Gubernator's Various Photos, Kitbashes, and Customs (new update 5 May 2024)

davidd wrote:

GubernatorFan wrote: ... and I used to have a self-made beach tiki bar (or whatever it is called -- it perished during the great migration...

I, too, had a Great Migration and had to forfeit a lot of things. That was eight years ago now, and I still haven't managed to fully re-organize!  I would love to see you reconstruct your beach bar.

Yeah, it is a pain letting go of "nonessential" things during a move. I gave up my dinosaurs and my real mini brick wall, too. Also gave some figures I was upgrading to friends, although those are not really a loss. As for the bar, technically it got damaged (I literally sat on it while packing) and I got irritated enough to just toss it rarther than keep it for repairs -- there were just so many other things to do and worry about. I don't know if I will get around to reconstructing the beach bar, but in principle, I'd like to. I don't think you've seen this thread, but you can see it in some of the photos HERE. Hope you like it (and the other goofery).

13. Fruit of the Strawberry Tree

A minor installment this time. (Perhaps the others are still hung over from last time.)
They were literally getting to the point of being too ripe to keep, so I wanted to snap a photo or two. Which is exactly what I did. And accidentally discovered an ancient Shinto rite, it seems...

Very cute. The berries seem to work great with her outfit.

That's some huge berries.
No wonder she looks surprised

Stryker2012 wrote:Very cute. The berries seem to work great with her outfit.

Thank you, I'm glad you liked her (I think you have the same geisha outfit, no?). Yeah, the berries just begged to be used with her and the red-painted woodwork.

Visisonor wrote:That's some huge berries.
No wonder she looks surprised

They are indeed. That's why I picked them up: I've always noticed them and loved their waxy appearance, but I had never seen them quite so big. Tried to keep them alive like flowers in water, but they were too ripe and fell off their stems. Then they got increasingly softer, and I knew I had to throw them out before they make a mess. So, I figured, why not take a pic, and since I was taking one, why not surprise her with them...

Nice set up and pics, Ian!

I'm glad randam inspired more random pic threads on this board, as I like looking at cool scenes from collections.

Without reading the text I wouldn't have identified that she is holding real berries. Looks  bit like velvet.

Nice figure and head

BAMComix wrote:Nice set up and pics, Ian!

Thank you very much, glad you liked them.

Valiarde wrote:I'm glad randam inspired more random pic threads on this board, as I like looking at cool scenes from collections.

Without reading the text I wouldn't have identified that she is holding real berries. Looks  bit like velvet.

Nice figure and head

Yeah, he was the trend-setter. Sometimes it makes more sense to keep things together in one place than start a whole separate thread, unless that one would contain a substantial amount of its own stuff.

Oh yes, totally real. The waxen/velvet look is why I picked them up in the first place. I wish I had figured out a way to preserve them.

And glad you liked her. It's the Super Duck Geisha set (SET052), on an S27B body.

Hah! How very inspired!

I really like the shade of red and the slightly tarnished brass hardware of the screen backdrop. Is that a piece you constructed?

The texture of the plank floor looks fantastic as well. Please oh please don't say that it's printed scrapbooking paper. I'm becoming increasingly frustrated by my own inability to tell the difference between a 2D print and a 3D construct... which I suppose speaks well to the level of action figure photography on this forum.

Diana wrote:Hah! How very inspired!

Thank you very much, glad you liked it.

davidd wrote:I really like the shade of red and the slightly tarnished brass hardware of the screen backdrop. Is that a piece you constructed?

The texture of the plank floor looks fantastic as well. Please oh please don't say that it's printed scrapbooking paper. I'm becoming increasingly frustrated by my own inability to tell the difference between a 2D print and a 3D construct... which I suppose speaks well to the level of action figure photography on this forum.

Thank you, Dave, I'm glad you liked it. For once (seems like in a long time) this is not screen projected or printed stuff. Indeed, it is a piece I constructed (wood, glue, tracing paper, glass, magnets, and acrylics), for something else that I will showcase soon, hopefully. I did want the wood texture (grain?) to show through and glad it did. The red is a mix of Amaranth Red and Dark Vermillion by Vallejo -- I was going for that special Japanese red color. The brass hardware is actually painted glass and magnets (which were simply the right size for what I needed), and it is attached in a way that makes it removable without damage to itself or the painted wood surface.

Perfect figure and posing in the last chinese scene. Were the photos taken in artificial light? In my opinion, photos taken in daylight are the most effective. Unfortunately, we don't have much daylight or sunlight in winter.

ElBundy wrote:Perfect figure and posing in the last chinese scene. Were the photos taken in artificial light? In my opinion, photos taken in daylight are the most effective. Unfortunately, we don't have much daylight or sunlight in winter.

Thank you very much, I'm glad you liked it. Technically Japanese scene, but close enough. Yes, unfortunately for this I did use artificial light. She is not very steady on her feet (even barefoot) and I don't want her taking a plunge and damaging or losing those hairpins, so I am using the stable flat surface of the desk and some sturdy surfaces I can pile on it. But I agree, in principle sunlight is always better.

Ian wrote:
Yeah, he was the trend-setter. Sometimes it makes more sense to keep things together in one place than start a whole separate thread, unless that one would contain a substantial amount of its own stuff.

Oh yes, totally real. The waxen/velvet look is why I picked them up in the first place. I wish I had figured out a way to preserve them.

And glad you liked her. It's the Super Duck Geisha set (SET052), on an S27B body.

Thanks for telling the SET. And all this on a petite body.

Valiarde wrote:
Thanks for telling the SET. And all this on a petite body.

You are welcome. When I was getting her dressed, I couldn't find the S25B I was looking for. But she looked ok on this body (almost 2/3 of the head mass is the done up hair), so I decided to give it a try. Ironically, she was designed (I think!) for an S10 or something like that, as usual. But even with the very petite S27B I had some worry about stuffing the bottoms of the TPE legs into the provided plastic tabi and geta (molded as one piece). So for now she's barefoot.

GubernatorFan wrote:

Valiarde wrote:
Thanks for telling the SET. And all this on a petite body.

You are welcome. When I was getting her dressed, I couldn't find the S25B I was looking for. But she looked ok on this body (almost 2/3 of the head mass is the done up hair), so I decided to give it a try. Ironically, she was designed (I think!) for an S10 or something like that, as usual. But even with the very petite S27B I had some worry about stuffing the bottoms of the TPE legs into the provided plastic tabi and geta (molded as one piece). So for now she's barefoot.

Yeah the head works pretty well here. I don't know if that is also because of the costume is hiding much from the petite body but your explanation with the hair makes sense. My red Tiefling character is also on a petite body and most of the head is used up by horns. Similar thing.

Baefoot works well enough for me here.

What a lovely geisha outfit!!! looks great on her

and the berries are kind of the cherries on top of the cake. I love their colour and they look very interesting. Excellent match with her outfit - as has been pointed out sufficiently I guess

(I'm sorry, I must have missed quite a bit in your thread.)

Valiarde wrote:Yeah the head works pretty well here. I don't know if that is also because of the costume is hiding much from the petite body but your explanation with the hair makes sense. My red Tiefling character is also on a petite body and most of the head is used up by horns. Similar thing.

Baefoot works well enough for me here.

Thank you, glad you agree. I don't want to disrobe her (and have only one of that body), but see next post for how it looks on the slightly less petite S25B -- I got a new one (and found an unused old one eventually too). If the head is slightly too big (I do think it is mostly just the hair), the elaborate kimono obscures that. And I agree, horned and headdress-ed heads would have the same effect. As for barefoot, it was apparently very common in Japanese society, and especially indoors; although Geishas in particular, who were supposed to play coy, were often hiding their feet by the late Edo Period (pre-1867), by which point the female foot had apparently become a bit of a fetish at least in urban environments. At any rate, they were supposed to be hidden by the long kimono.

Illusion wrote:What a lovely geisha outfit!!! looks great on her

and the berries are kind of the cherries on top of the cake. I love their colour and they look very interesting. Excellent match with her outfit - as has been pointed out sufficiently I guess

(I'm sorry, I must have missed quite a bit in your thread.)

Thank you very much, I'm glad you liked it and always appreciate your feedback. Yes, while not an exact match, they work well together.
You are always welcome to peruse earlier posts; I'm sure there would be two or three things that you might enjoy.

14. Getting dressed.

Actually, it was just meant to show the relative proportions of the head and body, if using an S25B (slightly taller than the S27B used in installment 13 above), following the discussion with Simon. I think the proportions work well enough, since so much of the head is actually the elaborate hairdo and its accessories (this style is called date hyōgo). And I guess we stayed largely faithful to the color theme...
Diffused natural light this time.

Nice pics either way, Ian . Her gown is really nice.

BAMComix wrote:Nice pics either way, Ian . Her gown is really nice.

Thank you very much, Dal, I'm glad you liked them.

It occurs to me, you should have had these pics reversed. 

I must have been in a rush when I last checked this thread. The berries soaked up all of my attention, which lead to me completely missing the beautiful diorama! Really beautoful work! I'm looking forward to see what else you got in store!

That body works really well with the head, too. Nicely done.

Stryker2012 wrote:It occurs to me, you should have had these pics reversed. 

LOL, I do see what you mean. Her friend is a gentleman in this scenario... and the scene originated in a simple attempt to demonstrate the proportions.

Diana wrote:I must have been in a rush when I last checked this thread. The berries soaked up all of my attention, which lead to me completely missing the beautiful diorama! Really beautoful work! I'm looking forward to see what else you got in store!

That body works really well with the head, too. Nicely done.

Thank you, glad you agree. Well, the berries are pretty cool -- which is why I picked them up in the first place -- and of course all the more fun imported into this scale. Thank you, glad you liked it. It is more inspired than absolutely faithful rendition, and it has companion pieces designed for its main intended purpose, which I haven't posted just yet.

Great photos as usual, and the detail in the clothing is amazing. Your Asian dolls are very inspiring so I must look out for some. I look forward to all your photos.

Kiwi-Paul wrote:Great photos as usual, and the detail in the clothing is amazing. Your Asian dolls are very inspiring so I must look out for some. I look forward to all your photos.

Thank you very much, Paul, I'm glad you liked them. For a long time I resisted going down that rabbit hole, and they are still a very limited and isolated bit of my collection. These last two are, so to speak, byproducts of working on a larger Japanese project that will probably be shown in a few days (its been mostly completed, but real life keeps getting in the way), although the Geisha set is elaborate enough to stand on its own.

Very lovely shot that last one.

Theboo-bomb wrote:Very lovely shot that last one.

Thank you very much, I'm glad you liked it.

15. Meeting the New Year 2024.

Just some photos of a relatively new character enjoying a firework show and the comforts of home on New Year's Eve.






Happy New Year to all!