Dont toss out those old Tamiya figures

Modeling Subjects Figures and Misc.
1

As some of you know I’ve been working on the old Tamiya 1/35 M-48A3 kit. Yes its a bit dated and there are lots of things wrong with it in comparisson to what is currently available on the market, but the figures are still worth keeping.

With some work they can still be quite good looking and I’ll show you a few tricks to bring them up to todays standards.

I will begin by stating that I’m a big fan of the newer resin figures. They require a lot less work and paint up beautifully with little effort. But I’ve come to love plastic figures over the years, and especially recently with such lovely figures being produced by MiniArt. If you have not worked with those figures then you should give them a try.

Now let me show you what you can still do with those older figures that don’t measure up to modern expectations.

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The tools you’ll need are nothing out of the ordinary. Aside from the homemade scribing tool/saw I made from an old No. 11 Exacto blade you won’t need anything fancy.

I started by filing the two halves of the figures body level so they will fit together without any serious gaps.

Using my scribing saw I went around the edges of the pocket flaps to give them some better difinition.

With the 45 degree blade I score over the old shirt seam and then using a sewing needle I rescribe the line.

I use Testors liquid cement to smooth out the lines. If you 've scribed them too deep simply re-apply more liquid cement later and the edges will smooth out more.

This deepens the seam lines and gives them enough depth for a wash later to bring out these details.

Using the 45 degree blade again I carve out the sleeves and give definition to the vest he’s wearing. Without this step he looks like he’s wearing a big sloppy shirt.

Now most of you are aware of using the side of you knife blade to scrape seams. I like to carve out the wrinkles. This gives more definition to the sleeves and pants and generally looks much better then a flattened seam.

Once you get the basic figure assembled you should spend some time thinking about the odd poses that some of these guys appear to have. Such as this figure. After all of that work he sat on the cupola hatch looking a bit odd. His left arm hanging down and his right just hovering beside his leg. He also seemed to naturally lean to his left.

His right hand could be frozen in action so I left it alone. His left seemed quite natural once I added a cigarette to it and his lean seemed far more appropriate once he was looking around the repositioned MG.

Then I moved on to the driver figure, which is just a bust meant to sit in the driver’s hatch.

I started by rescibing in the details and separating his shirt collar from this shirt with the scribing saw.

and moved on to his left side.

Once I added a mic he seemed ready.

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Hopefully this will help some of you guys with your figures. You don’t always need to buy the best resin figures to get the results you want. Sometimes you just need to give them old plastic ones some attention and my hope is that you guys will pick up some of these tricks and give it a go.

Now I just need to paint these figures up and see how they turn out. The added work should really bring them to life.

Thanks for reading this and if you have anything to point out that I missed or need to better clarify go ahead and drop in a comment. I’m no expert, but I do know a few things lol.

Comments and critiques are appreciated. I do like to know when I’ve got something wrong and if there is something I should add here (besides painted and finished figures) let me know, PLEASE.

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Some nice work there Mike. I still have some of the very early Tamiya German figure sets as I think they still have there use’s. I have only started converting figures recently but its really nice to be able to get the figures to match the dio rather than the other way round. There is a book published by Squadron and written by Bill Chilstrom called Converting and Detailing Plastic Figures, which I have found very useful.

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I’ll have to see if I can get a copy of that book, Bish. I can always use more information!

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I was put onto the book by Hans von hammer who unfortunately has not been on for a while. But he is big into this sort of thing.

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If I could get more tricks and tips for this stuff I’d be happy. Too bad he’s not around, but maybe he’ll show up eventually and I can perhaps learn some new stuff. :slight_smile:

I’m still trying to figure out why most of us are so afraid to get into serious figure painting. Its all the same bag of tricks we already use on other subjects. But I thought if I can help show people that it’s not as challenging as people seem to think it is, then I’m doing us all a service lol.

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Hello!

I’m with you and Hans von Hammer, recently also known as Sgt Rock Fury - those Tamiya figs can be suprisingly good after some sanding, and most of the time the price is unbeatable. In some cases though, they just beg for resin heads - the faces are hard to save. My results with plastic figures can be seen here (scroll a little for the Command Figures set):

http://www.vietnam.net.pl/M55mod2en.htm

and here (some more resin and less Tamiya):

http://www.vietnam.net.pl/M42mod6pl.htm

Good luck with your builds and have a nice day

Paweł

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I have been doing figures for years, but then when you do dio’s, figures are pretty important. I think one of the things that might put people off figures is the skin. I struggled with it for ages, in fact it was only last year that I started to get a grip on it. I still have a long way to go, especially when it comes to converting figures. Some of the stuff in that and otehr books i have seen is amazing, with people making limbs and even complete figures from putty.

Thanks for posting this, everything like this will help.

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Pawel, I know what you mean about heads. I do need to get myself some nice resin ones. Some nice work on those figures, I really like how you have blended in the Miliput on the figure with the jerry can.

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That is some very nice custom work Pawel. I love how you make your figures fit into your subject the way you do. :smiley:

I haven’t gone quite that far into modifying my figures yet (mostly arms and heads so far), but something tells me I’ll get there eventually lol.

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Nice work everyone- I have a LONG ways to go.

Yes, I just bought a couple of the old Tamiya Walker bulldogs, the figures are really good.

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You don’t have all that far to go, G. Your figures have been well represented. You just need to step out of the box and try some more experimenting. When you start to see figures like you do your armor builds it starts getting interesting. :smiley:

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nice job

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Thanks for the thread Mike, I use the older Tamiya figures sometimes but haven’t really tried improving them other than swaping arms and other parts around to get different poses. Going to have to give these a whirl considering the weakest part of the figures is probably the ‘soft’ detailing.

Pawel: Those are really cool, I haven’t actually had the guts to make modifications that extensive yet.

And yeah, resin heads from someone like Hornet are a massive improvement, esp to figures like the older Tamiya ones, not so much with Dragon or MiniArt.

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Thank you, crown. It could be much better if I had a third arm to hold the camera lol.

Good Morning Gamera. I started using these tricks on the MiniArt figs because they come pretty close to resin figures for detail level. They’re just not as crisp and these tricks really help them out. I have a set of German heads from Alpine and they are exquisite.

But these older Tamiya figs are really soft on the details and it can take a lot of time at the bench to get these results. I think its time worth spending because figures always bring a sense of life and action to the builds. We just naturally relate to things in scale when they are present.

The hard part is painting the faces lol. Painting an emotion on a 1/35 figure is a royal PITA but totally worth it if you can get it right, as you well know.

Examples;

Cocky/Playful:

Serious/Intense:

Tired/Miserable:

These are the best examples I can provide with my skill. I’m still working on improving in this area as I see far less people attempting to get such results and I really do find it challenging.

We’ll see what I can do with these M-48 figures, even though they won’t be used with the build. Some of you guys know I have stand-ins for test fitting pieces as I build. These guys will just add to the collection. More to the point I think they will just look cool when painted and I can use more practice anyways.

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I see what you mean. Those guys look awesome!

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Thank you, crown! :slight_smile:

That means a lot to me. Thank you very much. :smiley:

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Hello!

Thanks a lot guys, I’m glad you like it.

I’d say anybody who is afraid to break something should give those Tamiya figs a try - even if you do break something it isn’t much of a loss - they can be cheaply bought and easily replaced, and each “broken” fig is an instant supply of spare parts. Win-win!

Good luck with your projects and have a nice day!

Paweł

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I completely agree with you Pawel. Tamiya figs are very forgiving and easy to work with. But even more forgiving are these MiniArt figures. The plastic is softer and more easily manipulated. Dragon’s figures are a close second to those and I’d say Tamiya figs are easily in third place.

And I bow to your ability to customize your figures with such skill. There is an art to what you have accomplished. :slight_smile:

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Great advice and techniques here!

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Thank you Stik! I know it’s not as inclusive as it should be. I think there is a lot more I can add to make it more understandable by novice figure builders. But I lack the technology to get the images I would need to convey my thoughts into reality.

I need a dedicated photo booth and a camera operator lol.

But for those of us who have the basics down already this advice should help them get their skills to the next level without the guesswork.

Feel free to add to it in any way you deem necessary. :slight_smile:

I invite everyone to do so. :slight_smile: