Marvel Universe Action Figure Customs -Eternity

Without a doubt one of the most interesting looking characters in the Marvel pantheon, I knew I had to add this cosmic entity to my collection. I waffled back and forth on how I wanted to make him for a few years, always thinking about working on one of the old Marvel Legends icons silver surfer bucks like so many had done before.

What it all boiled down to was either waiting for the custom to be perfect or wanting to get it done, and I wanted to get it done. I had scrapped some test pieces I had made and a fabric cape and started in on a Marvel Titan hero figure I got on sale for $7.99. These guys are actually great for crafting some of the larger cosmic characters that don't do much but stand around, I wound up picking up another one to make The Living Tribunal.

I started by sanding down some raised features from the Electro head (I know, I know, I left the ears, but they didn't really bother me, and they still don't) such as the lightning bolts on his forehead. All the cut and sanded areas were then polished with finer and finer grits of sandpaper and finally smoothed and cleaned with acetone.

The figure was washed with a mild dish detergent to remove hand oils and mold release agents. I can't bring up enough how important it is to do this BEFORE PAINTING. It's terrible to nearly complete a custom figure, finish painting some details and rip half the paint off with your masking tape. Trust me, spend five minutes washing it in the kitchen, let it dry for a few hours, THEN begin your painting.

The rubbery bits of plastic (Head and hands) were primed with Tamiya gray primer brushed on from a jar. It dries ultra fast so he was ready to paint in quick order. I painted his main under coat with Model Master black gloss lacquer from a spray can. He was then sprayed in a foggy pattern over the whole body with a metallic blue lacquer.

I followed up the spray paint with some airbrush work, trying my best to give him the look of the famous "Pillars of Creation" Hubble image. I used yellows, blues, fluorescent red all sprayed to give him cloudy nebulous look. In the meantime I stayed away from certain areas and made sure other areas carried over between his arms and cape.

Speaking of the cape, this one was made from plastic as I was able to achieve a desired effect of transparency with it. His headpiece and cape were both cut from an old action figure package and then heated over the stove until they began to droop, they were then formed over the figures body to give them some shape. I loved being able to make the pieces slightly transparent during painting and the effect looks killer in person with light behind him.

Once areas were blocked in with the airbrush, good old fashioned brush painting began. Using many of the same colors as I airbrushed, edges were delineated, more tiny effects were added and finally Stars were picked out throughout. I also gave certain of the stars a lens flare effect to bring them ever closer to my reference photos. Finally he was coated with a few layers of Future floor polish run through the airbrush. This gave him great shiny factory finish.

All in all I wound up thrilled with this big guy. He looks great on the shelf with his cosmic brethren and after about 5 years he's finally done. As a bonus it also gave me the jumpstart to finish the Living Tribunal as well. He is featured in two of the shots with his head mounted and his neck trimmed down to the shoulders and the resulting hole blanked off with sheet styrene. After I sculpt the rest of the head, probably in Apoxie Sculpt, I'll begin painting  and final assembly.