Red Shadow heads for customs

[SteveD]

ok, how about Freddie Mercury and Stormie?

"I'm not that type of ninja! (mental note to self - kill Dave Tree - slowly and painfully)"

[Dave Tree]

Stormie might want to play with Freddie's nun-chuck

[SteveD]

Just to bump this and say I'm about ready to go with the Palitoy style, Dufus style and 25th style in the next few days or so - got about 30 cast so far of various styles.

I would point out that whilst the quality is largely good, some may have small air bubbles in places that people may want to skim with filler. I'm trying to avoid them, but they are still cropping up from time to time. Most are so small that they will actually fill with paint when you undercoat. I am deburring them as they come out of the molds, and sanding off the seams over the helmets (even though Pallitoy never did!!) but would point out to folks that depending on how perfectionist they are with their customs they may want to sand a little more than I have, or use a tiny amount of filler here and there.

None have broken the necks on the Palitoy style ones yet, but I do still fear they may be a little bit brittle.

I am also looking at dremmeling out the 25th style ones ready to fit onto the 25th neck sculpts, but if people would prefer when they order I can leave them un-dremmelled for you to do yourself (you'll just have to let me know your preference when ordering? - dremelling out for the neck sculpts may make the side walls a little more fragile - especially if they are then forced hard onto the neck spikes, hence I will leave it up to you).

In a nutshell, I'm pretty pleased with the way these have worked out, but would remind anyone buying them that they are buying "heads for customs", that I am making in my spare room, with home made molds. Thus they may need a little bit of work to make perfect. They certainly need painting. I would also remind that I am pretty much doing them at costs, so if you get one or two that break or need a bit of filling then it's only really fair to say that's the luck of the draw. I'm trying to make them the best I can, but some not so good ones may slip through the net. I guess if you want perfect ones you need to buy Red Shadows off ebay and hack their heads off. If you want some to custom with, then mine are fine! Couple them up with some of TKW's stickers and s lick of paint and you're ready to go! (we'll soon beat JohnGIJoe at his own game!)

I'll post some pics later in the next few days of the three styles I have so far, and the sort of quality you can expect.

By way of update with the others - currently waiting for my RAH era prototype to set, before I can mold from it. Should be able to do some samples by the end of the week. The series 3 one should be ready around the same time. Not too sure what the neck length will be like on the RAH era ones, as each figure seems to have different lengths to allow for collars etc, so have had to take a happy median.

A word of help from someone if they can - do all RAH era heads have a little "V" cut out of the back? I only have a few figures from this era, and they all seem to have it cut out of the back of the ball. Is that the norm? (my money is on Andy knowing this one!)

Cheers!
Steve "MoldMeister" D

[The Baron]

You call that a nutshell?

[SteveD]

Big nuts???

[The Kraken Wakes]

RAH sculpts have different shaped Vs cut out depending on the head. Not all RAH heads will git all RAH bodies, think it may be partly when they were made as the first few years figures of the
ball joint seem mainly interchangeable...

Are they ready to order Steve? Im ready to buy...

[SteveD]

Damn! I've been using the head from Tomax for the V cut, but his collar is so long I couldn't make a head to fit without him looking like a Giraffe! So I cut it down to a reasonable length and thought I'd see how it fits onto others. I only have a few to try it on though. I'll have to see how it looks when I finish it and put it onto other figures. If this doesn't work people may be able to use Broken Arrow style ones and tool to a ball to fit? Bit more hassle that though.

I can certainly take orders for Pallitoy, Dufus and 25th heads, if people are ready? If I get snowed under it may take a week or so to fulfill any orders, on a first come first served basis? They will be £14 for a bag of 10 (of your choice) including postage.

I'll post some pics up later so people can see what to expect though before ordering? The best all round sculpt is definitely the Pallitoy one though, as it is from the original, if people can deal with the fragile looking neck. The back of the head detail etc is spot on too, whereas on the others as it is a cast from a cast, so has lost a little in translation.

[The Kraken Wakes]

Tomax is from the early ball joint releases so should be good for most, if anything a bit loose in some torsos which is easliy fixed. Not sure if the length of the neck might be a problem? TBH I would prefer to buy the palitoy type and fix my own modded neck joint on so will definately place an order...

Will look out for the pics later on, did the transfers and helmets arrive steve? let me know which size works best and I can do some more if you need them...

[The Baron]

Steve, if you want to send me some pics and a contact e-mail (I advise creating a new gmail or hotmail account) for orders I can set you up a pitch in the Storefront.

[SteveD]

Sorry these pics are a bit late in coming, but light failed me last night.

Anyway - a few photos from my first few casts of heads, so people can see what they are like and let me know if they are interested.

Just a word - the heads shown are unpainted, but largely de-burred to take off the casting residue. Some may need a bit more of a rub down or file to fully smooth or to fit the body you want them for. As I said earlier, they are heads for customs. If you want perfect Shads, then eBay is the place for you. Anyway, enough with the disclaimers, onto the pics:-

PALLITOY SCULPT







Tends to be prone to a small air bubble in the back of the head, but doesn't happen all the time and will easy fill with undercoat or a dab of filler. I'll do it for people if they are that bothered about it. (the one on the left is straight from the mold before I've knocked the bits off it)



Fit nicely to the original bodies:-



Or with a quick lick of paint and a few of TKW's Shadow transfers, they look pretty good (the divers are a work in progress),





This is the best actual head sculpt of the lot, as it is direct from an original, and so has good detailing.

If people would prefer, I can send them with the casting sprue still on to give them extra plastic to work with when painting or tooling to fit different bodies:





Next - Dufus styleeee....