War Machine (Marvel vs. Capcom)
This next reveal is one of the secret projects I have been working on since September. Ive been beyond stoked to share him with you all, so let’s get right to sharing. Check out this 90’s/Marvel vs Capcom inspired War Machine.
War Machine was made for my buddy Rob (also known as PymParticles on IG). Last year he made me a Shriek custom as part of the Fwoosh Secret Santa figure swap, and since then we have been chatting and keeping in touch and have become pretty good buds. When I asked him back in the spring if he would want to do a figure swap with me this year, I was amped when he agreed. I am very excited to own my 2nd custom from him because his work is seriously so on point.
War Machine was on a list with 5 other characters that made it extremely difficult to make a decision. Also on the list was 90’s Iron Man, 90’s Havok, Original Costume Captain Britain, Marvel vs Capcom Cable and Nextwave’s The Captain. I planned on doing a 90’s Havok for my own collection so he was out by default and I did a 90’s Iron Man earlier this year, so I passed on him too. It ultimately came down to War Machine and Cable. I really wanted to make Cable, but knew that War Machine would be lots of fun (Iron Man earlier in the year sure was!) I bounced back and forth and could not make a decision, so I asked 7 of my nerd friends who I should make. War Machine won 5 to 2, hence, here’s Rhodey!
I made him using a very similar recipe from my Modular Armor Iron Man: Grim Reaper body as a base. I swapped the sickle arm for one from a Vance Astro figure (the boots came from that figure too). The feet and both sets of hands came from the Invincible Iron Man figure and a head from the MCU Mark 7 Iron Man (from the 10 yr Anniversary Line). The unmasked head is a modified Kraven head, the black shoulder cannon is from Chameleon, the grey one and the rocket launcher on his wrist came from 2 unidentified weapons I had in my fodder bin and the small wrist gun is a modified blaster from the MCU Starlord.
All the weapons on Rhody are easily removable thanks to some cleverly placed magnets. The rocket launcher and laser blaster on his wrist gauntlets both have tiny magnets implanted on the bottom of the weapon. I then buried a small magnet under a thin layer of Apoxie Sculpt on the gauntlets allowing for both the weapons to come on and off very easily and leave no hole or peg on the arm for them to connect to. The shoulder cannons were mounted a bit differently. Because the reaper body does not have a lot of space between the neck and the shoulders, I knew I would have to build them up a bit in order to mount a weapon on both sides. To do so, I built a track over the shoulder. Then, I used my dremel to cut 2 thin strips of sheet metal which I glued to the shoulder track after forming it to the sculpted piece. I finished it off by sculpting a layer over the edge of the sheet metal to further add strength to the hold. Then, I built a base for both the shoulder cannons and implanted magnets into them, so they could easily attach and detach from the sheet metal strip. I also put the black shoulder cannon on a figma joint for added hinged articulation.
The majority of the sculpting on this figure was done in a hotel room abroad. I started the sculpting process during my trip to Ireland, when I had time at night to work while my wife was sleeping. There was a lot to sculpt on this figure, and I had to do many different layers to achieve the finished look I was going for. I did multiple layers of sculpt on the boots, knees, wrist gauntlets, shoulder armor, head and the entire torso. I also sculpted the hair and goatee on the Rhody unmasked head and the weapons all had some sculpt added to them to hold their magnets in place. I used Apoxie Sculpt exclusively for all sculpting on this figure.
I really love the paint job on this figure. I wish I could have taken pics of War Machine with the 90’s Iron Man I made for my buddy Seth (New Collector) earlier in the year. The colors together would have popped like crazy! To paint this bad boy, I primed the entire figure in black. I then sprayed it all with a Metallic Gunmetal Grey from Tamiya. I then clear coated all of it using a high gloss Testors Varnish. From there, I masked all the gunmetal grey parts using masking tape and silly putty and painted the rest of it with a light blue/white combo. I kept the light blue and white in a matte finish to achieve the same look I did for my Iron Man figure (shiny red, matte yellow).
Overall, I am beyond stoked with how this turned out. The magnetic weapons turned out great (not perfect, but great), the paintjob is so slick and pretty and all the prep work I put into it really paid off because there is only one very minor point of articulation that has any paint rub. Yay!! In typical fashion, the figures I like the best tend to be for someone else, and this one here is no exception. It’s one of my better customs, and of course, it is not for me. Haha. As happy as I am with the finished product, I am even happier that Rob enjoyed it. It was hard to keep this a secret from him as he is one of my usual brainstorming buddies that helps me when I hit a snag with a custom. Now, back to sharing my work with him! haha, thanks for stopping by everyone. Next reveal is a simple one, but I needed him for my collection. Then onto my final commission of the year, an MCU Age of Ultron Captain America built on an Infinity Wars Cap body. Stay tuned, more to come!
