Medieval Timeline upgrade modification - Sun Mar 06, 2022 12:26 pm
This is a combination of modifications, applied to what was originally a nearly 20-year old set by Dragon, Chris Johnston (Paul Walker) from Timeline (2003). The old Dragon set was probably nice for its time, although it is not quite on a par with more modern action figures in this scale, which have more realistic likeness and better articulation, and usually come with more accessories. Timeline was a pretty good film, and has been held up as the right way to do historical fiction (if you are going to be making up things, do that to made up historical settings and characters rather than distorting actual ones). I am somewhat surprised that it got this much attention in sixth scale, but glad it did. I just wish I had picked up more of these sets when they were more readily available. I finally got this one a few weeks ago, and decided to see what would happen if it were transferred to a better body and given a better head. (By the way, see those knots with a single loop? If anyone has a link to an image explaining how to tie them, please send it along. Thanks in advance.)
The body swap was easy enough, as the relatively loose clothing fit on a TBLeague M33. The boots presented a problem as they would not readily come off the Dragon body, restricted ankle articulation, and might not have fit easily on other feet (whether TBLeague or not). I went with the two-part molded ThreeZero boots from one of their Game of Thrones figures (Jon Snow?) at first. They worked great. The head was a bigger challenge. Ever since his untimely demise, Paul Walker has been rendered in sixth scale repeatedly, not always very successfully, but invariably in reference to his part in the Fast and Furious franchise. These all portray a more mature Paul Walker, with a shorter and neater hair, and more stubble. I ended up going with a GAC Toys head (or a knockoff of it), slightly repainting to make it match the TBLeague suntan skin tone and soften the stubble (in retrospect I may have overdone that, as Paul's character in Timeline does have a visible stubble). Of course, the big hurdle was the hair. I went from this (already repainted)...
to this mess...
to this (finished, apart from minor futzing).
There was no way I was going to be able to replicate the messy slightly curly hair in the film with real hair entirely accurately, but I decided it was close enough (it was not perfectly replicated with Dragon's sculpted hair either). The color is a little on the light side, but my next darker option was too warm a brown to work well. So I went with it. Here is the upgraded figure.
Overall, I was pleased with the poseability and stability of the figure, and the look seems ok. I ended up making one more change, from the ThreeZero boots to medieval/fantasy leather shoes from a POP or maybe CM set, as something more appropriate for someone dressed like a medieval peasant to wear. I think they are better for this purpose, although much less stable, as they curve up at the front. Here they are, although they are not very visible...
I doubt it is perfect or that I could improve much on it at present, but it is a nice example of the potential of so many of these old sets.
As always, what do you think?
#timeline #medieval #fiction #chrisjohnston #paulwalker #dragon #gactoys #tbleague #custom #kitbash #modification #hair
The body swap was easy enough, as the relatively loose clothing fit on a TBLeague M33. The boots presented a problem as they would not readily come off the Dragon body, restricted ankle articulation, and might not have fit easily on other feet (whether TBLeague or not). I went with the two-part molded ThreeZero boots from one of their Game of Thrones figures (Jon Snow?) at first. They worked great. The head was a bigger challenge. Ever since his untimely demise, Paul Walker has been rendered in sixth scale repeatedly, not always very successfully, but invariably in reference to his part in the Fast and Furious franchise. These all portray a more mature Paul Walker, with a shorter and neater hair, and more stubble. I ended up going with a GAC Toys head (or a knockoff of it), slightly repainting to make it match the TBLeague suntan skin tone and soften the stubble (in retrospect I may have overdone that, as Paul's character in Timeline does have a visible stubble). Of course, the big hurdle was the hair. I went from this (already repainted)...
to this mess...
to this (finished, apart from minor futzing).
There was no way I was going to be able to replicate the messy slightly curly hair in the film with real hair entirely accurately, but I decided it was close enough (it was not perfectly replicated with Dragon's sculpted hair either). The color is a little on the light side, but my next darker option was too warm a brown to work well. So I went with it. Here is the upgraded figure.
Overall, I was pleased with the poseability and stability of the figure, and the look seems ok. I ended up making one more change, from the ThreeZero boots to medieval/fantasy leather shoes from a POP or maybe CM set, as something more appropriate for someone dressed like a medieval peasant to wear. I think they are better for this purpose, although much less stable, as they curve up at the front. Here they are, although they are not very visible...
I doubt it is perfect or that I could improve much on it at present, but it is a nice example of the potential of so many of these old sets.
As always, what do you think?
#timeline #medieval #fiction #chrisjohnston #paulwalker #dragon #gactoys #tbleague #custom #kitbash #modification #hair
