Chief Engineer Argyle from various season 1 episodes

Star Trek custom action figure Argyle
Chief engineer Argyle

I've seen a lot of Argyle customs using the same or similar recipes. SeaQuest's Crocker action figure looks quite a lot like Biff Yeager's Argyle. 

 

The body came from a season 1 Data. The arms from biceps swivel on came from a second pilot Kirk figure. The color is exactly the same as the engineering and security uniform colors of the TNG figures.

Ensign Robin Lefler from "Darmok" and "The Game"

Star Trek custom action figure Lefler
Robin Lefler

This Robin Lefler custom was a pretty quick and easy build. It's an Ilia head on a Yesterday's Enterprise Tasha Yar body (the one from the cheap threepack, not the 1701 version). Tasha's uniform in that episode was a little bit different anyway, as this is the regular season 3-7 uniform instead of the alternate timeline version with raised collar instead of Mandarin collar, black cuffs and silver belt. The hair was sculpted with apoxie, except for the braided bun, which I cut off from a Seska figure and stuck onto the apoxie. Maybe I'll make a photo of her back, so that you can see what I mean... 

Simon Tarses from "The Drumhead"

Star Trek custom action figure Simon Tarses
Simon Tarses

A facebook-friend of mine asked to make this Simon Tarses figure for him. Simon Tarses was a crewman on the Enterprise-D. His 1/4 Romulan heritage was discovered during Admiral Satie's investigation of an explosion.

 

I used the second wave Bashir figure in TNG-uniform as base. The head is a heavily re-sculpted SeaQuest Lucas figure.

Season 1 Crew

Star Trek custom action figure
Season 1 Crew

Playmates released a few figures of the main crew in their season 1 and 2 outfits, although they were not quite accurate. I wanted to complete the crew and make a few improvements to existing figures.

 

The only figures without any changes to the original releases are LaForge, Data and Tasha. All other figures have been modified:

 

The season 1 Picard-figure originally sported the same legs as the Picard in his captain's jacket-figure, the ones with the bulky bit at the end of the pants, which in my opinion didn't fit to the regular uniform. I swapped them with another Data's legs.

 

Worf sported shorter hair in the early seasons, so I changed his hair-style accordingly. I was thinking about changing the sash as well, as Playmates simply re-painted the sash from the original Worf-figure, which represents the sash he wore in later seasons. I haven't attempted it, yet, but I might at some point give it a try.

 

Riker without beard is a simple head-swap, Cadet Riker-head on season 2 Riker-body.

 

O'Brien is another head- and leg-swap, the same body as Picard's.

 

Troi is a re-sculpted Troi from the first wave of figures. I changed her hairdo to match the updo she sported in season 1, sanded the collar and sculpted the belt.

 

Dr. Crusher is a head-swap with the Dr. Pulaski-figure released by Playmates. Unfortunately, the uniform was pretty inaccurate. I had to change the whole back of the torso. 

 

Wesley is a re-sculpted Cadet Wesley-figure. I sanded off the com-badge and sculpted the details on his sweater and his hair with apoxie.

Season 2 Crew

Star Trek custom action figure
Season 2 Crew

As with the season 1 figures, I tried to change a few things to make the figures more accurate. 

 

Worf is a re-painted season 1-Worf. Again, I shortened his hair to match his season 2-appearance.

 

Pulaski is made from a dress uniform-Dax. I changed the com-badge and the collar and slapped the Pulaski-head on.

 

Wesley is a completely re-sculpted and re-painted Ensign Wesley-figure.

 

O'Brien is a season 1 Data-figure with dress-uniform O'Brien's arms and head.

Dr. Katherine Pulaski

Star Trek custom action figure Pulaski
Dr. Pulaski

Here's a closer look at the Dr. Pulaski custom. Playmates' version of her was just so wrong, the uniform was supposed to be a regular season 1 and 2 uniform, but the shape on the back was the same as on the front. Besides, Pulaski never wore a regular uniform but something that looked like this.

Troi in cheerleader dress

Star Trek custom action figure
Troi from "Encounter at Farpoint" and "All Good Things..."

One of the most important figures for me to make was this one, Counselor Troi in her yummy cheerleader uniform from Encounter at Farpoint and All Good Things. The head is from a first wave Troi-figure. The body comes from a Trials and Tribbleations-Dax with Edith Keeler-arms.

 

I sanded off all the details, made the boots a little taller, re-sculpted the collar and glued a TNG-com-badge on her. Doesn't she look gorgeous?

Q from "Encounter at Farpoint"

Star Trek custom action figure
Q in uniform

At the very end of TNG's pilot episode, Q is seen wearing the season 1 captain's uniform.

 

This figure was made from a season 1 Picard (torso and arms) and Q-head and legs. I changed his hair to match his Farpoint-appearance.

Season 7 Riker & Worf

Star Trek custom action figure
Commander Riker & Lieutenant Worf

Is there any one person out there who likes the Playmates Riker figure with the torn uniform in that stupid pose? Guess not.

 

I took the liberty to re-sculpt the All Good Things Admiral Riker-head for a better likeness, and put it on a Q in uniform-body. Actually, I'm also working on a different body for Riker, since the Q-body is too thin for my taste. But I haven't finished it yet, but this one is still an improvement over the original Riker-figure...

 

Worf is a simple head swap with a transporter Worf-figure.

Lt. Tasha Yar from "Yesterday's Enterprise"

Star Trek custom action figure
Alternative universe Lt. Yar

Playmates released a Lt. Yar from the fan favorite episode Yesterday's Enterprise. But besides being rare and expensive (until later released in a three-pack with Cadet Picard and Projections-Barclay), the figure was inaccurate as to Yar's appearance in the episode. Playmates simply put the Yar-head on a female season 3 uniform-body, disregarding the change of hairstyle or the different uniforms used in the episode.

 

I tried to add all those details to this figure. I sculpted the collar and cuffs, the belt and her hair accordingly.

Lt. Commander Shelby from "The Best of Both Worlds"

Star Trek custom action figure Shelby
Lt. Commander Shelby

This is another figure Playmates shamefully never made, Lt. Cmdr. Shelby from the fan favorite The Best of Both Worlds twoparter.

 

I've seen a lot of customs using a Vash-head and repainting the hair, but I felt that a re-sculpted and repainted Trials and Tribbleations Dax-head is a better likeness.

Admiral Alynna Nechayev

Star Trek custom action figure
Admiral Nechayev

Another figure done by many customizers is Admiral Nechayev, who appeared several times on The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine. I have seen customs using a re-sculpted Dr. Crusher body and head, some used the head from a Captain Beverly Picard figure. When I started looking into other figure lines for parts I could salvage, I found that the 5" Primeval- and Dr. Who-figures worked pretty well with Playmates bodies. And when I saw the Primeval Helen Cutter-figure, I had finally found the perfect head for my Admiral Nechayev figure.

 

I re-sculpted the hairdo to match the Admiral's. The body came from a dress uniform-Dax. I sanded the collar, added some details and glued a TNG com-badge on her.

Random crewmembers

Star Trek custom action figure
Random crewmembers

This is a variety of crewmembers in season 3 - 7 TNG uniforms.

 

Heads used: Saavik, Cadet Beverly, Sela, Harry Kim, Dax, Keiko, heavily re-sculpted Sulu, Uhura & Mirror Spock, SeaQuest Ford, O'Neill, Hitchcock and Lucas, Dr. Who Toby and a 1/6 scale head shrunken with Hydroshrink on a repainted Q-torso with Tuvok-legs.

Riker and Worf in Reconnaissance Outfits

Star Trek custom action figure
Lieutenant Worf and Commander Riker, but don't tell anyone, because they're on a top secret mission.

This was a quick and dirty custom. I swapped the head of a rescue-outfit Worf with a Riker head and replaced Worf's gigantic hands with Riker's from the torn-uniform-figure. I thought they'd look better on this figure than on the uniformed one. Although Riker never appeared in that outfit (correct me if I'm wrong), I wanted to have this figure anyway. I'm planning to make Picard, Data and Dr. Crusher in rescue uniform as well, perhaps even Troi and LaForge afterwards. We'll see.

Kurn, the Klingon

Star Trek custom action figure
Kurn, Worf's brother

As done by many customizers, Worf's brother Kurn. It is a simple head swap, and I never understood why Playmates never released Kurn in his Klingon uniform. Oh well...

Speaking of Klingons...

Star Trek custom action figure
Qapla'!

Although not finished, yet, I thought I'd give you a first glance of my better version of Gowron and a generic Klingon. Playmates' Gowron was simply horrible, goofy looking and no good representation of the Klingon chancellor. I got hold of a Diamond Select-Gowron and used the contracting Hydrospan to shrink the head. 

 

I still have some work to do on his uniform, though. 

Cadet Nicolas Locarno from "The First Duty"

cadet Locarno Star Trek custom action figure
Cadet Locarno

Like many other customizers, I also made this easy custom figure of Cadet Nicolas Locarno from The First Duty, using - of course - a Cadet Wesley Crusher body and a Tom Paris head.

Female Romulan

Romulan Star Trek custom action figure Playmates
Romulan

Another relatively simple custom figure was this generic Romulan female. It's a Saavik head on a Sela body. I resculpted the hair and forehead to match the TNG-era Romulan appearance.