Head: Heavy-Duty 91 (modified) w/ Dial-Tone 86 beret
Chest: Footloose 85 (heavily modified)
Arms: Stretcher 90 (modified)
Waist: Dial-Tone 86 (modified)
Thighs: Dusty 91 (modified)
Lower Legs: Hit & Run 88
Accessories:
Backpack: Recondo 84 (modified)
Pistol: INTOYZ
Knife: Spearhead 88 bayonet (modified)
Rifle: Shockwave 92 w/ custom silencer
Stalker is one of my all-time favorite characters, and while he's had at least one great figure (I've always loved the 83 version), I wanted to make a custom of him that capture the coolness of both that figure and the great characterization that he received in the Marvel comic series. Stalker was always portrayed as a tough, dedicated soldier and a leader who commanded respect in the field, and I wanted this custom to reflect that.
The head was the result of an accident: I had originally planned to use a Stalker 89 head, but I made a mistake while cutting off the watchcap and destroyed the only spare one I had. So, I started looking around for an alternative and discovered that Heavy-Duty's head bore a strong resemblance to the comic Stalker. I cut off the cap and removed a Dial-Tone beret, sanded down the side of Heavy-Duty's head to accommodate the flap of the beret, and glued it on. I also wanted to give Stalker the ribbed collar to reference the original figure and the comic version, and I needed to lengthen the neck: I glued on a longer neck piece, and then cut a groove into the neck; then, I glued in a piece of Lightfoot 88's hose. The neck still retains full range of motion.
I wanted Stalker to be carrying field gear, so I added some grenades and ammo pouches to the chest. I also wanted him to have a working knife sheath: I cut up a BBI radio holster from one of the SWAT figures, and shortened a Spearhead bayonet to fit inside it. The Footloose chest is fairly thick at the bottom, and I wanted Stalker to be a little thinner than that, so I sanded down the front and back of chest, and then replaced the straps at the bottom by dremeling grooves into the plastic and gluing in pieces of BBI belts.
The rest of the modifications were fairly minor: I added some pouches to the waist, an INTOYZ holster to the right leg (after sanding off the molded-on holster), and a BBI pouch to the left leg. I also sanded down the biceps and forearms of the Stretcher arms to make them a little less muscular.
The accessories were fairly simple, too: I removed the handle from the Recondo backpack and made a silencer for the rifle out of a piece of metal tubing.
It's hard to see in the pic, but the beret patch is based on a Ranger patch; thanks to Grand Slam for the reference pic.
