[The Creator]

Quote:

Originally Posted by LordMudd

The difference is between articulation and paint app. I don't think there is a perfect sweet spot between them. These are for collectors who like the paint app.


CCC.

Very true and have you been working on any customs lately bro...

[rustyrob]

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Creator

!!!!!!!!! SNEAK PEEK !!!!!!!!!!

I really like this style of paint. I have a custom Tick I tried in this style somewhere on this forum from back when (Wasnt very good). I wish you would put pupils on some of your figures but I digress. Very good job.

[The Creator]

Quote:

Originally Posted by rustyrob

I really like this style of paint. I have a custom Tick I tried in this style somewhere on this forum from back when (Wasnt very good). I wish you would put pupils on some of your figures but I digress. Very good job.

Thanks bro I have a paint style that is straight from the comic book pages or so I think and there are a lot of people that don't like and we aren't going to get on sculpting but the eye thing right now suits me. Bro I just put things together.

[The Creator]

!!!!! Dark Star !!!!!!

[Artic 66]

Does anyone know what this silver motorcycle is from? I think it might be Batman, but I’ve never seen it before.

[Sender]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Artic 66

Does anyone know what this silver motorcycle is from? I think it might be Batman, but I’ve never seen it before.

Close...It's from the 1997 (DC) Steel Assault Cycle

[Sender]

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Creator

!!!!!!!!! SNEAK PEEK !!!!!!!!!!

TOO AWESOME, Creator!

[Sender]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sithlord1963

FATWS - Sam Wilson Cap and Batroc.

Nicely done, SithLord!

[Sender]

Quote:

Originally Posted by rustyrob

Sorry the pic is sideways...

Rocking Batroc, RustyRob!

[Sender]

Quote:

Originally Posted by LordMudd

Maybe if people keep buying thee up as fast as they come out, they will keep going. Meanwhile:

CCC.

Magnificent mutants, LordMudd!

[The Creator]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sender

TOO AWESOME, Creator!

Finally Luke returns welcome back brother and hope all is fine. Inspiration has returned.

[Sender]

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Creator

Finally Luke returns welcome back brother and hope all is fine. Inspiration has returned.

It's the other way around, brother...THANK YOU for keeping the inspiration!

Keep creating...

[rustyrob]

Add another 2 to my MCU Villains roster. So glad they are bring in the old Sony Spiderman villains. Doc Ock is my favorite of all the movie Spiderman villains.

Again sorry its sideways.

[The Creator]

Quote:

Originally Posted by rustyrob

Add another 2 to my MCU Villains roster. So glad they are bring in the old Sony Spiderman villains. Doc Ock is my favorite of all the movie Spiderman villains.

Again sorry its sideways.

Nice I went comic as always I don't do movie theme.

[Sithlord1963]

Three more from the MCU Playbook :-)
Ulysses Klaue, unmasked Zemo and Bucky (FATWS outfit)!

[rustyrob]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sithlord1963

Three more from the MCU Playbook :-)
Ulysses Klaue, unmasked Zemo and Bucky (FATWS outfit)!

Wow man another great batch. Love how accurate you make these. For me I'm like...glue head here...put a pouch there... F it close enough haha. Well done!

[Sithlord1963]

rustyrob,

Thanks. I sent you a PM but in case it didn't get through, this is the recipe for Zemo:
Torso/waist:Rise of Cobra Hawk Abernathy
legs: Rise of Cobra Cobra Commander
Arms: Rise of Cobra Destro
Coat: Star Wars TFA General Hux
Hands/feet: MGR/BFS hands (can't remember which) - boots from the fodder box but think they were GI joe as well
Masked head/loose mask - sculpted over a BFS blank,and just sculpted.
Unmasked Head: fantastic 3D customs (same source for Klaue and Bucky).
Sculpt the collar and paint figure top to bottom and I came up with Zemo :-)
Got a few more in the planning/early stages incl: Masked and unmasked DD (Netflix), Mordo, MJ (Zendaya) and Happy Hogan.

[Mordiganne]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sithlord1963

rustyrob,

Thanks. I sent you a PM but in case it didn't get through, this is the recipe for Zemo:
Torso/waist:Rise of Cobra Hawk Abernathy
legs: Rise of Cobra Cobra Commander
Arms: Rise of Cobra Destro
Coat: Star Wars TFA General Hux
Hands/feet: MGR/BFS hands (can't remember which) - boots from the fodder box but think they were GI joe as well
Masked head/loose mask - sculpted over a BFS blank,and just sculpted.
Unmasked Head: fantastic 3D customs (same source for Klaue and Bucky).
Sculpt the collar and paint figure top to bottom and I came up with Zemo :-)
Got a few more in the planning/early stages incl: Masked and unmasked DD (Netflix), Mordo, MJ (Zendaya) and Happy Hogan.

Nice,I was going to ask where the coat came from. More great MCU figures. Looking forward to seeing what else you have coming.

[Mordiganne]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kernel

Those hasbro retro legends are an easy pass for me. I can get better figures at the dollar store:

Took me a bit to figure out that the one on the right was Falcon and not Blade. I didn't even notice the wings at first.

[Mordiganne]

Quote:

Originally Posted by LordMudd

They are 3 & 3/4" or Reaction scale.

These are not my thing, but I do enjoy what you've been doing with them. Nice mix of characters.


Time's short so only got to go back a page. Nice to see all the new customs people have been making. Really enjoy all the creativity. Glad this batch is done. Got a couple more teams finished.

[Mordiganne]

The Universe is expanding.... (pics to follow in next post)

Ended up going very mutant heavy with this batch. Not planned, just how things fell. Parts are getting more and more scarce and more and more expensive, so we’ll see how much longer I go with this hobby. Running out of parts sucks. C’mon Hasbro put out some good 3 ¾” bodies again. I did notice they added some additional articulation to the Silver Surfer figure of their new retro line, so maybe in time they’ll return to the superior Marvel Universe body style, but I’m not holding my breath. Anyway, I’ve gotten to the point where I can make a simple figure in a couple of hours so I took a different tack this time around and didn’t complete any of the figures individually. Instead, I made each one and took them to about 70-75% complete as a group and stopped. By the time I have a custom to 75% complete all the sculpt work and initial paint designs are done which just leaves layering and refining. A simple process. Doing it this way was so much faster since it got the bulk of the time-consuming work for the entire batch done all at once. In fact, it was so efficient I took on a MASSIVE sculpting challenge that I detailed below. Definitely think I’ll continue with this method and see if it holds up with more intricate designs. Speaking of sculpting, it’s no longer a dreaded task. In fact, I almost enjoy it now. It can be very relaxing at times. In comic news I finished Excalibur Omnibus v1. It was ok. Like many, I feel the first half was really good, but the “Cross-Time Caper” needed some serious editing to remove a couple of issues and the “Girls School from Heck” story was awful and should never have been published. Just awful. I’ve picked up too many new Omniboo to list all of them, but I’m looking forward to the Thor (Heroes Return 1 & 2), New Warriors v1 and the cosmic Annihilation books. In new/non-digital material, I picked up the Doctor Strange, Sorc Sup books (1 & 2), Thunderbolts v1 and Astonishing X-Men among others. I’m looking forward to Thunderbolts the most. While I have the full run on digital I haven’t read any of it yet. Moving on, Carnage is there because I finally shaved down the neck ball enough to fit the uncovered Cassidy head – from Fantastic3D. Paint job came out nice, might leave it out for a bit. Mystique is there because my OCD kept nagging at me every time I looked at her. (I actually forgot to put Mystique in the group shot, but she’s in her team shot. Oops.) Something was just not working, probably because the lighter blue I had previously made her look like a Smurf. Once that thought settled in I couldn’t not see her as a Smurf. Finally, after 3 re-paintings, I think I’ve finally settled on the skin tone I want for her. Red Hulk is there because I finally painted the angry head there from Fantastic 3D. Gonna leave this one on for while, I think. Mary Jane is there because my OCD made me fix her up. I changed the upper torso completely and swapped the lower arms. Sculpted on some rolled up sleeves and a watch and gave her a necklace (gold thread). She looks much better now as a complete package. So, anyway, onto the rest...


Stonewall – Character wise I believe this guy is still dead. He was snuffed during the Reaver attack on Muir Island and I can’t recall him being resurrected (yet). However, I don’t read modern comics - for the most part - so he could be alive. Dunno. Anyway, I made Stonewall and his compadres only after doing the outfit research on Nightcrawler. Since I was in my digital comic folder looking at X issues, I took a look at the Mutant Massacre collected series I had in there (it’s from the same files they used for the Omnibus so it has all the issues combined) and started virtually thumbing through some issues and came across the post massacre issues with Storm facing off against Stonewall and the rest. Since I hadn’t yet made them, I decided to knock out the entire trio at once. I’ve thought about making them for years but they’re such minor characters that I just had no real motivation to get them done. Plus, I was dreading making this dumb design with all the bumps I’d have to sculpt. Before even getting to the bumps, I had to fill in the boots and wrist band area since this is entirely a Skurge base body. Oh! And I sculpted over the head entirely. I completely forgot I did that. I didn’t sculpt the entire belt. Just the bumps and belt buckle were added onto a Herc belt with the ‘H’ cut off. Other than having to make and space all the little bumps, the paint job was the most annoying part. His outfit is just stupid and I’m glad him and his companions are done.

Silver Sabre – Yeah, I hated this character in the comics from day one and still don’t like him now. He’s a rather bland speedster with a dull and boring look. But I had to make him and his dumb headgear. Because I needed an athletic body, I used one of the early skinny bodies that I also don’t like. (This guy was striking out all over for me.) I don’t care enough about the character to do the changes that I made with Nightcrawler so I did the sculpting that I needed to do, left the body as is and moved on. I sculpted the headgear on top of a Grim Reaper head and sculpted the bands at wrist and ankle. For the straps on the head gear I used ProCreate for the first time. I wanted to see just how flexible I could make it. Really nice results. Between this and the epoxy there’s so much more I can make. Now just need parts to be as available as they used to be. But I digress…As of this time I haven’t yet dropped the head/neck, but I intend to. Let’s see if I do before I close the book on this batch.

Blob – A big fat lump of a character and a staple for Mystique’s Brotherhood. I’ve been thinking about and putting off this character for ages. Since I put together the rest of this batch in record time, I had some time to spare and had an urge to make the last Brotherhood member that I *had* to have. So, I finally got this fat boy done and this guy I consider my “walk away” piece. Now that he’s made I can walk away from this customizing hobby at any time and I’d be completely content. From my era of X-comic reading Blob was an oversize character, bigger and bulkier than Colossus. So I set out to bring that from the page – though not as wide. (Seriously, how would he even move being as wide as they liked to draw him.) I’d say mission accomplished. This guy is massive and heavy! To make Blob, I used between a quarter to a full half from each tub of the epoxy compound that I use. That’s a LOT! Doubt I’ll post them but I did take a few WIP pics of this one. What I really needed was a video log of the progress… I started with separating the torso so I could add his massive bulky belly. I briefly tried to use a standard cracking technique, but knowing what I had in mind going forward I said screw it and grabbed the drill. Making numerous holes along the seams I eventually removed enough plastic to slip a screwdriver between the halves and carefully pop it open without breaking or putting cracks in the torso. Sounds intimidating, but that was actually the easy part. I left the lower torso intact as a stabilizer to sculpt around and built up the belly over a couple of days. In between that I started adding to the upper torso, switching back and forth until I was happy with the look (pre sanding and filling). Adding to the arms was next and then finished with the legs. (I’m over simplifying, this was a ton of work!) I also did something that I rarely do when working on a custom like this. I left all the parts attached (sans torso splitting) so I could make sure the joints weren’t getting impeded anywhere and because I had to make sure all of the limbs sculpt add-ons worked well in conjunction with the rest of the body. In short, all that to say he has full articulation at all the traditional points – though it’s the Blob, not like he’d be doing the splits or anything. The Juggs mold never had much of an ab crunch and Blob doesn’t have abs so no need for that. I did add a post and sculpted up a stabilizing hole to keep a torso swivel. I sculpted a “seat” for the upper torso so that while it will rotate it won’t spin freely and always has a set resting point. After that it was a long and tedious paint job. I did pop off the head at times to get under the neck, but the rest I painted while everything was fully attached. Whew… yeah, this guy took some work. Started with a mix of Hulk & Juggernaut parts and in the end, I now have a fully articulated Blob to add to the Brotherhood. I have to say, while I had a lot of fun making this and am over the moon with the end result, I’ll never make one these Blobs again. That said, this was a great learning experience for the other big bulky character I still need to make; Kingpin. But that’s going to be a while.

Captain America (Bucky) – As I mentioned before I still have Bucky as an agent of Hydra. It’s just such an interesting character dynamic. So, I wasn’t originally going to make this version of either Captain America (mantle) or Bucky Barnes (character). But while I absolutely loved the old Captain America line for what it was, the figures were all runty midgets so I only bought a couple back during my buy-&-collect period. The Buckycap was one of those few, but the size always bothered me. This was a perfect time to redo it so I could put the Bucky character to rest. Simple custom here, mostly paint with minimal part swaps. I kept the original figure’s head for the Alex Ross design look. It’s perfect. As with all the other shield bearers, I added magnets (and concealed them) to the standard wrist/forearm & back locations and gave him a removable harness. With the “Falcon and the Winter Soldier” series and upcoming Cap 4 movie, I’ll probably re-visit the Captain America mantle again, but we’ll see. I’m done with the Bucky character, though.

Cyclops – I still hate the character of Cyclops, but I need a couple more before I can officially take the character off the list. I had long planned to make the X-Factor team circa Inferno era and while Hasbro made sufficient (kinda) Iceman and Archangel figures - and with my custom Beast made long ago - I just needed the team leader and Jean. The base body was going to be simple. A little sculpt and paint with Hyperion boots. But the visor was a chore. Walt Simonson, while I love his art, can be wildly inconsistent from panel to panel. Cyke’s visor was sometimes comically oversized and ridiculously angular. I copied it as best I could, but given how much his art varied it was impossible to find a series of continuous panels where it all looked the same. So, did my best by adding on to an Astonishing Cyke head. Overall it came out well and Inferno X-Factor is complete. While I hate the character, I always like the customs of him, and this one is no exception. He looks so sharp. I doubt I’ll return to this incarnation of the team for any more customs. Although, I do need another Archangel now so that might take me down he same customizing road that Nightcrawler did. Thinking about 90’s X-Factor, but we’ll see. Not exactly my favorites there.

Jean Grey – This is the last Jean Grey that I had slotted as a needed figure, so I’m done with her character (woohoo!). Since I went heavy on the mutants this batch it was time to wrap up the X-Factor unis from Inferno and complete that team. The Jean head is a Fantastic3D head (forget who it was supposed to be originally) added to a standard body. Light sculpt work for the stupid cuff design Simonson was intent on adding to X-Factor costumes. Not sure why he added those, they look odd. But whatever… I still need to make an OG5 X-Men team, but I don’t count them as part of the custom list. Not sure why, probably because they were so far before my time that I have no real interest in first appearance figures of them, and I know that I’ll eventually make them regardless, because, X-Men.

Nightcrawler – A figure so nice I made it twice! I had zero intention to make Nightcrawler initially. Absolutely none. The bit of painting I did on the Hasbro fig was plenty, right up until I decided I wanted a second Nightcrawler to put in with Excalibur since moving one back and forth for pictures got old quick. While waiting for the second figure I took another look at the first and just sighed because I couldn’t leave that figure as it was, and if I was going to paint another one, I was going fix the spots that annoyed me on both. What did that mean? Well, it meant I had to completely swap the legs, and the arms, and then fix the feet, and then fix the torso, and then fix the paint. The gorilla arms on the original have that overly long forearm that I just cannot stand on any figure. It’s seriously terrible. So, I gave him a standard set of arms. Then looking at the legs, I hated those too with the shin portion being too long and skinny. But I needed to keep the feet and wanted rocker ankles, so, I did a swap. The last time I did this I tried to follow some tutorial I found online. It went ok, but was more tedious than enjoyable. This time I went my own way by snipping out the ankle structure and peg from Nightcrawler’s feet and drilled a small hole for the ankle peg on the new legs. Instant rocker ankles and very simple to do. No sculpt reinforcing. I snipped off the weird ‘flaps’ on the torso addition and filled in those spots with sculpt so it actually looks like his outfit and doesn’t have squared off ends. I needed him to be able to look up when crawling so I cut off the static ball neck and matched it up with necks from the Cyke buck. I scoured his initial appearances by Byrne and matched the artwork by closing the dip behind the neck with sculpt and corrected the design on the front by extending the point down the abs like it’s supposed to be. I found an extra head in the parts box, so I painted up 3 different heads (2 w/ different shadows, 1 without any) that can be swapped between the two figures. For the skin tone I matched it with Mystique, rather she was re-painted to match his skin tone. I might go back and add poseable tails and some hinges to the wrists and toes but I don’t have a pressing need to do it right now. My OCD for those sorts of things will kick in and make me do it eventually, I’m sure.

Crimson Commando – The last of the trio that a powerless Storm went up against following the Morlock massacre. To be honest I have no clue what his powerset is, and that’s saying something since I read the issues not that long ago while I was looking at the designs, and I just don’t recall what he’s supposed to be able to do. I think he’s a tracker of sorts, but he’s so unrememberable that I just don’t care. I used a standard body with mixed hands. Not by design, they’re just what I had left. Marauder pouches and a little sculpt to finish the look. For the head I took a Dremel to a Collector head. It’s sufficiently wrinkly to look old. Bought all there is to say here… Topped him off with a scarf from Marauder. I left it unpainted just to give his bland design a little more color.

[Mordiganne]

Group shot:


Cyclops (X-Factor):


Jean Grey (X-Factor):


Blob:


Nightcrawler:

[Mordiganne]

Captain America (Bucky Barnes):


Crimson Commando:


Silver Sabre:


Stonewall:

[Mordiganne]

Bonus shots (team pics):

X-Factor circa Inferno:


Mystique's Brotherhood:


Old Soldiers circa X-Men 216:

[Mordiganne]

Quote:

Originally Posted by rustyrob

Add another 2 to my MCU Villains roster. So glad they are bring in the old Sony Spiderman villains. Doc Ock is my favorite of all the movie Spiderman villains.

Again sorry its sideways.

Missed these before. That Ock is stellar!