MU Customs

[Diabolical]

I've started a facebook page for all my customs and am inviting anyone who liked my work to like it.

 

www.facebook.com/marvel375

[norinradd]

With the winter weather shutting down the south for the week, I finally got the chance to work on my first custom painting projects (mostly head swaps-thanks Rodimus and Glassman). I will say that given the opportunity to do these again, I think the results would be much better with my gained knowledge and experience.

Please feel free to share any feedback or tips.

Up first is a Baghead Spidey painted to make a Peter Parker head (in the photo it is resting on the spidey body-they're necks don't fit the baghead's and I am not planning to dremel it any as I like it on the FF body) please forgive the poor angle of the photo, his head would be proportionate if set on the body after dremeling,

 

Here is a side view:

 

[norinradd]

Next up is my work on Norman Osborn:

I tried to paint as little as I could,so here he is (BTW the crazed face is slightly disproportionate to the bodies, but I Love the expression:

More subdued:

Off his rocker,,,,

back to business

[norinradd]

Now on to Tony Stark. The paint started to get clumped up-overworked on this-I will have to try again at some point,

A mix of Hollywood and the source material

 

Helmet in hand

[norinradd]

This is one I had planned for a while and finally took the time to execute it:

 

With a little help from Danny Rand

[norinradd]

And lastly some Works In Progress:

These are almost completed, but I did not have the correct paint colors, so hopefully I can update these soon and add my Forge: Death mask Archangel: Jim Lee Beast; Ant Man and more to this forum.

Dum Dum

 

Erik Lenscher/ Magneto

[Fritzkrieg]

Super Adaptoid
Recipe: Head: Cobra Commander w/Namor's Foot Wings
Torso: Maverick
Arms Legs: Iron Man
Wings: Giant Bug from King Kong





LMK what you think.

[Diabolical]

Norrinrad - Not bad at all. Your eyes are a bit black and soulless but a pretty good job. Painting heads drives me nuts, I hate it.

Fritzkrieg - super adaptoid looks fantastic I love it.

[Diabolical]

What's this? A new home for the MU Custom's thread!

 

Mary Jane, my most annoying custom to date! I spent hours and hours... and hours, trying to get her eyes to match. She may have had 30 botched left eyes before I got one to be close enough to move forward with the custom, frustrating. Close inspection she looks a lil' rough in the face but at arms length she looks really good.

 

More pics on my fb page.

[feihong]

Yeah, this is kind of a bummer to me. I spend most of my time in the MU section of the site, and this thread is no longer pinned there. It's dropped off the map. So I come to this thread far less often, and I imagine others come less frequently as well. My 2cents, anyway.

 

 

I have a question about protecting joints on these figures. I've been following Jin Saotome's advice on joint protection--dremelling and the sanding the joints where they rub close, and now I'm trying the superglue method, because on it's own the first method doesn't seem to totally work. So I'm supergluing away, and letting the stuff cure for about 12 hours, and when I test the joint the paint and the glue just tear straight off immediately. Do I need thinner paint layers on the joints? More dremelling?

 

Have any of you had success with protecting the paint on the joints of these figures, and can you share a technique? Thanks in advance.

[Diabolical]

Same Feihong. At least they got it working like it should.

 

I have the same problem and no good solution for ya. I usually dremel them down and while it doesn't look as good it works pretty well. The biggest problem I run into is the shoulder region and where the arm connects to the shoulder. I've learned thin paint is the way to go but still haven't mastered avoiding paint rub.

[feihong]

On the figure I'm experimenting with, I left some joints untested for longer. So it's been about 20 hours, and the shoulder joints seem to be working without tearing paint and glue off. So maybe letting the glue settle a bit longer is what I need? I am way to impatient for this sh*t.

 

I'm having fun with dry brushing, though. I'm starting to get textures I really like. The metallic paint works well with a white undercoat. So I'm basically happy. Looking forward to trying different washes and varnishes on the figures. But protecting the joints is one really tedious step in the middle of all this fun!

[PsychoPirate]

I'm coming here less, but I long ago subscribed to this thread. So while I disliked the move, it really hasn't affected me that much. But there is noticeably less traffic IMO.

 

Catching up on some of my recent customs:

 

First appearance Spider-Man - really all I did was add the armpit webs to the black Spidey variant and give him a criminal to carry.

 

 

First appearance of the Hulk. Added the Classic Avengers Hulk head (repainted gray) to the recent gray Hulk body, and added a ripped shirt from a Marvel Legends (Toy Biz) Zombie.

 

 

 

With those, I created a "first appearance" display.

 

 

[PsychoPirate]

I also went Golden Age with the 1940's Vision:

 

 

 

And finally a head swap to update Kitty Pryde. I never really liked her stock head.

 

[egarza]

That Vision looks like he's from the factory! Awesome stuff man. Great attention to detail!

[Diabolical]

@ psycho - it's a bummer that it's not more active. Customs are the most interesting topic to me on any of these forums.

 

Really cool vision! It's hot hot hot!

 

Finished a Dust custom last night. I think she turned out pretty well but not crazy over the paint apps on my sand stand.

 

[PsychoPirate]

Thanks for the kind words, both of you.

 

When I attempted sand, I painted a base coat of sand-colored paint, and then while it was still good and wet I sprinkled actual sand on it thoroughly. (I used purchased diorama sand to get more uniform and cleaner particles - the finest/smallest size they had.) Then I painted over that with another thin layer of sand-colored paint, and then sealed with dullcote.It's solid as a rock, too.

 

[Diabolical]

That looks good. Mine looks more like a cloud which is probably more accurate for Dust. I guess i could try lightning up the color a bit. I'm just not all that happy about the thing. Thanks for sharing.

[Sizemore77]

@psychopirate Where is the Kitty head from? Looks good. That Vision looks great.

 

@diabolical I really like that Dust custom. I went easy route and used Star Wars Vintage Collection Barriss Offee. I like yours much better.

[PsychoPirate]

That looks good. Mine looks more like a cloud which is probably more accurate for Dust. I guess i could try lightning up the color a bit. I'm just not all that happy about the thing. Thanks for sharing.

 

Tamiya makes a nice durable clear paint ("clear X-22 Item 81022"). I'll bet you could mix sand with it and brush it on in loooong stokes to look like flowing wind. Use a relatively large brush and do it in several steps, avoiding overlapping the stokes until the last layer. (X-22 is my durable secret sealer weapon, when needed. It won't help joints, but on something like Vision's belt - above - that has potential to move and rub against stuff, it is great. Kinda glossy, but dullcote fixes that.)

 

@psychopirate Where is the Kitty head from? Looks good. That Vision looks great.

 

 

That is Camie Loneozner from the Star Wars line. And thanks.

[Diabolical]

I like that idea. I've been pretty happy with Tamiya so far and the paints smell nice! I almost picked up some clear on my last order but ran out of money. Right now all I have is a testors flat clear which I kind of hate, but it has it's uses.

 

 

Sizemore - I had to look her up. That looks like a good choice for her. I don't like the real cloth look so chose to sculpt it with green stuff. It was a bit of a pain but pretty happy with it.

[Diabolical]

Leech. Basically just had the Hobbit figure left over after making a moleoid. Eyes are a bit rough but It works for me.

 

[PsychoPirate]

LOL!

[Diabolical]

LOL!

 

Morlocks - mutants so miserable they live in the sewer rolling around in poop and weeping. Leech knows his place.

 

[PsychoPirate]

Nice surfer pose! Nice shelving unit, too.

 

I replaced Ms. Marvel's head with the open mask version of Dark Ms. Marvel:

 

 

I also had a body-only Blade - I added a Cade Skywalker cape (painted the interior red) and added his sword and throwing star from Vortious.