Adrenaline's Finished Custom Figures: SS Royal Blue Vegeta

Yamcha (Saiyan Saga)

Date: October 2014

Creation Time: 50 Hours

Difficulty: 9/10

Head/Torso/Legs: Irwin Series 7 Goku

Arms/Shoes: Jakks Series 14 Goku

Hair: DWC Yamcha Base

Belt: Unknown

Symbols: Made by Branjita

Modifications: Now that I have made this new and improved version, I will be moving my old Saiyan Saga Yamcha to the Frieza Saga part of my collection once I give him a halo. The only Yamchas left that I need to create are from the 21st WT, RR Saga, 22nd WT, King Piccolo Saga, Garlic Jr Saga, and a DB Movie version (from Sleeping Princess in Devil's Castle). 

Anyways, making this new one was tough. I am so glad to say that I will never have to create another long haired version of Yamcha. I might have over done the efforts on this one. I have slowed my creation process so much to make everything look right, that I am producing customs a lot slower :-\ I got to speed it up and not try to perfect every single thing, especially on minor characters considering I need to make 550+ more. Still, this Yamcha is a main character and deserved all the effort and time IMO. That hair sure was difficult to sculpt. I had to sculpt one strand per day on the lower section of the back. The upper, shorter strands above them could get 2-3 sculpted a day after the entire hair base became sturdy enough to hold it. What makes Yamcha's hair far more difficult to sculpt than anyone else's is that it's wild. It has strands that go in every direction. Down in the back, up in the front, and strands that sprawl out over his shoulders. What a nightmare. At one point, I had to cut the entire hair piece in half near his ears (while maintaining all of his dried strands in the lower back section) just to add some length because the strands that are suppose to come out over his shoulders were too high and at his ear level. Just imagine cutting through a Jakks Bojack hair and trying to add hair between the pieces and then having to blend it. It was nuts. I sanded down his hair like 5 different times. It's by far my best hair sculpting I have ever done. Really looks good IMO. The front part was a pain in the A. The initial base from a DWC Yamcha figure had a head socket that was too big for the Irwin head. So I had to trim the bangs by a lot! That way, I could get the hair down to fit proportionately. Thanks to Branjita & ssj2dakota for pointing that out to me. You could say I sculpted this hair from scratch because even the existing strands on the side from the DWC needed lengthening or thickening.

For the face, the hair from the Series 4 Goku had already been removed by timone317 when I got the pieces from him earlier this year, but I had to sand it down a little more, resculpt the eyes, thin the thick Irwin eyebrows, and make Yamcha's typical smirk. I even added those skin folds between the eyes. For the scars, I made slits and cut open the skin, eventually painting a light brown color into them.

For the shirt, I added apoxie to raise his collar and sanded it as smooth as possible.

For the pants, I did not like the skinniness of them. Yamcha's pants throughout DB and at least early DBZ were always pretty thick. This is a good example of going above and beyond on a custom, as I added sculpt to the inner thighs and down the inside of the pants. What an improvement.

The shoes needed just a repaint, but that was tedious getting those blue and white sections to line up evenly. Maintaining articulation was not simple on this custom. I did the glue and paint method and it worked once, but started removing paint slowly after 5-6 strokes. I am too scared to move his joints now lol He doesn't need to anyway.

For the arms, I sliced off some plastic between the peg and arm as you can see, which has helped avoid paint removal

What proved difficult with his arms and the rest of his skin was the color. For some reason, I had to paint it three different colors before finally matching his color to the right one. It's basically skin tone with a tiny bit of brown and yellow. Painting his gi was simple. I really like the Delta Ceram Coat Tangerine color. I think it's perfect for the Turtle gi color. Lets see, I even remembered to paint the black stripe on the bottom of his pants. The symbols were easy to apply and very sticky, which is good. I recommend getting them from Bran. They were a great and easy final touch to the custom and beats the days of drawing symbols lol The last steps were adding Flat Clear Acryl...which this was my 1st custom doing so. Can you tell? No more shine. I do have a little bit of my old gloss, but I am saving it for Metal Cooler and Cacao, whom need it. Finally, I added smaller pupils to match the early Z look. I love this custom. My best Yamcha. Maybe the best one around? I won't claim it unless you want to. Enjoy.