I finished my set of three Star Trek the Motion Picture figures with Sulu.

A few painting tricks to help pass the head as Sulu. I added Takei's distinctive mole above the eye and his arched eyebrows. I also added some color to the lips (and managed to make it not look like lipstick!).

When I made the custom Chekov and Uhura figures, I painted them whole pieces. This made it hard to get the paint brushes to hit all of the surfaces evenly and left a lot of brush marks and imperfections. For Sulu, I decided to bust the figures apart- mostly so I could put a McCoy head on a Decker body. The figures popped apart in a vice without destroying the torsos. Being able to work on each piece of the figures made painting so much easier.

As for Sparta, I listened to everyone's critiques. I reset the arms so that they're deeper into the torso and replaced the gloves with much smaller hands.

Those Trek figures are a lot of fun.

Thanks. The Sulu head is the weakest of the three, but I'm sticking to only using parts from the Star Trek the Motion Picture line. It's actually a better fit for older Sulu, but I think it will pass as Sulu, if only by process of elimination.

Now I'm deciding if I should continue the project and make a Rand figure or a Dr. Chapel figure. Or maybe Mr. Kyle, who wasn't even in the movie.