair of those space hero astronauts that might do for a new astronaut figure, the helmets come off also.

Whoosier Whovian wrote:

I have a pair of those space hero astronauts that might do for a new astronaut figure, the helmets come off also.

pming you.

MattyLover11 wrote:

what kind of paint can i use on diecast? I bought a diecast figure and want to paint it. Not sure what to use though.

For diecast figures, I have used both enamel and acrylics.......but not at the same time. You can use acrylic over an enamel, but not the other way around.

Ronpur wrote:

MattyLover11 wrote:

what kind of paint can i use on diecast? I bought a diecast figure and want to paint it. Not sure what to use though.

For diecast figures, I have used both enamel and acrylics.......but not at the same time. You can use acrylic over an enamel, but not the other way around.

Ok thanks. I hope what I got is diecast.

say if anyone finds a good wise man or king to make this can you let me know. thanks.



yeah i know. I want a King Matt smith.