INTRO

Welcome to the Decomposing Plastic Blog!

This blog was created to follow the construction of a 1/18th scale diorama of a downtown area being over-run by a zombie horde. The zombies will be custom created 4" action figures using commercial toys as the foundations.


[Some readers will totally "get" that, but others may be confused. Here's the quick explanation: 
A commercially bought toy is modified from it's original form using basic sculpting techniques and model-making skills. Parts will be cut, sanded, or removed entirely and other parts will be added, taken from other compatible toys or created with modeling clays and epoxys. The end result is an entirely "new" character, different from it's source and often a unique toy that has never been officially produced.]


If you look down the action figure aisle in your favorite store, you'll notice a large variety of toys produced in the 4" tall scale. However, the variety doesn't do me much good because all of the toy lines are different in sculpting style, materials, articulation, and several other ways. There was a single figure that started this horde, and so the entire horde has to remain true to that original figure "style". The original inspiration was a G.I. JOE action figure produced by Hasbro in late 2011.

I bought this guy(a lot):

The figure has more of a science fiction slant than being a true zombie- you'll notice the helmet, harness and feeding tubes. He's supposed to be a super-soldier for the bad guys. ummmm, nope.

Then this happened:

And Fashion Victim was born. I did something similar with 5 more zombie vipers...

As much as I was enjoying the zombie viper, it was VERY obvious that the horde would need a lot more diversity as it grew. This first group is a very fit bunch, and even though they are missing some limbs, they still look pretty damn buff. I understand that well, and as the horde is developed you'll begin to see women, children, overweight folks, chefs, cops, and the various characters you'd find in downtown "anycity".

The downtown streets will be crowded with the expected chaos of a zombie attack, and I'm sure there will be a few in-jokes and other stuff snuck in there as well.

Check out the other pages for zombie information, the project overview and more!