Normally, I build mecha. For those who haven't read my
introduction to this genre of kits, mecha are Japanese sci-fi war machines: usually space battleships, fighter planes and giant robots with big guns.
One of my favourite features of some mech kits is that they come with little figures of their pilots. For whatever reason,
I quite enjoy painting up the little beggars. They're usually in 1/24 scale, so they're not as bad as painting figures
for a 1/72 diorama (which is not my favourite pastime).
It would be nice, I figured, if I could have a good-sized figure
kit. I know that you can buy well sculpted, pre-made anime statues (I have several), but I really wanted to do something
with my own hands. Unfortunately, figure kits are often resin cast garage kits, which means that they are fragile, expensive
and really, really hard to find. Thankfully, I found out that there is a way to get a few types of anime figure
kits for next to nothing, and that is to buy bootleg toys at your favourite Dollar store, or pick them up at garage sales!
If
an anime is really successful in North America, it isn't long before a plethora of knock-off toys begin appearing on store
pegs everywhere. Sometimes these toys are so badly coloured and sloppily painted that they're not worth having.
That is, of course, unless you know how to improve on them, which of course means busting out all the normal modelling equipment.
With a little skill and some patience, you can often turn a horridly disfigured mess into something that you would actually
like to display!
To prove this, all that is necessary is to consider this test case: this "Planet Girl" toy I picked
up at a garage sale. (I don't know how these companies escape libel, I really don't...) Sometimes things just
cry out to me, and this was one of those instances. I came across what I supposed was a figure of Sailor Mars, from
the anime series Sailor Moon (which still runs 4 or 5 times a day on YTV). As you can see from the picture, the likeness
is just enough to trick consumers, but not enough to create a good replica. My enthusiasm for the figure increased when
I determined I could create what would be a darned good looking figure kit for next to no capital outlay. So, I paid
the lady the dime she wanted for it, and took it home to start work right away.
As far as construction skills, this
'kit' required almost no work at all, except for some sanding to remove the rather pronounced seam lines. Seeing as
the plastic that she was made out of was fairly soft, it didn't take long to get things smoothed out. The only real
need for originality came in dealing with her feet. Mars' characteristic high heels were indeed molded in, but the open
space between the heel and the rest of the shoe was filled with plastic. However, a bit of cutting and some careful
sanding, and the problem was easily corrected. In a strange twist of fate, it turned out that she could even stand on her
own after the alteration, something she couldn't do before, despite the extra material in her feet!
As far as painting
is concerned, this 'kit' is a dream. I simply took her apart at the arms, waist and removed the back of her hair.
Other than the hair, everything got painted white first, and then I painted on the flesh using Testors oil flesh ( the type
in the 7mL bottle) and the red using Model Master acrylic Guards Red. The white was an adjusted version of Model Master
Flat White acrylic, and the purple for her bow was a mix of Tamiya X-16 purple acrylic, some MM Light Grey and a hint of Amtrak
Blue from Badger.
To finish the job, I coated the entire figure in thinned Testors acrylic Satin Coat. It may
not be quite 'real' looking, but it does give a nice effect. Also, Satin and Gloss Coats work best on smooth, round
surfaces, like this figure's appendages and body, while Flat Coat doesn't work very well at all on anything. Since anime
people are often drawn shiny, it doesn't really look out of place, either. Unfortunately, Testors clear coats are worth
less than the proverbial plugged nickel, so I have to keep Mars under glass to prevent massive discolouration.
If you
compare the original and the finished project, then you can see just what a difference the painting and finishing have made.
The colours have all been corrected (Mars' skirt is now red, not brown-maroon), and the boundaries between the different
colours are actually uniform! However, there was still something missing: the face!
The original figure has a
face that could stop a clock, and indeed I was checking to make sure my watch was running when I picked her up. I mean,
seriously. Look at the eyes!! Who ever saw Mars with eyes that dopey, let alone that pink?! Of course, after
painting, there was no face at all. Most figures don't have eyes molded on them, and Mars was no exception. Thus,
I first had to draw the eyebrows and the upper and lower bounds of the eyes FREEHAND using my trusty Gundammarker. I
then painted in the white of the eyeball, and put in the colour of the iris. The key was to get the upper and lower
lines on the eyes just right, and as symmetric as possible. Touching up the eyes was the most difficult part of all,
and it required a steady hand and a very sharp knife. The mouth is done similarly, with the top line drawn first, and
then the pink painted in afterwards. I put a single coat of white over the pink, just to wash it out a bit.
So,
there you have it. As you can see, I took something that is really only worthy of BB gun target practice and made it
look pretty darn nice (if I do say so myself), all in the span of a couple of days. Of course, there are a lot better figure
kits (our own Dave Guertin has some nice ones) out there, but there's something perverse in me that makes me want to do the
best job possible on the worst kits available. Believe me, if you've ever handled one of these knock-off toys, they
don't get much worse...
