Hasbro Princess Leia [WIP - Prepping and priming]

My tribute to Carrie Fisher begins with the prepping and priming of Hasbro's Princess Leia 3.75 inch action figure. I'm getting her ready for a complete repaint from head to toe. It's a project that's a long time coming as I slowly summoned up the courage to 'butcher' an action figure of which there are precious few in my collection  They say you have to first destroy before you can create. Destroying is the easy part. That I can do. It's the creating part I'm worried about. Oh well, on with the project ...

Hasbro Princess Leia - Primed with Tamiya Fine Surfrace Primer (Light Grey)

Prepping Hasbro Leia consisted of two simple tasks. Firstly, I glued her legs together as well as the joints in her hip section. Why? To restrict any movement from the waist downwards as well as to give the illusion of a continuously flowing robe. The latter goal was improved upon by the second task which was the addition of green putty to any cracks which showed up after the gluing process. With both tasks completed, Princess Leia the-action-figure-turned-sculpture was now ready for priming.  

Prep work (front): Gluing and adding putty to ensure a less 'action figure-like' look

Prep work (back): Super glue was the adhesive used while Citadel's green putty helped fill up the holes  

Originally, the Hasbro Princess Leia 3.75 inch action figure already looks exceptionally good for an action figure. I'm not really a fan of action figures as they tend to look plasticky and toy-like. But this particular Princess Leia action figure had a very well sculpted robe, hair and facial features. To me, she had tremendous potential as a repainting project. One that I hope to realise in the coming days.

Hasbro Princess Leia 3.75 inch action figure, original condition (front views)

Hasbro Princess Leia 3.75 inch action figure, original condition (back views)

Prior to priming, I didn't remove the existing paint job of Hasbro Leia as I did previously with a Merida repaint project. Weighing the risk of damaging the existing details (by removing the exisitng paint job) versus possibly losing some details (by adding a primer coat and further paint layers), I settled upon the latter. It was less work anyway and I want to get Hasbro Leia painted as fast as I can.

Hasbro Princess Leia 3.75 inch action figure - prepped and primed (Front view)

Hasbro Princess Leia 3.75 inch action figure - prepped and primed (Back view)

There were things I wish I did differently for this stage of the painting process. Chief among them was having the patience to properly smooth out the roughness of the green putty fillings. That mistake was compounded by me laying on a heavier than intended layer of primer coating to compensate. Both were rookie mistakes that I knew were wrong the moment I did them. Yet I couldn't help myself and can only hope these errors don't come back to haunt me. Going forward, there are four main parts to paint - Leia's white robe, hair buns, skin tone and face. Her paint job begins with the white robes and that's up in my very next blog post. See you then!