If you're not a purist collector, who's only interested in what some corporation decided was a saleable grouping of figures and equipment, then you may enjoy mixing and matching your collection's pieces and parts.
By bashing your kits together you can create something that
may have never been seen before. The only skills required are
the ability to envision new groupings of mass produced gear,
and the dexterity to recombine the parts. Don't underestimate
the second part of that statement. Working with miniature straps, hooks, and buttons can be suprisingly annoying.
My hopes are that this page will provide some ideas for those looking to kitbash their own collections. All of the images on
this page were generated by the HoloSuite operator, ScottE, using a camcorder and a Snappy III video capture device. You may
use the images for non-commercial purposes, provided that credit for the source of the images is included with their use.
Simple Examples of KitBashing
Click on a Picture to See it Unscaled in a Separate Window
| One of the easiest kitbashes to perform is to simply change a figure's uniform. Here's a Snap of a GI Joe General Eisenhower
figure wearing a Shuttle Pilot jumpsuit. Voila, John Glenn is
now ready for his Shuttle flight. Use of the helmet would obscure the face, and the suit collar sort of flaps in the breeze without the helmet in place, so the velcro pads already on
the suit were used to tuck the collar out of the way.
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| Taking the previous bash one step further, mix in a
GI Joe Classic Collection Mercury Astronaut, and you've
got an easy John Glenn: Then and Now
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Sometimes you just can't tell what will be useful later,
so an avid kitbasher never throws anything out.
Here's an example of a no-sew halter top for Jane made out of two Blue Angel ascots.
Just hook the velcro ends of each strap to its mate on the other ascot.
One loops over the shoulders, behind the neck and back down.
The other circles around behind Jane's back. The ascots are stiff enough to hold their shape without stitching them together.
Jane's ready for Mardi Gras.
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| Here's an example of mixing and matching old gear with new.
The 1999 Apollo 11 helmet is nice for
excursions, but doesn't disassemble to
show how the inner bubble helmet looked.
No problem, if you're lucky enough to
have a bubble helmet from the 1972
Flying Space Adventure set.
The FSA helmet nestles nicely down
inside the neck ring on the Apollo 11
suit.
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| Here's an example of when mixing and matching old gear with new just
shows how inferior one set is.
The Apollo 13 set from Kenner looks
pretty sad next to the Apollo 11 set.
Any thoughts of putting together a
crew using a mix of equipment will
have to relegate the cheesy gear to
the far background.
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| Here's an example of mixing some custom gear with old gear and new. In honor of the Shuttle crew working on the Hubble over Christmas 1999 I wanted to make sure Santa stopped by to lend a hand.
My General Eisenhower figure donned his custom red felt coat and hat, strapped on an Apollo 13 backpack, pulled on his Apollo 13 mitts, and selected a paintless vintage space helmet. He grabbed his 1:6 monkey wrench and headed up to meet Buzz in his Apollo 11 gear. I hung Buzz by his ankles to give him that nonstandard orientation.
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If you're a diverse collector, you probably have figures and gear from different product lines.
Here's an example of merging a Callisto
action figure with GI Jane's equipment.
It's a beginning for a Stargate:SG1
Captain Samantha Carter Figure. The flightsuit is from the GI Jane Helo Pilot set. The vest is from a 21st Century Chopper Pilot. The sunglasses are from a GI Joe Blue Angel set. The cap is either Hasbro or 21stC (can't recall).
GI Jane's outfits are a tight fit
on a Callisto figure. The Xena line
figures have larger thighs and bosoms
than a stock GI Jane. The plastic is
much more rubbery than a GI Joe,
so the fabric tends to stick rather
than slide. The articulation is a
compromise as well, as the Xena line
is roughly equivalent to the old
GI Joe Hall of Fame.
The good news is that these figures
on discount sell for a third of the
cost of a GI Jane.
Callisto's hair was cut for this figure, which makes the bash nonreversible for her.
That's bordering on a semi-custom figure.
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Sometimes it's fun to recreate scenes from the popular media.
If you're lucky (or lazy)a reasonable resemblance to a scene can
be achieved by mixing and matching gear without modifying any of it.
In this example, a Xena figure was outfitted in a GI Joe
Star Brigade Mission suit, and paired up with an Alien Warrior figure. An Apollo 13 set by Kenner was raided for supporting background in the scene.
The result is a rough remake of the final scenes
from the original Alien movie.
While the Xena head sculpt is a better match for our heroine than a stock GI Jane is, the figure's articulation is very
limited. This could be overcome by swapping Xena's head to Jane.
Swapping heads is bordering on customization,
and will be left as a topic for another page.
On the plus side, the bare arms seen as the figure dons the pressure suit, are more satisfying than if GI Jane's hinged joints were showing. The T-shirt is from a GI Joe Carded
Vietnam figure. The sleeves have been tucked inside the
armholes to approximate the tank top seen in the movie.
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In another recreation from popular media, GI Jane takes on the role of Sarah Conner as she battles against The Terminator.
This kitbash includes pieces from 4 GI Joe/Jane sets, a figure from another product line, and a custom hairpiece.
The bill of materials for these images is
- GI Jane (Hair Color Irrelavant)
- Black Jumpsuit from Challenge at Hawk River
- Vintage Fatigue Pants
- Sunglasses from Blue Angel
- Boots, M16, Web Belt from 82nd Jane
- Custom Hair Piece
- 45cal Handgun from wherever
- Child's Hair Elastic (cinches the waist)
- Terminator Endoskeleton Figure
Note that the jumpsuit was put on backwards to better appear as Sarah's black tank top. The hair elastic cinches the waist of the jumpsuit to give it that snug fit.
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