Head: Shockwave 92 (modified)
Chest: Crimson Guard Immortal 91 (heavily modified)
Arms: Sci-Fi 91 (modified)
Waist: Lightfoot 88
Thighs: Barricade 92 (modified)
Lower Legs: Capt. Grid-Iron 90 (modified)
Accessories:
JUMP Jetpack: Fast-Draw 87 (heavily modified)
Helmet/Visor: Grand Slam 82
Rifle: Recondo 03 w/ BBI stock
I never owned Grand Slam as a kid, so I never developed much affection for him. In the last year or so, I've started to like the character more and more. I also got my first Grand Slam figure a while back, and I really liked the uniform design. So, when I decided to make another Grand Slam custom for my new Original Team set, I wanted to give the 82/83 figure an update while staying as close as possible to the original figure.
I wanted to give Grand Slam a ribbed collar to reference the original figure (and to give the impression of a thermal suit worn under the flight suit), so I cut a groove in the neck and glued in a piece of Lightfoot 88 hose.
The chest was the biggest challenge on this figure, and it was one of the more elaborate modifications I've ever made on a custom. I wanted to remove most of the body armor from the CGI chest and replace it with custom padding, but the housing for the screw is attached to the body armor inside the chest. So, I filled the interior of the chest with epoxy putty to hold the screw housing in place, cut off the body armor, and glued on a piece of patterned styrene (with some putty underneath to give it shape and dimension).
For the thighs, I sanded off the hoses on the sides of the Barricade legs. Then, I cut pieces of the patterned styrene based on paper patterns I made, and glued them in place over the Barricade pads.
I wanted to make the figure as close as possible to the original, so I needed to find a way to make those weird straps on the 83 Grand Slam's lower legs. I cut up some Chap-Mei straps and glued them in place, and sanded off the lines at the top of Grid-Iron's boot/spat things.
The JUMP jetpack was another challenge. I cut notches into both halves of the Fast-Draw backpack at the top, cut off the second handle of Charbroil's flamethrower (where the hose attaches), and fitted it into the notches. Then, I drilled holes in the sides of the Fast-Draw backpack and threaded a piece of HEAT-Viper hose through them and the Charbroil handle-piece. I cut up a couple of Grid-Iron rockets and the launcher, and glued them into place to form the exhaust jets. Then, I cut off the stock from a Recondo 03 rifle, drilled a hole for a BBI stock, and glued it in place. I also drilled a small hole in the rifle for a post, then glued the post into the hose so it could attach to the rifle.