Custom figures and dioramas

[floydnjanicefan]

One of my biggest disappointments with the DST figures was the way Animal's accessories kept falling over because of their tiny bases and top-heavy designs.

Another problem was that the way Animal's hips were jointed, the low stool tilted him too far back. It needed to be a little bit taller, in my opinion.

I arranged them atop a piece of paper (after consulting a diagram for real drum setups) and traced their bases.

From this organic start, I was able to digitally build a small bandstand in Tinkercad.

I then had this grown on the 3D printer at my local library's "Collaboratory". It cost me less than six dollars.

Below you can see the stool, bass pedal, and cymbals in place in their recessed spots. (Well, the stool has a raised cone with a recessed top). I was briefly tempted to make a pedal for the high-hat cymbal while I was at it, but ultimately decided if DST was okay with it, I was too.

Here I've added the snare and the medium tom in the last two recessed circles. I didn't bother making any recesses for the bass drum or the floor tom, since they don't fall over.

Here you can see how the slightly taller stool fits Animal's maximum hip movement much better.

And lastly, here's the entire drum kit, including the bass and the floor tom. I even put a tiny dollop of hot glue in each recess, so I can pick this thing up and move it as one unit if I want.

This top angle shows how all of the drums and cymbals are in Animal's armspan as he plays.

Ain't technology great?

~D

Wow! I need one of those. Looks great!

 

[Dearth]

A veeeeeeeeeeeeeery long time ago, I created this thread to show off some of my custom Muppet Show figures and dioramas.

Among my favorites were the ones where I found figures/dolls of some of the guest stars from TMS, like George Burns...

... or Sylvester Stallone...

I even revisited this concept with the Disney Parks Muppet Show action figures...

... anyway, YEARS ago someone, some mad *genius* whose screenname I have long ago forgotten, had a really great suggestion which thankfully stayed with me.

One of the reasons I never attempted their suggestion back then was the scale was going to be even smaller than Sly, who was about half the scale of George Burns.

But while discussing the new, smaller Diamond Select figures about a month ago, that great suggestion popped back into my mind, and I decided to see if it would work better now.

So, first thing I had to do was buy two action figures:

One was Alice Cooper, and the other was Dracula.

Unfortunately, that first Dracula was just slightly larger than the auction description had stated. He also was not poseable enough to my tastes, and had difficulty standing due to his one-solid-lump leg design.

So I went back to eBay and found a smaller Dracula figure, and three days later (today) he arrived.

He was missing his cape, and his face was scuffed, but he was a) cheap, b) far more articulated, and c) a much closer size. Judge this comparison pic of their heads.

So I beheaded Dracula and glued Alice Cooper's head on.

I still need to get some fabric and make him a soft-goods cape, black on the outside and red on the inside. But he's going to look amazing with those DST Muppet figures when this is all said and done.

So I just wanted to say a huge thank-you to whoever that was who suggested this idea to me here on these forums, so very long ago.

Grazie!

~D

 

[MuppetSpot]

... anyway, YEARS ago someone, some mad *genius* whose screenname I have long ago forgotten, had a really great suggestion which thankfully stayed with me.

It was j3h, I wonder what happened to him?

 

[Dearth]

Thank you, MuppetSpot, for digging that up.

And thank you, j3h, wherever you are!

Ah cha cha cha!

~D

 

[Dearth]

So a random passing thought on a guest star custom (note: I have not looked into scale or compatability of parts)

Diamond Select Dracula body:

old McFarlane Alice Cooper head (the hat is a seperate accessory):

makes season 3 "welcome to my Nightmare" number outfit:

Here's the post by j3h which inspired my above custom... waaaay back in November 2011.

It's funny to re-read it now because I even tried the exact same recipe he suggested, first purchasing a Diamond Select Dracula, but in the end went with the better-scaled and more poseable Toy Island Dracula from 2006.

~D

 

[The Count]

Hmm, so you're going for Welcome To My Nightmare. That would be all levels of awesome, but are you going to compliment him with the rest of the Vile Bunch in the background? Or is this Draculean Alice Cooper meant more to mingle with the Muppets on the set of Up Late with Miss Piggy still trying to make his commission rate by getting the gang to sell their souls? Please post Mupdates on this so we can stay tombed.

 

[Dearth]

Hi Count! I hadn't given much thought to the rest of the scene for Alice Cooper (aka Vincent Furnier) beyond posing him on a shelf with the DST figures. However, in the Welcome to My Nightmare number, he does briefly interact with a skeleton. If I find a toy or model kit skeleton of the right height, that might be a good bit of set dressing.

Alex

 

[The Count]

Hey Dearth. Good to hear your projects are still moving forward. Another idea could be the DST Muppet figures around Alice with Gonzo holding the Bill of Doom mistaken for his individual Faustian contract.

BTW: Dunno the scale of the skeleton to Alice in the Welcome To My Nightmare musical number on the Muppet Show, but since you said you used a Macfarlin Alice Cooper figure, maybe either the Bonejangles (Skeletal Bandleader) or Skeleton Boy from their Corpse Bride line could be a couple of options for thedisplay.

 

[The Count]

Not sure why there've been no Mupdates in three years time... But a question I have, is there any Palisades or DST Muppet figure that could be viably customized into a figure of Hilda the Wardrobe Lady? If not, that's okay, just curious.

 

[Blue Frackle]

Hmmm... probably Bunsen if anyone.