First kit bash

Hahhahahahaha! Thank you! I’m thinking of somehow changing the number “38” on the rebreather to “13”. Maybe some black tape over the current number and then apply some stickers.

Parabellum wrote:Hahhahahahaha!  Thank you!  I’m thinking of somehow changing the number “38” on the rebreather to “13”.  Maybe some black tape over the current number and then apply some stickers.  

Sometimes black tape (like the black "chalkboard" tape they sell) works remarkably well for reversible alterations.

Great! Thx! Looking at vinyl stick on numbers right now.

They do all look great. It's like his back story before he became an agent. Very Cool.
You've been bitten by the Kit bash bug now.

AFM

So I decided to change the number on the front of his rebreather from “38” to “13” (well, he’s Golgo 13). I took a clean piece of electrical tape and cut it to fit over the original numbers then applied 1/2” vinyl stick on numbers. To get the “stencil look” on the number three I took a pencil and ruler and marked the spots on the “3”. Next I took and exacto knife and cut along both sides of the pencil markings. Because the numbers are vinyl I just used a pare of needle nose tweezers to straighten them out. The reason he’s holding the fins in his hand now is because the clip holding them on his belt broke. I kind of like it better, in this way you can see all his accessories.

Next was getting the dive knife on his leg. As I said before the straps where just too short. What I did was remove the buckles and lay the straps flat. I had some Velcro squares lying around so I measured the width of the straps and cut the Velcro accordingly. Next I glued the Velcro strips to the straps. Once the glue was dry I secured it to his leg and cut the excess. Came out better than I thought it would, lol.

One thing I did notice is these 1/6 wet suits are not durable. I had to handle him quite a bit getting the gear on him, also there is a lot of rubbing. I’m already noticing some wear on the shoulder. I’ll probably get another wet suit as a back up at some point but I’m good for now. Unless you look real close it isn’t noticeable. I’m done with him so he’ll be static for quite sometime.

Great job. The stenciling turned out great. Be careful with the right arm position— if the suit is that intolerant of touching, etc., keeping his arm bent like that too long could further damage the suit.

Thank you! I checked the tension on the suit with his arm bent and and it’s not pulling (but I will keep what you said in mind). I think when I was putting the buoyancy vest back on it must have rubbed the shoulder wrong. I had to remove it a few times to get the straps right.

I’m liking the added details, he looks even more awesome now!

And it is indeed frustrating how delicate some fabric can be. Is it actually tearing a bit, or is it just getting a bit ‘picked’ when you touch it? I realize that it might have been caused by another 1/6 object rubbing against it rather than your fingers, but one thing I do as a precaution when handling delicate fabric on figures is wear gloves — the sort of tight-fitting, latex-free medical type ones. I do this just because I have had instances of my nails scratching things or even just dry skin on my fingers catching on fabric. So I often wear those when handling, just in case.

It appears to be “picked” I guess. From what I can see the wet suit is made of two layers. Maybe a fabric base with the “Neoprene” over it. The base fabric is fine it’s the outer layer. I didn’t think of using gloves. Definitely for next time. Taking into account what Stryker2011 said about the arm bend causing stress I plan on periodically checking to made sure it doesn’t get any worse. Thank you everybody!

I’m not going to lie, this “kit bashing” is like crack, lol. I’m already planning several more characters. I might never buy a pre assembled figure again.....wait......that’s a lie.