Nightwing is one I've been planning on for a long time. Since I still prefer even my heroes to mostly be more Joe scaled than MU scaled (with exceptions), finding the right parts was tough. He had to be bigger than my Robin, shorter than Batman, and be dressed in a way that evoked more than just images of spandex.

Then I found Retaliation Zartan. Really was just what I needed. The legs didn't work - too tall, and unarticulated. So I swapped those for Retaliation Snake Eyes. Little bit of paint here and there (the chest emblem largely just matches the existing sculpt), and I think it's good.

I might get a second head and sculpt on a mask. But for now, since I prefer unmasked for some guys, he'll just use the removable goggles (unless the majority view is that they look goofy).










For Black Widow, I've had a custom I've loved and used as my default for awhile now. But the head was the one thing I was still on the lookout for. Well, thanks to sgartz, I made a sweet trade for an Avengers BW. It's a great head sculpt. Nice figure overall, but not quite where I wanted BW to be, design wise (in part because she has the older styled movie hips). So I took the best of the movie fig and bashed it on to my existing custom. I used her head, arms (some of the best female armsmade in scale) and lower legs. Then I painted her up, flesh tones to match, eye detail, etc... She's kind of a mash-up between MU and movie styles. Thoughts?

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Great job on repainting that head. It was good before but you made it look better. Do want.

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Very awesome stuff.

I keep looking at the Retaliation figures and thinking, "Okay, so this is how I get into doing DC customs..."

I was considering that Zartan for a take on Terry/Batman Beyond.

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Maybe flatten up or trim the goggles for Nightwing, they look a little off. Otherwise awesome and great Widow upgrade.

I agree with the goggles being off for what is a perfect Joe Nightwing!! The paint job you did on the BW head is nothing short of amazing and one of your best female face paint jobs to date imo.

How might the yellow tinted glasses that i believe came with Ripcord for NW?

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I'm not sold on the Nightwing. Something is off and I'm not sure what it is.

He seems to have a basketball player style body with a round head. It feels like the top of the head needs to be higher. Instead of a O shaped head maybe a 0 shaped head.

Does anyone else see this?

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I think what you are seeing speaks more to the lanky proportions of that Zartan torso. It's easily one of the tallest in the Joe line (at least not counting the intentionally larger bucks), and the legs end up looking slightly out of proportion to it as a result.



Have to say that the factory widow head looked pretty damned good as it was, so I wouldn't take too much credit. I just added the eye highlight, went over the flesh with enough paint to match the torso (and add some texture, which I think is key for realism), then darkened the hair with a black wash to give it depth.

Not a bad idea on the other goggles.



I worry that any goggles I try will push out like that because of the way the hair is sculpted on that head. If I can fashion something that would stick to the face without the need for the strap, it would look best.

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Really digging the Widow.

Nightwing is probably my favorite member of the Bat-family, and this is one of the best figures I've seen of him at any scale.

Looking the Nightwing head, I think it's the scale of the head that might be off. Looking at the group pic, Dick's head is smaller than the much shorter Robin.

Using that Zartan for Nightwing is an inspired choice! Personally I don't dig the goggles & feel it would look better with a painted mask, but that's just me.

fantastic work on Widow -- easily one of the best I've seen lately!

You never fail to disappoint, Dr !

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Hell yeah my man those look tight.

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really appreciate the comments and the helpful suggestions both.

I spent a lot of time looking for the right Nightwing head, and admit I resorted to this one, more so than I chose it. I was reluctant in part because it's the same head I used for my Green Arrow. But it looks different enough now, and I think the hair is exactly where I want it for the character, so I feel semi-committed to it now. At least as compared to the alternatives I have on hand.

The only other one that was close was Winter Soldier from the Cap line. But I really like unmasked versions of characters (or at least one of each version). I also am not a huge fan of the longer haired Nightwing, even though I don't like it too short either.

But I for sure will still play with alt heads/goggles/mask ideas, and see if I can finish him off.

thanks for commenting about the body choice too. That really drove the completion of this one (kind of like how the torso drove me to do my Punisher awhile ago).

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Widow is the stronger of the two here. Something about Nightwing's body looks cobbled together. He's very lanky. I'd almost like to see him with shorter lower legs.

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I'm loving that Nightwing. To get the goggles to look right, I'd definitely go with a second head, with permanent goggles. I'm always impressed by your ability to translate comic book characters into practical real world designs, and still keep them instantly recognizable.

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Really liking that B.W., one of the best I have seen in awhile. Also, the paint job on the face is excellent.