Much better for both of those.

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agree that head is awesome for rogue. Might have to do it also. Good thinking on the BB neck for gambit too.
These 2 x men are my favorite x characters

Both look great!

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Those two look so much better like that. Ikve got to do something similar to my Rogue.

Great mods to both. The alternate head on Rogue makes that character look so much better. Great job!!!!

Thanks for the feedback guys!

Next one I did was a new Iron Man for my shelf.
I have been using the IM2 MKVI as my default, but I also have Marvel movie shelves, and the IM2 shelf has the movie armors. I wanted my standard Marvel Universe shelf to have a more comic book representative armor.

The new Avengers Assemble Iron Man figure had me curious, but I wasn't sure about it, until I saw Drbindy's custom version that used it as a base. Since I had a $10 coupon from TRU, and found the figure in the store over the Thanksgiving weekend, I decided to go for it.

First thing I did to fix some of the issues I had with it, was to cut off the hands and give him new ones with wrist articulation. I used the hands from a Modular / Bleeding Edge Iron Man figure. Then I decided to give it the neck from the same figure, so now his head sits a little higher, and has better range of motion.

I also agreed with Drbindy's opinion that the figure looked a little "plasticy". So I decided to repaint him. I wanted a metallic red, but brighter than the red on the movie figures. I had kind of a tough time finding the color I wanted, and wasn't pleased with attempts to mix the color myself. I finally found some Pactra Metallic Red that was exactly what I was looking for, the only issue was that it appeared to be an enamel, not an acrylic. I got it anyway. I tested it on some bare plastic and painted parts of the donor IM figure, and I was very pleased when it dried quickly and with no tackiness to it at all. So I proceeded to repaint my custom figure.

Overall I am very pleased with the way it turned out, and it definitely has much more of a more comic book / Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes vibe, than the movie figures do. Unfortunately the metallic effect of the red paint doesn't show up real well in any of the pictures I took.




Thanks again for looking, and as always comments and critiques are welcomed.

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The number one thing that has kept me from buying that Iron Man (and I know this is nitpicky) are those wrists. I feel like they taper too damn much when the rest of him is so deliciously bulky.

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I know what you mean.
It wasn't a deal breaker for me, but it does bug me a tad. I may do something about it sometime in the future, but for now I'm ok with it.
Drbindy's replacement hands fixed the problem, using the entire gauntlet from a SHS Iron Man. I was originally going to copy his fix but I thought the hands were a bit too small.

I may also do something about the ankle articulation (or lack thereof), but again for now I'm content with the figure.
Although I may add some black paint to his mouth, like the movie figures have. It just really seems like it needs it, and would look better with his "mouth" more defined.

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Oh yeah. Your fixes are great. Sorry that I didn't say that sooner.

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very cool. I have to say, for all the flaws and limitations of that base figure, it just looks more like Iron Man to me, and in-hand, feels like a toy you'd have wanted to play with as a kid. Not at all like the weirdly proportioned and light-weight MU versions of him to-date.

I'm most intrigued however by your success with the enamels. I've always stayed way clear of them based on the aggregate experiences shared here at JCs. But I'm curious if you have any insight as to what was different? something to do with the brand? The type of plastic perhaps? (were the donor parts similar to the base figure, or different types? Sounds like they both took fine to the paint)

How about the joints - did the enamel take well there? better, worse or same as if acrylic?

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That is a cool Iron Man.

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Yeah this really is one of the best Iron Man figures they've made. Which I guess shouldn't be too big of a surprise. They've had plenty of practice with the character.

The Pactra paint is a polycarbonate paint, for RC car bodies. They do make enamel and acrylic versions of their paint, but all I could find was the enamel. Since it is designed to bond to polycarbonate, that may be why it worked on the figure's plastic. I figured I'd 'prime' the figure with acrylic paint, before using the enamel as a top coat, but I was really surprised when it dried so well on the bare, soft, plastic, as well as the painted test surfaces.

So far, it seems to be holding to the joints pretty well. I'd say a bit better than the acrylics generally do.


Thanks!

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I picked up one of these with similar intentions, but gave up when I thought about what it might take to articulate the ankles and wrists. You and Bindy have me rethinking it.

I think the wrists are a must. Here's what I wrote on the ankles when I did mine:


Now, if I were going to add ankle articulation, I would do it by swapping out the entire lower leg, or by making a posted fusion at a decent breakline on the calf. He really does stand so damn well, that making a chop and drill joint for a donor foot peg would be pretty risky for me, I think.

But to do anything at all, I have to decide is the one single pose I'd want Iron Man to have articulated ankles for - worth it?

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Another guy I've been working on.

Whirlwind.

I thought his original outfit seemed a little goofy with the shoulder/chest armor that left a big exposed spot right in the middle of his chest. So I went with a bit of an updated look, while still trying to retain the original styling and color pallette of the original.




This is one figure that I used the computer to kind of figure out what I wanted to do to make him, and to see how well the parts looked together. Here is a little collage of the step-by-step images that I used to plan things out.




I used the IM2 Titanium Man as a base with the shoulder pads taken off, the lower legs cut off, and knee pads trimmed. The helmet and saw blades are from a Toy Biz Whirlwind. The hands are from a comic pack Iron Fist. The lower part of the boots are from an IM2 Guardsman figure. Finally the posts that the blades are mounted on, were made from a couple of lightsaber tips.

Thanks again for looking, comments and critiques welcomed!

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