Project: Matthews Final!

It's been a long while since I posted any Blackpool figures to the blog!

2016 being the last time they made an appearance!

But, the guy who wanted those figures has been back in touch, and is putting together a Matthews Final XI.

Obviously Stan himself aside, it's going to be lookalike figures, and here are the first 3:

Two defenders from the team; Eddie Shimwell and Harry Johnston. Shimwell was a bit of a surprise to me, as, if I'd had to take a punt, I'd have assumed that Jimmy Armfield was the right back, but he came into the Blackpool first team scene a year later... according to Wiki.

I was also surprised to find out that Johnston was captain; I thought Stan was a cert for that role! Amazing what painting little plastic footballers can teach you!!

And let's not forget the boss: Joe Smith; chosen due to his immaculate side parting!

500th Post!

So, I've made it to 500 blog posts!

I thought I'd use this one to look back at some of my first figures, as a way of looking at how far I've come on my repainting journey!

Here we go:

First Prostar:

First Microstar:

First Soccerstarz:

First Fan Fave:

While looking back, I think I always acquitted myself pretty well with new figures, I think I have come a long way!! I can definitely see the improvement, anyway!

At very least, I take clearer photos now!!

I'd just like to thank everyone for all the support and encouragement, whether that's buying a figure, making a positive comment, or even just clicking 'like' on Facebook. It means a lot!

Mortensen, Blackpool

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Here's another Blackpool repaint, where the player definitely falls into the legend category.

As in proper legend, not the modern complete mis/overuse of it. I genuinely got described as a legend in Aldi the other day for packing my shopping away quickly. But I guess that isn't really important to this post.

Stan Mortensen rightly has a place in Blackpool folklore, and in the history of the English game. He scored 23 times in just 25 games for England, and played so well to score a hat trick in the 1953 FA Cup Final that it's now widely known as "The Matthews Final"!

Anyway, this is another case of a simple old style kit ending up looking really effective. 

As a lookalike figure was used, I also had to change the name on the base.

Evatt, Blackpool

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Here's the first Blackpool figure I've done in a while: Ian Evatt, from their season in the Premier League!

As is often the case with this particular customer, he asked for several extra details!!

Note the boots, the PL sleeve badges, 'frown' lines on the forehead and stubble.

All extra work, but made for a good detailed repaint!

Here's Evatt in real life... not exactly his best moment, but one of the few pics I could find in this kit!!

Armfield, Blackpool

Here's another bonafide Blackpool legend!

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One of those times when a really simple kit ended up looking great!

I included a pic of Armfield at the time (above) because I chose the 'lookalike' figure, and I think it's a pretty good likeness!

The guy who bought this recently told me that he showed this to Jimmy, who liked it! His exact words (as posted on the Corinthian Facebook group) were: "He loved it, and could even tell me what season it was based on!"

The season, incidentally, was 1955-56!

Hart, Blackpool

You might not know this, but Joe Hart once had a loan spell at Blackpool!

Here he is!

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A fairly simple kit, this one... but as for the white writing for the sponsor... grrr!

The kit made up for it by having a black number and name on the back!!

The Coca-Cola League badge definitely adds to this one too!

Hart played 5 games on loan at Blackpool, while they were challenging for promotion from League 1 (I think!) They won all 5 games in which he appeared! 

Not bad for a youngster signed solely because of an injury crisis!

Adam, Blackpool away.

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The third, and currently last of my Charlie Adam Blackpool repaints! (Want to order the 4th?! Get in touch!)

This is quite similar to the Play-off final Adam figure that I did... in fact if my memory is correct, the only difference is the font for the name and number on the back of the shirt!

Here's Adam celebrating a goal vs Man United!

Crainey, Blackpool

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Stephen Crainey. He was rubbish for Leeds!

But he was good enough for Blackpool for someone to want a repaint of him, using a lookalike figure!

I don't always put the kit manufacturer on there, or sleeve patches, but these were both requested on this order.

I also painted on hair and beard- a last minute request- but had photographed it beforehand, and couldn't be bothered photographing it again!

Adam, Blackpool

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This is the second Charlie Adam figure that I've posted on this blog... but it won't be the last!

The first Adam figure was also a Soccerstarz (he wasn't made as a Prostar, as far as I'm aware) but it was wearing the kit Blackpool wore in the playoff final.

This customer chose to have the kit Blackpool sported in the Premier League instead!

Tho it isn't that clear from the picture, I also painted the little white stripes on the socks that you can see on this photo!

Matthews, Blackpool

I've said before that, sometimes, the simplest kits are the most effective repaints. I'd say this is definitely one of those times:

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When I finished doing this, I was delighted with it! 

"The Matthews Final" is such an iconic moment in English football that it surprised me that a) Corinthian never made this one and b) I've never seen a repaint of it either.

The customer loved it too!

Are you getting how pleased I was with this repaint?!

DJ Campbell, Blackpool

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So... to those of you that have been following carefully; this is not the Blackpool icon that I promised a while back!

This is DJ Campbell, who was pretty decent for Blackpool in the Premier League, to be fair! He managed 13 goals in his first season in the top flight, which is no mean feat.

This figure included the usual badges, sponsors and numbers, but is also the first figure on which I have attempted tattoos. If you look closely, you'll also see Premier League sleeve patches.

I was pretty happy with this one overall!

I have had a look at tweeting him, but for some reason, he hasn't been on twitter for a while...

Ormerod, Blackpool

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I've had a few more Blackpool figures to do recently; including lookalikes, such as this one, but also, possibly the most iconic repaint I've done!

I can't post pics of it yet, as I haven't sent it to the customer, and I always want them to see first, so, for now, you'll have to settle for Brett Ormerod!

A Blackpool away kit was chosen (possibly their play-off final one?!) for this repaint.

Ormerod himself favourited a pic of this repaint o twitter:

Ferguson, Blackpool

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The second figure in a Blackpool order I had a while back.

Barry Ferguson, with a figure that was a little too youthful for the way he looked at Blackpool!

Fortunately, he had a pretty sizable beard to mask his boyishness!

Here's a photo of him acting as a ball boy:

Charlie Adam, Blackpool

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Here's my first ever Soccerstarz figure repaint!

Charlie Adam in the kit Blackpool wore in the Playoff final that saw them promoted to the Premier League for the first time.

This was my first chance to judge a Soccerstarz figure up close. I think the sculpt is pretty good, but am not overkeen on the base, which feels pretty thin and cheap. It was also much smaller than I expected.

I'm still undecided over whether to get myself some Leeds related Soccerstarz to repaint (such as Milner and Snodgrass)

Anyway, in spite of its size, this one didn't give me too many problems.