1888 - The Vicky Horror Figure Show (update 8/10: Willy Wonka)

[white knight]

Fu Man Chu has made extensive use of the various Tong gangs active in Chinatown and beyond. One such gang is boss Wang's. Having grown up on the streets of Shanghai before making the journey into the west, boss Wang made his way from petty street thief to the leader of one of the most ruthless gangs prowling the streets of London. These days, he rarely goes out with his men, prefering to lead from his headquarters, but he does like to hand out his own brand of justice to enemies and traitors that are brought before him. Styling himself a bit of a modern businessman, rather than the thug he is at heart, he rarely goes anywhere without his secretary by his side.


Boss Wang, taking on airs...




Boss Wang's secretary and occasional mistress.

Both figures are from King and Country in their streets of old Hong Kong range. I modified and repainted the bases to match my other figures, but otherwise, they are straight from the box. Boss Wang was initially the client from the barber set (the barber became the sorceror Wei Long Wu, while his secretary came with the street scribe set (the scribe becoming Fu Man Chu's accountant, Li Peng).

[Mason]

Great re-purposing from the original setsas I was beginning to worry just how you might convert Wang*.
 


*His name alone suggests that the same visions scared you too.
 

[white knight]

 These two aren't the most inspiring models in the collection, but they came with the sets, so I shoehorned them in.

[Elk101]

Great read through. The repaints are surprisingly effective.  Are you looking to do low relief type stuff for the buildings to reduce space requirements, etc or go the whole hog with complete buildings.

[white knight]

Great read through. The repaints are surprisingly effective.  Are you looking to do low relief type stuff for the buildings to reduce space requirements, etc or go the whole hog with complete buildings.

Those cheapish Christmas figures are gold for this type of project. Not all are equally nice, but some are fantastic sculpts.

Regarding buildings, I'd like to do both. A row of façades/half depth buildings for the back of the board and then some full ones for the rest. One thing I've considered as a base to build on for the full ones are the 1/24 lasercut doll houses from Petite Properties. They only need some detail work and texturing to finish them off. Though perhaps I'll have some masters made of the essentials (doors, windows, decorative trim) and get those cast in resin for some quickbuilds.

[Metternich]

Glad to see your inclusion of a particular favorite of mine,  Fred Burnaby (reputedly the strongest officer in Her Majesty's HM Army), among your adventurers (and he looks much the better for his little sojourn down the Nile).  I remember reading that he took with him to Egypt  a large bore shotgun for potting the odd Mahdist, and that his choice of side-arm (in addition to his heavy cavalry saber) was a 4-barrel Lancaster pistol ("howdah pistol") .

[white knight]

I didn't know about him before this project, but he's amazing. You have fictional characters who sound less epic than he did.

[white knight]

Another custom model today.

Hawley Griffin was a skilled research scientist who discovered a formula that makes a human being invisible. As all slightly mad scientists do, he tried it out on himself. The formula entailed taking opium and another drug, which made his blood clear, then processing him in a radiator engine. It succeeded, but he quickly found himself unable to reverse the process. Realising not only that his normal life was over, but also the potential for living a life of debauchery free of consequence, Griffin quickly came to embody the worst aspects of the Victorian male.


The invisible man, dressed for a night out on the town, or at least, the start on one.

A psychopathic murderer, rapist, and traitor to mankind, Griffin had to be coerced into joining up with the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and he doesn't hide the fact he feels little to no loyalty towards his fellow team members. A monster among men indeed.



He may not be a team player, but it doesn't occur to Griffin that other Extraordinay Gentlemen may have a trick up their sleeves of their own.


Wha...what are you looking at?


The members of the team so far, with the newest addition

The concept for the model was taken from the League group foto from the graphic novel. The reason I went with more of a taupe colour for the suit than the grey from the image is that I used the same base figure as for my Dracula model and I didn't want them to end up looking too similar.



The base model was the gentleman from the Lemax "attending services" set again. I removed the head and hands, repositioned the right arm, built up the shirt collar and sleeve so it would look hollow and built him a new cane from a piece of paperclip and some putty. The hat was cut off from the head and glued to his side, so he would appear to hold it next to his body.


Don't lose your head!

The Dracula I made earlier from the same figure is slightly bigger because I bulked out his arms and legs with putty, as well as broaden his shoulders and hips. I didn't do that on Griffin as I figured it would help to differentiate the two models a bit more.


Aheheh... I like your tailor.

[Metternich]

Your Invisible Man is a brilliant repupurposing of the figure.   The base figure appears very versatile, and with the addition of a rifle and suitable painting could also serve as the basis of a Major Moran.

[Metternich]

Don't know if you are aware of Luville, a competitor to Lemax in the Christmas village market.  https://www.felinaworld.com/uk/luville

The line includes market vendors with stalls (thttp://www.christmasvillages.ca/Luville/Luville-At-The-Market)

[Elk101]

The invisible man conversion really is good. Nice work.

[white knight]

Your Invisible Man is a brilliant repupurposing of the figure.   The base figure appears very versatile, and with the addition of a rifle and suitable painting could also serve as the basis of a Major Moran.

That *is* a good idea actually. If my other idea for Moran doesn’t pan out, I may try that. Or just use the head on another body. I agree it’s a versatile figure, I picked up spares because it’s so useful.

Don't know if you are aware of Luville, a competitor to Lemax in the Christmas village market.  https://www.felinaworld.com/uk/luville

I actually do have a figure from Luville to try out, but it’s much smaller, so now I’m not sure whether that particular figure is just a young girl instead of an adult or if they are all smaller.

[Malamute]

Very clever, I think Griffin is my favourite so far.

[Mason]

Very clever, I think Griffin is my favourite so far.

I have to agree, he is rather brilliant.
Very clever and well executed.
 

[white knight]

There I was thinking it was rather a lazy and obvious solution.  

EDIT: not as lazy as the empty base approach of course.