A TALENTED Clydebank man who hand-makes action figures in his spare time has had his work featured on TV after his creations were spotted by an American producer.
David McGurk, 42, had always dreamed of being able to produce characters from scratch since he was a boy.
But it was only six months ago that the bank worker decided to give it a shot – and he has never looked back since.
David told our sister title The Clydebank Post: “I’ve always been interested in making them, but I thought it was impossible to do. I told myself it wasn’t going to happen, and how would you do that?
“Last year the idea was swirling about in my head and at first it was really difficult – how do you make something you don’t know anything about? But, as soon as I started, I picked it up straight away.
“In the UK there’s not really a lot of people that do it, it’s more of an American thing.”
When Adam F Goldberg, the creator of popular US shows The Goldbergs and Schooled, contacted David to purchase figurines, it came as a surprise when he realised who he was.
David said: “When he got in touch with me I didn’t know what the show was – it took me a while to get back to him and he said, ‘I need these for the Goldbergs’.
“I thought that was a shop in Clydebank because it used to be in the shopping centre. I thought, ‘Are they making a comeback?’
“He has now bought around 15 from me.”
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One of David’s figures from the 1990 movie Ghost appeared on a recent episode of Schooled as a prop.
The dad-of-one added: “The best thing about it is, if I never do anything else with an action figure again, I have done it.
“I made a toy, it went to California and was used as a prop in a TV programme that was viewed by millions of people.
“People make them for years and never even get recognised, so it’s really a proud moment.”
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The show’s producer is not the only high-profile person who wanted his hands on David’s action figures.
Leigh Gill, best known for his roles in Joker and Game of Thrones, is also a fan of his work.
David added: “Leigh has bought two of my figures – he’s really supportive.
“The price depends but, moving forward, I’m going to let the person who buys them decide – I just like getting the figures out there. It’s really a donation, what they think it’s worth. People are really good – they see the value and see it as art and pay for it.”
Every one of David’s action figures is made from scratch – including the cardboard packaging for them.
David said the majority of his figures were inspired by characters from the 1980s who haven’t been featured before or received merchandise treatment before.
Visit @lightning_boltz_action_figures on Instagram to view David’s work.
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