Head sculpt kit bash (with updates)

Hello all, today I was able to do my first "kit bash", and wanted to share the three photos I took.  It was sort of cheating, since I'm not sure that "bashing a head" actually counts.

While I'm waiting on my S22A body to arrive, I decided to snap a few shots of my SDH018A head with scavenged gear.  My ex just sent me a box containing the five 1/6 figures I collected many years ago.  Since I'm getting into the hobby, I figured they would be a great (ie: free) source of gear and clothing for my new gal, at least until the more hand-selected kit I ordered for her arrives.  

Please forgive the photos; I normally don't do extreme post process editing, but since these were crappy cell phone pics, I had to do something.  

So without further ado, here is Arcata (or her head at any rate), modelling an HGU-55/P flight helmet and an MBU-12/P oxygen mask:  

(As a side note; her callsign visible in the third photo seems accidentally appropriate)







***Updated photos in post #7***

She looks nice! It made me imagine her in a spacesuit, she'd fit well in the Alien Isolation story

Adeno wrote:She looks nice! It made me imagine her in a spacesuit, she'd fit well in the Alien Isolation story

Thanks Adeno! And you're not wrong.

When I sent my ex the photo she made the observation that I should have taken the pictures outside, so the sky would be reflected in her visor instead of a bedroom. She's right, of course.

Looking great so far! though it is difficult to imagine the rest of the bash. I do feel your off to a great start! Looking forward too seeing her progress.

Judging by the length of her hair, it looks as if you have used the same head as a character I named Dakota .

Looks good. That’s a cool pilot helmet.

Thanks Stryker and BAM, I appreciate it!

BAMComix wrote:Looking great so far! though it is difficult to imagine the rest of the bash. I do feel your off to a great start! Looking forward too seeing her progress.

Judging by the length of her hair, it looks as if you have used the same head as a character I named Dakota .

I believe you're correct. I've been making my way through some of your story series (which I'm loving, by the way).

I agree, the helmet is great, even if external photography would have helped the reflections in it. There is also something to be said for it fitting the head properly, which is not always the case.

Thanks Ian, and I agree, I was very pleased to see how well it fit her.


Things are slowly but surely arriving, which means I'll start being able to do some proper kit bashes.  The first thing I noticed is the size of the BBi male clothing, when on the Phicen female figures.  It's close enough that I think I'll be able to make a lot of it work, but some will take some doing.

Arcata would have preferred a more custom tailored combat shirt...



My first body was the S23B, which I really like, but didn't match the skin tone of my SDH018A head.  To rectify that, I ordered an S24A, and the color match is nearly perfect.  Unfortunately, since the clothes are already large for the "standard" height Phicen bodies, they are unusable for the S24A, which is unfortunate, because I honestly prefer the body design on the 24A over any others I've seen.  The proportions look more realistic, at least to me, than on the other bodies.  Phicen, if you're listening, please make a full-size S24A body.  Haha

Here Arcata shows us the difference in body heights.  L-R: S32A, S24A, S23B



The second thing I noticed is the color variation.  Even for a colorblind person like myself, I can see a clear difference in skin tone between the new S32A that just arrived and the S24A.  This surprised me because they are both newer models (in my understanding), and both use the "pale" skin color.  The S32A is considerably lighter than the S24A.  Either would work with the SDH018 head sculpts, but the 24A color is a closer match, for sure.  I realize in the above photo there is not enough skin showing on the S32A to demonstrate what I mean, so I'm including one more photo without the shirt on.  This is the S32A:


Another thing of note was that the SDH018 head appeared to be acceptable in proportions to either the full size bodies or the S24A. I was worried that it might be too large on the 24A, and that ended up not being the case, it looks quite natural on both. Of course it didn't attach to the S24A due to the 7mm ball joint in the neck, but I have some 7mm head adapters on order from ebay.

My final observation, and this is meaningless unless you want your figure completely topless, but the S24A appears (at least in my vision) to be the only of the three that has a colored pigment for the nipples (photo not included haha).  

Thanks for looking, and more photos will likely follow...

I think the clothing (and especially clothing of this type) works pretty well on the figure as you have it. It will probably work about the same on the S22A, which should be a better color match. Or the S20A, as we discussed elsewhere. And with this type of clothing, I find this head less problematic, personally. As for differences in skin tone, check carefully the catalog thread -- Phicen / TBLeague has made a mess of numbering conventions. For a while, the addition of A meant pale and B meant "suntan," but now they give A to every body that comes without a head, and you have to rely solely on the numbers to tell the difference between pale and "suntan" in the product labeling -- besides, some bodies come in only pale.

Arcata wrote:Thanks Stryker and BAM, I appreciate it!

BAMComix wrote:Looking great so far! though it is difficult to imagine the rest of the bash. I do feel your off to a great start! Looking forward too seeing her progress.

Judging by the length of her hair, it looks as if you have used the same head as a character I named Dakota .

I believe you're correct.  I've been making my way through some of your story series (which I'm loving, by the way).  

Thank you

Beautiful helmet, you chose the best pic for your avatar. Black and White was a great idea

I think s16a/s17b might be a good compromise between 24 and 20-23.

Thanks Ovy! I'm not sure why I decided to try it as a B&W, but I'm glad I did. It turned out to be by far my favorite, I'm glad you liked it too.

GubernatorFan wrote:I think the clothing (and especially clothing of this type) works pretty well on the figure as you have it. It will probably work about the same on the S22A, which should be a better color match. Or the S20A, as we discussed elsewhere...

My 22A should be arriving this evening, and I'll finally get started making the whole outfit...the first one...I have many planned...mwuahaha (diabolical laugh). After seeing my 23B, 24A and 32A, I've now decided the 22 and 23 are the ones I'm going to stick with. It's not that I prefer their proportions over the others, it's the level of detail, from forearms to ribs, to triceps, to shoulder blades, etc. I think TB League could put that same level of detail into all of their newer models, without necessarily making them all fitness models. That said, I do believe I'll be picking up a 20A/21B sometime down the road, as I'd like to have a slightly less muscular figure for some stuff. My 32A is going to my ex. I promised her I'd get her one, and frankly, it's the one I like the least (and she likes it).

Last night I added all the attachments to my Easy and Simple M4 carbine. I still plan to do some personal weathering to it, but it made me realize, working on those tiny parts is much easier once I take my contacts out...even easier than with reading glasses.

Portrait looks good with the visor on.

ukshaun wrote:Portrait looks good with the visor on.

Thanks, I appreciate it!

OK, so here are some comparison photos again.  I know there are a number of far better comparison references than this one, but I'm including these to share my own opinion on the skin colors.  Three of these are "pale", and one is "new suntan".  As I mentioned earlier, what strikes me as the most odd is the variation in color among the more modern "pale" figures.  L-R, they are the S32A, S22A, S23B, and S24A.  The S22A (with the SDH018A head) is the lightest of the 3 pale figures.  The S32A is next, and the S24A is the darkest of the "pales".  In my opinion, the S24A is the closest match in color to the SDH018 head sculpt.  My S23B has always seemed exceptionally dark to me, even before I had a pale body to compare it to.  In photos online, including other folk's comparison shots, the new suntan models like the S23B look almost indistinguishable in some lighting from the pale bodies.  I understand that lighting can greatly alter the appearance of color, but with my figures, there is no way my S23B could ever be confused for something other than suntan.  If the original suntan was darker than this, which by all accounts it was, it must have been straight up African American.  I hope nobody gets the wrong idea, I don't mind darker skin tones in the least, in fact I quite like my S23B for some kit bash ideas, I'm just making an observation.    




I think this next photo shows the difference in colors even better.



Of the body types, S24A is my personal favorite, but too small.  I very much like the 22/23, and my least favorite by far is the S32A.  In the side facing photo above, one of the things I dislike about the S32A is the width (front to back) of the thigh to the buttocks.  Compared to the S22A next to it, the rear end seems excessively large, which is saying a lot, considering the size of the butt on the 22/23.  Again, just my own personal preference.  My final observation is not visible in these photos, and again it only matters if folks plan to take risqué photos, the S32A has more developed and erect nipples than the other three, and the S24A is the only one with pigment on the nipples.  My figures will be more covered than that, so for me it's a non-issue.  I won't be keeping the S32A, I'm sending it to my ex, who will be clothing it with a kit of SAR gear left over from an old model.  And Ian, I think I am going to pick up an S20A or S21B one of these days, but now that I have my first body complete (S22A and SDH018), I'm in no rush.

Now that I have my body complete, I'll be adding some kit bashed photos shortly.  

Yes, lighting can make a huge difference, and your photos demonstrate that. But in most lighting I've had, the difference between TBLeague's pale and "suntan" (and there have been some variations within that), have been fairly small, usually.

1 or 4 will probably work best.
2 (with the portrait) looks too square shouldered.
3 looks too tanned for the portrait.