Interview by Adam May

You may not know his name, but Scott Andrews' work is all too familiar to collectors around the world. His sculpting is a mainstay of the 12" line. From Bounty Hunters to Band Leaders, he's done it all with self taught skill. Scott took some time out to let our readers know about his work at Hasbro and his career in the toy industry.

Were you into toys as a kid? Did you always want to be a toy designer?

No, I actually wanted to be a comic book artist. That’s what started it.

How did you end up sculpting?

Sculpting was brought on by movie props. I was into movies, and I had friends who made movies. So I started sculpting all the props and stuff. I used to have my own line of masks. On the website I threw up some of the props I used to do, too. I don’t sell them anymore, but I put them up there for people to see. A buddy of mine who I taught to sculpt got into Hasbro, and he kept telling me I had to work for Hasbro. So finally I went in and met with the guys at Hasbro, and I started working for them.

You’ve been in the toy business for about six years. How did you get started as a sculptor? What kind of education or training did you go through?

It’s all self taught. When I got into doing this, I went to conventions and met a lot of artists; we’d help each other out. I’ve always been doing this, around the clock. It’s mostly self-taught.

The bulk of the work on your website seems to be focused on aliens and monsters…

It’s what I’m known for.

A lot of the human heads you’ve done have been outstanding.

I’ve done a lot of the Real Scan heads. I clean them up, but I don’t really take a lot of credit for them. I did the new Lando. That’s a really nice head because it’s solid. They’re not roto-molding them anymore. They’re 1:1. We’re not sculpting them big anymore. [Editor’s Note: Hasbro’s 12” line previously used a process called roto-molding, which required the heads to be sculpted oversize to allow for shrinking.]

That’s good news!

You ain’t kidding! We knew that, too. We’d do a piece and it would come back looking like the guy was sick or something. His head was skinny, sucked in. 

That must be frustrating to see your sculpt go through that.

Big time! It’s hard for us because we’ve got to sculpt out of proportion. We have to sculpt the head big and the body small. Anything else that has to be roto-molded has to be oversized, too. It was a lot more work doing it that way.

Collectors would often be disappointed after seeing a beautiful prototype and then (due to roto-molding) the production head would be altered dramatically.

Now they’re going pretty exact. A lot of the time I send something to the Orient, and it’ll come back changed. Things will sometimes get changed due to licensing, so it’s difficult to take credit for everything I do. Everything on my site I can say is 100% my work.

Between humans and non-humans, which do you find more challenging?

Robots! Anything mechanical. I did the Super Battle Droid. That’s a very anal piece. It’s all hand sculpting. There’s no machine work on that. That’s tough.

The texture that makes it look so much like metal is all your handwork?

Yep! The only thing I didn’t do is denting, an in-house Hasbro Designer did that. I didn’t want to. I said, give them a clean one. Later on, bang up one and call it a new variant. I just liked the clean one so much. Why wreck something that looks that good. People can dent it themselves. 

Which type of figure do you most enjoy working on? The humans? The robots? The creatures?

Creatures, definitely. Any type of non-human. Humans are boring. They’re not hard, when I do a human is usually just the head and accessories. 

I think you may have sculpted the only decent Luke we’ve seen so far. 

I’ve done more. I do so many of them I lose track. I’ve done another new one. I can’t think of which one it is, either. I know there’s another one coming out that I did. These last few months I’ve done quite a bit.

You sculpted the Holiday Edition set…

Yeah, just the clothes. I just put the fun stuff and suits on them. So they were basically the original figures, and I just took them and added that stuff. I actually did them better. I had it so you could put the beard on [C-3PO]. I had it so it would plug in. I sculpted it with the beard on his face, and I made it so he could put it in his hand.

Are you hoping to work more in the 3 ¾ “ scale down the road?

I do actually do a lot with the 3 ¾”, but I don’t show a lot of it. I’ve done quite a few new pieces like Hammerhead, but I don’t really follow them as closely once I’ve finished them. I’m partial to the 12”. I do work in the 3 ¾” line, but I like the 12” definitely better. 

What do you think when you see all of these prototypes and stuff on eBay?

I really don’t understand collecting on that end. People don’t realize that anybody can make a prototype. You can take a toy and cast it, and make a figure out of wax, and call it a prototype. What I really like are the resin prototypes. Hand painted. The Gamorrean Guard that I put up on my site is the hand painted one. That one came out really sweet. I did that figure four years ago. I’ve been bugging [Hasbro] to release it. That was one of the first full figures I did for Hasbro.

You seem to work most often on the larger scale figures. Is there a reason for that?

That’s what I got into, and I stuck with it. I’ve always worked with Hasbro in Pawtucket, and Kenner was the 3 ¾” line. They used to be based out of Cincinnati, and they recently moved to Pawtucket. They brought their own guys with them. When I do a 3 ¾” piece, it’s usually an exclusive for retailers. I’ve probably done a dozen or so [3 ¾”] figures. A lot of the time I’m rehashing pieces, taking a body and putting a new head on it. 

What piece do you wish you had designed? 

I liked the 12” Deluxe Jango Fett. That’s a really sweet piece. I actually did work on his face a little. And I’m always pushing them to do bigger pieces. I worked on the Dewback with another guy who works for Hasbro. The Geonosian Warrior was one of my favorites. It helps when I get the reference material. A lot of the time with the old movies, I don’t get a lot of reference material. I just did another large creature, I did the Hammerhead in 12” scale, and there’s only like three pictures of the whole creature. It’s a piece of foam that someone painted, more or less. A lot of the creatures in the first movie were really rushed. I did have good pictures for the Gamorrean Guard, though.

Your Yoda (from the Luke & Yoda set) is unbelievably accurate. Since no one had really seen Yoda without his cloak, did Hasbro/Lucasfilm provide you with reference, or did you use your imagination?

Yeah, I got a picture of him. I got a picture of him standing there with his little chicken legs. The new Yoda coming out is better. It’s definitely the best.

Out of all of your designs, what’s your favorite piece?

The Super Battle Droid was a favorite because it was so mechanical. I took that job on and everyone said I was nuts because I was hand-sculpting it, they said I’d need to go to a machine shop. It came out great. It didn’t take as long as I thought. I can’t say I have an absolute favorite.

Who were the models for the Imperial Officer and the AT-ST Driver?

The Imperial Officer was one of the first heads I did. That’s actually a sculpt of the guy, but they said we couldn’t have it look like him. If you look at the picture the guy has the long chin and the pork-chops, but it’s actually that guy. It not supposed to be. The AT-ST Driver is a guy who works in-house at Hasbro. People think it’s someone else, but if you saw him it looks exactly like him. When we can’t use the real model, we do stuff like that.

Is there any particular Star Wars piece that you hope they’ll ask you to sculpt someday?

I’d like to see some of the big creatures from [Attack of the Clones]. Like the Nexu saber cat. Any of the new creatures, I’d like. I’d like to do the [Kaminoans]. That would be a nice piece.

Can you explain the process for us from commission to prototype? 

I get reference material from Hasbro or the web. From there I’ll quote them. If that goes right, I’ll make a clay piece, I use a product called Castoline, and then I show them pictures of the Castoline sculpt for approval. Then I mold that into toy wax.

What’s the ballpark cost to sculpt a prototype? 

It can be in the hundreds to thousands. 12” figures? You’re talking thousands for a full sculpt. You’d be shocked at what they can go up to, depending on the amount of detail. It’s a lot of work.

How many hours go into the average fully sculpted piece?

For a 12” figure, if it’s fully sculpted, you’re talking five weeks. Five 40 hour weeks. The hard part is the finishing, the detailing. You can rough out a figure in a day, but then you’ve got to break it down, do all the joints. We sculpt in all the joints. It takes quite a while.

Which piece of your work has been the most challenging to sculpt? 

Actually, I just finished a piece, but I can’t get into it. It’s usually when I have to do armor on bodies, like the Clone Troopers, where it’s mechanical pieces that go on top fabric. Those are intense. The Clone Trooper outfit was a lot of work. I didn’t do his head. I did his body and another guy did the feet. I did the Biker Scout, I did everything but the helmet. Then they went to soft goods after I sculpted everything. I think they did an awesome job on that guy with the soft goods incorporated instead of what they were trying to do. 

Besides Star Wars pieces, you work on a lot of Hasbro projects. Which line is your favorite to work with?

Star Wars, definitely. I’ve worked with G.I. Joe, and a bunch of prototype stuff.

How does it feel seeing your work on toy store shelves?

Oh, it’s awesome. I like going onto sites like yours and reading about people seeing them. I didn’t even know a lot of this stuff was out here. I recently discovered it all, and sites with all of these different angles and close-ups. 

If someone wants to get into the business, what do you recommend?

Just start sculpting. Just do it. Get some books, use the Internet. The Internet is an amazing resource. I’ve been sculpting now for 20 years, and I just got into, just started sculpting. You can go to school. You really need to love it. It’s a lot of time.

 For more on Scott and work he's done on other toy lines outside of Star Wars, visit his site by clicking here.