FAITH & WILLOW
I used the Vampire Willow Sideshow 2.0 female body for my Hush Buffy. The Sideshow 2.0 female body is scaled to roughly 5'4". That's still a little too tall for Buffy (Sarah Michelle Gellar is reported to be anywhere from 5'01" to 5'03"). With the Vamp Will's 3" heel boot-feet, Buffy still didn't look quite right when posed next to my height-corrected Faith (now on a stock SS 2.0 body) and custom Willow (on a slightly modified DML Eve 2.0). So, out with the knives! It's time for some plastic surgery.
1. I used a hand saw to carefully cut through the thigh. The body is made of injected styrene plastic similar to plastic model kits so it's hollow and lightweight, unlike older figures like Mattel Barbie or Hasbro GI Jane or Star Wars, which are made of vinyl and are solid. A hand saw works great on this kind of body. Once I cut through the thigh, I cut a scale 1.5" off the thigh half, then sanded both parts even. See the smudges on the left thigh? I used a marker to place hash marks on each piece. The boneheaded Homer D'Oh!--been there, done that. The stories I could tell, if I wouldn't die of embarrassment...
2. Once the parts are sanded and dry fitted, it's time to put them back together. The body plastic is styrene, so I use, Ambroid's plastic welder, Proweld, rather than glue. Proweld breaks down the plastic temporarily, allowing the separate pieces to knit back together on the molecular, chemical bond level. It's as if the plastic is once again a single piece. Plus, Proweld works extremely fast.
3. Hush Buffy wears tights, so it's important to sand down the thigh where the plastic was welded. I use my Dremel to take down the plastic quickly. (On a side note, I just got a Dremel Lithium Ion cordless--I LOVE it. It is perfect for my toy hobbies. It's lighter than the corded drill, has lots of power, variable speed, and can still use a Flex-Shaft.). Then I hand sand to smoothen.
