#funkopop mods

First are a pair of Molly Hoopers.  One is Series 4 Set!Lock Molly and the other is based on Molly’s hospital ID (where she wears glasses).

Mary Watson

The Holmes Siblings - featuring Eurus Holmes

Anthea (and Mycroft)

The crew from NSY - Greg Lestrade, Sally Donovan, and Philip Anderson

And finally, Mrs Hudson and friends

Thank you guys for sticking with me as I blundered my way through making these things.  I don’t know if or when I’ll get around to making any more Mods  but as I’m gearing up to move again, I’m pretty sure I’m done for now. 

Tip #1 - Soak the figure in hot water for awhile to let the plastic and glue soften.  If you are luckily, the Pop will come apart easily.  If you aren’t (as I haven’t been in most cases), you may have to result to several soaks, brute force, and/or a sharp blade.  Hot water will also help you reshape some (but not all) delicate bits if they’ve gone a bit wonky.

Tip #2 - Compare your Pops before you begin to remove anything.  Some heads/limbs can be virtually interchangeable, some require a lot of finessing to properly fit together.  Measure twice, cut once.

For my first attempt at a Molly Hooper, I started with the Cosima Niehaus Pop from the Orphan Black line and Sookie Stackhouse from True Blood.

I bought those Pops in 2015.  Unfortunately, they’re a bit harder to find now and can be cost prohibitive.  There are some slightly more recent alternatives that I will mention when I get around to posting about Molly #2 and Molly #3 at a future date.

Make sure you don’t damage the flat bit attached to the body’s neck post.  You’re going to need that.  There is also an inner lip on the inside of the head, try not to cut that off either (that part can be very difficult, but it’s not a deal breaker if you’re willing to use some modeling putty and a lot of patience).  Since I had no need for Cosima’s head, I didn’t have to be delicate with its removal and was able to just slice that thing open.  

Once I had my body and head (and had allowed them to thoroughly dry inside and out), it was easy enough to super glue them together to form a FrankenMolly.

Then it was time to paint her.  At first I was just going to make her a brunette but then it became apparent that she was going to need more work.

Unfortunately, Sookie and Cosima do not have the same skin tone.  The majority of my painting time was spent trying to find a shade that wasn’t too grey or too orange.  As this photo will show, I failed.  Molly looks like a tangerine.

However, at some point, I managed to find a more workable shade and decided to repaint Molly once more.

I use acrylic paint, the cheap stuff you can find at any hobby shop for two bucks a bottle.  It’s probably the wrong paint to use, but it’s what I have access to and it fits my budget. 

I feel that matte paint is more in keeping with the Pop look, but I have used glossy or satin finish (especially when I want something to pop or I don’t have the right shade in matte) before.  It’s all about personal preference.  Acrylic is water soluble and it can be easy to chip and scratch, so be cautious with that.  After the paint is set and dry, I seal it with a varnish (Liquitex has both a matte and a gloss formula for varnish). 

You may have noticed that the repaint has a few more details:  darker cherries, shading on the lab coat to give it a bit more contrast, laces on the shoes.  On later mods I decided to skip shading because the rest of the Sherlock Pops don’t have it.

I no longer have that first Molly attempt, I gave her away in a follower drawing years ago.  However, I do have a Set!Lock Molly and am currently finishing up my second go at Lab Coat Molly.  Assuming no one tells me to stop writing about my mods, I’ll talk about both of them (as well as Matt the Radar Technician, Mary Watson, and the rest of the Sherlock gang that I’m hoping to tackle in the future) another time.

Feel free to poke me if you’ve got any questions. 

Sorry for the length of this post.  If you follow me, you already know I ramble.