Meet the Sniper action figure

What better way to celebrate the Heavy Weapons Guy update next Tuesday by finishing up one of his many arch-nemeses, the sniper!

(Insert musical flourish here)

He's finally painted and completed. Bought some doll stands to commemorate/help the bugger stand up properly. The sniper rifle has the laser aiming module wire after a long bout of "not doing it". The only thing holding him back last week was a lack of the right shade of brown/tan for the vest. I gave in and cannibalized a military jacket from one of the $5 soldiers which made for a great shade of tan. Let's look at some of the details.

He comes complete with his shoulder emblem, usable pockets on his vest, belt and pouch, shoulder slung carrying thing (Which I suspect is for his kukri), and the chest pocket with four rounds of rifle ammo. I bought another soldier with the M1-Garand rifle just for the ammunition. $5 for a premade detail like that is worth it. His sunglasses are removable and come from my first soldier I modded into the Medic. Now, you may assume his head is a solid sculpt, but I made sure he could also do some of his taunts...

It's not quite the same if the Sniper can't do the kukri taunt. His hat is removable, but has been designed to custom fit him only.

"As long as there are two people in the world, chances are one of them is going to want the other one dead."

"Hold still..."

For the curious, what the Sniper cost me to make (assuming I started from nothing).

Body: $4.95 (counts the rifle ammo and sunglasses as a single purchase)
Cloth and thread: ~$6 (1x black thread, 1x red, white, black, grey cloth at half a yard each)
Sculpey for the head: $10 (regular)
Epoxy for the glove: $8 (epoxy allowed me to paint rubber without the problem of rubber not being paintable)
Misc paper and paint supplies: $16 (1x white, black, brown, green, blue, portrait tone acrylic)
Total cost: ~$45

In actuality, the price is closer to $15 since the materials are shared among the other figures. Not bad for something that Valve doesn't plan on ever making.

More pictures of the TF2 Sniper doll here. (Technically, he's a doll, but hey, call him an "action figure" if you got masculinity issues with playing with dolls.)

KA-BOOM!

Time to work on the demoman figure, simply because I found the perfect shade of grey for his vest. On a silly note, the demoman looks like a prison convict with his red pants and shirt, without his equipment. First, to make the vest, I layered strips of paper over his chest to make a rough outline. Enough masking tape ensured pieces stay together during the cutting process.


I cut the paper along proposed seam lines, traced them on paper and made tracing patterns for the vest's main and side parts. The demoman's blast jacket is thicker than usual clothing, so I opted for layering a third, thicker fabric to add thickness than use cardstock inserts. I laid out in order, one red thicker cloth, then two grey cloths for the outer side. Why the red on the bottom? When you sew the edges together, you can pull it inside out to hide the seams. This puts the bottom layer in the middle. Think of a pillowcase.

Unfortunately, I miscalculated the collar length. I'll sort it out somehow. The demoman lacks his grenade launcher, so a Thompson will suffice. I'll add his ammo pouches and grenades after I bust out some clay for the next set of head sculpts. There's a few other issues I need to complete as well, including his boot detail and to color his hands.

Of course, I didn't forget the smiley face taped to his crotch. KA-Booom!