Leeds 04/05 Tonkas

And now it's time for the latest pair of Leeds Tonka figures!

Our first season in the Championship saw these little numbers, sponsored by Whyte and Mackay, and made by Diadora:

I remember the club making a big deal in the marketing out of the badge being in the middle! That lasted for 1 season.

I remember discussing which players to put on the back of the shirts with the guy who requested these. He basically left it to me, but we did talk about choosing players that weren't necessarily the best, but ones that sort of summed up the era... hence Gregan making the cut!!

*Unpopular opinion* I think Gregan was actually decent for us. But at centre half, not in midfield.  

Both of these players had strong Preston North End connections, of course, and this was a time we signed what seemed like loads of players from them; Eddie Lewis and Richard Cresswell also joining the ranks. (Tonkas with their names on incoming!!)

If you're a fan of this style of figure, I've also done some Man City ones that I'll be blogging soon-ish, so keep your eye out for them!

Viduka, Celtic

Loved Viduka when he was at Leeds.

Fortunately for me, this Celtic repaint request started life in a Boro kit!

Lovely!

Normally I don't go into painting technicalities much on here, but I tried a different technique on this one. 

For a sponsor like the ntl one on this figure (where it is on white, that goes over the green hoop) I'd usually just do it on a white decal, and use that to cover the hoop.

For this one though, I used white paint to make the gap, and then used a clear decal instead. Most people wouldn't notice the difference, to be honest, but I felt it gave it a crisper, cleaner look on the front, and I'll probably do the same again, for similar situations.

Hope that didn't bore you!! Or lose you completely! Maybe it'll be a useful point to someone!

Sheffield United 04/05

Sheffield United are flying high in the Championship at the moment! 

Here are a couple of repaints from their 04-05 season:

Sheffield United finished 8th that season. 

These 2 players had fairly different careers at Bramall Lane; Harley joined on loan a couple of times, before going on to sign permanently and played over 50 games for the club.

Johnson only played for them once.

Barmby, Forest

A while ago (On a Sheffield United post, I think) I said that repainting had reminded me, and sometimes taught me about loads of obscure transfers.

Speaking of which, here's Nottingham Forest's Nicky Barmby!

Other than saying I'd completely forgotten he ever played for them (though I must have known at the time, as he joined them from Leeds!) I don't have much else to add!

A pretty standard repaint, this one.

Bremner Keymen

Here are the last 2 Keymen... for the time being at least.

A couple of Leeds away kits for Billy Bremner:

If you're wondering, the side view of the first one is very much so you can see the sock tag!!

And as for the second, of all the hundreds of Leeds figures I've done; this is definitely the first red one!!

I wondered how well decals would work on diecast figures, so I used them for the badges only. The numbers (sock tabs included) are all handpainted.

I like the Keymen figures, though some are in pretty bad condition due to age. These were 2 of the ones in better nick!

Ian Walker, Two 1990 Spurs kits

Ah, the 90s. What a time for both haircuts and goalkeeper kits!

Here's a fellow that neatly brings those 2 things together: Ian Walker.

I've put the pics up in chronological order by season, but I know for a fact that I painted the bottom one first. One of the reasons; as I look at it, I know I could do a better job on it now, but it was fairly early in my repainting journey.

The top one was something of a watershed moment for me; I remember painting it at the time and thinking: If I can do the design on the front of this, there are definitely complex parts and designs that maybe I should be attempting on other shirts.

Always learning, always improving.

Heaney, City

Good result for City yesterday; City repaint on here today!

Corinthian collectors will know that Heaney isn't all that easy to come by, but at least he had a long successful stint at Maine Ro... oh.

According to wiki, he spent 3 years contracted to Manchester City, but made just 18 first team appearances in that time, and went out on loan twice.

Still, nice kit this one, and clearly I was also in the mood for painting the boots too!

Roma Soccerstarz

It's been a while since I posted any Roma figures; I actually painted these quite a long time ago, but thought they were still worth sharing.

Not the clearest photos, but still... A couple for the Roma fans to have a gander at!

I have done both of these players before (have an explore of my Roma tagged posts by clicking here) Genuinely can't remember if they were for the same guy or not, but they are both in different kits to the first versions I did!

Funny to think that Salah had had basically no impact on the English game at this time I did these! 

He's also grown his hair and beard a fair bit since then!!

In terms of the actual painting, I guess it's fairly obvious that the sleeves on the Szczesny figure were the hardest part! 

Also, it's always a bit of a bonus when there is no sponsor to add on a soccerstarz sized figure... it does get fiddly when there is!

Newcastle 95/96 away... part 3!

I've already talked about this kit in previous posts!!

Loved it, enjoyed painting it, lets have a look at the last set (in shirt number order!)

Three pics this time- it leaves me enough to make one more post of Newcastle 95/96 kits! 

I'm not certain on the 2 number 10s situation... all I know for sure is that Ferdinand started in 9, and then moved to 10 to accommodate Shearer. 

I'm guessing that this shirt was used (maybe as a third kit?!) for the next season as well.

Johns, Darlington.

Considering that there are Premier League clubs I still haven't done a single repaint for (eg West Ham) I find it quite funny that this is my second Darlington repaint!

This Johns repaint was requested by a friend of mine... it's a figure of himself!

Both Darlington figures have been 'lookalikes' of Darlo fans.

If you want a lookalike figure of yourself, or a friend, get in contact using the links in the header. It doesn't even have to be in a Darlington kit ;)

A Couple of Leeds Coaches

 Here are some of my first Microstar remodels! I did a Soccerstarz remodel to make then Leeds manager Garry Monk, but that was a little easier, as Soccerstarz figures heads are easier to swap!!

Anyway, here are Gus Poyet and one of Monk's coaching staff, James Beattie:

Poyet was Dennis Wise's number 2 at Leeds. I decided to put him in a tracksuit, though he did often wear a suit in our League 1 days.

James Beattie, as mentioned above was part of Garry Monk's team, and I think I'm right in saying that he followed him to Boro and Birmingham. Note the green boots and the gilet!!

For both of these I actually used a small hacksaw to take the heads off the original figures. Another part of the remodel on the Beattie figure was using Miliput to add a hood, which I was pleased with!

Another personal highlight, on both figures, are the initials, which are hand painted!

Kidd, Arsenal

A while ago, I did a few remodels, and these left me with a spare Brian Kidd head, and a player body!

I decided to do this with them:

I think there was a Kidd player figure made as part of a Man United European Cup Winners set, but there was never an Arsenal one, hence my decision to make this one.

It is available, so if any Arsenal collectors see this and are interested, comment here, use the contact box at the bottom of the page, or use the social media links in the header.

Klinsmann, Germany 1990

International break: International repaint on the blog, and a pretty iconic kit at that!

Klinsmann, in Germany's Italia '90 effort.

It's enjoyable to do well known and fondly remembered kits! I especially like doing different designs for the first time.

The main potential problem I had to consider with this one was making sure there was enough room for the badge above the main design on the front. I don't usually put the badge on while there is still painting to do, but did on this one!

I also purposely made the numbers on the back quite large, as was the trend in Italia '90 for some teams.

Special Gareth Barry Figure

I had been waiting to post this one, because of the possibility of getting a photo of the actual player holding up the figure... but being as it hasn't arrived, I thought I'd just get on and post the pic!

A special figure to commemorate Gareth Barry breaking the Premier League appearance record for the man himself:

As I'm sure you'll have worked out, each quarter of the shirt is one of the teams he played for in breaking the record (Villa, City, Everton and West Brom)

Some other details of note:

1. The hooped socks, made up of the colours of all 4 teams.
2. The sleeve patches: One from his debut season at Villa, one the Champions patch from his time at City.
3. All 4 shirt sponsor (well, a quarter of each, anyway!)
4. The 3 different numbering styles worn across his years in the Premier League
5. Adidas boots.

Oh, and in case you were unsure, 633 was the number of games he had played when he broke the record... though by the end of the season he was at 653...

Pleased with this one! And, in the words of the guy who bought it as a present for Barry: "He loved it!"

Speed, Sheffield United

One Gary Speed Prostar, one Gary Speed Microstar:

And that's it for today. 

Some days the writing just doesn't flow, and today is one of those days.

Armstrong, Spurs

Chris Armstrong was a pretty big signing for Spurs in the summer of 1995.

He'd just scored 22 (if memory serves) for newly-promoted Crystal Palace; no mean feat in a side that went on to be relegated.

As a result, Spurs were convinced to shell out £4.5m (in a time when that was actually a lot of money to spend in the Premier League) to get their man. Ultimately, I'd say he flattered to deceive at WHL which is a statement backed up by the fact he only got double figures in 2 seasons.

Clearly I'm in quite an informative mood today!! Here are the pics:

Not in squad number order!! Or chronological! But just had to go home, then away! 

You'll notice the different squad numbers- he went from 11 to 16 as he fell down the pecking order.

They're in different fonts too- the one on the yellow kit being the preferred font of Spurs' kit manufacturer Pony, before the introduction of uniform numbers throughout the division.

Leeds 1992 Fullbacks, Vivid Imaginations

I haven't posted any of the Leeds Vivid Imaginations figures in a long while!

I had to make fairly liberal use of lookalikes when putting together the Leeds United title winning XI using this variety of figure, as many of the players, including these 2, were never manufactured.

On adding the figures, I've realised that the Sterland figure is actually wearing 1990-91 kit; it was the same shirt, just a different sponsor!

This is a kit I know so well, it's one of the few I don't need to look at pictures of to repaint! The hardest part is probably the design on the top of the socks!!