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As a variant.

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!

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.

I have seen people print it on clear adhesive, and also print on paper and paper-mache it down. If you want it 3d you could do one of those and use it as a guide, and then freehand it with a sculpting compound.

I like the Elektra head myself. It's a little dainty, by it captures Dani in her severe, "combat-ready" manner. I shaved off the red cap and sculpted headband, hair and braids with green stuff. The Elektra head might not look great on that older female buck, though.

Cho Chang's head looks right for Armor, as well.

Do any of you have any of the PopCo 4" Harry Potter figures? I'm wondering how those match up with MU. I saw some photos that showed them to be about the same size as the original MU Spider-man mold, so I'm wondering if some of the Harry Potter kids might work as customs of the Jean Grey School kids. I am bidding on a Bellatrix Lestrange figure from that line right now. I figured she might make a good base for a Nico Minoru custom. I'm a big Runaways fan.

This is brilliant. Some of us were really hoping that this version of Wonder Man would be released. Thanks for showing us the way to do it!

Vallejo, Humbrol and Modgepodge. Wicked. Thank you all for the great ideas!

A question for you guys who do this a lot, as I've been assembling and sculpting figures, but have yet to paint them: What paints or finishes do you guys use to create the matte and satin finishes you get on some of the custom figures? The best customs I've seen have those less glossy looks to them, but I am not able to get those effects using Testors Model Master Acrylics--it always comes out super-glossy. Do any of you give the figures a finish after you paint them?

I always see that guy's awesome customs after they've already been bought. It just kills me. That one looks great.

I think they're still coming. There was a wave of 3-packs before that got released around November one year, wasn't there? Isn't that when Guardians of the Galaxy came out?

Dude, that Mastermind is wicked.

Found an Avengers Assemble loose figure of the Leader from an ebay seller in China. I ordered it and that pretty much closes out my wants for the Assemble sub-line.Looking forward to more real MU releases before the line is done! Where the AvX X-men box at?

That Agent Venom looks freakin' craaaazy. I am a fan of Agent Venom. And Hasbro could never do an Agent Venom figure that was the equal of that one.

Huh. Thanks for the information, there. Never read all that Quesada stuff; I didn't know there were stories there where Cloak was the bad guy. It's still weird to me, because they call Cloak and Dagger Marvel Knights on the packaging.

Got a Dagger in the mail today, and for once I read the back of the card--which is now a crazy graphic design disaster because it needs to be trilingual. But anyway, the description of the "Marvel Knights" is completely bizarre to me, and seems to offer a feeble attempt to explain why the figures aren't together in a comic pack, only in "story" terms: "Once, this super-powered duo fought crime together. Now, Cloak rages unchecked, controlled by a dark force. The MARVEL KNIGHTS must stop him, but Dagger may be the only one who can return him to balance before he consumes them all!" Um...isn't Cloak's whole thing that he controls THE Darkforce? Is this some other dark force that has taken control of him? And who, then, are the "MARVEL KNIGHTS?" Dagger is clearly one of them, but Cloak is obviously not, since he's OUT TO KILL THEM. Wow. I haven't been reading these cardbacks in a while. Are they all this bad? Is this how they plan to handle Northstar and Aurora as well? Maybe like this: "Once as close as a brother and sister can be, now Northstar has joined the X-men, and is thus SOLD SEPARATELY. It's up to Aurora to convince him to return and fight once more alongside ALPHA FLIGHT, the team that is mentioned on the front of this package."

Just wanted to call this one out as being a great idea, really well executed. Proof positive that 80s Rogue costumes could look exceptionally cool in 3.75" scale. Before Rogue was all about the 90s, she was totally and completely the 80s; thank you, Customizor, for reminding us of that!

I love that project, and I've often thought it would be great for customizing. If I can get a good handle on the painting of customs this weekend (one of my big projects this weekend), or sometime immediately soon, I'd be down to contribute.

Those were on ebay. Wasp was freakin' expensive. Pretty much everyone wanted that one, so I ended up spending way too much for the figure. I think about $150. Normally I try and keep it reasonable, but that custom was clearly such a thing of beauty. The individual armor pieces are sculpted and given a metallic sheen. I've never tried to hire the guy to do a commission. On reflection, the acronym was HKC, I think. Hunter Knight Customs.

That's remarkable. Both figures look great! And thanks for the tip there.

I love these two customs. Noh-varr looks great in the new costume (I love the way you did the gauntlets, as well). What did you use for the studs on Rachel's costume? I'm looking to do a Titania custom, and could really use the guidance.

Dude, man, thanks for getting the word out! Snagged all the characters I want from that wave. Good lookin' out!

You know, I think he actually gains a millimeter or so. It's not much, but he remains tall.

My favorite method is to soak the figure in a dish of boiling water for a few minutes. You still have to be gentle with the figures--certain bucks have particular joints that do not respond well to manipulation. Trying to pull the forearms out of their sockets on a Rogue figure still gives me nightmares. Some figures are surprisingly easy. The Hercules and Cable bucks come apart like they were greased in advance. The JL Cyke buck is pretty easy to work with. The ancient Daredevil buck did have fussy bicep swivels. They stayed pretty tight. Just wait 'til you get into mixing Gi Joe and MU parts! Then the fun begins. Actually, just today I did something which I thought was fairly cool: I swapped a Showdown Ghost Rider's lower legs onto a spare Luke Cage figure I have. I'm trying to make Cage into Thunderbolts Cage, and I wanted some boots that would lend themselves gracefully to Cage's not-too-exceptional Thunderbolts-era boots (it looks like he's still wearing this getup in Mighty Avengers?). I had to cut deeper grooves into the Ghost Rider lower legs, and it was a struggle trying to get the pins back into the knee joints, but now the legs fit on very snuggly, and I just upped the articulation quotient on my Cage figure by only like a million.