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Hello again-- Today, in true Cherry Coke style, we are going to be doing something different. Instead of working on how to make a custom figure of any given character, we are going to go over some basic customizing odds and ends I've been meaning to discuss, such as custom packaging, making capes with two layers, and sewing a suit jacket for an 8-inch action figure. There was going to be more included in this article, but to tell the truth, it started to get to too big, so I've decided to put some topics off for articles in the near future, such as: sculpting your own heads from scratch, and how to make posable hands. I hope this gives you your customizing fix for now, though. Let's get started.
Custom Packaging: Not everyone wants to make custom packaging for their figures. Some would rather spend their energy moving onto their next custom. Can you imagine having to make boxes for every one of Scott Metzger's 400+ custom figures?? However, for those that do, here are some tips and tricks: You will need: - Comics
of character whom you are doing a box for. One standby I love for making boxes is to first get my hands on several images of the character, such as old comics. This gets me to thinking about the design of the box, the color scheme, and also gives me some Lettering to use as the character's name sign on the box. The first thing you need to do to make a box is design a layout for the box, called a Flat. This is a pencil design of the dimensions of the unfolded box which you will design as a montage of images to adorn your box. Begin with a sheet of 11x17 paper and draw the pattern seen in (fig. A.2) with the exact dimensions seen there. Now start to paste your lettering and pictures into place on your box. Remember to leave the area of the window blank (if you have one). I tend to have the dimensions of my window be 2.5x6" and begin about 1" below to the top edge. I start by laying down sheets of construction paper in the base color I want, i.e. for my Flash box, I laid down pieces of red construction paper and pasted them in place. Then I glued the lettering on separately. Go wild with this! Don't let your imagination be constrained simply by what Mego did. Try thinking of a name for your toy line, and a logo.... Charlee Flatt used to call his the "Unofficial World's Greatest Super Heroes." I call mine "The Unsung Heroes Collection," as I frequently make characters whom I feel have not gotten adequate figure representation, and I call my villains "The Unsavory Villains Collection," since you can't really say, unsung villains now, can you? Anyway, what can you come up with? Once you have glued in all of your box design articles (fig. A.3), take your box flat to your local copy center and get a 11x17 color copy made of it (fig. A.4). Using Spray Mount by 3M, mount your color copy onto a posterboard and cut out along the box lines (fig. A.5). Fold your box into shape but don't glue anything yet! Cut out the window of the box using an X-Acto knife, and tape in a window made of some Transparency paper (fig. A.6). Fold the box into shape and glue it closed using Elmer's glue at the place where the "linker" section of the box, and box "side B" overlap, the "linker" goes on the inside (fig. A.7). Your box is now done! But what's that I hear you say? "Matt.... what we really wanted in the way of packaging was a CARD." No problem... This is actually a lot easier to make than a box. Simply design a flat in much the same way you would a box, but in the dimensions of the desired card packaging. make color copy and mount it onto posterboard as before. But now.... you need a bubble large enough for the figure to fit in. Well unless you have a real Mego card to cannibalize, you're outta luck. But wait! Don't despair yet! Can you think of any product you see I the drug store everyday that has a bubble similar in size and shape to a Mego figure bubble... Give up? Q-TIPS! I know... it seems unlikely, but I stumbled onto this idea one day at a flea market when, from a distance, a bunch of Q-tip boxes stacked on top of each other seemed like a bunch of action figures. I bought one, took it home, and sure enough, it was large enough to accommodate a Mego. However, you must make sure that the bubble is large enough-- many brands aren't. The kind I get are not actual Q-Tip brand (by Johnson and Johnson) rather a generic one I get at the everything's a buck store. Embarrassing as it may be, you might have to sneak a Mego into the store and hold it up against the bubble to see if it will fit (fig. A.8) So anyway, get your cotton swab box bubble, remove it from it's backing, store the swabs in a Zip-Lock baggy in the medicine drawer, and use some goof off to get the paper residue off the edges of the bubble. Now glue that sucker in place onto the card with the figure inside (fig. A.9). Tips and Tricks: 1) One really cool box that almost anyone can do is to cut some images out of your favorite character's comic. Glue these down as the box/card montage. Then color copy this flat in only one color shade. (i.e. Blue, Red, Green, Yellow). The all of the images will be one hue. Now paste your lettering of a different color onto this copy, along with your logo, and copy it again, but this time in full color. You'll have one kicking-A box then! For instance, on my Red Skull's box, I cut out some images from a Cap comic, glued them down, copied the thing only in RED, then pasted blue lettering onto it along with a blue logo which I designed on Microsoft Word. Then I color copied the whole thing again and it turned out really nice. 2) If you want to get that authenticity factor and really fool your friends, try intentionally weathering your custom packaging. In other words, crease the card a bit, tear the card board slightly, stain it with a few drops of coffee or dirty water, put a slight tear in the window. Place price tags on them. Most clerks at K.B. will be good about giving you some stickers for your very own. See my custom Flash and Spectre boxes to see what I'm talking about. I tell you, the day a study partner was over and he saw my custom Robin and said, "Wow, when was Kay-Bee selling these? These are really nice?" I was beaming with pride the whole next day.
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