Here’s a look at what I’ve been cursing at the last few weeks. This Doom Marine project was a previous action figure mod done by the client, who asked me to do some improvements. The figure was pretty old and showing some signs of deterioration and damage, so first order of business was to take a really detailed look at the problems I’d be facing.
The original figure had been what I lovingly call “frankensteined” together: pieces from many different action figures are used so not much or any sculpting work needs to be done. It’s an effective way to get things done but isn’t usually my choice, as the end result can have some issues with proportion and balance. Still, I work with what I’m given, unless it’s a thai recast!
There were several areas where the original modification caused damage, most notably in missing fingers on both hands that would have to be resculpted. Unfortunately the paint hadn’t fared well on the flexible hosing area, and the plastic underneath was breaking down and rubbing off paint on other parts of the figure. This would be interesting.
Lastly, the entire figure seemed to be covered in some kind of coating that gave it a sandpapery texture. I was going to have to see if that was removeable. First order of business was to soak the entire thing in simple green to get off the original paint job without harming the plastic. If this was a resin kit I would be using something stronger, but since the plastic was already breaking down on this I didn’t want to accelerate the process!
Let’s fast forward to many days later, shall we? To get Doomy (what I called him when I wasn’t hurling curses in his general direction) to this point required three simple green baths and a healthy amount of scrubbing. He smelled like Simple Green forever. So did my hands.
Now that most of the original paint is removed we can get a better look at the damage. The original arms were from a Street Fighter Guile figure, and to hold the weapons holes were drilled into the fists. This caused a few issues like the one you see here, where the thumb has some very painful looking damage. Fortunately the BFG was made of some hard sturdy plastic, so it would be easier to sand down the peg on the gun and fill in the hands and do my favourite thing: sculpting fingers! That’s sarcasm, kids.
I had to laugh at this figure for a little bit before starting on him due to the hilarious juxtaposition of Savage Dragon’s hairy torso and Judge Dredd’s apparently lipsticked face. He doesn’t seem very happy with my amusement, but he’s wearing the makeup, not me!
The texture on the figure came off of most areas, but subbornly stuck to the pants at every turn. Even hand-sanding them wouldn’t remove it all. I finally had to work with what I had and move on after hours of trying. This was the beginning of my cursing.
Wish me luck! Maybe I’ll get lucky and an Arch-Vile will firebomb it.
