Deschamps 98-00 (a)

Deschamps only played for Chelsea for one season (1999-2000), which saw us compete in the Champions League for the first time and win the FA Cup in the last final at the old Wembley.

Corinthians made Deschamps figures in both the home and third kits of that season and so I decided to repaint this one in the yellow away strip. It is the second figure I have repainted in this strip with Tore Andre Flo being the other. This example demonstrates that seen in Champions League games with the distinctive font used on the name and number.

The Corinthians sculpt is not particularly good in my opinion. For a start it doesn't actually resemble Deschamps very well facially. Secondly, the figure is taller than most of the others Corinthians produced which is weird considering Deschamps was only 5' 8"!

Deschamps is pictured before the Hertha Berlin game below in the front row, fourth from the left.

Lampard 08-09 (3rd)

This is the second Lampard figure I've done. The first can be found here. Again, the more common Lampard sculpt has been used, this time for the 2008-2009 third kit.

Chelsea didn't use the kit too often during the season, but being drawn away to Everton in the FA Cup Final required a change strip to be used. Of course, the yellow third kit was much more aesthetically pleasing than than the fairly boring black away kit, hence the decision to wear it in the final.

The season had been fairly disappointing. For the first time in six seasons Chelsea would not finish in the top two having slumped during the winter fixtures. Scolari's era had started positively with some good football and strong results but this faded and, furthermore, the proud 86 match home unbeaten league run was lost.

Being out of contention in the league meant a shift in focus to cup competitions under the stewardship of caretaker Guus Hiddink. Had it not been for a certain Scandinavian referee the elusive Champions League might have finally been won, but I prefer not to talk about that! Instead Chelsea had to settle for an enjoyable FA Cup win over Everton at a sunny Wembley.

Lampard was at the height of his powers during the season, though struggled during the winter - coinciding with the club's poor form. As the end of the season drew closer it looked as though Lamps might miss out on scoring 20+ goals for the season for the first time in four years. However, he netted in the final to bag his 20th goal (he also finished the season with 19 assists)!

The goal will be remembered for repeating his father's corner flag celebration as shown in the video.

Cudicini 05-06

Corinthians didn't release any figures of Chelsea goalkeepers during the 2005-2006 season, which was the club's centenary year. To mark this, a new badge had been created and the home kits had a gold trim for the season.

Cudicini had been at the club for a while in 2005, but was second choice goalkeeper following the arrival of Cech the previous season. In the seasons prior to Cech's arrival Cudicini had been one of, if not, the best keeper in the league and so it was unknown who new manager Mourinho would choose in 2004. Ultimately decideding on the younger Cech was of course the right decision, if a little unfair on Cudicini.

Carlo was happy to fight for his place in the team which was a good situation for Chelsea, who were left with what was probably the best number 1 and 2 goalkeepers in the world at the time.

Not the tallest of keepers, Cudicini is remembered by supporters as an excellent shot stopper, superb in one-on-one situations, especially penalties! In fact, of the 13 penalties he faced in blue, he saved 6 of them!

Here are some of Carlo's most memorable moments:

During the 2005-2006 season, Carlo played 11 times, the majority of which were in the FA Cup run which ended against Liverpool in the semi finals.

A biography of Cudicini's time at the club can be found here.

John Terry 14-15 (a)

As I've been working on these repaints I have tried to work out which kits I could paint with the spare figures I have. Naturally, as the years pass only the older players will have been produced by Corinthians. For last season, there were only two players made by Corinthians: John Terry and Cesc Fabregas. Fortunately I have plenty of John Terry figures going spare!

This yellow away kit is one of my favoured versions in recent years (Chelsea away kits should always be either yellow or white!).

John Terry had one of his best seasons with the club last year playing every single minute in the Premier League as we won the title comfortably (happier times!).

Here's his exquisite shinned goal that effectively secured us the title away at Leicester in April. I'll be hoping, rather than expecting a similar outcome this weekend when we travel to the King Power this weekend!

Dan Petrescu 97-99 (h)

Corinthians didn't release too many players in the 97-99 home shirt for Chelsea. There was meant to be a team pack of 12 released as part of a Match of the Day promotion but it didn't materialise. You can compare my effort with the unreleased Corinthians figure below.

I was a bit disappointed to have messed up the transfer on the back. The shirt and skin colours also required the use of some gloss paint which produces the shiny effect!

Petrescu was a very talented player: technically gifted and defensively sound he would have been a brilliant modern day full/wing back. That being said, he was also very talented in his time, initially playing wing back before converting to right midfield for an improving Chelsea side. Biographies of Petrescu's time at Chelsea are given by the club and Sporting Heroes.

Ashley Cole 11-12 (a)

The latest addition to my collection is this Ashley Cole figure which has been repainted into the 2011-2012 away kit. I can't say Chelsea have particularly fond memories of the kit, in fact I can barely remember a game in which we used it!

The one that does stand out is away at Napoli in the Champions League - a game we lost 3-1. It could have been worse though, had Cole not cleared a shot off the line in the latter stages shown at 0.47 here.

He went on to repeat the trick against Barcelona in the semi finals.

Flo 1998-00 (a)

Tore Andre Flo was one of my favourite players growing up. He was very skilful for someone of his height and scored some memorable goals during his three years at the club.

Highlights include the hat-trick at Three Point Lane during the 6-1 demolition, goals against Barcelona in the Champions League quarter final and the brace against Blackburn in the kit painted on this figure.

The game against Blackburn at the beginning of the 1998-99 season was a classic Premier League encounter full of goals and incidents. Perhaps the most memorable aspect was Roy Hodgson, Blackburn manager at the time, losing his cool somewhat! You can watch highlights here.

Flo lived up to his reputation as a supersup as he came off the bench to score twice and fire Chelsea to a 4-3 win.

There are two good biographies of Flo's time at the club by Chelsea and Sporting Heroes.

Lampard 12-13 (3rd)

Corinthians have done a number of Lampard figures over the years, using three main sculpts. By far the most common is the first sculpt which is the one I have used for this figure.

It depicts Lampard in the 2012-13 season third kit.

The 2012-13 season started brilliantly for Chelsea under Di Matteo but quickly turned sour with some poor performances, the exit from the Champions League group stage, and the appointment of Benitez.

The season had been very frustrating due to Benitez's style of football and inconsistent results. 

Some examples of good results include winning at Everton and Man U; beating Arsenal at home; coming back from two down in the FA Cup to beat Man U in a replay; and winning the Europa League.

And some bad include embarrassing defeats in the Club World Cup, Super Cup and League Cup; dropping points having been 2 up against Southampton and Reading; and losing at home to a terrible QPR side.

All in all it looked like being a very disappointing year aside from the consolation prize of the Europa League.

One of the positives however, was the potential for Lampard to break the club goalscoring record. There had been rumours throughout the year that this would be his last season at the club as he wouldn't be offered a new deal when his contract expired in June. As the games progressed and Lampard got closer to Bobby Tambling's record of 202 it was always touch and go.

In true Lampard style, though, he finally equalled and then broke the record at Villa Park in the penultimate league game leading to some delirious scenes in the away end! The goals, which can be seen here, were typical Lampard, a left foot strike from just inside the box and a late run to finish a good team move. The late win had secured qualification for the Champions League the following year.

Ed de Goey 1997-98

The first Chelsea figure I repainted was that of Ed de Goey. Corinthians produced de Goey figures in two Chelsea kits, the green kit of 98-99 and the silver kit of 99-00.

I'm not a huge fan of either of the kits, and much prefer those of the previous two years. The orangey-red kit worn during 96-97 and as an away goalkeeper kit during de Goey's first season (97-98) was perhaps a little difficult for a first repaint and so I went for the yellow kit, which he wore for the majority of his first season.

Chelsea have done a short bio of how Ed's time at the club went. A more detailed one can be found here.

Most Chelsea supporters, including me, look back on Ed's career favourably. He was a (usually!) dependable keeper during one of the most successful periods in the club's history.

How?

Before I start showcasing some of the figures I've repainted I'll briefly explain how easy it is.

First of all you need some paint (obviously!) - I use the Humbrol enamel paints.

You'll want to clean the figure so that all the dust accumulated over the years is removed.

If the kit colour is going to be a light colour then it a good idea to use a primer. I don't use specialist primers, just a coat of ordinary white enamel.

After that it is a case of painting the figure in the colours you want. The more detailed parts are much easier if you use a fine brush.

Once that is done you just need to add the decals (you can paint sponsors etc. on but I think the finish of the figure is much better with decals). This involves a lot of time finding the images on the internet and fitting them to size for printing.

You'll want to print on clear decal paper for light coloured backgrounds and where the image being transferred contains no white parts. However, all other images will require the white decal paper.

Actually applying the decals is probably the toughest part of in my opinion. If you used white decal paper you'll have to paint round the edges of the image to cover up the white parts, but when you've done that you have a completed repaint!

Here is an example. The David Platt figure from the England Euro 96 collection has been converted to the Aston Villa home kit for the 1989-90 season.

Repaints

Like me many of you will have collection the 7cm big head Corinthian football figures throughout the late 90s and 00s.

I was clearing out my room a few months back and came across my fairly vast collection of Chelsea and England figures.

My interest was rekindled and searching online I came across someone who had done an excellent job of repainting figures.

I had a number of spare figures and was inspired to give it a go myself.

Here is some of the work I've done so far and I hope to add plenty more in the future.