This was the first joint custom that Matthew and I have made. Check out our pictures along with the construction notes that follow.
Construction Notes
HEAD: B.A.T. 86 (modified w/ Headman 02 neck)
(Chad)- The Viper 86 head seemed like the obvious choice, but IDW's look was a little different. The BAT faceplate had nice angles, and the vents on the head a thought had a good look for Krake. The Headman neck needed some mods, but the shape worked well to sculpt the collar tabs.
(Matt)- My choices for heads were Viper 86 without goggles and Crimson Guard Commander. Chad had the idea of using the B.A.T. It gave us a good opportunity to mod the head, plus it has vents on each side of the mask, which was a plus.
ARMS: General M. Bison ME (modified with Alley Viper v9 gauntlets, Snake Eyes v33 pocket, Zap v5 strap, & Gears 94 hands)
(Chad)- I was lucky enough to have a set of the Movie Edition Bison in my parts. The silver joints were a plus, but the gauntlets proved more difficult. The Alley Viper v2 worked well rotated, though the straps do not match the original art.
(Matt)- The shoulders were the easy part. There are quite a few good armored shoulders, but the forearms were tricky. We thought about using Muskrat v3, but they just weren’t exactly what we were looking for. The modified Alley Viper v2 arms may not be 100% accurate, but they look sharp.
CHEST: Gears 94 chest (modified) / Effects 94 back (modified)
(Chad)- Barricade's toros had a great look for Krake, but if you have ever seen the back torso, it does not work out all. Back to my parts bag, I found a great sculpted figure... Effects. So the head is really bad, but the back part of the torso looked great with the front of the Barricade. A little sanding and sculpting made this a great piece.
(Matt)- Barricade is without a doubt the easiest option here. Star Brigade Duke is also nice, but not as available as Barricade. However, his back is funky, so Chad had the great idea of using a different Back piece. I never thought it would work, but it did fantastically.
WAIST: General Abernathy v1 (modified)
(Chad)- This waist had all the elements, and Matt topped it off with the straps.
(Matt)- Another straight up choice, especially as much as Hasbro used this waist from 97-05. Just some quick sculpting for straps, and good to go.
THIGHS: Muskrat 93 (modified)
(Chad)- Another great piece to start with. The holsters and straps were perfect.
(Matt)- There are quite a few choices for dual holstered thighs, but the Muskrat v3 just looked great, and definitely took less mods than any other choices we may have had.
FEET: Super Trooper 88
(Chad)- The Zandar knee pads sold these here. The shape and style of the feet worked very well with the thighs, too.
(Matt)- I had thought about using Dr. Mindbender, and Chad liked Zandar. Turns out we didn’t have extra Mindbender legs (I blame Lance). Zandar’s turned out great though.
ACCESSORIES:
*Pistols- Duke v27 (x2)
(Chad)- I was lucky enough to have a few of the Duke v27 pistols lieing around. The scale is great because they come from a 25th figure, but the handles were thin enough to fit the Gears hands. The texture on the handles matched that of the Muskrat 93 legs, which is a plus.
*Cape- Major Bludd 05 & General M. Bison ME (modified)
(Chad)- The cape came with some trial and error. The Resolute Cobra Commander sash was too small, the Swamp Rat was too bulky. The Major Bludd 05 scarf matched the Bison soft goods well, and I really like the result.
*Harness- Custom made from Rexlace
(Chad)- If you have ever worked with Rexlace, you know it can be great. If not, go buy some. Of course, it took me three attempts to get the harness right (and I felt I needed two sets of hands). Crossing the pistol stumped me the most, but inspiration came as I was going to sleep one night. I also love that it is removable.
*Accessories
(Matt)- These were all Chad’s doings. Having the parts that he did was great, and the execution on the cape is very nice. We really wanted to make this as “vintage” as possible, not having too much removable gear. We saw Outback as an exception with his harness, so Chad fabricated this harness for Cobra Commander. The pistols on the back were tricky. I originally tried to graft
Fabtastic job gentlemen!!