I have a potentially dumb question.

What is considered the line between a Minor Custom and a Heavy Custom?

I ask this, because I have a general Idea of what the two are. However, when does one stop being a minor and become a major custom?

I can only figure that a Minor Custom is defined as paint, stickers. With perhaps a retooling of say a small part of the figure, like the head.

Where a Heavy Custom, is potentially all the above, plus alot retooling/remolding of parts. Or a complete scratch/mash building of a toy.

In the case of the toy i'm in the process of re-molding. Its a re-cast of a g1 seeker. Every peice will be transparent, with a similar apperance to the ehobby ghost starscream. So its technically a scratch build as each peice is being cast by me. However, i'm not creating anything truly unique in regards to the mold.

So please, I would like to hear people thoughts on this subject.

 

Yours is neither. There is a Repro/Sticker tag in Radicons Customs, of which yours would fit into Repro (anything that is purely or mostly a cast of an existing product, for sale or not, is a reproduction).

As for Heavy and Minor, the line is generally left to us to draw. In all my time here, i have not heard SQ7, Redline or Plowking define them exactly. I'd say your descriptions are reasonably accurate, though i personally have never tried to define them before. It's always been an obvious thing for me, i've never had a custom which i didn't know how to tag.

For me personally, i tend to draw the line, as a general rule of thumb, with my Dremel. As in, if it doesn't take a Dremel, then it probably is relatively minor. Anything that does take my dremel to accomplish is usually Heavy. Now, of course, that is no exact measure, but i find it works well enough.

 

I think it may be better to explain "Heavy/Scratch" to really drive the point home. A "heavily modified" custom is really only steps away from a scratchbuild, with the main difference being that a heavily modified custom is a kitbash of existing figures and/or parts. A scratchbuild is what the word implies - a custom created from building materials (such as styrene).

If the custom isn't two or more toys that are kitbashed together, it most likely falls in the "Minor/Repaint" tagline. I'd think the repaint portion of that tag is pretty easy to figure out. The "minor modifications" is really just that - a project that takes an existing figure and/or parts and modifies them slightly.

 

Thanks Treadshot A1 and SQ7.

That has helped alot in understanding the little nuances.

I now know that what i'm doing is more along the lines of repro and at best a minor custom.