The most challenging part about getting started was deciding on what parts to use. I have such a huge variety of things and I have a hard time letting these things go because I may want to make something else with the parts. Anyway, after I had my parts picked out the sculpting challenge started with how I was going to get this to work.
The mannequins were hard to sculpt. You can see that the one standing is about a foot taller than Echo. Generally there are 6 inch action figures and 7 inch. I knew I had quite a few 7 inch figures, and I settled on using my Six figure (from the Battlestar Galactica show). I used her arms, torso, and pelvic area. I didn't want to use the legs because she was standing in a way that I didn't want the mannequin standing. Plus, I needed bare feet. I have a few figures left with bare feet. I ended up using a Daena figure from I think Tarzan. I did have to shave off the sandals and straps on her legs and feet. Then sculpt around that to clean up the cut marks. I also had to use something to get the legs to connect with the pelvic area. I have many weapons from the Buffy figures so I used two handles from an ax and drilled holes in the leg and the pelvic area and glued them in place. Then I had to sculpt in the area around this--including her butt which can be tricky since mannequins don't have a lot of definition. I used a "The Wish" Cordy head since it worked with this figure. I did have to sculpt the ears. I knew I was going to have to sculpt 4 ears and I have not gotten that down yet. I think what I have is not bad, I need more practice but it's good. I realize they look big and they aren't quite in the right spot on the head but I think it's not that obvious. Here are some before sculpt pictures and after sculpt pictures:
The only problem with this figure was the cracking. I'm not sure why it was cracking in certain spots. I put super glue over the cracks which helps but it sort of shows up after it is painted.
For the second mannequin I used such an arrangement of pieces. I used a Fred head, Deluxe Kendra torso, hips, and upper legs, Illyria legs, one arm from the Daena figure, one arm from a Heroes figure--the cheerleader girl, and a piece of a shoulder from a Dawn figure. I used the selected arms because they were the right size, and position and I like how both hands/fingers work together. I did have to shave down the torso/chest of the deluxe figure to get a good sculpt of the mannequin's chest. I also have to shave a lot off the Heroes arm because it had a lot of extra junk on it. The hard part with this was getting the pieces glued and cutting enough away from the parts to make it look natural. The figure has a slight lean to it (to the left). Also nearing completion I saw both feet did not hit the ground. So I had to cut the leg and add some sculpy to get it to be the same. I was also going to keep this mannequin wearing the shoes but I decided since the other one was bare foot, this one should be, too. So off goes the shoes, and I sculpted on feet. It's not my best work because at this point I wanted to be done with the figure. It was a hard one!! Here are some picture of the parts, then with sculpy:
I sculpted the rest of the pants area over the legs. Then I sculpted her tank top. I sculpted around the arm which was very difficult. I had to try to hold all these pieces and at the same time to try to figure out how her arm should be aligned according to how it was in the picture. Then without moving much I had to super glue the joints. Once that dried, I sculpted the right arm first. This one didn't turn out too bad. The left was getting difficult to sculpt so I boiled the figure, took out the arm, sculpted it, then boiled it all again and while the plastic was soft, I put the arm back in. It was super difficult because if you move the tiny arm the clay would crack and if you put pressure on the figure, the clay would crack there. It worked out with minimal crackage (hee hee sounds like a low pants problem). I then did my best at sculpting around the rest of the arm but decided to not sculpt over her shoulder. I then sculpted the hair and I am so happy with how it turned out. It it true to the picture and it looks like it's blowing. Here are some pictures:
When it came time to paint it I was nervous it wouldn't look right. My other Echo figure I made looked good, but it wasn't painted the best...and I'm not great yet at painting faces. After I did my first eye I was stunned at how it looked, it's almost like a picture!! I started painting the second eye, when I took the picture below. For the life of me I just could not get it to work! But it is what it is and it's not too bad:
For the base I had an equally difficult time finding a picture of a few white mannequins with a white background. I did come across this picture and I liked it, so I went with it. I attached it to two base stands. I then covered the bottom with some shiny gray contact paper.
