Win C Freddie Mercury Custom (updated with Part III: body upgrade)

For Part II: comparison photos added in Post 11; For Part III: transfer to M31 in Post 21.

Part I: selection of items from the two sets on M32

At the risk of causing outrage, I confess that I am not a huge Queen fan. I like many of their songs, but that is about it. Nevertheless, I am fascinated by sixth-scale renditions of real people, whether historical or modern, so when I saw the Win C Freddie sets parted out, I picked up a few (a lot) of the pieces. I would not have bought either of them as sets, because the singing head that came with what I considered to be the more iconic look appeared too cartoonish to me and, again, I was not so invested in this anyway.

So here are the pieces, put on a TBLeague M32 body (Win C recommended using M31, but some of you already know exactly how much -- or how little -- I like that abomination). The outfit is the one from the Live Aid concert set, the head is from the Wembley Stadium set. The microphones are not from either set. Two things stand out as being a little off (apart from the more muscular physique of the M32 body): the jeans are not bluish enough and, while they got a lot right, there is something off with the head. A little of that is with the hairline, including the part over the center of the forehead, but I also think they gave him exaggerated and pale bags under the eyes. And not enough eyeliner, and eyeliner was key to Freddie Mercury's look, as pointed out by the really talented kid in the YouTube video linked at the end. In the first set, I tried to improve the look by trying to simulate the profuse sweating on the head with some water.













The head kept bothering me, so I tried to fix it a little by using the art pencils technique for improving head sculpts I once saw advertised in a YouTube video by Jazz Inc. I added a little here and there to the hairline (although I could do nothing about the sculpted part over the forehead), and a lot of eyeliner around the eyes. I cannot really tell whether this helped, but I hope it did.



















As always, what do you think?



In the interest of completeness, I should point out that Hegemony77 made their own version of the Live Aid outfit too. And you can see a cool and much earlier custom figure with the same look by BusinessDog here: https://onesixthfigures.forumotion.com/t1089-1-6-freddie-mercury-live-aid-85-custom-figure

At least one of the sets is still available on Monkey Depot, and presumably you can find both online.
https://www.monkeydepot.com/Accessory_Set_Win_C_Studio_Freddie_Costume_Set_W_p/wcsb0001.htm

For Part II: comparison photos added in Post 11; for Part III: transfer to M31 in Post 21.

#winc #music #rock #queen #freddiemercury #kitbash

I am an absolute fan of Fredy Mercury and Queen. Great pictures of him and a video to round off the mood, although I prefer the one of the Muppets.

What a great looking figure! and designed on his legendary live aid performance? Great addition!

Nice custom take on the legend, and for linking to that figure made by BusinessDog. Still blows me away what they did with the M31 and that added body hair. What was your method for applying the chest hair, or does it just involve letting the skin get 'sticky' enough hair clings to it? Maybe that hairy wolverine body would've worked well for this custom too.

Also makes me wonder what a Rami Malek headsculpt would look liked based on his portrayal in the film...hmm...

Also not a big Queen fan but like some of their songs. This is probably the same with all other bands I know. I can't say I'm a diehard fan of any band out there, I just like songs. Some bands have more songs I like some have less to none. Thats it.

I think you got the better head, the other one is too cartoonish indeed. Still, not the very best likeliness but recognizeable at least. Your makeup did improve it, but if you hadn't told me, I wouldn't have notice while scrolling through the pics. Needed to put two pics next to each other

Gizems nice Kittens wrote:I am an absolute fan of Fredy Mercury and Queen. Great pictures of him and a video to round off the mood, although I prefer the one of the Muppets.

In that case I'm really happy I did not cause outrage and you like the figure.

BAMComix wrote:What a great looking figure! and designed on his legendary live aid performance? Great addition!

Thank you very much, glad you liked it.

AlKelAstra91 wrote:Nice custom take on the legend, and for linking to that figure made by BusinessDog. Still blows me away what they did with the M31 and that added body hair. What was your method for applying the chest hair, or does it just involve letting the skin get 'sticky' enough hair clings to it? Maybe that hairy wolverine body would've worked well for this custom too.

Also makes me wonder what a Rami Malek headsculpt would look liked based on his portrayal in the film...hmm...

Thank you kindly. I actually did come across an M31 body since I first put this together, but anticipated the usual heinous issue with the wrist peg so couldn't bring myself to kit that up for the second set of photos. Yes, BusinessDog's body hair was more impressive (though possibly over the top for the specific look -- I did do a bit of research), and let's not forget that he was doing this largely from scratch with kitbashed or custom pieces, including a Peter the Painter head. And yes, I got the skin sticky in the right areas and brushed some short hairs onto it. Not ideal, but easy enough to clean up later. Probably should have used a little more of it. Didn't think of the ADD toys body. I wonder if Rami Malek playing the role in the movie did not inspire the extra large bags under the eyes.

Valiarde wrote:I think you got the better head, the other one is too cartoonish indeed. Still, not the very best likeliness but recognizeable at least. Your makeup did improve it, but if you hadn't told me, I wouldn't have notice while scrolling through the pics. Needed to put two pics next to each other

Thank you, I'm glad we agree (not that we have to) about the heads. I think so too (recognizable) and am glad you found the more emphatic makeup an improvement. I should have done a before and after identical shot. Maybe I'll look through the photos and see if there are some that would lend themselves to this after the fact. But yes, the difference is somewhat subtle, especially given the light and shadows.

I'm a fan of Queen, and this is at least immediately recognisable! It may not be totally accurate, but for a mass produced set, it seems like a place to start. I like your solution for the chest hair. :'D

That looks really good to me. I can see him in that sculpt and it´s a 90 % skin tone match. And Yes... i´m with You there´s something with the eyes that is not 100 % Freddy. I like Queen that for to give people all around the world a great feeling by listen to their music.

no outrage on my part for i'm not into any kind of music at all, at least nothing i could name a title or performer of. it's great that there's a market for those kinda figures as well, in the end it only helps improve quality overall and be it only for getting spare parts for a kitbash.

the headsculpt, it seems to me ( especially from a certain side ankle, sixth picture from above ), carries a resemblance to jude law, something about the upper part till the cheek bones end.

skywalkersaga wrote:I'm a fan of Queen, and this is at least immediately recognisable! It may not be totally accurate, but for a mass produced set, it seems like a place to start. I like your solution for the chest hair. :'D

Thank you, I thought so too (recognizable if not spot on). As for my solution, it's practical but once again not spot on. I suppose that way the figure would be consistent.

Ephiane wrote:That looks really good to me. I can see him in that sculpt and it´s a 90 % skin tone match. And Yes... i´m with You there´s something with the eyes that is not 100 % Freddy. I like Queen that for to give people all around the world a great feeling by listen to their music.

Thank you very much. I agree about the head sculpt, the skin tone match is close but imperfect, as is, in fact, the likeness.

Tjolnir wrote:no outrage on my part for i'm not into any kind of music at all, at least nothing i could name a title or performer of. it's great that there's a market for those kinda figures as well, in the end it only helps improve quality overall and be it only for getting spare parts for a kitbash. The headsculpt, it seems to me ( especially from a certain side ankle, sixth picture from above ), carries a resemblance to jude law, something about the upper part till the cheek bones end.

Exactly, one can find all sorts of useful things in pretty much any sets, regardless of subject matter.

Part II: Comparison Photos for the partial head modification

Disclaimer: I messed up, as usual, by hurrying up and making modifications without having planned out a proper, comparable, clearly informative comparison photo (or two or three). Unfortunately, the light and shadow in the most comparable photos that I have available significantly minimize the visibility of what has changed with the addition of more eyeliner and touching up the hairline. Moreover, when hit directly by light, the black graphite can reflect it, appearing light in color. So here goes nothing. Wish I had planned better. And I've already repeated the same mistake with a different head. Like I just wrote elsewhere, patience is not one of my many virtues... alas!





Part III: transfer to M31 in Post 21.

Despite not showing his teeth (a trademark so to speak), that is a pretty good likeness of Freddie. Really cool grab, Ian. Not sure how I feel about the body per se, since he was even leaner than the body you've chosen, but then, that's about as thin as we've seen to date. Overall, a really good looking figure.

Stryker2011 wrote:Despite not showing his teeth (a trademark so to speak), that is a pretty good likeness of Freddie. Really cool grab, Ian. Not sure how I feel about the body per se, since he was even leaner than the body you've chosen, but then, that's about as thin as we've seen to date. Overall, a really good looking figure.

Thank you very much. We must have been posting at the same time. I did not know about the teeth. That said, even if I had known, the toothy head sculpt that came with the Live Aid set looked too cartoonish to me to pick up. I agree with you, the body is wrong, except insofar as it is a slim one. Maybe I will try it out on an M31 after all. (I've got nothing better to do with it, do I? LOL) Realizing that my photos do not happen to be particularly revealing in this respect, do you think I managed to improve the likeness a little bit? You have an eye for such things.

I think what you've done is a definite improvement.

Thanks for taking your time and motivation to present us these direct comparison pics!
Especially on the first one I can see a good improvement - looks much more like him for sure.

Stryker2011 wrote:I think what you've done is a definite improvement.

Valiarde wrote:Thanks for taking your time and motivation to present us these direct comparison pics!
Especially on the first one I can see a good improvement - looks much more like him for sure.

Thank you both very much. I was hoping I hadn't made it worse, but a little better, yet the differences were pretty subtle between the photos.

It is subtle, but the eyes really stand out better after the improvements.

Stryker2011 wrote:It is subtle, but the eyes really stand out better after the improvements.

Thank you very much for the reassurance. You have a better eye for such details than I. You mentioned you like Western stuff, and the next thing I show is, perhaps in a remote sort of way, Western. But given how little Western gear I actually have to go with it, you will probably be disappointed. Now that I've set expectations low, maybe less so than otherwise...

I too wouldn't call myself a Queen fan, or a fan of any band or musician for that matter, I listen to songs of just about anything really (and I do mean just about anything).

That said I think it's a great set, there's something in the head I can't point to but its' still recognizable, the eyeliner and other tricks do improve it quite nicely. The body is a too bulky but we gotta work with what we have, I think it's about time they start producing some skinnier bodies.

Theboo-bomb wrote:That said I think it's a great set, there's something in the head I can't point to but its' still recognizable, the eyeliner and other tricks do improve it quite nicely. The body is a too bulky but we gotta work with what we have, I think it's about time they start producing some skinnier bodies.

Thank you very much! Between you and Mark (Stryker), I've been convinced to switch it over to the recommended M31. But I agree, they should revisit this among other things, and make one that works better and looks better (without being a model).

Part III transfer to M31

Ok, you asked for it, so here it is: "upgraded" (or "downgraded") to M31. I agree, this body is more appropriate for Freddie Mercury. The clothes fit better (i.e., more accurately compared to actual photos from the Live Aid concert) on it, except that I found it harder to get the pants on than on the M32. I still need to pull them up a little further, if possible. But I think I'm pretty much done tinkering with this. What do you think?

Much better. I would say, lift his shoulders a smidge — just a smidge — to give the body a bit more “natural” look. Otherwise, the physique is better suited.

Stryker2011 wrote:Much better. I would say, lift his shoulders a smidge — just a smidge — to give the body a bit more “natural” look. Otherwise, the physique is better suited.

Thank you very much Mark, I trust your eye better than mine. Interesting suggestion. Usually we try to compensate for TBLeague's overly broad shoulders by lowering them as much as possible. I'll check it out.