Minamino, Japan

As it's an international break, how about a couple of international repaints.

No idea if I can keep up the posts with international kit figures throughout, but might as well start with a theme, eh?!

Here we have Minamino, in Japan's current home and away kits.

Hard to get the number to show up well on the photo, but I was very pleased with this one! The sort of camouflage pattern (in very non-camouflage colours) came out great, if I say so myself...

The away kit is much simpler, but one of those nice, crisp, clean ones. A sort of "less is more" repaint!

And that's your lot for today!

 

Gordon Banks

I know England are playing tomorrow, but the chances are I will forget to post this then!

So here, without further ado, are 2 England Gordon Banks figures.

 I'm gonna be honest and say I don't know a great deal about these. I don't know the brand, and couldn't even say for sure if they were mass produced.

They were a bit different for me, in that when they arrived, they were a sort of bronzey brassy colour all over, so as well as the kit, I had to do the skin, eyes and hair too.

I think they came out pretty well, and so did the guy I did them for.

International Break

As we're currently in the middle of a set of international fixtures, how about a couple of repaints in international kits?

First, one to offer a little cheer to any Irish followers I have:

If I remember rightly, I mixed up some slightly darker green for the sleeves on this kit. If you can't tell... well, it was only a subtle difference anyway!

 

And here's Celtic legend Billy McNeill in his Scotland colours. Nice simple, but effective repaint.

Larsson x2

What a stellar career Henrik Larsson had, eh?! 

I remember there always being questions about his ambition when he was at Celtic... so then he went and played for Barcelona and Man United (when they were still good) Not to mention World Cups and Euros! 

I've already showed you Barcelona and Man U repaints of Larsson, so here's one of the World Cup kits, I think. Tho I can't be bothered to check, to be honest.

I've also done a couple of repaints of Larsson in his early career with Hogaborg, and Helsingborg. And Feyenoord, I think.

Here's one of his very last clubs: Raa. And that's basically all I can tell you about them!

El Diego, x2

International break: International repaints.

2 Maradonas done, in what's become a bit of a growing trend, when someone has asked me to do the same kit they came in, but better... and, if I'm allowed to say, I think I succeeded.

So, if you wondered about the differences, I've added the captain's band, the number font is more accurate, and also on the shorts. The badge is sharper, the kit supplier is there too, and I even added a wristband and puma boots!

Plus... the stripes are better!

 

Lots of the same changes on this one (number on shorts, captain's armband, boots, wrist band) and also changed the number on the shirt- I never knew it was silver- it always looked white to me- but the buyer was insistent!

I was also really pleased with the 2 tone blue stripes. You might not have even noticed if I hadn't said. Go on, have a closer look!

Goycochea, Argentina

I decided just to put one pic up today, as it's a warm Sunday afternoon, and I fancy going for a walk!

So here's a custom Sergio Goycochea figure:

It's in Argentina colours, in case you weren't sure, though I couldn't tell you the year.

Some people have said they think it's the best I've ever done. They guy I painted it for was pleased and he asked me what I thought. I said I thought it was good... but I like them to be perfect!!

To be entirely honest, I preferred it before I put the little dark blue 'U' shapes on it. (They are actually Argentina football crests on the real kit)

I loved the colour merging, and the black lines, but there was something about those U shapes that I couldn't get exactly right, in my own opinion. I think it's because on the shirt, they weren't straight! Makes it even harder than if they were, in a funny way!

Anyway, what do you think? One of my best?

Argentina x3

Some Argentina figures; why not?!

I've said several times on this blog that I think simpler, retro kits have a habit of upstaging more complex repaints, which may explain why I love the Maradona repaint so much!!

I've mentioned the bases done like this on other figure before (Atleti, I think) and, while I wouldn't do it for my own collection, I think it does look pretty good on these Argentina figures. 

The customer who these were for had already painted these bases before he sent them to me! I think they are remodels too! I think he's one for whom the body poses, and whether they are long or short sleeved, is quite important.

You'll notice the kits are all slightly different... I think they were chosen as they were all worn for major tournaments. I'm not sure which tho!!

USA Keepers!

Last day of my blog boost week! Posts on 5 consecutive days- and viewing figures are up! And that's with only one share on my FB page as well!

Anyway, to end the period of obligatory posts (I am going to try to update pretty regularly from now on) I'm posting another couple of international players; USA keepers:

Both Soccerstarz, both with a tricky bit of paintwork on the sleeves! Also another foray into fluorescent paint! But, it's Friday, and I'm tired, so that's it for tonight!

Caniggia Collection!

I said there were some Argentina figures coming, didn't I?!

Here are 3 Caniggias; 2 from Italia '90, and one from USA '94.

And that's it! Short post tonight, cos I committed to one per day, but it's been a busy one, and I want to go to sleep!

British Keepers

Day 3 of blog boost week! Still going with international figures, as it's international week, but today'd specific theme is keepers!

Here are 5 goalies (England, Ireland, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales) in freshly repainted kits, including gloves!

If I can say this about my own work, I'm a big fan of these! The gloves add so much!

I particularly like the patterns on the Jennings Northern Ireland kit!

I can also reveal to you here, that all of these figures are set to feature in the book Glove Story 2, set to be published next year!

Laudrup, Denmark

It's still an International Break, so I thought I'd post another international repaint.

Unless I'm mistaken (and about 1500 repaints down the line, it's entirely possible that I am!) I think this is my first Denmark international kit.

Brian Laudrup:

I put this one up on my Facebook page the other day, and when I did, my first thought was about how neat the trim around the collar is!!

I would say that it is the white trim that really elevates this kit from a simple one to a very good one!

... I haven't added a tournament to the labels, as I'm not sure which tournament this kit is from!

Redondo, Argentina

International Break; International repaints!

And being as we had a look at Fernando Redondo in Real Madrid kit the other day, how about in a couple of Argentina kits?

In case you were wondering, these kits are from 2 different World Cups, hence why one has a name and the other just a number.

The away kit was pretty tough to paint! I did this kit on Caniggia as well, and I tried a different approach on each. On one I painted each of the little black diamond shapes individually, and on the other, I painted 3 black stripes, then used blue to 'block' bits out, to create the shapes.
...
The pointless part of the story is: I can't remember which method I used on which!

Keep an eye on here for more international kit repaints... I've got to do something to keep entertained until Leeds play again, haven't I?!

Amokachi, Nigeria

Nigeria put in some good performances at the 1994 World Cup, if I remember rightly!

They certainly had a pair of memorable kits! I've already had an attempt at the 'Money kit' on JayJay Okocha, and here's my go at the green kit on Daniel Amokachi.

I was very pleased with this one, which had a lot to contend with!! The green and black patterns in the white part around the neck take the eye, but have a look on the collar as well, for some little green triangles, which certainly add to the whole ensemble!!

I also decided to hand-paint the number on the shorts... this may have been partly influenced by the fact that I forgot to print a decal... I think it looks good though- I was happy with my representation of the font.

...

I do find it pretty amusing that, at time of writing, all the hyperlinks I've added in the first paragraph lead to the same post! Maybe that'll change if I get more Nigeria orders... or World Cup '94 ones.

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.

My best ever??

I'm pretty good at Prostar repaints by now. I've done hundreds; maybe approaching a thousand (I'll have to try and work that out some time!!) and it's not often that I even consider turning down what a customer asks for.

But I nearly did for this one:

I just wasn't sure that I could do it justice, and didn't want to disappoint the buyer. In the end, after he said he was happy to have it done like the original (less detailed) Corinthian version if I struggled, I agreed.

Here's the end result:

I was delighted with it, and more importantly, so was the buyer!

It's definitely the hardest I've taken on, and I think it's the best.

As I was painting it, I had four different shades of orange mixed, and ready to use! I had to do it all in one go though, because the need to blend the colours, essentially mix them on the shirt, meant that I couldn't let it dry in the meantime!

What do you think? Is this Euro '88 Ruud Gullit the best figure I've done?

Friedel, USA

I think this is my first USMNT figure!

Big Brad:

I was pleased with the neatness I managed on the grey trim! I also painted the 1 on the front, and managed to make it look pretty much like the proper font... so that was nice!

I think the kit was from the 2002 World Cup.

Son, South Korea

Being as it's pretty late at night, but I still want to do a log post, I've picked a figure that I don't have much to say about!

Here's my first ever South Korea repaint: 

Son Heung Min.

Coleman, England

I thought I hadn't posted a Vivid Imaginations Figure for a while, so here's one that someone asked me to do as a present for a mate.

This is 'Coleman', and the kit requested was England's World Cup Italia '90 strip.

I've done it several times before on Prostar figures, but this was the first time on one this size. That certainly made for the details round the collar and cuffs to be a bit easier!

I've still got more VI repaint photos queued up in my repaints folder, so maybe you'll see some more soon!

If you'd like a similar service, please contact me, via facebook or twitter.

Gudjohnsen, Iceland

It's easy to forget how good Eidur Gudjohnsen was, in his day. He was cherry picked by Barcelona, for goodness sake!

I think this level of talent, and the fact that he was never particularly offensive(!) was why people were generally pretty happy for him to make it to a major international tournament in 2016, even if his best days were behind him by then.

Here he is in Iceland's Euro 2016 kit:

Among the requests for this one were his white boots, and the captain's armband, which I think he was given on coming on as substitute in cameo role in the tournament.

He's also wearing his customary number 22 (in the correct font of course!)

I forget how Euro 2016 went for Iceland...

Clemence, FT Champs figure

Here's another FT Champs figure, and the first 'lookalike' one that I've done.

As far as I know, they have only done 'modern' players, so this customer chose a goalkeeper who he felt looked enough like Ray Clemence!

A lot of detail went into this one!

As well as the kit, of course, I had to repaint the ball, the gloves (to 1980s style ones) and Adidas boots. I even did the trademark white tape around the wrists.

I was pleased with this one!

Oh, and I almost forgot; I remodelled the arms into long sleeves, as England 1980s goalkeeper shirts would never have had short sleeves!