This set was inspired by Matt Hackley's set as seen on the A Piece of the Action blog. I really like Assignment: Earth. It would have been a great spin-off to the original series had it been picked up. But unfortunately, we only got the one episode and a few comics and novels.

Gary Seven was made from a Dixon Hill Picard figure and a heavily resculpted Scotty head. 

Roberta was made from a Kes figure with Janeway arms and a head from Jo Grant figure from the 5" Dr. Who figure line. A lot of sculpting and a pretty extensive paintjob went into the making of this figure. 

Isis is a Playmobil cat. I sculpted the collar and painted it silver. I also painted the eyes.

Beta 5 was built from styrene sheets, rhinestones and printouts of the computer displays.

This one was a long time in the making. Everytime I was working on another figure and had some apoxie sculpt left, I'd use it to sculpt some of this beauty's fur. 

Usually, I like to have as much articulation as possible, but this time, I went for the more detailed sculpt instead. The base figure was made from leftover Generations figures (Data and LaForge, as far as I can recall). But it could be any figure, really. 

What makes this one shine, in my opinion, is the multi-layered paintjob. The fur was base coated with a medium grey, the face and hands were painted in a green-ish grey. And then I started drybrushing the figure with lighter grey tones to make the fur look as cool as possible. 

Now I should point out that it is advisable to have some salt at hand when dealing with that creature, otherwise you end up with a nasty rash...

The Kelvans from By Any Other Name were a group of figures I wanted to make for various reasons. First of all, I liked the concept of "distilling" lifeforms into those cuboctahedron shapes. Also, all five characters were rather interesting itself, each having a distinctive look. And lastly, speaking of looks, Kelinda played by Barbara Bouchet and Drea played by Lezlie Dalton were drop dead gorgeous.

Building and finishing the figures took quite a while, as I didn't have too much time at hand but wanted to finish them as a group. A positive aspect of this build was that I used a lot of spare and leftover parts from other custom projects. 

So, what do you think?

Okay, let's be honest for a moment. The Alternative Factor certainly isn't one of the finest episodes of the original Star Trek series. But when I got asked to do a figure of Lazarus, I wanted to make the best version of a Lazarus figure that I could. 

As often, I got some inspiration by Matt Hackley's version of the character. He also used DS9's Dr. Bashir as base figure. The details were sculpted with apoxie, and the flaps on this arms and over the knees were pieces of thin styrofoam glued in place. 

The paintjob was pretty interesting. I tried to achieve the dirty and somewhat glittery look of the costume by using black and silver paint spraypainted in a very fine layer on top of the blue primer.

What can I say, I really enjoyed building this figure and will certainly make one for my own collection, as well.

A lot of work went into Natira from For The World Is Hollow And I Have Touched The Sky.

The base for the figure was a Lwaxana Troi figure, but I had to re-sculpt the whole torso and smoothen the arms. The multi-layered paintjob and a few glued-on rhinestones make her outfit shine.

The head was from a Janeway figure. I sculpted the hair including the long ponytail with apoxie. I also tried to copy her make-up from the episode. Quite difficult at that size, I tell you!

Subcommander Tal was the executive officer on the Romulan ship, which Kirk and Spock boarded in order to steal the cloaking device.

Have I said that I love the TOS Romulans? 

Anyway, after the Commander and Centurion from Balance of Terror and Kirk as Romulan and the Commander from The Enterprise Incident, Tal was next on my list of Romulans. He was built using an EMH-figure. I resculpted the uniform details and hair and gave him pointed ears. Then I repainted him in the same fashion as the other Romulans. The sash is a piece of cloth.

Dr. M'Benga who was played by Booker Bradshaw in two episodes of TOS is definitely a fan-favorite. The character also appeared on the fan-produced webseries Star Trek Continues.

The figure is a modified Spock-body with a modified Sisko-head. I tried to match the color of the short-sleeved shirt to McCoy's short-sleeved shirt.

Balance Of Terror is one of the best hours of television. In my mind, it's the best Star Trek episode of all. And it contains my favorite scene of all, the one between Bones and Kirk in Kirk's quarters, where the Doctor advises his friend and captain, "Don't destroy the one named Kirk." I love that episode. I even met the director Vincent McEveety a few years ago and chatted with him about shooting the episode and working with William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy and Mark Lenard. I must have seen this episode about 50 times by now, and it never gets boring.

So naturally, I had to make a few figures to represent the characters from the episode. I've already presented pictures of Lieutenant Stiles and Angela Martine, but the Romulans were a bit more difficult. I had built the figures a long time ago, but I had never been happy with the paint job. So a few days ago, I tried a new technique to paint the shirts, to give them a certain pattern and the look of a texture. And this time, I'm very satisfied. So here goes, the Romulan commander and centurion.

The commander was - of course - made from a Sarek-head and a season 1 & 2 Sisko-body. I sanded the combadge  and resculpted the pants and gloves. The sash is a piece of cloth.

The centurion was made from a O'Brien-body (similarly resculpted) and the face-in-the-box thing that came with Lwaxana Troi. I cut off the face, glued it on a Kirk head (where I had cut off the face, as well) and sculpted the ears and hair with apoxie.

While repainting the Romulans from Balance of Terror, I also repainted the Romulan commander and Kirk disguised as a Romulan from The Enterprise Incident. One thing I love about the TOS Romulans is that they were scarcely used. They only appeared in two episodes (three if you count the Romulan ship in The Deadly Years), and both episodes actually showing the Romulans are terrific, one being the submarine-in-space-battle, the other a gripping spy story giving Spock a short but memorable romance. They weren't over-used like the Klingons.

So of course, the female Romulan commander and Kirk as a Romulan were must haves for me. Kirk was made entirely from a bridge Kirk, resculpting the uniform shirt and pants, slightly altering the hair and of course giving him pointed ears. 

For the commander, I used Lwaxana's head which was glued on to a T&T Dax. 

By the way, I must say that I don't like the cgi effects created for the remastered TOS release. First of all, the effects look cheap, and I mean bad cgi-cheap, not very dated blue-screen-cheap. Secondly, they look completely out of place and do not fit to the 60's film material. At all. And the last and most important reason why I prefer the old effects is that I want to see what the artists back in the 60s created with their abilities, with their technologies and the equipment they had. Swapping those effects diminishes the work and effort that was put into those shots 50 plus years ago. And of course the real thing, the real model ships always look better than some cgi-created animation. But that's just me and my humble opinion. So, whenever I watch The Enterprise Incident on dvd, I see the Romulans using three Klingon ships, and not two Klingon ships and the Romulan Bird-of-Prey as shown in the remastered edition!

I made this custom of Commodore Wesley from The Ultimate Computer a while ago. I found that Chakotay with slightly altered hairstyle and a few lines painted on his forehead is a passable Commodore Wesley. The body is a Chekov-body with Kirk-arms, chest insignia and rank stripes resculpted accordingly.

Finishing off the main crew from the second pilot episode, I present to you my custom figure of Dr. Elizabeth Dehner. She was made from various parts. The head is a resculpted Tasha Yar-head. The torso came from an Uhura figure. The arms were taken from a Nurse Chapel figure, the hips came from a Janeway figure, while the legs starting at the thigh swivel came from a Seska as a Cardassian. Dr. Frankenstein would be really proud of this creation...

Now I need to upgrade the group shot of my Where No Man Has Gone Before customs.

One of my all-time-favourite episodes of the original Star Trek show is Mirror Mirror, and I needed the crew in their evil universe attire.

Playmates had released a mirror Spock, but he wasn't accurate enough. He was lacking the tall boots, the paint applications were rather mediocre, and the new head sculpt created for the figure was just not good. At all. So I swapped the head with a regular Spock-head, painted the collar a little darker, highlighted the medals and emblems by adding some colour and re-sculpted the tall boots and his evil goatee, of course. 

The base for Kirk was a Kirk in wraparound tunic. I sanded the arms and sculpted the uniform details, boots and the sash. 

For the rest of the crew I used the standard bridge versions. Uhura was the most difficult figure of this bunch, with the short skirt and belly top uniform. She turned out pretty good. 

I'm also working on a Marlena Moreau figure, so stay tuned. 

Another great episode from the original show is The Doomsday Machine. So here is my version of Commodore Matt Decker as played by the great William Windom. 

I had made a Decker-custom before, and I had sculpted the face completely from scratch. But I figured that working at this scale is pretty tough when it comes to details. I must credit the customizer Matt Hackley for this figure, because he used a slightly modified Dr. Soran-head on a slightly modified Sulu-body. And that's exactly what I've done, too. I changed Soran's hairstyle and the rank-braids and badge. And that's it, Commodore Decker in Playmates-style.

After Spock's parents didn't appear in the episode Amok Time (as one might have expected), they finally showed up in Journey To Babel, another terrific second season episode. 

Playmates released a Sarek-figure from the TNG-episode called Sarek. I took the head, de-aged it a little and put it on top of an Admiral Kirk from The Motion Picture figure. I sanded and dremeled, sculpted the new details on and gave the whole figure a repaint. Especially painting the chest-piece was difficult, but I believe I've managed to match the look of Mark Lenard's costume from the banquet scene. Of course I will also make an Amanda-figure to accompany him. And perhaps I'll make another Sarek in one of his other costumes. 

Unfortunately, Playmates released only one Klingon from the original show, namely Koloth from The Trouble With Tribbles. So I decided to make a few more of the iconic Klingons. They all share the same body, of course. But the heads are either heavily re-sculpted or come from different figures. Or both.

Kras from Friday's Child is a re-sculpted Koloth-head.

Kahless the Unforgettable from The Savage Curtain is a resculpted O'Brien-head.

Kor (Errand Of Mercy) is a completely re-sculpted Koloth-head. The sash was also sculpted with apoxie.

Kang from Day Of The Dove is a Riker-head. Hair, eyebrows, beard and sash were sculpted with apoxie.

Koloth got some more details painted on, like the belt-buckle and the buttons.

Korax (also from The Trouble With Tribbles) is a Captain Calhoun-head with hair and beard sculpted on.

Krell (A Private Little War) is a modified Chakotay-head.

Mara from Day Of The Dove will follow at some point.

Another great episode from the original show is without any doubt Let That Be Your Last Battlefield, and Bele and Lokai are such iconic alien characters, that I couldn't do without them. 

I found the 9" Bele figure for a reasonable price and shrunk the head. It's such a great likeness of Frank Gorshin. The body is a Dr. Bashir-figure. I removed the com-badge and sculpted the collar and boots with apoxie.

Lokai is made from an Ensign Crusher-head, torso and legs and Dr. Soran-arms.

As you can see, I like to display my TOS main crew with some background characters. Over the years, I managed to build up quite a number of crewmembers, using all available TOS bodies and heads from Trek-figures as well as other figure lines such as SeaQuest, Dr. Who, Primeval, Jurassic Park, Independence Day, etc.

A few of those figure represent characters who appeared on the original show. There is a Lt. Marla McGivers from Space Seed, made from a Troi-head and Rand-body, Lt. Angela Martine (made from a T&T-Dax) and Lt. Stiles (using a re-sculpted Picard-head) from Balance of Terror and a few others. And there's more to come. 

This is the first bunch of figures from The Cage:

Lt. José Tyler was made from a Pike body and Cadet Riker head. I changed the hairstyle and repainted the figure.

Lieutenant Spock was released this way, but I'm considering changing his hair and eyebrows so that he looks more like he did in the episode.

Captain Pike was a necessary custom to make, as the originally produced Pike figure simply was terrible. I used the 12" Pike as a base and shrunk the head (see also the "Work in progress" page). The body is made from a Pike torso, Kirk shoulders, Chekov arms and dress uniform Spock legs.

Number One has been made by a few customizers before, but none of the recipes really did it for me. This is a Chapel head (obviously) with a completely new hairstyle. The torso and arms come from a Trials and Tribbleations Dax. The legs are from a Saavik figure, as they already have the bulky, bell-shaped pants. 

There are a few more figures from the first pilot to come. 

Playmates released only three figures from the second pilot episode Where No Man Has Gone Before, Scotty, Sulu and Kirk who came with the Galileo shuttle.

For the rest of the crew, I had to use the same body-type over and over, but at least I managed to give Spock different legs and thus a little more height.

For Kelso I used the shrunken Tucker-head I had also used for my 4.5" NX 01-crew, as I find the resemblance between Connor Trinneer and Paul Carr remarkable. I changed his hairstyle and put him on a spare Scotty-body.

Gary Mitchell also uses a Scotty-body. The head comes from a 6" McCoy from Playmates' figure line to Star Trek (2009).

Dr. Piper is a Dr. Constantine-head from the 5" Dr. Who action figure line on a The Cage-Spock body. Too bad the colors of his and Sulu's uniforms don't match.

Since the Enterprise isn't the only ship out there going boldly where no man has gone before, I present you the senior staff of the USS Independence:

- Captain Raymond Hunter (SeaQuest Dr. Zellar head on Chekov body with Kirk arms and McCoy legs)

- Security Chief Lt. Cmdr. Frank Rossi (EMH head on Scotty body with Chekov lower legs)

- Chief Med Officer Dr. T'Lani (heavily resculpted Borg Seven on Rand body)

- Science Officer Lt. Tharin (TOS Andorian head on T&T Bashir body)

- Chief Engineer Lt. Cmdr. Daniel Crocker (SeaQuest Crocker head on Scotty body)

- Communications Officer Lt. Jeannette Duvalle (heavily resculpted K'Ehleyr head on Uhura body)

- Helmsman Ensign Sam Faulkner (SeaQuest Lucas head on Kirk body with Chekov arms)

What if there had been another episode set in the mirror universe (like for example The Fairest of them All from Star Trek Continues)? I had an idea for a sequel to Mirror, Mirror a few years ago. And Janice Rand played an important part in that story. She's not a crewmember of the Enterprise, like her prime universe alter ego. Instead, she's some sort of mercenary, working for one of Kirk's most dangerous enemies...

The figure was made from a TMP Ilia and a Rand head. For the sake of articulation, I cut off the arms where you usually would find the biceps swivel and replaced them with the spare Rand-arms I had left over from making Troi in her cheerleader uniform. So I got at least the elbow joint. I resculpted Rand's hair, gave her boots and painted the outfit in a glossy purple.

Here we have Kirk and Spock from the fun episode A Piece Of The Action. While Kirk has been released by Playmates as a Toyfare Exclusive, Spock unfortunately never got a figure made to represent him in his mobster attire. 

This custom Spock is made from a Picard as Dixon Hill figure (the one from the two pack with Guinan) and a regular Spock head. I painted the shirt, tie and shoes and there you go. I'm going to add hats for both at some point, then they'll look even better...

I made a custom of Captain Tracey from The Omega Glory as a commission for a guy I met on Facebook. I had never planned to make one for myself, but after the commission turned out so well, I decided to make a version for myself, as well.

I have seen a few Tracey-customs on the interweb, using a SeaQuest Bridger head or something like that on a Kirk body. But Dan, who wanted me to make this figure, noticed on another custom that I had made that Dr. Soong's face would make a nice Captain Tracey. This meant quite a lot of work for me. I had to dremel off the crazy Soong hair. Then I cut off the ears of a spare Picard head and glued them in place. Afterwards, I sculpted the hair and repainted the head. Of course I made a mould of the head, so when I made this Tracey custom for myself, I didn't have to do all the work on the head, again.

For the body, we chose Chekov's body, to give him a little more height. I swapped the arms with bridge Kirk's at the biceps swivel, so I didn't have to sculpt the rank braids. I sculpted his USS Exeter emblem on his chest, put it all together, et voilà, Captain Ronald Tracey.

Scotty started out with his regular head, but I swapped the legs with dress uniform Kirk's, because I find the regular Scotty's legs too short and stubby. Then I decided to make a season 3 version of him, with the swooped-back hair and all.

Spock is a bridge-Spock, but without the Vulcan salute. I swapped his arms with bridge McCoy's, adding the rank stripes.

For Bones in his short sleeved uniform, I used a The Cage-Spock figure with sanded down bridge-McCoy's arms and head. The collar was sculpted with apoxie. Afterwards, I painted the shirt with a metallic blue paint especially mixed for this figure. 

Maab from Friday's Child was a fun custom to make. I had the head of a Judge Q-figure and a spare Riker-body, and suddenly - after watching Friday's Child one evening - it hit me. I cut off the Starfleet com-badge, sculpted the fringes and fur boots. I dremeled parts of Q's headgear and sculpted the hair and some details with apoxie. And then I decided, that Maab needed his weapon, the Capellan Kligat (which was made of styrofoam).

While making this figure, I realized I had never seen a custom Capellan before. So, how do you like this one?

I always thought it was too bad that Playmates decided to reduce the articulation on some of the later waves' figures. The Andorian was one of those. The sculpt looked great, but it lacked the knee- and elbow-joints as well as the biceps swivel. 

With enough spare SeaQuest Lucas-figures for the legs and the arms of a TNG-McCoy, I pimped this Andorian a little bit to give him full articulation. I also gave him a new head that came from a Dr. Who 9th Doctor figure with the original Andorian's antennae.

After watching This Side Of Paradise the other day, I started working on the three figures right away. Spock and Sandoval use a male VOY body, sanded and slightly resculpted with apoxie. Sandoval's head comes from a SeaQuest Dr. Zellar figure. I replaced the ears and gave him new hair. 

The beautiful Leila Kalomi was built using a Troi body from the very first wave of figures released by Playmates. I sanded the sleeves, sculpted all the details with apoxie and gave her a repaint. Her head is a VOY Kes head with completely different hairstyle. 

These customs have been made by many customizers using mostly the same recipe. 

Kirk and Scotty are built upon the regular bridge versions. I sculpted a few things with apoxie, pulled Kirk's hair a bit back etc. 

Spock is a regular Spock body with an Ambassador Spock head. 

McCoy is a regular bridge McCoy body with an Admiral McCoy head.

Dr. Ann Mulhall from Return to Tomorrow was played by the actress Diana Muldaur, who would return to Star Trek for the episode Is There In Truth No Beauty? and of course for her portrayal of Dr. Katherine Pulaski in the second season of Star Trek - The Next Generation. The latter gave me the opportunity to make this figure, as Dr. Pulaski was released as a figure by Playmates. I made a resin copy of the head, sanded off the hair and sculpted the new hairstyle with apoxie. 

The body is a T&T Dax. I sculpted the rank braids, painted head and rank braids, and there she is, Dr. Ann Mulhall, who - as Lieutenant Commander - was the highest ranking female seen in the original show.