Mounting bbl heads

I was sitting there with the head of some random and recently sacrificed BBL trooper, wondering how I could mount it into VvV Shipwreck torso I have laying around, I pondered it for a bit then looked at Shipwrecks head; incidently this Shipwreck was sacrificed because it seems someone drug his face over gravel.

I cut the head off cleanly at the base of the jaw, drill the neck ball and mounted the head, found it to be too long and repeated the process until I was satisfied. Well this works quite well i was wondering if anyone might have another way of doing it since I love trying the methods.

What I've done in the past is mount a ball of Sculpey or Green Stuff to the bottom of the BBI neck (sometimes molded on, other times just glued on.) Typically to make the ball I pack the material into the neck hole first (best to put something in there first--talcum powder or corn starch for Sculpey, vegetable oil for Green Stuff) then pack in it (with the torso closed). Pop the two halves apart, trim off excess, and let harden (Green Stuff) or boil it for a few minutes (longer the better) with Sculpey.

Now if I needed to lengthen the neck, I'd use a piece of sprue (the plastic model parts come attached to), and the Green Stuff/Sculpey. First drill a hole into the BBI neck, insert the sprue so it's roughly the length you need it to be, then pack the putty in around it (neither seems to cling well to wood, which I tried first, using a small wooden dowel) as outlined above, and repeat the same steps (trim and harden).

On occasion if the head fits into the neck hole tightly, I've forgone the neckball. Downside is you forget and pick him up by the head, the rest of the figure tends to stay behind.

I have 2 ways of mounting BBI heads on New-Sculpt necks:

The first one only works with the bigger neck-balled figures (XHairs, Roadblock, etc.) - I actually take a "donor" neckball and drill a hole in it so the original peg from the BBI fig fits in it. You've got to eyeball it and get the hole big enough or the BBI peg will distort the neckball, but it's worked quite well for a few figs and gives you a great range of motion with really great stability.

The other way is easier, but not as stable - I chop off the BBI head at the neck peg (leaving the neck intact) and graft it onto a donor neckball (usually one from the original figure I'm modding). Normally the BBI neck is long enough that there is very little "gap" at the bottom. And if there is, rather than try to blend the neck joint in, I just paint the neck ball black or brown or something to look like the top of a T-shirt and it works really well. I'll also take a large paperclip or some other sturdy item to reinforce the neck joint so that the head doesn't pop off in the future. I'll glue the head and neckball together with a dab of Superglue (not enough for a permanent attachment, just to "tack" it there), and then take my smallest drill bit and drill up through the bottom through both pieces and then glue the rod/paperclip in place and re-glue the neck permanently. I've also heated up a paperclip with a lighter until it's red-hot and then jammed it up through the neck, but that can be problematic (and dangerous.) The tiny straws from WD-40 cans work perfectly too for these types of operations.

Now that I'm working exclusively with 25A figs, I have to Dremel out neck-holes on all the heads. BBI has been the worst to deal with so far because they seem to use the softest plastic, so getting the little ridges within the neckhole to "snap" into place is difficult, and I often end up just gouging out the whole neck and then repairing it with Green Stuff afterward for stability/"snap-ability".

But I've found that trial and error on tons of fodder heads works best.

Good luck!

I've had the same problem with the 25th for customs Chief, I did succesfully take a Star Wars Qui Gon Jin head and transplant it onto a cobra trooper body...making a character in my Joeverse known as the veteran (a Trooper who's served since the induction of Cobra and is now used for recruitment drives) It took me forever to perch the head on correctly.

I've already used the donor ball idea, I'll be mindful to try out the other suggested methods. I really want to make a 25th Custom hoodless Snake Eyes and a Storm Shadow, I'm also trying to decide on what Firefly would look like unmasked.

[joemichaels70]

dang. wish this thread would've been going before or during the CCII...

...stupid dr. venom...

Jedi_Master_Ben did an awesome tutorial about converting heads to fit 25th bodies:

http://goodtogocustoms.com/forum/index.php?topic=3963.0

Lots of great advice there, though you might have to be a member to see the step-by-step images.

Im a huge fan of the "neckball-ectomy" I've dont it for quite a few of my customs since I'm a big fan of the BBi heads.