Making 1/6 Scale Pumps fit CG feet...

Introduction

In 2019 several eBay sellers were offering 'High Heel Pumps for 1/6 scale action figures (CG, Kumik, etc.)'. The auction pics looked promising so I ordered some.

comparison pic of pumps In the picture on the left from top to bottom: (steeply) arched Triad Alpha foot (for comparison), left-hand pump, arched CG foot, pump with arched CG foot fitted.

The shoes are designed for arched CG-compatible feet, flat feet won't fit.
The design looks nice and elegant. The heels are 20mm tall, which works out to 11.5cm (4.5in) in real life, proper stiletto heels !
The pumps are available in white, black, red, silver and gold. The shoes are painted and have to be handled with care to avoid scratches.

The pumps turned out to be a bit larger than I expected: the shoe size looks almost large enough to fit the larger Triad Alpha feet, however the front of the shoes is filled with epoxy resin (or something similar) to keep smaller feet from sliding forward.
There is so much resin added to the front of the shoes that CG-style or ZC Eve arched feet won't fit properly.
As those are the only types of arched feet I have, I explored some options to make the shoes fit the feet.


Making the shoes fit the feet

I decided to make one pair of pumps fit a pair of ZC Eve feet. ZC Eve feet are very slightly larger than the cloned CG feet I used for test fitting.
To create more room inside the filled up front, I used a motor tool and a miniature ball-shaped cutter head as the resin inside is quite tough.
Do wear a dust mask as epoxy resin dust is a health hazard !

comparison pic of pumps

Tools and materials needed:

I tried to grind away the resin inside the front of the pumps but even with my smallest cutter head on the slimmest shaft I just could not reach far enough into the front of the shoes, the edges got in the way.
Instead I accidentally ground a hole in one sole, so I switched to "Plan B": cut the soles off of the shoes along the seams using a very thin razor saw.
With the soles removed I could easily repair the sole and could reach the insides of the shoe with the cutter head and could also see exactly where the foot got jammed.

The picture shows both pumps with the soles removed, one loose sole and the uppermost pump with an Eve foot inserted to show where the toes end up.
After making the shoes fit I glued the soles back on using cyanoacrylate glue (a.k.a. superglue).


Making the feet fit the shoes

For the other pairs of pumps I tried trimming the feet instead of trying to make the front insides of the shoes larger.

Tools and materials needed:

TTL feet trimmed to fit pumps I gradually trimmed the shape of the feet using a sharp hobby knife, test fitting each time after removing some material.
Once the shape of the feet was almost right I used a diamond nail file to do the final trimming, applying some water to the feet first to avoid creating dust and wiping the wet dust off of the feet using a paper napkin.

This is what a set of arched TTL feet looks with the left one trimmed to fit the pumps (right one is still unmodified).
Apart from the reduced length, the width also needs a bit of trimming as do the lower sides of the arch and the heel.


Sylvia wearing white pumps

I gave Sylvia a pair of white pumps on arched CG feet.
The size looks good on her, not noticably too large, although viewed from the side the CG feet look a bit small-ish in the pumps.
She stands reasonably stable on these pumps. The soles are properly flat and the steep angle of the shoes puts enough weight on the toes to provide stability on flat surfaces.
The only let-down was that the heels are just too tall for her to wear inside the display cabinet without her bumping her head !


Triad foot in pump Dahlia wears a pair of these pumps on steeply arched Triad Alpha feet, these feet needed a lot of trimming to fit the pumps.



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