Sanding Dilemma

What's the best way to sand something? I know that sounds dumb, but should you just sand the parts with sandpaper for half an hour or is there certain kinds of sandpaper or sand blocks? I'm making a Citizen V (You know, the evil good guy from Marvel's comic Thunderbolts) from the first Spawn toy, and it takes forever to sand away all of Spawn's spikes, straps, etc.

Impulsefan

Sanding is one of those cases where there's no one right answer. I personally use coarse sandpaper for my early sanding, and then move on to a finer grit sandpaper if I want a smoother finished surface. I've never used sanding blocks myself, but I imagine they could work very well. I've found that nailfiles, of all things, work pretty well for some detail work. Your best bet is to experiment with different kinds of sandpaper until you find what works best for you. I've also found that sanding sponges are handy, especially when I'm sanding down a glove or boot line.

Canary Query

You may have Avengers on the brain, I have classic JLA. I have always wanted a Black Canary to add to my Super Powers set. I started with a SP Wonder Woman a few years ago, but never finished because I never found a coat/jacket for her. Any suggestions?

I also used Testor's Model paint and it picked up finger prints every time I touched it. Any Ideas how to fix this without starting all over? Thanks.

Erik

For your Black Canary conundrum, you might have better luck sculpting a jacket instead of looking for a cloth one. All it would take would be two bands of clay just under the elbows and wrapping some clay around the sides and back of the figure's torso.

As for fingerprints, you may just need to give the paint more time to dry. If you're giving the figures plenty of drying time and still having problems, you may want to use some sort of spray-on gloss to seal your paint before handling your figures. Your local art or hobby store will carry this sort of thing.

Super Powers Swap

I was wondering first of all if you have done any Super Powers customs. If so, can you recommend a way to switch their heads and retain articulation? I think the holes in their necks might be smaller than BTAS, so I don't know if your "boil and pull" technique would work. I thought about carefully cutting and gluing, but there's always the possibility that the peg will fall into the body. Also, would you recommend priming and clear-coating Super Powers? I would think that the spraying would gum up their action features.

Ryan Koch

I have done some Super Powers customs, Ryan, but none for this column yet. At right, though, is a Silver Age Atom that I made from a Super Powers Flash. All I had to do was cut away the figure's wings and sand away the lightning borders on the gloves. I sculpted a new belt and painted accordingly, and when I was done, I had an Atom figure!

I've never tried to do a head swap on a Super Powers figure, however. I've been told that the Super Powers heads are attached differently than most. While most figures have a peg extending from the neck that fits into a socket in the figure's torso, Super Powers figures have a peg extending from the torso that fits into a socket in the neck. But other than that, I don't think there would be any real difference between a Super Powers head swap and one involving, say, X-Men figures. You'd simply have to trim the edges of the peg extending from the neck in order to attach the new head.

As for priming and sealing Super Powers custom figures, I don't think it would harm their action features as long as you didn't apply either too heavily.

And thanks for your comments about classic Avengers figures. Space considerations kept me from running them, but to answer your question about Iron Man, I would definitely like to make some Iron Man figures and hope to get around to at least two versions of the Armored Avenger in 1998. Which ones, you ask? Sorry, that would be telling!

Behold, the Demon Etrigan!

I would be very interested in seeing you scratchbuild an Etrigan figure as per the Alan Grant run of "The Demon". I think it would be seriously coolariffic. Thanks.

Little Frankie Kelly, Bethlehem, Pa.

P.S. And also Harry the Pillow too.

Well, Frankie, I've always thought Etrigan the Demon was a great-looking character, even if I was never a big reader of his book. So an Etrigan figure could be a real possibility sometime next year if I can figure out what parts to use. As for Harry the Pillow, well, maybe.

While this is a big mail column, I don't want to leave everyone without their weekly dose of custom figures. So, in addition to the Atom figure shown above, at left is the Elongated Man, made from a Generation X Skin figure. All I did was cut and sand away the figure's belt and sculpt boots over the figure's bare feet. Then I primed and painted accordingly.

I hope everyone enjoyed this departure from our usual format. Check back in next week as we start the new year with an all-new, all-different custom figure project! And keep your letters coming! While I can't promise to respond to or run every letter to the Toolbox, I will try to do mail columns like this from time to time, and occasionally answer letters in the regular column as well.

previous scratch builders

Scratchbuilders, Dec. 26, 1997
Scratchbuilder's Toolbox, Dec. 19, 1997
Scratchbuilder's Toolbox for Dec. 12, 1997
Scratchbuilder's Toolbox, Dec. 5, 1997
Homemade Doctor Mid-Nite
Scratchbuilder's Toolbox, Nov. 21, 1997
Scratchbuilder's Toolbox, Nov. 7, 1997
Scratchbuilder's Toolbox, Oct. 31, 1997
Scratchbuilders' Toolbox, Oct. 24, 1997
Scratchbuilder's Toolbox, Oct. 17, 1997
Scratchbuilder's Toolbox, Oct. 10, 1997