My first Post!

Hi all, I'm new to the 1/6 world!

2 weeks ago I found one of these TBLeague bodies locally second hand (for cheap!) and I've been eyeing more and more stuff for them.

So I've got a couple of questions:

1) I got the S29B, but shoes & clothing I take it, are almost impossible to find that will fit her 'naturally' .
I had a S27B (that was the cheap one that got me hooked, which I turned into a admittedly crappy looking robot.) that I tried altering the feet so that they would fit on the S29B, but they're so loose now!
What I need to know is: can a plastic to metal ball joint be 'tightened up' in any way?

2)I got a NR Toys/Vicky Secret Windbreaker set, but I had to 'trim' (read: cut) the sleeves to be short enough to fit the S29 arms. I saved the bits with a buckle/strap & would like to sew them back on, but I know nothing about sewing.
Would old fashioned sewing or a machine be better?

3)Props. I need STUFF for my figures, specifically records. Does anyone sell cheap (priced) 1/6 scale props/furniture that's not in China?

4) Heads. Is the female head in the pics too small, or just the right size? Are there any non celebrity male heads that match the skin tone of the M31 in the pics? I cut up a Halbe Brahms bust to slip on the M31 body. I tried painting it several times, I can't paint (obviously).

I call the S29 - Leonie __I haven't chosen a surname yet__ : Dirndl Cop.

I'm waiting on a Mr. Bean head for the M31 body that I'll try to alter to fit it, I know it's wrong!

And the rusty robot is made from a S27 (and a tool) that was literally twisted all around in its Silicone flesh. I had to cut it apart to "fix" it.

Hi and welcome aboard. I have and S28A and what I can tell you is that the S28 and S29 will not fit everything thing out there because of the thicker waist and wider hips, but there is a lot out there nonetheless that it will fit. At least one TBLeague boxed set is based on it (Nancy in Hell) and these sometimes come up as parts on the Monkey Depot website.  If you don't know about Monkey Depot yet you need to check them out. (https://www.monkeydepot.com/) They are very reasonable in price, offer excellent service and Monday through Friday post their latest stock and parted out stuff between 6 and 8pm.  If you are new to this hobby, they can be worth checking out every night.

My S28B

TB League / Phicen by Gary  Menten, on Flickr

TB League / Phicen by Gary  Menten, on Flickr

Overall, they are not nearly so hard to fit for clothing as the smaller TBLeague figures such as the S24-27 Which took a lot of modification of the shorts for me to fit the figure in the pic below, included with others for size comparison.  

TB League Size Comparison by Gary  Menten, on Flickr


I also suggest you check out Ed's Toy Box on Flickr  https://www.flickr.com/photos/edwicks_toybox/

as far as shoes go, I basically use almost exclusively the lace-up type meant to fit an actual foot and not a ball joint. I have no issues fitting these on any TBLeague figures. Most of my figures in fact wear tall boots, which take bit of time and effort to put on and lace up, but the results have been quite good.

Head sculpts are trial and error, however if you look again Ed Wicks Flickr page, he seems to have had good luck fitting this one to the S28/29

https://giantoy.com/collections/female-head/products/pre-order-1-6-scale-ymtoys-ymt015-rui-female-head-sculpt-h-suntan

whereas the one I use on mine is:

https://www.ebay.ca/itm/1-6-Female-Head-Sculpt-Short-Hair-SDH002A-For-12-PHICEN-PALE-Figure/223138710270?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649



The S29B seems to be on of his favorite bodies just now and he has a lot of photos of it up there. To boot, Ed is very friendly and I've found will happily answer any questions you have about a figure, the clothing etc and will usually tell you where you can find it.

Also, there are several other members here with S28/29 bodies and I'm pretty sure you will be hearing from them soon.

Best regards,

Gary

Hey there and welcome! You are off to an interesting start for sure - man, it looks like a bizarre scene out of the show Black Mirror or The Twilight Zone, I love it! Did you really 'skin' the S27B to make the robot with googly eyes? It fits great in this scene honestly, haha! Also, that's lucky to find a good deal on a Phicen locally, even if the M31 doesn't have a great reputation. As for sewing the cuff back onto the jacket, me personally it gives hand cramps if I attempt sewing at this scale, so I usually fold in the 'cut' area of fabric and use fabric glue to attach it to other pieces and such.

Look forward to seeing what you come up with as you become more familiarized with the hobby and obtain more figures/accessories, whether by spending a fortune or using some innovation to make custom stuff.

Looking at your work, I don't think "Novice" does you justice. The robot absolutely steals the show and is my favorite here, although Lady Cop ain't bad either. I agree that the curves and proportions of the S29B body (or its pale twin S28A) can be a bit more challenging to clothe, but it shouldn't be impossible -- and I do think it is the most natural looking and best proportioned TBLeague body these days. Anyway, for a couple of shots, see posts 114 and 119 in this thread:
https://onesixthfigures.forumotion.com/t1381p82-new-product-tbleague-1-6-steel-bone-plastic-buxom-girl-body-s28a-pale-color-s29b-suntan-color#22829

M31, among other problems, is the darkest skinned of the "suntan" TBLeague male bodies, which might present an additional challenge to finding a perfect skin tone match with a head sculpt. Especially if you want a non-celebrity (I'd say, think of your scenes as scenes from a movie where an actor plays the part you have created). Anyway, some of the earlier Hot Toys head sculpts tended to be on the darker side (which might have been what caused TBLeague to go with this sort of "suntan" in the first place) and might fit. When I did my M31 review, I used an older HT Captain America head.

http://www.mwctoys.com/REVIEW-062916b.htm

Hope this helps a bit.

Hi and welcome,

I'm afraid I cant help with either of those two bodies as the only 'loose' ones I have, so far, are an S02 with seamless feet, a S24A which will be the basis of my elf character and a S25B which replaced the awful body which came with my Ciri figure.

My other 2 TBL girls are 'Ceres-no tomorrow' and 'Lady Dragon by Moonlight' which both came as sets, and I have no idea what their bodies are based on. (ideas folks?)

2 things to remember
1)enjoy yourself
and
2) watch your spend - it is so very easy to splurge especially with some of the ebay sellers inflating their prices.

Hi there, and welcome!

You are definitely off to a great start, and you seem to have a good knack for posing the tbleague figures already. And that's some creative temporary solutions to the lack of clothing and head issue, lol!

And yes, that robot/droid is too cute. I really like the 'meme face' Picard on the tv screen as well.

I cannot comment on the s29b as I unfortunately don't own that one yet [though I'd like to pick it up at some point, just haven't found a suitable project for it yet], but hopefully the links and info already provided should help.

Regarding the metal ball joints... I have 'enlarged' the metal ball peg on the necks of the petite bodies via wrapping them with several layers of plastic wrap/cling film. I don't know if this would work on other pegs, though.

You mentioned wanting records as props -- the person to speak to would be ReverendSpooky:

https://onesixthfigures.forumotion.com/t2649-chapter-1-the-lighthouse-post-apocalyptic-radio-station-from-the-world-of-the-radio-kings?highlight=radio+kings


Delanie -- I can't say for sure, but from a quick look I would say that the Keres No Tomorrow looks like an s21b-type, while the Lady Dragon by Moonlight looks like an s12d.

Welcome aboard. I like your first post. And some good questions. I can't help with the specific body questions, as I don't own (at least I don't think I do) the ones in question. There are a couple of techniques that you can use for the ball joint tightness (wrap electrical tape, or masking tape, around the ball joint; another one I've heard of but never tried specifically -- "paint" clear fingernail polish onto the ball joint, and let it dry before putting it into the socket of the foot). Good luck, and remember that to a large extent (if we can't answer your questions) is that this hobby is a lot of trial and error.

GubernatorFan wrote:... The robot absolutely steals the show and is my favorite here, although Lady Cop ain't bad either. ...

Right, he steals the show! You are very good at words, Gub, and deciphering symbolism! The robot steals the 'show', which is Star Trek on a pink TV. Very meta and clever!

Beautiful work on the googly bot.
I also find the steel skeletons to be very interesting, thought about it too to cut off some fleshy limbs and punch holes into the chest and place wires and cables there for a Cyborg look. But cutting of the complete skin, that's brave, I would never be able to do that, haha.

Also, the unspeakable man reminds me a bit of that restorated  Spanish Jesus.



And welcome!

Ahaha, good catch, Ovy! Both on GF's pun, and the Jesus....

Speaking of 'Jesus', that got me thinking about your Keanu, and how a bit of tibetan lamb hair can really make a dramatic difference in appearance.

So what I would suggest to the OP, is that if you struggle to find a male head that isn't a celebrity, consider giving him some real hair and dramatically changing his appearance that way, so he's not immediately recognizable and feels more like an original character. Check out some of Ovy's threads if not sure what I mean... :'D

Indeed hello welcome aboard and very cool photos, sorry I can't help you with the S29B body question, I don't think I have one but one one trick I like to use on tighten up metal ball joints is using plumbers tape/ Teflon tape to wrap around the ball joint.

Welcome aboard!


I don't know much about more modern bodies so I can't help you on that, as for props most of them come from china, if you feel up to the task you can search for barbie stuff online, buy them and then convert them from weird pink into more real items, alternatively 3d printing or making them yourself.

Additionally that's a cool droid figure.

There are threads that might address these points (modifying Barbie accessories, other useful items, including records) :

https://onesixthfigures.forumotion.com/t127-barbie-debarbiefied-continuously-updated

https://onesixthfigures.forumotion.com/t3-useful-items-for-sixth-scale-environments-continuously-updated

GubernatorFan wrote:There are threads that might address these points (modifying Barbie accessories, other useful items, including records) :

https://onesixthfigures.forumotion.com/t127-barbie-debarbiefied-continuously-updated

https://onesixthfigures.forumotion.com/t3-useful-items-for-sixth-scale-environments-continuously-updated

Thanks to all who commented.

I was a bit nervous about coming back here as I really felt embarrassed about the way I worded things..."My first post!" and all that. I was awake for 32 hours straight drinking coffee...Taking pics of these new tbleague figures I had just purchased...

And customizing that robot. The claws and feet are from two different TOKYObay robot clocks that broke on me and have been in a junk drawer for years. I soldered the feet on, and (after some painfully tense drilling) super glued the claws on. The three eyes are ball bearings, attached to the neck with parts from a third hand.

Anyway, I don't care about soldiers, or re-enacting old (or modern) wars in 1/6 scale.  I wouldn't have even bought the gun, but it came with the coat set.

I have started trying making stuff in photoshop for my figures. Record sleeves and I'm thinking of making of an I.D. badge for my figure 'Dirndl Detective' Leonie Abendschön.

I applied some clear nail polish to the ankles of the figure and it seemed to do the trick.

No need to feel embarrassed -- it was a great 'first post'! :'D

Creative work on the robot mod, and glad you found a fix for the ankles. : )

AlKelAstra91 wrote:Hey there and welcome! You are off to an interesting start for sure - man, it looks like a bizarre scene out of the show Black Mirror or The Twilight Zone, I love it! Did you really 'skin' the S27B to make the robot with googly eyes? It fits great in this scene honestly, haha! Also, that's lucky to find a good deal on a Phicen locally, even if the M31 doesn't have a great reputation. As for sewing the cuff back onto the jacket, me personally it gives hand cramps if I attempt sewing at this scale, so I usually fold in the 'cut' area of fabric and use fabric glue to attach it to other pieces and such.

Look forward to seeing what you come up with as you become more familiarized with the hobby and obtain more figures/accessories, whether by spending a fortune or using some innovation to make custom stuff.

Wha? M31 doesn't have a great reputation?

Why's that?

GubernatorFan wrote:Looking at your work, I don't think "Novice" does you justice. The robot absolutely steals the show and is my favorite here, although Lady Cop ain't bad either. I agree that the curves and proportions of the S29B body (or its pale twin S28A) can be a bit more challenging to clothe, but it shouldn't be impossible -- and I do think it is the most natural looking and best proportioned TBLeague body these days. Anyway, for a couple of shots, see posts 114 and 119 in this thread:
https://onesixthfigures.forumotion.com/t1381p82-new-product-tbleague-1-6-steel-bone-plastic-buxom-girl-body-s28a-pale-color-s29b-suntan-color#22829

M31, among other problems, is the darkest skinned of the "suntan" TBLeague male bodies, which might present an additional challenge to finding a perfect skin tone match with a head sculpt. Especially if you want a non-celebrity (I'd say, think of your scenes as scenes from a movie where an actor plays the part you have created). Anyway, some of the earlier Hot Toys head sculpts tended to be on the darker side (which might have been what caused TBLeague to go with this sort of "suntan" in the first place) and might fit. When I did my M31 review, I used an older HT Captain America head.


Hope this helps a bit.

Oh,that's why. Well I've got a head on the way that I'll try to alter to fit the M31 I've got (I think it's design for Hot Toys style bodies). And then I'll commission somebody to paint the head to match the body.

Ovy wrote:

GubernatorFan wrote:... The robot absolutely steals the show and is my favorite here, although Lady Cop ain't bad either. ...

Right, he steals the show! You are very good at words, Gub, and deciphering symbolism! The robot steals the 'show', which is Star Trek on a pink TV. Very meta and clever!

Beautiful work on the googly bot.
I also find the steel skeletons to be very interesting, thought about it too to cut off some fleshy limbs and punch holes into the chest and place wires and cables there for a Cyborg look. But cutting of the complete skin, that's brave, I would never be able to do that, haha.

Also, the unspeakable man reminds me a bit of that restorated  Spanish Jesus.

And welcome!

I'm laughing at that bit about the robot stealing the 'Star Trek' tv. That's exactly what I had in mind...Perhaps it's related to Futurama's Bender?

I tried the cyborg look originally, but it creeped me out too much.

The "unspeakable man" is Johannes Brahms, or a German bust of him that I cut up because I thought it might work as a stand in for a head...

1/6Novice wrote:Oh, that's why. Well I've got a head on the way that I'll try to alter to fit the M31 I've got (I think it's design for Hot Toys style bodies). And then I'll commission somebody to paint the head to match the body.

No, the skin tone wasn't that much of a problem (although some companies, now also including Hot Toys, make head sculpts paler than this body or even the subsequent ones) -- in fact the M31 "suntan" skin tone was an improvement on the paler, slightly greyish skin tone on M30 (which was off from most heads). The problems with the M31 body (I was a bit too kind to it in my review) include: poorly shaped front (it is as if they simply stretched their earlier mold to make a taller, slimmer body, but there should have been more to making a new sculpt), lack of completeness (a eunuch), and, worst of all, a tendency (which may or may not have been fixed in more recent batches) for the wrist pegs to come out of the lower arms (you could put them back in, but they could never be truly secure or keep a position well again -- also, while trying to fix them one is likely to damage the silicone "skin").

I should mention that TBLeague has called a whole variety of things "suntan." Among their female figures, there has been a fairly consistent "old suntan" and now a slightly paler "new suntan" (even for the newer releases of older models); most of us whole collect these miss and complain about the disappearance of the "old suntan" -- and indeed actual "tan." Among male figures, all but one (M36B) have been "suntan," but that changed in color from M30 (paler and greyish) to M31 (almost tan) to the later bodies (slightly lighter).

PS - You can click on the "Multi - Quote" buttons for each posts you intend to respond to, then click on "post reply," and add your responses in-between the quoted text in a single post. That is preferable for our system.

The mileage on the m31 may vary -- GubernatorFan loathes it with a fiery passion , while others here have used it for customs without too much issue. Probably depends on how much some of those various flaws it has matter to the individual customizer.

GubernatorFan wrote:

1/6Novice wrote:Oh, that's why. Well I've got a head on the way that I'll try to alter to fit the M31 I've got (I think it's design for Hot Toys style bodies). And then I'll commission somebody to paint the head to match the body.

No, the skin tone wasn't that much of a problem (although some companies, now also including Hot Toys, make head sculpts paler than this body or even the subsequent ones) -- in fact the M31 "suntan" skin tone was an improvement on the paler, slightly greyish skin tone on M30 (which was off from most heads). The problems with the M31 body (I was a bit too kind to it in my review) include: poorly shaped front (it is as if they simply stretched their earlier mold to make a taller, slimmer body, but there should have been more to making a new sculpt), lack of completeness (a eunuch), and, worst of all, a tendency (which may or may not have been fixed in more recent batches) for the wrist pegs to come out of the lower arms (you could put them back in, but they could never be truly secure or keep a position well again -- also, while trying to fix them one is likely to damage the silicone "skin").

I should mention that TBLeague has called a whole variety of things "suntan." Among their female figures, there has been a fairly consistent "old suntan" and now a slightly paler "new suntan" (even for the newer releases of older models); most of us whole collect these miss and complain about the disappearance of the "old suntan" -- and indeed actual "tan." Among male figures, all but one (M36B) have been "suntan," but that changed in color from M30 (paler and greyish) to M31 (almost tan) to the later bodies (slightly lighter).

Hmm. Is there any way to tell when one product was made? Package variations, barcode numbers etc. ?

I don't mind if mine is a eunuch, but mine came with 3 'units'. lol.

And my M31 hasn't had trouble with his (its?) wrists, perhaps I got lucky.

As for the color, it is a bit dark. But The Kumik Mr. Bean head I want to put on the body (after alteration) looks inappropriately dark as well. It looked like it might fit (color wise).

Good luck with the Mr. Bean head! Only time I've really seen it is on some of Ephiane's custom fantasy characters, and I can't recall for sure what colour is was, especially since I'm not sure if she repainted hers or not.

Colour-matching with factory-painted heads and bodies is always a bit of a toss up when it comes to customizing side of 1/6 hobby, sometimes even with heads that are supposedly made to go with specific bodies, lol. Of course, there are many head/body matches that are much better than others, but having to repaint and/or get heads repainted is not unheard of and is sometimes just the way it is if one really wants to use specific heads on certain bodies.

When it comes to barcode numbers, item numbers, and differences in skin tone, the short answer is: No. there is no way to know. The original dark what we call “Old Suntan” started with S07 -S12D. You can still buy these new, but unfortunately — while they are the exact same body shape and design, they have actually had a few different skin tone variations under the name “Suntan”. I will say, the Old Suntan is no longer available, and you can (maybe) only get the New Suntan, in whatever variations there may be (probably based on when they were produced) — and as I said, they don’t differentiate production date and color.

Keep in mind the S-numbers mentioned by Stryker are female body numbers. There used to be pale, suntan, and tan, now just pale and suntan (and on top of that the suntan has become paler than before). With the males it was different, as described above.

Your M31 came with attachable units (therefore not a eunuch) and there is no trouble with the wrists? Count yourself lucky. Then the only problem remaining is the body sculpt (I also just remembered the elbow -- or one of them -- ends up looking like a bent noodle because of the lack of proper sculpting). The silver lining is that if you plan on clothing it, this is one of the easiest TBLeague seamless male bodies to get into most types of sixth-scale clothing. I used one of my M31 bodies for experimentation (eventually skinning it to explore the stainless steel skeleton within), and two for fully clothed figures (and am currently testing paints on it, like I eventually did with the skinned flesh).