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Customs
by |
Stephen Andrade
aka "Bottleimp"
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e-mail |
bottleimp@hotmail.com |
Web
Address |
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Recipes:
Commander Steel
Commander Steel was made from an Orion body
with the head of a Hawk figure. The ears were sculpted,
and then I began the arduous task of painting that deceptively
simple costume (getting the lines clean and straight was much
more difficult than it would seem). The star was cut from
thin plastic using a star-shaped hole punch, then glued onto
the chest.
Thor
Thor began as an exercise in trying to make
use of all those elbow-and-knee-jointed figures that come with
the three-packs (I hate the extra joints; I think they spoil
the clean aesthetic of Bruce Timm’s designs). I
started with a Superman body and swapped the legs for those
of a Batman for a little more height. I then superglued
the elbow and knee joints in place. The joints were then
shaved down a little and smoothed over with super sculpey. I
decided to bulk up the arms a little more because, well, it’s
Thor! The helmet was sculpted, the wings were taken from
the helmet of a Total Justice Hawkman, the hair is a combination
of Aquaman’s and superflex sculpey. The flared shoulders
came from a Green Arrow, the discs on the torso were cut out
of plastic and glued into place, the tops of the boots are vinyl,
and the hammer was made with the head of the hammer from a JLU
Steel reshaped and set on a random plastic piece. I probably
could have shaved down the joints a little more smoothly, but
on the whole it worked pretty well. Hopefully I’ll
be able to do some more like this and use up all those Batmen,
Flashes and Lanterns that are cluttering my toy box.
Spider-Woman
Spider-Woman is a Hawkgirl body with the head
from a Black Canary (which was smooth featured enough to paint
the mask over without looking weird). The legs and torso
were smoothed down, and the hair was taken from the Riddler
figure from “The Batman” line and trimmed and resculpted
slightly.
The Vision
The Vision was a Waverider (great generic base
figure) with the flame removed, head filled in with sculpey,
a cut vinyl diamond symbol on the chest, and a drop of acrylic
molding paste for the gem on the forehead. The cape came
from Dr. Fate with a collar from a Martian Manhunter glued in
place and blended together with epoxy. The hardest part
was trying to paint the collar the right color and sheen to
match the cape plastic (which I wanted to leave with as much
of the original color showing as possible).
USAgent
USAgent is a Kilowog body (which still has a
neck peg rattling around inside it, alas) with sculpted boots
and gloves and a belt made from vinyl and plastic. The
head is a Lex Luthor with sculpted wings. I used Lex’s
head because I think it conveys the arrogance which I remember
USAgent having in John Byrne’s run of West Coast Avengers,
and the larger body because I seem to remember him having more
super-strength than Captain America. I thought it would
make a nice contrast instead of just repeating my Cap custom
from last time. The shield came from a Superhero Showdown
Cap with the star sanded down and the whole thing repainted.
Ms. Marvel
Ms. Marvel uses a Wonder Woman as a base (the
second version sculpt by Mattel) with all the costume details
smoothed out, hair from a Black Canary, and a sash made from
vinyl and plastic. I’d just like to point out that
I think the iridescent dark blue I used for the costume looks
really cool… well, to me, anyways.
Wonder Man
Wonder Man’s torso and arms came from a
Steel figure who had donated his legs for my Iron Man custom. I
slapped a pair of Green Arrow legs in their place (the boots
are a perfect match for Wonder Man’s during the Byrne WCA
era). Then I realized that Green Arrow’s legs are
freaky long, so I had to chop about 3/16” out of each thigh
to bring the height down to fit in with the rest of the figures. The
head is a reshaped Superman, the wristbands are sculpted, and
the belt is a combination of vinyl and plastic and some random
plastic bits for the two jets on the sides. I’d also
like to point out that the iridescent red paint I used on the
costume details looks really cool against the flat black of the
rest of the costume—again, I’m probably the only
one who thinks that. |
