The American Shield

Okay, they discontinued my primary Batman line, but released a new line using the same mold with a few slight differences. He has a lot more articulation, but this isn’t a big problem. The figures are the same height and build. Also in this line is a Superman, this comes in handy as well. You still have to remove all the same bits you did on the other figures, and in the case of The American Shield; I kept the head and left the cape.

**For the head I just molded over the mouth and build up the hair from scratch. I also molded and glues the ear covers. The character in the comics is terribly scarred so I make a few dark pink scars around the eyes. They’re hard to see here, but try to trust me when I say they’re there.

You need to fill in the space where the original belt fit, but this time just build a new, simpler one in it’s place, rather than making it flush with the heroes stomach.

For the gloves I roller out the Sculpey and instead of painting a blue circle with a white star in the middle I made the blue stand out a bit, as per the comic book design, and then painted the stars. Batman’s boots are perfect so I didn’t have to adjust them at all during this process.

The chest shield on this figure was easy, but not very effective. Because it covers the cape it has a bad habit of cracking right at the shoulders. I found it best to make the front and back separately and attach them, like with the first Shield.

I painted the figure, careful not to crack the chest shield. Looking back I should have popped off the head and cape first. Then mold the figure, painted him and THEN reattach the head and cape, molded the chest plate, and painted that when I was done.

I have to admit I never really liked this character or his costume, something about heroes and capes I think, but made him anyway since he was part to the !mpact universe. Now that the figure is done I find myself looking at it thinking: He is kind of a cool looking hero.

**Note: The first time I did this figure I used a Batman head and molded the hair myself. When I moved he was damaged and I replaced it with a Superman head. I followed the same recipe, including the scaring. This is a better way to go all around.