This post is building off my “night scene” post, but it’s going in a different direction.
Since I’d like my “night” dio scene to be a raid, I’m figuring that I’m going to need at least 2-3 figures in there. 1) You’re now talking about spending more money, and 2) now we’re talking about TONS of build time.
I know it’s kind-of cheating, but what do you guys think about chopping up and using some McFarlane’s Military figures? Are they vinyl? Can vinyl work with resin?
What do you guys think?
Using McFarlane’s figures is a great idea to save time and money! They have a bunch of very cool figures and posed already! If you use a shadow box (please see my post in your other thread), I think you could pull it off without much of a hitch–where extremely close scrutiny by your viewer wouldn’t be possible.
I have one of these–not exactly sure the material it’s made of; it is a rigid material, but has a “soft” feel to it, almost like material the foot tall GI Joes were made of (the newer ones from the 90’s, not the originals).
As far as the intermingling of vinyl (or whatever the McFarlane figures are made from) and resin, I think if you used an expoxy or a super glue (CA), you shouldn’t have any problems.
Worth a try at least!
Hmm… if you used all his figures as a guaranty for scale fidelity, I don’t think I see a problem with it. But if you’re going to mix them in with some resin 1/16 scale kits- are they McFarlane figures 1/16? Best as I can tell, they call them “6 inch scale” and I have no idea what that means, other than they are 6" tall? If they are 6" tall figures, that translates to about an 8 foot tall person if it’s 1/16 scale, so I’m thinking 1/12-1/11 scale (5 and half- 6’ tall?) …I think? I’m really bad at scale conversions, I’m not sure on the formula sometimes and I end up winging it.
I can see you being able to work with them if they’re 1/16 scale figures as far as switching out resin pieces for… whatever it is their made of? I guess what you really want to know is if they take CA glue or something similar and I’d have no idea. I think if they do and you can get them to match up well, they should take putty fine and if you prime them well, I’d think they’d be able to take paint just as well as a resin figure would.
My brother has a spawn figure or two by McFarlane and as far as I can tell, they are some kind of hard plastic/ruberized vinyl… not really sure, they might label the material on the box, but I know that some of the kits are mixed media depending on what they’re trying to represent.
(Also noticed there was one figure with an M14 of course haha that’d helped out with the delima)
Some of these figures look to be between $30-40 a pop though so not sure if you’d be saving money? I don’t know what figures you usually get but all of mine are Verlin and they’re closer to the $20-$25 range.
I guess it depends on what you’re concerned with. If it’s saving $ on kits- you might want to try getting some of those old school 1/16 plastic kits from Dragon or Tamiya for under $10 a piece, but if you wanted less time spent over all- it’d make sense to go with the McFarlane’s as they come prefinished and most likely look nicer OOB than my finished resin figures ever do and would definitly save you a TON of time.
And hey- just had an idea- if they are a little big for scale- maybe you could throw them in up front and then stick your 1/16 scale guys toward the back (as the scales are close enough I’d think) to where if you played around with the box walls/floors and gave them a little “fun house” kind of treatment- you could probably make it look twice as long, depth wise, as it really is.
I’ve already purchased one of these figures from ebay just to see … .plus the prices there are extremely low!
I figure that I’ll use all or none. I think that the McFarlane figures are a little bigger than 1/16. A 6’ tall person in 1/16 is only 4.5" tall, so I think that they are a little bigger.
As far as using them OOTB … that’s not my style … I’m probably going to end up re-posing them a little anyway, so adding FO lighting to them shouldn’t be that big a deal. As they also have a lot of nice gear that comes with them, I’m looking to cast/ mold some of it for future use. I figure with a little scratchbuilding I can make their gear fit a 1/16 model. Maybe not helmets a such but things like rifles, gear, NVGs, etc. should work out fine.
We’ll post an update of this once I receive my ebay buy.
Nice, assuming this works out- I’ll have to check out these guys on Ebay- straight off Amazon or something I was like- cheaper? Really?!
But yeah- $4 $5 a pop?? Nice find!
Go to spawn.com and check the figures out. (under Military) They have all the figures listed with great pics, so you can figure out which one(s) you want. Then go to ebay and look them over. A lot of them were mis-named, but you could still figure out which ones you were looking for. Most of the time, there were 2-3 of the figures that I was looking for so I was able to “shop” a little. Some had free shipping, others were BIN for like $6 bucks!!!
Will do- sounds like a steal cough deal! haha
Just recieved the first of a few of these figures. Just in case anyone was thinking of using this same idea … these figures are HUGE compared to a 120mm figure.
I’m still going to run with it, but this is going to be one big figure dio.
WOW! Well it definitly sounds like you got a bargin for em then, too bad you can’t switch equipment back and forth, but lookin forward to seeing this one start up- hope you have room for it! The OIF figure was looking real awesome the last I saw so I’m hoping you can jump back into that one and get that grove you had going during the super bowl- you made some nice progress that weekend!
Hey, Chris …
I’ve had to make a conscious effort to side-line this one … its been hard b/c I’m really curious as to how I’m going to hack up these McFarlane figures … But I’m also a little hesitant … I mean they are already finished and all. But, its just gonna have to be done.
As far as my OIF figure … just laid down the dark tone on the whole figure. Should be done with it by the end of the week. I’ll try to post some more picture on that thread later today.
Very cool! Any progress on the base by any chance? That flashbang needs somewhere to go [8-]
Sounds like your on to something!!! Can’t wait to see some shots…Good luck![:D]
Well, I’ve just received all the McFarlane’s figures that I ordered. Just like x-mas 1985, I tore into those things like my life depended on it. After looking through the figures, here’s what I’ve found … besides the fact that psstoff was right in that I did order one of every Service (how did that happen!?!)
The figures are much bigger than I had anticipated. Having worked on 120mm figures, I thought that 1/12 figures wouldn’t be that much bigger than the 1/16. But, overall, you’re talking about 2" taller, not to mention that the whole body is just that much bigger. I’m not sure if i’m goign to go ahead with this buil w/ this figures or if I’m just going to go fo it … BIG and all!!!
The figures themselves are a decent sculpt/ molding for their size. The painting on some parts is a little off, but I’m sure that can easily be fixed. Folds, creases, and details are pretty decent, and equipment is decent as well. Overall, I’d give these figures about a B-. However, the equipment and gear that they carry is FAR more modern than anything out on the scale markets today. This alone, I would say, bumps them up to maybe an A-.
I’m looking forward to tearing these things apart and seeing what castings/ moldings I can get form them. After the “slaughter” is over, I should have a better idea on how each figure will look.
I figure this will be my last post on this thread. I will let it die out as I will be starting my “Midnight Raid” dio thread soon. Stay tuned for more!!!..
Gotta love Christmas in Feb! Sounds like quite an endevor…will keep an eye out for your other post…good luck my friend!
Not a bad deal- I say go for it!
So when I said these things were BIG … meant it. Here’s a couple pics with my 120mm OIF figure.
Note the difference in the M4…
… but, Stern0 said go for it … So, I guess here goes nothin’ … again!
[:O] Woah! That is huge!
But might I say that ACU is coming out real nice! I definitly like it so far
HAHA! Told you!
I’ll be lucky if the whole thing fits onto a 8.5 x 11 picure frame!