Since I made a new Batman, could a new Robin be far behind?
When the DCUC Wave 3 Robin came out I was a little disappointed in it. The Mattel version has a great sculpt and good articulation but (IMO) it’s just too dang short for this version of Tim Drake. So a little over a year ago I made a custom Robin that was taller. After posting in my gallery on Fwoosh, it was snapped up by a BIG DCUC fan. Then I made 2 more for a couple people who also thought the DCUC Robin wasn’t right either. When it was all said and done, I still didn’t have a taller Robin on my shelf.
One of my earlier custom Robins made with a DCUC Sinestro body, biceps, upper legs, Robin head, forearms, lower legs, belt and cape.
New Recipe:
- DCUC Robin – Cape, Belt and Forearms
- DCUC Sinestro – Body, Biceps and Legs
- MM TDK Batman – Feet
- DCD Contemporary Teen Titans Robin – Head Cast
- Sculpted Hair (w/ Super Sculpey), Mask, Shirt Clasps, Boot Tops and Feet (w/ Apoxie & Fixit Sculpt)
- “R” Insignia created in PhotoShop and decoupaged
The decision to change up my Robin recipe came about because in the past year since making those first 3 Robins, I became a big fan of the DC Robin series and the art of Freddie Williams II. Also last summer at SDCC, I got to meet Freddie and chat with him while he drew me a cool little Batman sketch. All that Robin/FWII stimuli firmly cemented the decision that the next Robin I made was going to be closer in style to FWII’s version.
New Legs and Feet
First thing I wanted to change from my old recipe were the lower legs. On my earlier versions the Robin lower legs looked good but I felt they could’ve been a bit bigger. So for this Robin, I kept the Sinestro lower legs and sculpted the boot tops with Black Apoxie Sculpt. The feet came from a Movie Masters TDK Batman which I sanded the details off of and re-sculpted. A nice little bonus from using the TDK Batman’s feet is the cool sculpt of the boot sole.
New Head
One of the comments on my older Robin customs that really haunted me was that the DCUC Robin head was too small for the bigger body. Plus I thought the DCUC Robin head wasn’t FWII enough for what I wanted to achieve with this custom. After much searching and experimenting I decided to use the head from a DCD Contemporary Teen Titans Robin. They’re not easy to come by but luckily my good friend, PBJMan had one going spare that he most graciously donated to my cause.
Since I would have to modify the DCD Robin head to make it work, I made a silicone rubber mold of it so I could make resin cast copies to work on without fear of destroying the original if/when I screwed up. After making a cast of the head I used my dremel to modify it to fit the DCUC neck peg and sand down the hair so I could sculpt a new hairdo.
I decided to try to sculpt the hair with Super Sculpey so I wouldn’t have the pressure of the ticking clock like I would using Apoxie Sculpt which has a four hour curing time. I was very happy to learn that Super Sculpey is a helluvah lot easier to sculpt hair with than Apoxie or Fixit Sculpt. If Super Sculpey was as tough and durable as Apoxie Sculpt after it’s cured, I’d use it for a lot more sculpting tasks. When I finally had a hair style that was close to the source material I was using, I cured the Sculpey hair by dipping it into almost boiling water for 30 seconds. Then I used Fixit Sculpt to modify the mask to make it closer to the source material. Once that was done I made a mold and cast of that head so that I wouldn’t have to worry about the Sculpey hair getting damaged and also to be able to make copies for future customs.
Putting It Together
Once the head and legs were done the rest of it came together rather quickly. While working on the head and legs, I had:
- broken the body down and sanded all the bad paint rub spots (which is the only method I know that stops paint rub and allows the custom to be poseable)
- sanded the neck down to allow the cape to fit over it
- sculpted the clasps on the shirt
- painted the hard to reach spots
- reassembled the body and filled the holes and gaps with Fixit Sculpt
All the areas to be painted red were base coated with Citadel Foundation Mechite Red and then painted with Model Masters Guards Red. The gloves, boots and trunks were painted with Model Masters Flat Black. The face and neck were base coated with Citadel Foundation Flesh and then painted with a mix of Reaper Tan Flesh and Tan Highlight. The hair and mask were painted with MM Flat Black and MM Flat White was used for the eyes.
I created the “R” insignia in my PhotoShop program and had a local print shop print out a sheet so they’d be sharp. I cut one of ’em out, went around the paper edge with a black sharpie to eliminate any white showing and decoupaged it onto his chest with Mod Podge.
And after all that, this Robin won’t be sitting on my shelf either as this one was a commission too. 🙁
Thanx for checking it out!
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Damn Buzzy that looks awesome! Lotsa different customizing processes used too like making molds and casting, and using a printout to “decoupage” (dude I had to look that one up!). I’m so jealous of your works I’m thinking of picking up customizing, I sculpt and paint stuff but never customized figures like you do taking everything apart. Good work man, I’ll be asking you for tips!