I came across a very well- written series of articles by Chris Walas on sculpting figures at mylargescale.com. If you'd like to try making your own inexpensive figures, the series is well worth a look. The old gentleman in the picture is modeled in 1:20.3 scale (next to a smaller 1:22 scale Preiser figure). Chris' technique involves making an armature out of aluminum foil, then building the model with successive layers of Premo modeling clay (available for $3.00 at A.C. Moore). The layers are baked for a few minutes at 275 degrees. He recommends acrylic paints for the final figure, including washes of burnt or raw umber. The only tool you need is a toothpick. Unless you're trying for super detailing (I wasn't), you can make a figure easily in one evening. You can find the articles by going to http://archive.mylargescale.com/articles/articles. I believe Eric Schade is also coming out with an article on making figures in an upcoming issue of Garden Railways Mag...