This figure was a gift for my brother's birthday this year, and represents Bruce Willis' character, John McClane, from the Die Hard movies -- specifically, the first one. I figured out parts from watching the movie and then checking my copies of the DeSimione guides. Getting all the parts took about three months, using the YoJoe classifieds and hitting flea markets. While not my first action figure custom (I've done a lot of superheroes and Star Wars characters in the year since I started) it's one of the most complex. 

Die Hard consists of:
 -Street Fighter Movie Ken Masters legs
 -a Road Pig torso
 -1992 Gung-Ho (green shirt) left arm
 -Slaughter's Marauders Sgt. Slaughter right arm
 -Outback crotch
 -Chuckles head, with new hair (made from air-dry clay) and neck (see below)
 -Chuckles pistol
 -Sneak Peak walkie-talkie
 -mail-in Major Altitude rifle (painted black; had to leave the handle silver)
 -battle stand from who-knows
 
There were three problems in construction: Outback's crotch piece was a little small for Ken Masters' legs, so I had to enlarge the hip-spaces and center gap (do those areas have real names?) with a needle file to fit. I also shaved off the belt buckle while I was at it. 

I originally thought Mace's head was appropriate, but after I got one I realized the chin was too big, and the hair was completely wrong. So I switched to a Chuckles head I already had. However, I discovered that Chuckles' neck was too short for Road Pig's torso! I used a razor saw (available at any art supply store) to cut off the ball on Chuckles' head, then did the same to a 92 Gung-Ho head (since it came with the arm) -- albiet closer to the head itself. I super-glued Gung-Ho's neck onto Chuckles' neck, sanded it smooth, and voila! the neck was longer. I just hope I never have to do that again.

Once all the parts fit together I had to paint it. I used acrylic paints. I painted a white t-shirt onto the torso, made the pants black with a slightly-lighter belt, dark brown hair, black watchband, and a blue blob on the left arm (Willis has a tattoo.). I was very careful when painting the pants not to mess up the feet, which I later scratched up to show the red plastic the original figure was molded in. (For those who haven't seen the movie, at one point McClane walks on broken glass in his bare feet, with understandable results.) I assembled the parts and spray-sealed the paint, then the next day started adding a muddy wash of black, brown, green and blood-red in several coats to simulate the dirt that coats Willis by movie's end. Unfortuneately I kind of went overboard, but I wasn't really sure of that until it was too late (it was a gift after all). Anyway, some flecking of red-brown ("dried blood") completes it. 

Given modern painting techniques, I feel this figure is something that Hasbro might be able to produce, and I'm fairly satisfied with the results. Even my brother, who I wasn't sure was going to like it, thought it was neat. A matching filecard explaining why he's a (reserve) member of GIJoe is in progress.