Author Archives: Doctor Zeus

The custom leather chest armor that Gustavo Bautista made for my kit-bash of Minsc arrived the other day! It looks awesome.

It’s a composite design pulling mainly from the following sources:

Check it out below, it’s the gear circled in red. Gustavo kindly threw in a scabbard and bracers as gifts which was a very cool thing for him to do.

Here’s everything that I currently have in-hand for the figure:

On the top right are the Astoys’ knock-offs of the Damtoys Assassin’s Creed line leather boots. They look fine.

And of course Boo needs a place to hang out. So on the bottom right is a leather satchel through Rattlesnake Toys which I think was parted out from VTS Toys line of figures from the Red Dead Redemption game, i.e., Wilderness Rider (Red Death). It also looks good in-hand.

I’m still waiting on three more items for Minsc’s clothing/gear. That is including what seems to be a great find for Minsc’s two-handed sword, which I’ll comment on just a bit further below.

The viking pants shipped from the UK back in May and was supposed to have arrived June 19. I’m trying to at least get a tracking number for it from the seller, because I do want the item. It’s the only item for medieval style pants that I’m currently finding on EBay and Etsy.

Just checked tracking on the red cape (third party knock-off designed for Star Ace’s line of figures from the movie 300) and it says it arrived at my local post office early this morning, actually. (Yay!) So with any luck I’ll get it today. Otherwise on Monday. I’ll make a new post for that when it arrives.

The sword is this: 1/6 Scale Toy Scottish General – Metal Claymore Sword w/Leather-Like Holster.

Now that is a two-handed sword worthy of Minsc! And I love that it includes the over the shoulder strap.

Once I get the trousers I’ll make a video displaying the entire body with all his gear equipped.

Other than than, I’m still patiently waiting on someone to print the head sculpt. I might have to go with a local 3D printing company if I can’t find someone in the 1/6 collector community to do it. I’d prefer to have the head sculpt printed by someone with tons of experience working with 1/6 figures, though. Someone who understands the realism that collectors demand. And especially who gets the need to have the head sculpt fit snugly with the Phicen M34 neck. Although I’m sure that any 3D printing company will certainly grasp that idea.

Then I have to get it painted. A couple of months ago I found an artist interested in taking the job. His work looks really good! But I’d still like to find other artists whose work seems impressive as well. Because this whole project hinges on the quality of the paint job. It has to be top-flight.

And of course I’ll have to commission an artist to make a 1/6 scale Boo!

I found—and ordered—the same two-handed sword on eBay that was sold out from another seller, i.e., this one:

It’s fairly simple in design… and hopefully not too crude in it’s craftsmanship… But the game at the start is taking place during an iron shortage.

It does look to me like a weapon that would be found on the Sword Coast of Faerun circa 1368 DR. Minsc’s hands will cover the blue plastic wrapping on the handle. According to seller’s shipping chart it should arrive in 1-2 weeks.

Update: It turns out the seller cautioned that this could take up the three months to arrive because of the pandemic, so they offered a refund, which I took them up on. So Minsc won’t be getting this sword. But in the next post I’ll provide update about a better choice of sword for him that I just ordered .

Becoming cognizant that good deals on eBay can disappear fairly fast, I went ahead and picked up a red cape for Minsc. It looks pretty darn good on the figures that are displayed. Under $20 and no shipping although it’s going to make it’s way to me on a slow boat from China (that’s a song reference for old folks, but here probably literally).

Yay, haha it’s literally in the mail!

1/6 leather artist Gustavo Bautista Ponce has created a leather chest armor for Minsc that fits the Phicen M34 body. In designing it we worked from the image gallery I posted in the last blog post. It’s essentially a composite of those artistic renderings. The chest armor uses studded leather, features a shoulder plate, and includes plenty of straps. It’s pretty darn cool looking. Based on the pics, to my mind it definitely captures studded leather armor from the BG games.

I could now post pics of it that Gustavo sent me… But because it will arrive very soon I think I’ll wait until it gets here and make a video to the unveil the M34 body with armor/clothing after I have everything in hand. Thus far I’ve ordered medieval black pants designed for a Viking which shipped from the UK and are supposed to arrive weekend after next. The other day I went ahead and purchased a leather satchel (Boo needs a place to hang out, right?). That’s arriving next week. And I already have the leather boots that are knock-offs for Damtoy’s Assassin’s Creed line.

I slept on the bracers that I saw a while back and they’re no longer available now. So I’m keeping an eye out for a pair of leather bracers.

And as for the two-handed sword, I’m also keeping an eye out on eBay. Just this morning I found this one, which looks decent. I slept too long on this one that I found a while back for a much lower price, now out of stock. Too bad too because it matched the appearance of the drawing for a two-handed sword +1 in the game. In any event, neither sword comes with a scabbard. But I believe Gustavo could make one, as he mentioned having taken commissions for scabbards in the past. Gustavo also recommended a fellow 1/6 artist that specializes in metal work, so I may check out what he has available.

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Just for the unveiling video I think I’ll use either of two swords I already have for other figures, i.e., that come with Asmus Crown series Gandalf the Gray or SLIM Aragorn…

I’ll eventually be getting Anduril from Asmus as a complimentary gift for being a loyal customer. Anduril is the new name of the sword originally named Narsil that Aragorn’s ancestor Isildur used to sever the One Ring from Sauron’s hand in the great battle that ended Middle Earth’s Second Age; and which broke at that time, but which Elrond reforged for Aragorn to use in Return of the King. Aragorn doesn’t receive Anduril from Elrond until they’re preparing for the final battle. He’s in his Helm’s Deep armor by then. So the two-handed un-named ranger’s sword that comes with the SLIM Aragorn figure is the one he uses throughout most of the adventure in the film trilogy. In order to remain screen accurate it’s probably best to use that sword with the figure I have. I doubt I’ll be getting Helm’s Deep Aragorn. Perhaps a final battle version? if Asmus ever makes a Crown series version of that… But in that case it’d surely come with Anduril. Anyway, I may just go ahead and equip Minsc with Anduril.

Still thinking about a red or purple cape for him as well… No rush on that, though. If I see something for a great price on eBay that looks like it’ll work I’ll give a cape a try eventually.

Addendum: I ended up not getting those pants and sword. Pants got lost in the mail and the sword was not available for at least three months. But I found better versions for both!

Still waiting on the printing of the head sculpt, but I trust that Wattos Scrapyard should get it made fairly soon. (There truly is no rush.)

In the meantime I’ve reached out a 1/6 custom designer Gustavo Bautista Ponce who makes leather items to inquire about a commission for Minsc’s leather chest armor.

This post will serve as a collection of reference materials for him:

Minsc’s character portraits:

This is what the character’s sprite looks like in-game, first row in standard leather, second row in studded leather armor +2:

Here is some artwork from Wizards of the Coast plus some fan art:

FYI I’ve already bought these boots and pants:

I’ve gotten some recommendations for a painter on FB 1/6 action figure groups and at Sideshow Collectors. To be completely honest, when I look at some of the artists’ FB and Instagram pages, I’m not blown away. I’m sure that some pics reflect works in progress, and sharing attempts that don’t pan out (in which case presumably they have another go at it until they achieve a satisfactory result). But for most of them I’m not seeing many examples of super high quality work.

I need to be selective here and hire a painter that can deliver exceptional results. The paint job for the head sculpt makes or breaks the overall result. At a minimum I want this head sculpt to rival Hot Toys in its accuracy to the source (here working from two portraits for a computer game).

Or, well, honestly, for what I’ll be paying it really should be even better since Hot Toys sometimes misses the mark!

Anyway, I found one artist, Michael Ang, whose work looks pretty darn good from the pics he’s posted.

He quoted me a standard price of $185. He’s the only one whose work impressed me enough to inquire about a quote. My guess is that $185 is then probably going to be about the going price for a custom paint job of a head sculpt. But I’ll find out as I inquire about it from some other artists, when I see portfolios that inspire confidence that they’ll deliver superb results.

I did see a really impressive example from an artist Yelim Choi,

and I will reach out to her. But according to someone at Sideshow Collectibles she’s not taking orders until Q3 of this year. In a way, that would actually work out for me, though! Because I started out with this project kind of wanting this figure to be my Christmas present from Santa this year. Like even if I had the figure assembled and ready for display, my thought has been to still put it away and wait to open in on Christmas morning, lol.

I asked around for recommendations for someone to print the head sculpt on FB and at the Sideshow Collectors forum, and got a referral for Wattos Scrapyard to print the head sculpt. He quoted me a price of $35 plus $4.50 shipping. His results look really solid. So I sent him the STL file that I purchased from Pedro. He said it usually takes a few days to print a head sculpt. So I should have Minsc’s head sculpt in hand pretty soon.

Also, the Phicen body is supposed to arrive today. So things are coming together here!

Pedro showed me a print of the head sculpt for Minsc and the likeness looks great to me!

Unfortunately his printer is still leaving a mark. It’s on the left side of the head.

He tried sanding it down but the ridge still shows. So it looks like I’ll be purchasing the .stl file only. Then I’ll have to find someone to print it out for me locally. I contacted a local company today to ask for a quote.

And then I need to find a painter that it looks like can do a stellar job. So I’m looking around on Facebook 1/6 groups to see if I can find one.

The paint job is going make or break this sculpt. A top tier paint job will give the figure the wow factor. A subpar paint job will be unacceptable, and will just increase the total cost of this already rather expensive project by having to get it repainted.

Anyway, regardless of the headache of Pedro not being able to print the sculpt without such a prominent blemish, it’s really exciting to see Minsc brought to life in three dimensions. The head sculpt seems to bear an excellent likeness to the B2 portrait. I’m pleased with the overall look of the sculpt.

Here’s a comparison. M35 is on the left, M34 on the right:

Per product descriptions M34 is 13.3 x 5.6 x 2.7 inches and M35 is 13.2 x 5.6 x 2.8 inches. So M34 is one tenth of an inch taller. And M35 is one tenth of an inch thicker in the torso. Or to be more precise, M35 is just more bulked all the way around, i.e., in the chest, arms, legs. Basically M35 is thicker and a smidge shorter.

One thing to consider is that from what I’m hearing from other kitbashers, M35 is so bulky it’s hard to find clothes and armor that will fit. M34 might therefore be a bit easier to find already produced clothing and armor for. But even with M34 I may have to commission an artist to make those items. Although perhaps when all is said and done that may prove the wisest thing to do anyway…

Minsc is huge. So either body can work. But I’m thinking that maybe the tiny bit of extra height that M34 has will, overall, be preferable to the massively thick frame of M35…?

For reference sake, here’s a gallery of images I’ve found for Minsc. Most of these are official WotC, bottom right is fan art. Some have him freakishly huge and bulked. Others have him muscular but more normally proportioned:

I think in the balance I’m leaning towards having him as tall as possible but still with a lot of brawn, which is what M34 gives me.

Okay, here’s my first go at a You Tube video for the One Sixth Baldur’s Gate channel!

If you even just support the IDEA of a line of 1/6 figures for the BG1 game getting made then please take the moment to subscribe, like, and share on other social media!

If you’re a 1/6 action figure collector it general, or a BG game series fan—either one—this is hopefully something you can get behind just on principle…Please help support!!!