Pringle, PNE

Here's a repainted Soccerstarz figure of Preston North End's new signing, Ben Pringle:

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As with all the recent PNE repaints (bar Lindegaard) a lookalike figure had to be used for Pringle.

The customer chose it himself, and I've got to say, he did a good job! The only thing I had to do was lighten the hair... and repaint the kit, of course.

Pringle responded to a picture of this repaint on twitter!

Short and sweet!!

If you'd like a figure of a player that has never been produced, get in contact; maybe we can find a lookalike, and sort out an unlikely figure!

Leeds Subbuteo Tracksuits, 1-3!

On my first post about an XL Subbuteo figure, I think I said that there were more coming...

So here are 3 of them!

Shirt numbers 1, 2 and 3 would be on show here, if theses players weren't wearing Leeds' iconic 1970s pre-match tracksuit tops! 

As it is, all of them have their numbers on show on another unique part of the Leeds kit of the 1970s: the sock tags. Unfortunately, they can't be seen on these pictures; you'll just have to take my word for it!

There are only minor differences to all of these repaints. The sock tag numbers have been mentioned already, but I also adjusted hair colour, and added the moustache on David Harvey! The names on the tracksuit backs are different too, of course.

As I said when painting a Costa Rica World Cup Squad a while back, there is something satisfying about completing a full set or squad of players... more of these to come!!

Here's a pic of some of the greats wearing this tracksuit, ahead of the Charity Shield match with Liverpool.

van Hooijdonk, Celtic

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Here's another kit that I'm running out of things to say about!!

I've done it a few times now, and if you've read my previous posts about it, you'll know that it's widely considered as one of the worst kits in Celtic history!!

You'll also know that I enjoy the challenge of painting a more complicated kit.

One additional challenge that is starting to arise, particularly with this kind of complex kit, is keeping it consistent, especially when I'm doing the figures as part of different orders. I think I've done ok so far. I keep photos of every repaint I've done, so there are always pictures to refer to as well!

Here's a picture of the kit in real life:

Spurs, Brown kits

You've seen this kit enough times for me to not have to say too much about it now! (if you follow my blog or Facebook page anyway!)

Here are a few Prostar figure versions of Spurs lil chocolate brown number, in shirt number order, of course!

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Here's a pic of the kit... as if you need to see it!

(Pic via historical kits)

"Billard", Wednesday

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Here's another custom, personalised figure that was requested as a gift.

I worked with the customer to identify a suitable lookalike figure, and then he chose the kit, the shirt name and number and the name on the base.

I used a recent photo to make additional changes such as a beard, change of eye colour, and add some small sections of white to the hair (the customer said I'd been quite generous with the amount of white- or lack of it!!)

Anyway, if you'd like a similar present for someone you know, or just a figure for yourself, get in contact!

Click here for Twitter, here for Facebook, or just leave a comment below.

Kinkladze Tonka Figure, Man City

My first Tonka figure repaint!

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This wasn't actually a Kinkladze figure, but who can blame any Man City fan for wanting a figure of him?!

The fact that the body of the figure was bigger than a standard Corinthian made painting pretty straightforward.

As you'll know, if you read regularly, I love when little details are spot on, so the top of the socks, and the collar are my favourite parts of this one... not to forget the correct shirt number font!!

I also added 'Kinkladze' to the base of the figure.

Do you have a Tonka figure that would like repainted into a new kit, or even a completely new identity?! Get me here, or on Facebook or Twitter!

Barkley and Butland, Leeds

Here we have Soccerstarz repaints of a couple of Leeds loanees that, for different reasons, didn't really live up to their potential:

Ross Barkley's loan spell at Elland Road is now infamous among Leeds fans for the comment from then manager Neil Warnock that he was sending Barkley back to Everton because he couldn't guarantee him a place in the starting XI when we had Michael Brown.

Sigh.

Barkley showed a few flashes of his obvious ability while at Elland Road; I remember him setting up a McCormack goal with a brilliant cross, but he just didn't get enough game time to show what he could really do.

Butland's spell at Leeds was also ultimately disappointing. If I remember rightly, he was man of the match in his debut at Middlesbrough, and suddenly we all got excited at the thought of moving up the table, propelled by Butland and fellow loan signing Connor Wickham.

Unfortunately, that never happened and, in what was a fairly unpopular opinion at the time, I felt that Butland did make a fair few mistakes that were largely ignored because of his reputation. Admittedly, he was playing behind a defense performing horribly.

In spite of all that, this repaint was an inevitability for my collection once the Butland figure was released! And I've gotta say, I think it's pretty sharp. I always liked this keeper kit!

Ivica Strok, Celtic

Here's one that certainly has some story behind it! Celtic legend, Ivica Strok:

A really unique job this one; not only was it not based on a real Celtic player, it wasn't even a real person!! Yep, this repaint was all because of... a player on Football Manager!!

I was interested in the story behind it, so I asked the guy who I was painting it for to tell me more about why he wanted it. In short, Strok has to be one of the best FM regens ever!

I may be hazy on some of the details, but it was something like 800 goals for the club, resulting in the shirt number being retired.

As an avid FM player myself at times (the times it doesn't make me want to throw my laptop out the window) that would have been explanation enough. But there's more!

As a bit of a laugh, the guy whose game he showed up in made some Ivica Strok Testimonial programmes, and sold them for charity. And things continued to escalate!

A Strok Celtic shirt can now be found in the Football Museum; Strok's autobiography is in the process of being written and, as the picture below shows, he even has his own Twitter page (with thousands of followers, might I add!)

As any FM player will tell you, the game easily becomes an obsession, and, in my customers own words the whole thing "struck a chord" with other players who think this kind of thing in their heads. Also in his own words "I'm the idiot who put it all into action!"

As much as it was a tricky paint job (those thin white stripes on the green stripes!!) I loved doing this one, just because of the whole story!

If you want to know more about Ivica Strok, honestly, you'll find loads by googling him!!

Lindegaard, PNE

Whole raft of PNE Soccerstarz coming up! Let's start with their number 1!

I've done a Preston 5-a-side team recently! This is the only player that had an existing figure; all the others had to be lookalikes, but between us, me and the customer found some really good likenesses!

Keep an eye out for them!

The only challenge on this figure were the black stripes on the arms!

Incidentally, these PNE figures are also the first time that I have used the new EFL shirt number font (Though there is also a Leeds figure coming up that will be using it. Any guesses who?!)

I've been getting a few responses on Twitter recently; Lindegaard 'liked' a pic of this figure.

Gio, Spurs

I remember there being much excitement about the emergence of Giovani dos Santos. It never really worked out for him at Barcelona, or at Spurs... but that didn't stop the repaint requests!

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Two of the kits from his 4 year spell at White Hart Lane, though, in reality, he spent much of that time out on loan.

I prefer the second of these repaits, just because it was a more interesting kit to do! No.1 does have hooped socks tho...

These are also repaints where...erm... extreme hair means a lack of name, and just a number on the shirt!

In case you were wondering, Gio is currently at LA Galaxy.

Here he is in the above kits:

 

"Hardie", Leeds

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Here's a 'lookalike' figure that was requested quite a while ago as a birthday present. 

The customer said, I've got a friend who looks just like Kevin Mirallas... so choosing a figure wasn't too hard!

Sorry the picture quality isn't great! I think I was still using my old camera (which is slightly worse than the camera on an iPhone!) at this stage.

Incidentally, I think this is the figure with the quickest turnaround that I've done, to meet the birthday deadline! It was delayed in the post, so when it arrived, it was painted and posted within 2 days! 

I couldn't disappoint someone on their birthday, could I?!

If you want a lookalike figure for someone's birthday, Christmas present or Bar Mitzvah, get in touch! Here, on Facebook, or on Twitter.

Roy Race, 1990s

I've done a fair few variations on the Melchester Rovers kits now, but this is the first one from the 1990s!

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It was nice to have a different kit to do.

This kit has the distinction of being one of the first MRFC kits that I remember having a sponsor... and was also a Christmas present of mine in around about 2000!

Here's the picture I was sent to copy from:

This, and other Melchester Rovers kit pictures can be found on the excellent True Colours site.

Becks, LA Galaxy

If I'm being really honest, I'm surprised a request for this figure took quite so long coming!

Here's David Beckham in his LA Galaxy stuff!

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I enjoyed this one a lot, partly because of all the extras requested!!

I haven't done many tattoos, but the winged cross on the back of Becks' neck is definitely the best yet! 

This figure also gave me more practice at captain's bands, and complex boots!!

I was also pleased (but obvs not surprised- this is Beckham after all) to find the spot on number font for his shirt online!