I ask fwooshmembers questions.
They answer them.
Eagle ” It’s mostly attentiveness on any one figure that matters”
Where do you live?
I live in the southern most part of Nevada, casino town along the Colorado River called Laughlin. Gets hot here in the summer time it can get to 125+ degrees but it’s a dry heat.
Who is in you family?
My wife Grace and I.
What does your wife think of fwoosh?
She doesn’t know what The fwoosh is. She’d probably think I was trying to say something in Portuguese or some other language, and just look at me like I’m crazy.
Any pets?
We had a cat for a while named Shadow cat. But he went for a walk-about.
Have you met any fwooshers?
As of yet no, not really aware of any in my area. Maybe in Las Vegas, but no, not in person.
What are your future plans?
I’m working on my sculpting skills and wouldn’t mind starting my own figure line.
Get a website going.
Do you customize?
As much as possible. Every one gets a creative bug every now and some more then others. I’ve been customizing for a while. Been customizing Marvel legends and the like for most my time here on fwoosh. The ability to show my work and see others here really keeps me going and still does.
Do you have any formal training?
Nope, Asides from high school, which didn’t really teach me, anything of real value as fare as customizing/sculpting goes. I’m self-taught, which is probably the best way to learn and a better way to develop originality. What do you learn in a school that you can’t figure out yourself? I have a somewhat decent understanding of the human anatomy and usually go the trial and error route, but that’s the path I choose.
You use wood glue and marine weld sometimes, how does that stand up?
Actually correction its not wood glue, its Quikwood it’s an apoxie that comes in tubes like marine, steel or plastic apoxie. I found that the soft texture made for easy smoothing and sculpting and it was readily available at the hard ware store but the price went up so I have to used Aves Apoxie sculpt now. It is a better bargain in the end. Although this makes for longer waiting time between sculpting a full figure. I could sculpt a full figure (icon) in a few hours with the quikwood where as with aves it would take more then a day. As fare as durability goes they are both apoxie so unless you take a vise grip to it; you’ll be Ok.
How do you choose what to make?
Depends on what I feel like. Sometimes I just want to do something new and obscure and other times I just want to make an existing figure look better or proportionality accurate.
Its one of the things that gets to me with some of the sculpts, don’t get me wrong they are great but, take Sasquatch and Weindigo for example: They are 9-10 feet tall. So in figure scale they should be 9-10 inches tall by comparison to say wolverine.
I sometimes use this:
Do you find it easier to work with Icon size or the standard 6-inch size for customizing?
I find it more challenging doing the icon because there are too few characters that are large and obscure looking like Dragon-man, Mangog or the Living Monolith. I find the more room to work: the more favorable.
6 inchers are fun to make. Especially the female figures.
You can do alot of customs in a short period of time. How long does it take
for you to make one on average? How many are you working on at any one time?
Usually depends. When I really get into it and I have all the materials I can bust out 4 or 5 a week, although half of those would probably be regular repaints. I try to avoid doing those as much as possible. Where as a BAF size or Icon it could take a few days to a few weeks. Its not really a matter of time because if it was say a job and I was doing 8 hours a day for 5 days a week it would literally be a custom factory in here. It’s mostly attentiveness on any one figure that matters in the end.
I try to get as close (visually) to the character as possible. Take strong guy or
Dragon-man for example; both are abnormally sized. Strong guy has the big upper and small lower and dragon-man has huge head. A great artist has the ability not only create great art but bring it to life as well.
What do you try for when making a custom?
Originality for the most part. But with so many great customizers out there and so few figure formats it’s kinda hard to not create something that hasn’t already been made or being made. Can’t count how many times I’ve read ” ah, man you beat me to it I was doing that same character or that same figure.”
Are you concerned about articulation?
I don’t really venture down that road although it is one of my weak points I’m continually developing my skills to improve that particular area. Although I’ve only just recently discovered the wonders of a hacksaw, and I am experimenting with more and more parts swapping.
How do you deal with paint rub?
I don’t. I’m still working on that one. For the most part I don’t make the figures to be moved due to that problem. I think there is a fine line between figure collectors and toy collectors but that just me. I’ve been experimenting with different things like those paint markers and sharpies but none seem to work too well. I guess the best option is finding a figure with the plastic being the same color as the character your going for.
What is in your collection?
No collection.
I had a collection but most were sacrificed to the fodder box. My wall display still stands but is used as a shelf for the most part now. There are a few lingerers on it. FFF is still hanging as well as Annihilus, Danger and a few others.
What do you do with customs once you are finished?
I sell them or I keep them. I used to keep all of them and at times when money was tight I’d sell it and remake it. But not these days, things are tuff all over.
Do you cook?
Yes and yes I can. If I didn’t I would be eating out of a box or can.
What other sites do you visit?
Here
Figurerealm
Toynewsi.com
What do you spend your money?
Food, Fodder and Bills.
What is wrong with you?
I customize action figures and I don’t know how to stop.
Thanks!
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