Customizing Indy Figures

Billy Ray

Well-known member
DetectiveFork said:
So, is swapping the heads as easy as popping them off and putting them on another body? And you have the option of making the joint tighter by using nail polish?

I'd be interested to see how the head of Cairo Indy would look put on the body of Crystal Skull Indy (with jacket). That's a custom I might consider doing if it would look good.

The Cairo Indy has a much smaller socket in the head, so it would require some additional work. I am sure you could enlarge the socket with a dremel or something. The Cairo Indy head does fit perfectly on the Raiders Indy w/idol though, with no modifications.

The deluxe heads (pitfall and temple trap) have an ever so slightly larger socket than the KOTCS heads. They do "pop" on to the bodies, and won't fall off, but they are rather loose...kind of lolling around if moved.
 

DetectiveFork

New member
Billy, thank you so much for the run-down on the head sizes, which is invaluable knowledge when considering customs.

Putting Cairo Indy's head onto Temple Indy sounds tempting, but how does it look? There's still the no-neck problem, but I would think the face likeness would be better. I might try this, since I ended up with an extra Temple Indy. Would wanna buy an extra Cairo Indy, though, as I don't wanna ruin the one I have.

Also, do the deluxe heads fit snugly on the bodies for the basic Raiders figures?

Finally, do you just pull the heads off, or do you have to use the boil and pop method?
 

The_Raiders

Well-known member
I know how to fix the neck problem, I did with mine, I just made th sockett a bit bigger with an exacto knife, filled the head sockett up with hot glue, got the ball joint wet (so the glue wouldn't stick to it) put the head back on at the height I wanted it to be, got it wet again, and bam, I had an Indy with a neck :p looks good and moves great.
 

Billy Ray

Well-known member
DetectiveFork said:
Billy, thank you so much for the run-down on the head sizes, which is invaluable knowledge when considering customs.

Putting Cairo Indy's head onto Temple Indy sounds tempting, but how does it look? There's still the no-neck problem, but I would think the face likeness would be better. I might try this, since I ended up with an extra Temple Indy. Would wanna buy an extra Cairo Indy, though, as I don't wanna ruin the one I have.

Also, do the deluxe heads fit snugly on the bodies for the basic Raiders figures?

Finally, do you just pull the heads off, or do you have to use the boil and pop method?

Here are a couple of shots of the Cairo Indy head on the Temple Indy and vice versa:

IMG_00694.jpg


Indy_001.jpg


IMG_00933.jpg


You won't ruin either of these two figures swapping their heads. They pop right off and pop right on and right back on with no problems. No boiling, heating, taping, gluing, cutting, sawing, melting, or crying involved I promise.

And no, the deluxe heads do not fit on either of these figures at all without some sort of major modification. The ball joint on the neck of the two basic Raiders figures are way smaller than any of the other Indy figures.
 

DetectiveFork

New member
The modification does look great, Billy. Thanks for posting the pix and info. I'm gonna pick up another Cairo Indy and go for it.
 

Billy Ray

Well-known member
Ok, so I got a second RPG Indy today, swapped out the body with the Deluxe Ark Indy's body, and used the same method as before (Liquitex clear coat) and gave him the Temple Trap Indy's head. I don't quite like this head as much as the Pitfall head, but I still think it looks pretty good overall:

Indy_031.jpg


Indy_032.jpg


Indy_024.jpg


Indy_028.jpg
 

Snakes

Member
Great work with that Cairo Indy! Looks fantastic. I can't wait to get more deluxe Indys so I can make a custom Cairo Indy figure.
 

Crayfish

Member
very nice.....


I have thought about using the Marvel Figure Factory crates that came out a couple of years ago but I have lost all mine.


I am going to try this this weekend.
 

Webley&Whip

New member
I bought a single German soldier and 2 2-packs. To mix it up, I switched the heads from the figures from one of the 2-packs. Looking at them i wonder if they can be switched at the waist. I picked up a KOTCS hatless Indy to do a custom Cairo Indy and will do the same with the removeable hat version.

I think the cargo truck could be customized to look like the truck that Indy thought Marion was in when it exploded in Cairo. Remove the rack above the cab, the spare tires on the sides, fill some holes, repaint "primer red" and I think it would like very similar.

I noticed that the Pirates of the Carribean line looks compatible. Get a few of the cannibal chief for a dio, or even some of the Chinese pirates. Good call on the 21C 1/18 lines, though it is more for 4" figures. The original pilots and drivers are closer to 3 3/4".
 

Billy Ray

Well-known member
Agent Spalko said:
Wow! That crate is frigging AWESOME!!!

Thanks, I'm not finished with it though. I still need to add the support pieces across the top and bottom of the sides and I think I am going to do the inside as well because the bare cardboard looks kind of tacky but I ran out of "wood" and have to print out some more. It fits perfectly in the back of the truck too. Hopefully I will get to work on it some more today. More pics when I am finished.

Snakes said:
Does swapping the Cairo Indy head onto the Idol body fix the no neck problem?

Not completely, but it is a slight improvement. I posted pics a few posts back, I'll try to take some more straight on pics today.
 
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Snakes

Member
I swapped the jacket off the Pitfall Indy onto the regular Idol Indy. The color matches up perfectly. I had to remove the bag attached to the Pitfall jacket. For those who plan on doing this, be careful not to rip the jacket, mine ripped a little. It's still an improvement though, the plastic is softer, there is more detail, and it has the dusty paint. I put the Pitfall head on the deluxe horse Indy, and the Horse Indy head on the jacketless KOTCS Indy. I'm very tempted to buy another KOTCS Indy w/jacket and another Pitfall Indy to make a perfect Indy figure, but I'm a little uneasy about spending more money than I need to, especially after I already have 3 jacketed Indy figs.
 

The Golden Idol

New member
Snakes said:
I swapped the jacket off the Pitfall Indy onto the regular Idol Indy. The color matches up perfectly. I had to remove the bag attached to the Pitfall jacket. For those who plan on doing this, be careful not to rip the jacket, mine ripped a little. It's still an improvement though, the plastic is softer, there is more detail, and it has the dusty paint. I put the Pitfall head on the deluxe horse Indy, and the Horse Indy head on the jacketless KOTCS Indy. I'm very tempted to buy another KOTCS Indy w/jacket and another Pitfall Indy to make a perfect Indy figure, but I'm a little uneasy about spending more money than I need to, especially after I already have 3 jacketed Indy figs.

Why didn't you put the Pitfall head and jacket on the KOTCS body in the first place? It seems to me that the "perfect Indy figure" is the first customization I'd want to make.
 
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