Customizing - Dwayne Pride
I have been quiet again because I did a thing. I am finished watching "Enterprise" now and am now watching Scott Bakula as Agent Dwayne Cassius Pride in "NCIS New Orleans". And since they don't sell NCIS figures, I had to make it myself!
Base figure is Casey Jones from "Teenage Mutant Turtles". I had been on the lookout for a guy with an open shirt collar and bare arms and he was perfect. First I cut off the vest. It is rubber so that is easy. Even the shirt is rubber, I could cut it and make him a naked chest ;)
Then I cut off the long shirt to show his bum, cut off the creases of the sleeves and added sleeves, collar, shirt creases and even back pockets for the pants.
What the front looked like after cutting off the vest:
The shirt in front was too short, so what I had cut off at the back I added at the front to make it rounder. It makes such a huge difference from T-shirt to dress-shirt!
Added shirt sleeves, collar, button border and even a shirt pocket with just a piece of plastic. The other things were sculpted with Milliput (white) and Procreate (grey).
The pants were jogging pants so I had to make them longer, and I even painted the shoelaces since I am thorough.
The head was difficult. Usually it is easy just switching heads from one figure to the next. They all have a hole that fits on the plug inside the neck. But this head already had its own neck. There was no way I was able to drill a hole into there so I ended up cutting half the figure neck and half the head's neck and glued it. Which means he can't turn his head but there was no other option. I filled the gaps with Milliput and then mixed a paint that matched his face to cover it up.
The hair was even more difficult. Archer (the head comes from a broken Captain Archer figure) parts his hair on the other side so for Pride I had to cut it off and re-sculpt it. Again it makes such a difference! I also painted his wrinkles a bit darker to give him an older look. That is dirty desert uniform Archer for comparison in this picture, I still have not washed the (water) paint off as I like this look ;)
Finally, the best bit! The reason why the shirt has such creases in the back. Now you see, Pride has two looks. Either he wears his dress shirt over his pants. Then you don't see his bum. And fangirls love to see his bum. Or when he goes to catch a bad guy, he wears a bullet proof vest and then has his shirt inside the pants to be able to reach the gun. Then we see his bum, but if I want to use this figure in private scenes like a barbecue (which we also have seen on screen) I can't have him in that vest.
I finally was able to get the best of both worlds with this look!
The belt had been given to me many years ago by a friend. But it was always too small for any figure to wear it. Now it finally found its purpose, I was able to cut off the holster and the handcuffs. Had I been forced to make these from scratch too it would have been quite a disaster I am sure so I am very happy with this solution.
And the final and also important bit to complete his look - his wristwatch. I took a screenshot to get it right, and then it was just a piece of cardboard and a black string. It is not entirely glued on, so if I remove the hands I can take it off.
Right, forgot to talk about the hands. The original hands came with gloves. Thanks to many Star Trek figures I had lots of hands to use. But they have a thicker plug and would have not fit into the thin hole. At first I wanted to file it off but then I decided to cut it off and glue the hand on the original plug. That way they also still have wrist movement which the Star Trek hands otherwise wouldn't have.
All in all, I am very happy with him. What do you think?
Base figure is Casey Jones from "Teenage Mutant Turtles". I had been on the lookout for a guy with an open shirt collar and bare arms and he was perfect. First I cut off the vest. It is rubber so that is easy. Even the shirt is rubber, I could cut it and make him a naked chest ;)
Then I cut off the long shirt to show his bum, cut off the creases of the sleeves and added sleeves, collar, shirt creases and even back pockets for the pants.
What the front looked like after cutting off the vest:
The shirt in front was too short, so what I had cut off at the back I added at the front to make it rounder. It makes such a huge difference from T-shirt to dress-shirt!
Added shirt sleeves, collar, button border and even a shirt pocket with just a piece of plastic. The other things were sculpted with Milliput (white) and Procreate (grey).
The pants were jogging pants so I had to make them longer, and I even painted the shoelaces since I am thorough.
The head was difficult. Usually it is easy just switching heads from one figure to the next. They all have a hole that fits on the plug inside the neck. But this head already had its own neck. There was no way I was able to drill a hole into there so I ended up cutting half the figure neck and half the head's neck and glued it. Which means he can't turn his head but there was no other option. I filled the gaps with Milliput and then mixed a paint that matched his face to cover it up.
The hair was even more difficult. Archer (the head comes from a broken Captain Archer figure) parts his hair on the other side so for Pride I had to cut it off and re-sculpt it. Again it makes such a difference! I also painted his wrinkles a bit darker to give him an older look. That is dirty desert uniform Archer for comparison in this picture, I still have not washed the (water) paint off as I like this look ;)
Finally, the best bit! The reason why the shirt has such creases in the back. Now you see, Pride has two looks. Either he wears his dress shirt over his pants. Then you don't see his bum. And fangirls love to see his bum. Or when he goes to catch a bad guy, he wears a bullet proof vest and then has his shirt inside the pants to be able to reach the gun. Then we see his bum, but if I want to use this figure in private scenes like a barbecue (which we also have seen on screen) I can't have him in that vest.
I finally was able to get the best of both worlds with this look!
The belt had been given to me many years ago by a friend. But it was always too small for any figure to wear it. Now it finally found its purpose, I was able to cut off the holster and the handcuffs. Had I been forced to make these from scratch too it would have been quite a disaster I am sure so I am very happy with this solution.
And the final and also important bit to complete his look - his wristwatch. I took a screenshot to get it right, and then it was just a piece of cardboard and a black string. It is not entirely glued on, so if I remove the hands I can take it off.
Right, forgot to talk about the hands. The original hands came with gloves. Thanks to many Star Trek figures I had lots of hands to use. But they have a thicker plug and would have not fit into the thin hole. At first I wanted to file it off but then I decided to cut it off and glue the hand on the original plug. That way they also still have wrist movement which the Star Trek hands otherwise wouldn't have.
All in all, I am very happy with him. What do you think?