The Original Shield

I went into a toy store just to look around and someone must have returned this figure. I was thrilled. It was one of the Batmen I was originally using. So I snatched him up and looking at my list, next up was The Original Shield.

Take off all the crap and fill in the traps and belt area with Sculpey. Then roll out some more clay and shape the gauntlets and boots. There’s no detail to cut here like the first Shield figure, so that makes things nice and neat.

I shaped the ear covers then I molded the hair myself, and it came out better than expected.

I made sure to paint the red and white design before adding the chest shield, looks more uniform this way. Now comes the really cool part. The chest shield came out great. I rolled out the Sculpey and cut it as one piece. I slipped it over his head and then added the collar around the neck.

Last I painted the figure and then added the star stickers, silver in color, just like all the other Shields.

Steel Sterling

Here he is! The easiest figure to make in the lot. Probably my shortest post too.

Take a Superman figure and remove the cape, and fill in the slots that held it in. Mold the pants like before. Again I just did the zipper and pockets, and then I moved down to the pant legs, giving them cuffs.

For his metal skin I made sure to use a flat paint, otherwise the gloss metallic seems to never dry. The eyes and hair are just a darker metallic paint than the body. Easy.

The figure ended up being too easy and too simple. I went ahead and painted one forearm flesh, just to give him the appearance of changing from man to hero.

Blackjack

Finally! A different base figure! Grab yourself a Superman and let’s get started. And there’s good news… I just saved a bunch of money be switching my… Wait, no… I figured out how to do a popped collar.

I gotta say, when this version of Blackjack came out I loved him. He was so cool. Now he’s just okay and I try to remember why I liked his costume so much. I guess taste changes with age, this was almost fifteen years ago mind you.

Okay, with the Superman figure all you have to do is pull, tear, or cut off the cape and fill in the slots on his traps.

The head was simple, sand down the sides and back of the head where the mask would be, careful not to harm the ears since they stick out on the mask, mold over Kent’s face and make a couple indents for his eyes.

For Blackjack I sanded down the belt and started work on the arms. He may be a buff guy, but rather than show off like most heroes he chooses to wear a puffy, girly shirt to hide his muscles. I just lined his arms with Sculpey and then molded the tops of the gloves.

Next I did the shoulder points, just two separate pieces molded to fit. After that I did the collar. It was easier than it should have been. I rolled out some clay, cut it, formed a half cone and simply attached it.

I moved on to the boots and built the tops up a bit, and for the spades on his knees I rolled out a thin layer of Sculpey and cut them out individually, and gave them a dab of glue to hold them in place while I dried the clay.

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.

Jaguar

Here’s another desperate attempt to get me through to payday. I’m actually happy with this figure. I used the head, torso, and legs of a WildC.A.T.s Zealot figure, the hair came from Voodoo of the same toy line. I wanted very muscular arms so I dug up some spare Martian Man Hunter limbs. I was afraid they might be too huge but when she was done I was pleased.

The Zealot body needed a lot of sanding and when I was done there was a lot of filling in and rebuilding to do, especially on HER left leg. I also had to scalp Zealot in order to fit the hair on.

The only molding that I did to this figure was the belt, and I attached the belt straps with superglue. Don’t ask where the belt straps came from, I have no idea.

Compared to the men in the series she should be a little taller or at the very least the same height, but she’s not. Just one more reason I wanted to have her arms muscular.

I think the reason this figure didn’t suck was the paint job. It’s an easy costume design, but the jaguar print came out nicely.

Dusty

Remember, earlier I said something about getting desperate for materials? This is the proof. I was out of Batmen, I hadn’t discovered the Superman figures yet, I didn’t get paid for another week. So I went rummaging. I found a headless Robin figure, coincidently from the same Batman line I have been using. I then scraped up a TJ Superboy head and a TJ Superman cape.

I sanded down the pouches on the shoulders and gloves. I used Sculpey to make the boot flaps, chest plate and the folded collar, attached to the cape. I sanded down the sides of Superboy’s head a bit and glued on the Sculpey ear covers.

The stars on Dusty’s chest were painted on rather than the stickers I used for the other Shield characters. They were too big and didn’t look right. The rest was just a matter or red, white, and blue.

Dr. Karen “Buster” Thomas, Agent of W.E.B.

Okay, since there are a lot of W.E.B. agents I had to decide which one to do first. Eventually, with time and money, I would like to do them all, or at least most of them. In the final issue of The Crusaders all the heroes were transported to another planet. The agent that got trapped there with them was Buster, so I went with her.

It’s tough to find a female figure that sizes up with the Batman and Superman figures I was using for my !mpact project. I ended up using a She Dragon figure from the Savage Dragon/TMNT toy line. The hair, cut down a bit, came from some random X-Men Storm figure. The only cutting I had to do to the figure was the Mohawk and a little on the boots.

I used Sculpey to smooth out the ridges on her torso, and made a little W.E.B. symbol on her chest. I built up the boots a bit and added the kneepads. Next was the belt with a few pouches, and the flaps on the front and back. After that, I cut out and shaped the shoulder pads then attached them.

During the painting I used white to give the suit some detail, otherwise it would look too plain. The green and black web pattern was just random lines drawn. I gave her a more natural skin tone, rather than the green skin of She Dragon.

Her visor is removable, as shown above. It’s just clear plastic, cut, folded and painted green.

As a side note, make sure she stands right before you add the belt and flaps; hip joints are hard to move once Sculpey dries.