Tag: How To

WebSwipe: Assembling the Perfect Star Trek TOS Crew – A Piece of the Action

Speaking of those Art Asylum Star Trek figures for the Original Series, here’s a blog post from the always awesome A Piece of the Action, a site that covers Star Trek memorabilia, mostly action figures. This post covers how to put together the ultimate Original Series crew, using the figures from both Art Asylum and Diamond Select Toys (after they acquired AA and the Trek license).

This is for all of you Trek aficionado customizers who seek perfection in their TOS crew.

trekcrew1 trekcrew2

I figured it would be a good time to give you my version of a definitive AA/ DST crew. Some of these are pretty easy picks… others not so much. Some are gonna take a little elbow grease and extra dough to make happen. But you want the best, ya gotta work for it… And of course, this is all my opinion here. You may not agree with my picks, and that is totally cool. These just happen to be my personal picks after years of Trek collecting. So without further ado… My ultimate AA/ DST Classic Star Trek Crew!

via A Piece Of The Action: AA/ DST Special Feature: Assembling The Ultimate Crew!.

ThreeA Toys Fighting JC – Experimenting with Manual Camera Settings to Control Light

The Fighting JC in 1/6 scale from the 3A Toys Adventure Kartel line was one of my most wanted figures. I was able to pick one up from a fellow collector on the Unofficial ThreeA Legion BST group on Facebook, and I’ve been meaning to take pictures of him since I got back from abroad. I’ve been procrastinating, though, because I haven’t been too happy with how my more dramatic (read: dark) pictures have been turning out. A rather circuitous session of web browsing got me off my butt to experiment with completely manual settings on my camera. Feel free to accompany me on that little journey.

Continue reading “ThreeA Toys Fighting JC – Experimenting with Manual Camera Settings to Control Light”

Lazy Customizer Tip – Use Silicone Sealant to Attach Heads and Tighten Socket Joints

If you’re a customizer, you’ve probably ended up with a custom with a wobbly or loose head. Maybe the existing socket on the head you’ve swapped in is too big, or you drilled out a hole in a resin head cast that’s wide enough to fit over the peg only to find it flops around like it’s on a bobble head. Because I’m a lazy customizer, I had around half a dozen “finished” customs that were like this. For some, the heads would flop around mercilessly. For others, if you knocked the shelf the heads would just fall off. Pretty bad – I know.

Faced with this situation, a pro customizer would use a two part compound like Apoxie Sculpt or Kneadatite, fill the socket part ways and attach the head – and before it was completely cured, would twist the head so it wouldn’t be stuck in one spot. (Or, as some of you will no doubt be thinking, a pro customizer would have drilled the right size socket to begin with…) But I’ve found a much easier way – with silicone sealant. This is the stuff people use for things like aquarium repairs (I think) and… ok, I’m not a hardware guy, so I have no idea what else it’s used for. All I know is that I use it to attach heads to action figures. It takes five minutes and is super easy.

Continue reading “Lazy Customizer Tip – Use Silicone Sealant to Attach Heads and Tighten Socket Joints”

Hasbro (Return of) Marvel Legends Wave 3 Deadpool – Evolution of a Picture

I’ve probably mentioned one or two times that I’m a Deadpool fan. And while Daniel Way was writing Deadpool, there was no better Deadpool around than Rick Remender’s Deadpool in Uncanny X-Force. (I’m gonna have to check out the new Deadpool now that Way’s run is finally done.) In the first issue of Uncanny X-Force, there’s this scene where Deadpool is standing on top of the head of this huge statue spewing out a toxic green waterfall from its mouth.

Why did the nickel jump off the building but the dime didn’t? [Deadpool dives!] Dime had more cents.

That panel by Jerome Opena had such a dynamic look, that when I got the RoML 3 Deadpool (yay, X-Force colors!) I wanted to see if I could do it justice in a picture. I thought I hit it in the first shot… but I’ll show you how it evolved during the process to result in what you see above.

Continue reading “Hasbro (Return of) Marvel Legends Wave 3 Deadpool – Evolution of a Picture”

Square Enix Play Arts Kai Batman: Arkham Asylum – Experimenting with Spot Lights to Create Dramatic Lens Flare

I mentioned that I wanted to experiment with lens flare for drama when I posted the quick fixes for common lighting problems yesterday. Here is my first no-planning-involved attempt, using the Square Enix Play Arts Kai Batman (who is totally awesome, if you actually need me to tell you that). I’ve intentionally set up one of my LED book lights in the shot, knowing that the bright light shining directly into my camera lens will cause lens flare artifacts.

Continue reading “Square Enix Play Arts Kai Batman: Arkham Asylum – Experimenting with Spot Lights to Create Dramatic Lens Flare”

Scroll Up