Wendy Jacobs: Fandi's wax figure looks very real, butt ...
When asked for her opinion on the quality of her husband's wax figure, Ms Wendy Jacobs seemed pretty impressed with its overall realism.
The former model said of Fandi Ahmad's wax figure: "It looks very real. If you look at the pores, the skin, the smile - they are all definitely his."
But she did, however, reserve one small complaint regarding the size of the figure's posterior.
She said: "The one thing they could have added a bit more would be his butt.
"People who have played against him, and even his own teammates, have said that Fandi had a very hard and round ass, which was very sexy."
Ms Jacobs was at ITE College Central yesterday to witness the unveiling of her husband's wax figure, which was commissioned by London-based wax museum Madame Tussauds.
The Lions XII coach will join other local icons such as Stefanie Sun, Jack Neo and Phua Chu Kang in having their likeness displayed at Madame Tussauds Singapore, the museum's 18th attraction worldwide.
The museum is located at Imbiah Lookout on Sentosa and opens on Oct 25.
Fandi chose ITE College Central for the unveiling because of the institution's strong support for his footballing career.
Known as the Singapore Vocational Institute at the time, the school gave Fandi, who was a student there, the leeway to pursue success in the game.
MOTIVATION
He said: "ITE gave me a lot of time to train and travel with the national team. Without it, I would not have got so far.
"I hope this motivates others. It is not about me, but about future generations. I think more students and more people can contribute to the country."
Madame Tussauds Singapore general manager Lily Lim said Fandi's influence and good character make him an ideal candidate.
She said: "Fandi is an icon and a legend in the football scene, who has made tremendous contribution over the years.
"He has been a very inspiring figure to a lot of children from his football club, fans and young players, so we are very glad to have him as one of the figures at Madame Tussauds Singapore."
The figure took a team of 20 sculptors four months to complete, and costs over $300,000.
In order to create a realistic figure, staff members took 250 measurements of the various parts of Fandi's body, a process which took five hours. They also took hair samples to ensure that all aspects of the figure are as realistic as possible.
Principle sculptor Jim Kempton, 49, who was responsible for sculpting the figure's head, said the biggest challenge was trying to recreate how Fandi looked like 20 years ago, back in 1994 when he lifted the Malaysia Cup.
He said: "It was hard to imagine how he looked like 20 years ago. We know that he's such a nice, gentle character now but there isn't much reference of how he was back then.
"We wanted to try to get that freshness to come through in the figure, so we would watch videos and look at lots of pictures of the Malaysia Cup to try to achieve that."
"People who have played against him and even his own teammates have said that Fandi had a very hard and round ass, which was very sexy."
- Ms Wendy Jacobs
BY THE NUMBERS
4
The number of months taken for Madame Tussauds team in London to complete the figure.
$300,000
The cost of one such figure.
20
The number of people involved in sculpting the statue.
250
The total number of measurements taken of Fandi Ahmad's body.
5
The number of hours taken to obtain all the necessary measurements before starting work on the figure.
180
The total number of pictures taken of Fandi before work on his figure started.
4
The number of weeks needed to insert all the hairs on the figure's head.
60
The number of figures that will be on exhibit at Madame Tussauds Singapore.
ABOUT MADAME TUSSAUDS SINGAPORE
At the Madame Tussauds Singapore, local icons like Phua Chu Kang and Fandi Ahmad will share the spotlight with A-listers like Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, sportsmen Lewis Hamilton and David Beckham, as well as historical figures Nelson Mandela and Mahatma Gandhi.
When: 10am to 9pm daily from Oct 25
Where: Imbiah Lookout, Sentosa
Tickets: Early bird tickets, at $20 each, are available at Madame Tussauds Singapore website.
Regular tickets are priced at $30 for adults and $20 for children between the ages of three and 12.
More details can be found at Madame Tussauds Singapore website: www.madametussauds.com/Singapore
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