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Greetings all!
This figure was one of my dream projects when I started customizing almost 20 years ago. I wanted to make a decent Mego version of this so badly. It was one of the first figures I did.
My first version was pretty crude (no, I won't show the pics here today, thank you very much). But every couple of years, I came back to it as my skills improved, from my sewing to my sculpting to my painting. And I would refine it. But I was always a little stuck on the head... I could never quite get the likeness I wanted. Until recently:
This is the figure I always dreamed of!
Background for those of you who aren't into monsters: Boris Karloff played The Doctor and his monsterish alter ego (actually played by stuntman Eddie Parker) in "Abbott and Costello Meet Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde". I love this movie, and this version of the monster more than I can describe, so I won't try. Here are some stills from the movie:
You'll see it is a very distinctive costume, and likeness... And only recently was it released in toy form-- in DST's version of the monster made about 2 years ago.
They released a really nice likeness. But it was small-- kind of Marvel Legends scale. Certainly not Mego scale.
Now, there are alot of things I can do in customizing, but one thing I can't do well is head enlargement. I absolutely suck at it. I can reduce heads, no problem. But every time I try to do an enlargement, it comes out a god awful mess.
Thank God for my pal Austin who came to my rescue. Austin is fearless when it comes to elaborate casting problems. He enlarged the DST head for me and sent me a a couple resin copies to tinker with. This gallery of photos is dedicated to him.
At this point, it was off to the races:
I loved the basic facial structure of the sculpt. But the hair and everything else would have to be re-done as it was inaccurate. On the left is the head Austin sent me. I started by dremelling off all the fur, resculpting new hair onto him,a nd adding a hat.
(here you can see the original DST head)
Here he is primed, and starting to be painted.
After getting the base colors right, I highlight by doing some dry-brushing
I start putting the costume together: The coat, pants, shirt and tie are all made by me. The hands are from a Planet of the Apes figure. The vest is from a Wizard of Oz, dyed brown. The cape is Flattworld, with a cord added. The cane is from a Sideshow Wolfman figure, with the wolf head cut off. A pearl tie pin is made from a sewing pin.
I really can't thank Austin enough for enlarging this head for me. I couldn't have done it without him.
Anyway, I'll stop talking and show some pretty pics. I went camera crazy. At the end, you'll see a shot of the box, which I also designed and assembled.
Thanks so much for looking!
Matt
This figure was one of my dream projects when I started customizing almost 20 years ago. I wanted to make a decent Mego version of this so badly. It was one of the first figures I did.
My first version was pretty crude (no, I won't show the pics here today, thank you very much). But every couple of years, I came back to it as my skills improved, from my sewing to my sculpting to my painting. And I would refine it. But I was always a little stuck on the head... I could never quite get the likeness I wanted. Until recently:
This is the figure I always dreamed of!
Background for those of you who aren't into monsters: Boris Karloff played The Doctor and his monsterish alter ego (actually played by stuntman Eddie Parker) in "Abbott and Costello Meet Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde". I love this movie, and this version of the monster more than I can describe, so I won't try. Here are some stills from the movie:
You'll see it is a very distinctive costume, and likeness... And only recently was it released in toy form-- in DST's version of the monster made about 2 years ago.
They released a really nice likeness. But it was small-- kind of Marvel Legends scale. Certainly not Mego scale.
Now, there are alot of things I can do in customizing, but one thing I can't do well is head enlargement. I absolutely suck at it. I can reduce heads, no problem. But every time I try to do an enlargement, it comes out a god awful mess.
Thank God for my pal Austin who came to my rescue. Austin is fearless when it comes to elaborate casting problems. He enlarged the DST head for me and sent me a a couple resin copies to tinker with. This gallery of photos is dedicated to him.
At this point, it was off to the races:
I loved the basic facial structure of the sculpt. But the hair and everything else would have to be re-done as it was inaccurate. On the left is the head Austin sent me. I started by dremelling off all the fur, resculpting new hair onto him,a nd adding a hat.
(here you can see the original DST head)
Here he is primed, and starting to be painted.
After getting the base colors right, I highlight by doing some dry-brushing
I start putting the costume together: The coat, pants, shirt and tie are all made by me. The hands are from a Planet of the Apes figure. The vest is from a Wizard of Oz, dyed brown. The cape is Flattworld, with a cord added. The cane is from a Sideshow Wolfman figure, with the wolf head cut off. A pearl tie pin is made from a sewing pin.
I really can't thank Austin enough for enlarging this head for me. I couldn't have done it without him.
Anyway, I'll stop talking and show some pretty pics. I went camera crazy. At the end, you'll see a shot of the box, which I also designed and assembled.
Thanks so much for looking!
Matt
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