Both of these have been on the workbench for a long-ass time. Finally got motivated to finish Kilowog after seeing the Green Lantern 'toon, and getting my SDCC Invaders set with Namor prompted me to whip up Dr Strange so I could have a core Defenders team.





Had to sculpt over an MU Thing body -- similar to, but more successful than, what I did for my previous custom:



Then I modded a JLU Kilowog head by sanding down the sharp edges and sculpting some better "lip-teeth" or whatever. He still has some rough edges, but I'm pretty happy with him.




Been waiting and waiting to hear news about an MU Dr Strange, but with no luck. I kept putting this guy off because I knew the cape would be a pain in the ass. And guess what - it was. I planned to use a plastic SW cape, but it just didn't give me the look I wanted. I wanted a living, flowing, poseable cape like in the comics, so I proceeded to glue gold ribbon and wire to an old red t-shirt. It wouldn't be so bad, but the "kinks" in the ribbon look crappy when I pose the cape. It doesn't always look like "LASER BLAST", so I figure I'll keep it.



Zap head w/ sculpted hair
Cobra Troop upper body/arms
Microman hands
MU Torch legs



I'm putting a Knighthawk and a Valkyrie on the "to-do" list for a proper Defenders team roster. Should be interesting to have a "non-team" superhero team for a change


Cheers!

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Wow Dan.. Kilowog is just damn inspiring. The use and the mods to the JLU head is amazing. I would never have thought that it was the JLU version with how nice and rounded it turned out. great job on the mods.

Your doctor strange looks like it walked directly out of the comic book. The parts are perfect and that cape really seals the deal.

Doctor Strange is a great figure of a creepy (in that uncle-no-one-talks-about sort of way) character.

Kilowag is flat-out fantastic!

nice work you did great on both but strange is really great

Very nice update to your Kilowog! I think I almost like the look of that boby better with your custom figure, than I did as the Thing. Great mods to that head too!

Dr. Strange is simply flawless!
Outstanding figure in every way. Great parts choice, perfect paint, and I agree that the poseable cape tops it off perfectly.

Good stuff right there, Chief!

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Top notch, Dan. You've been on one hell of a roll with your customs.

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Both are really great, but let's be honest, who doesn't like a lil' Strange? I mean, umm...

But yeah, the sculpting you did to convert a Thing figure into that base body is impressive. Would be worthy of some WIP pics for sure. I agree with John - you're on a heck of a roll.

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Did somebody say WIP?



- I thought I had some pics of the sculpted-over arms, but I guess not. At least you can see the head pre-mods here.

I had to do the sculpting in layers over several days to get the rocky parts smoothed out (this pic was phase 1). I wanted to just sand it down at first, but that was an impossible task. I also tried putting layer after layer of glue down to fill in the cracks, but there was still a fair amount of relief, so I ripped all the glue off (I used Elmer's, because of its consistency) and went to work with the green stuff.



Thanks for the kind words, guys -- I'm really happy with how they turned out, even though they could have been a lot better if I had a little patience. That friggin cape on Strange caused me no small amount of trouble with the stoopid superglue (so glad the cloth wasn't ruined.)

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Kiliwog is really good. I see a few minor places for some paint touch up but that was probably after you moved him around a lot. The head looks amazing.

Dr. Strange is awesome form the head down. While the detail on the head looks good there is something about the face itself that doens't scream Strange to me. Maybe its the lack of a pucker face or the super serious arched eyebrows. I don't know. He just comes of as kinder and less serious which isn't what I think of when I think of Dr. Strange.

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Nice. Even more so seeing the mods done to it. Could you have used the Thing lowers and a MU Hulk upper so that you didnt have to smooth out the rock bits?

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the WIP pic sells Kilowog even more, no doubt about it.

I don't know how well it would work holding in the wire part, but of late I've been using Mod Podge when I've had to glue softgoods. It says right on the jar that it works as fabric glue. When I used to use superglue, it would sometimes 'smoke' and emit vapors on some cloth types. Plus, there was no great way to press it into place without part of my fingers becoming a permanent part of the cape. I don't have that problem with the mod podge, but you do want to be sure to use it conservatively rather than have excess goop which could still ruin the cloth.

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Thanks guys -

Pluv - I see your point about Strange's head. I used the Zap head because it was a throw-away, but really liked it after I sculpted the hair. It does need some "angry eyes", so I'll go back and try to arch up the eyebrows a bit.

Billy - the MU Hulk torso is too "ripped" and hunches forward too much. That, and his hands have too many fingers, so I would have had to perform just as many mods to it as I did to Ben. I had a flashback to all the work I had to do modding the MU Hulk torso for my "Smart Hulk" and decided that it easier going this way.

Dennis - I actually started out using some fabric glue on the cape at first, but since it's a stretchy spandex material, it wouldn't lay flat when I was curving the trim around, so I needed something that was extra fast-setting so it would attach quickly while I worked it with my fingers. If I had cut the cape square, it probably would have worked, but this was a re-purposed cape from a previous custom and was shaped in a half-circle, so the straight ribbon created a whole new set of problems.

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I like Dr. Strange. Good part choices. I think he looks fine as is, but I am not that into the character.

Kilowog, however, is awesome! Great job on him.

Need to get me another Thing now...

~Eric

Way to go Chiefy your Kilowog is on point makes me think I need one now. Dr. Strange is great also.

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I still can't believe you sacrificed a perfectly good stretchy spandex red shirt for that Strange cape, but I guess the result is worth it.

Seriously solid work on both of these guys.