TonyMeis Superhero custom (FM Batman Battle Damage version)

[TonyMeis]

Hi everyone, from here on, we'll be sharing some of our customs from the past, now, and future. Most customs will be made from myself(Tony Mei) and my girlfriend Crystal Arjona. Along with custom paint jobs from many popular Artists all around the world. We are very big on quality, but with lack of skills we have, we do our best to make our figures look right.

First, we would like to introduce our Batman Begins 1/6 figure

T&C Custom Batman Begins

- Custom Cape- made by Crystal
- mod shorter neck and reposition of the triangular cape connector
- mod lower belt to show all eight pack like the movie
- mod shorter arm to be more proportional like the movie
- bulk up the inner chest

 

[TonyMeis]

Re: T&C Custome- I'm no expert, never was, never will be...

Mod lower neck
* In my personal opinion, I think Hot Toys' Batman Begins figure's neck is a bit too long, but more importantly, its not able to position forward/down. So I decide to do a modification to the neck. After the mod, its time to repaint the directions of the eyes.

these are some of the tools you need
- glass cup for some hot water
- a small glass jar or round shape object
- and sanding tools

First, sand down the thick layer of the inner rubber. It's thick enough, but don't go sanding crazy and sand a hole through the cowl. Be patient. NOTE* This first step is optional, if you do not want to sand it down, it'll still work well, just going to be a bit tough for the neck to stay in shape for longer time.

Once its thin enough, dip the neck into a glass cup of hot water for 10-15 second.

While the robber is still soft, place the neck onto the side of a glass jar, show in the picture below

Use cold water to let the rubber neck stay in shape.

Cut the neck to your desired height, suggest you do this on a extra HT neck. I cut a little triangle shape on the bottom front of the neck for pose purposes, it allows the head to face down more.
For more information on how to shorten the inner neck, follow the tutorial below
https://www.sideshowcollectors.com/forums/showthread.php?p=4099217#post4099217

Then place the modded neck into the Bat cowl (when I get a chance, I'll sand the cut edge smoother) this is just for tutorial picture purpose. When you are satisfied with the length and tightness of the neck connector, putty it up, and its ready to use.
*Note, I trimmed the bottom of the front part of the cowl, not the side.

Once you get the hang of the hot water technique, you can do the same to mod thebelt. I might do a picture tutorial if enough people want to see it.

 

[TonyMeis]

Re: T&C Custome- I'm no expert, never was, never will be...

Here are a few Batmans we're currently working on. At least 3-4 more Batmans will be in the making very soon.

More figures are also being worked on as we speak.
- X-Men Wolverine
- Neal Adam Batman
- Jim Lee Batman
- Magneto
- Vampire Hunter D

 

[MarfMaster]

Re: T&C Custome- I'm no expert, never was, never will be...

Awesome tutorial, I'm tempted to do this!

 

[TonyMeis]

Re: T&C Custome- I'm no expert, never was, never will be...

Awesome tutorial, I'm tempted to do this!

Thank you MarfMaster, I'm sure you can do a better mod than this. There isn't much damage to the original figure, try it out, it should be fun

 

[MarfMaster]

Re: T&C Custome- I'm no expert, never was, never will be...

I got a new dremel for Christmas that I haven't used yet, I think it's time to take it out! How noticeable is the reshaping of the cowl if the figure is not looking down?

 

[Maglor]

Re: T&C Custome- I'm no expert, never was, never will be...

That cut to the neck is interesting. I just sanded the front of the neck way down:

(Ignore circle)

When I take him apart again to fix the clips in place, I'll have to consider doing that.


Speaking of the clips, could you talk about what you did to attach them a little more?

Did you just glue them on top of of the cowl edge?

It looks like you cut some of the cowl edge off.

 

[TonyMeis]

Re: T&C Custome- I'm no expert, never was, never will be...

I got a new dremel for Christmas that I haven't used yet, I think it's time to take it out! How noticeable is the reshaping of the cowl if the figure is not looking down?

It's definitely a noticeable difference because the hot water technique will also reshape the side of the cowl n make it sit lower. Of course if you are not satisfied, you can revers the technique again to reshape it back.

But the key is the more you sand down inner cowl the easier the cowl will stay in shape. Based on how short you make the inner neck mod and how strong the connector will hold the ball joint, you'll see a very noticeable difference.

Here is a picture of the head looking up.

 

[TonyMeis]

Re: T&C Custome- I'm no expert, never was, never will be...

That cut to the neck is interesting. I just sanded the front of the neck way down:

(Ignore circle)

When I take him apart again to fix the clips in place, I'll have to consider doing that.


Speaking of the clips, could you talk about what you did to attach them a little more?

Did you just glue them on top of of the cowl edge?

It looks like you cut some of the cowl edge off.

The only part I cut was the front edge part of the cowl, but very little. The most important thing is how strong the bottom connector(bottom ball joint) is. The stronger it is, the more you'll be able to pose the neck forward down n stay in that pose.

As for the clip on both side, I just glued it to the edge of the cowl, tho I'm gonna re-do it again, n I'll show some WIP pictures.

Btw, I LOVE your mod, it was the reason why I decide to do this mod. I would like to THANK YOU for posting such a great picture tutorial for all of us. . THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR BEING GERNERIOUS N SHARE YOUR GREAT SKILL N EXPERIENCE TO ALL OF US. THANK YOU ONCE AGAIN.

For those who want to see Maglor's neck shorter mod, here is a great picture turtorial.
https://sideshowcollectors.com/forums/showthread.php?t=100516&page=446

 

[TonyMeis]

Re: T&C Custome- I'm no expert, never was, never will be...

Neck Mod part 2

Since in the movie Batman Begins, his head didn't really turn that much, so I decided to make his neck in somewhat of a fixed position.

The mod is getting more dangerous than ever. Try this at your own risk.

First, I got a new sanding tool from Walmart.

Second, sand down the inner cowl as thin as possible. *Note, be very careful, and check after every sand, DO NOT sand too thin. The goal is to sand it as thin as possible to allow the cowl to bend easily

Third, this is the fixed part. Do this at your own risk. Got some two part putty, and placed it under the bottom neck joint that connects to the body.

Fourth, connect the neck Joint back into the body and set it in a position that you are satisfied with.
*Note 1, before the two part putty drys up completely, you will still be able to adjust the angle of the neck you want. Once its dry, its set and fixed. I chose to make it as low as possible.
*Note 2, I cut a good amount of plastic on the top side of the neck connector. This still allows the head to turn left and right to a certain degree, even if the bottom of the neck is fixed in position.

Now, I'm just letting it set till its dry. Over night should do the job.

Our goal is to make this Batman look as mean as possible. Since its the Begins Batman, he was ruthless, fierce, and fearless. Got to bring out that fire in him.

 

[TonyMeis]

Re: T&C Custom- I'm no expert, never was, never will be...

Next, we have made a custom cape for him. The length is base of Hot Toys original design. Its perfect length, not too long, not too short, just right. We did manage to sew six linings inside the cape. Not sure how many the original movie has, but we did six for reason. might make it open up like the flying pose in the near future.

here is the official picture, we see two linings

and here is our custom cape

 

[CrystalCalica]

Re: T&C Custom- I'm no expert, never was, never will be...

This Batman is a really fun build, I especially enjoy watching Tony take these risks. Notice many times he says to do it at your own risk? That's because of trial&error, I can't even recall how many of these Batmans he bought to finally start to get it closer to how he wants it. The closer he gets to success, the more ambitious he becomes : ) I'm here rooting him on! He's making these tutorials to share his experience with you all where you don't need to go through all the trial and error, he'd rather have you benefit from the mods he has succeeded with and to be aware of the possibilities x3

Crystal Arjona

 

[klocket]

Re: T&C Custom- I'm no expert, never was, never will be...

Man... there is some serious guts in this thread... the mod looks great but i wouldn't dare try it.

Thanks for sharing!

M.

 

[Skiman]

Re: T&C Custom- I'm no expert, never was, never will be...

*sub T* and man you stay up late.

Ski

 

[Solidus]

Re: T&C Custom- I'm no expert, never was, never will be...

Oh man, if I had money to spare for another Batman Begins figure, I would have tried something like this. Brilliant work.

 

[Maglor]

Re: T&C Custome- I'm no expert, never was, never will be...

The only part I cut was the front edge part of the cowl, but very little. The most important thing is how strong the bottom connector(bottom ball joint) is. The stronger it is, the more you'll be able to pose the neck forward down n stay in that pose.

As for the clip on both side, I just glued it to the edge of the cowl, tho I'm gonna re-do it again, n I'll show some WIP pictures.

Btw, I LOVE your mod, it was the reason why I decide to do this mod. I would like to THANK YOU for posting such a great picture tutorial for all of us. . THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR BEING GERNERIOUS N SHARE YOUR GREAT SKILL N EXPERIENCE TO ALL OF US. THANK YOU ONCE AGAIN.

For those who want to see Maglor's neck shorter mod, here is a great picture turtorial.
https://sideshowcollectors.com/forums/showthread.php?t=100516&page=446

Thanks for the props. Glad someone appreciated my tutorial, it almost seemed as if no one noticed it.

Our goal is to make this Batman look as mean as possible. Since its the Begins Batman, he was ruthless, fierce, and fearless. Got to bring out that fire in him.

Head bowed with a shorter neck makes him way meaner looking. The giraffe neck makes him seem kind of wimpy.

Next, we have made a custom cape for him. The length is base of Hot Toys original design. Its perfect length, not too long, not too short, just right. We did manage to sew six linings inside the cape. Not sure how many the original movie has, but we did six for reason. might make it open up like the flying pose in the near future.

here is the official picture, we see two linings

and here is our custom cape

Nice cape! WHen you say "we" who are you referring to? Is this a joint project?

 

[carbo-fation]

Re: T&C Custom- I'm no expert, never was, never will be...

His girlfriend Crystal! Geez, don't you read! Unreal!!!

 

[Maglor]

Re: T&C Custom- I'm no expert, never was, never will be...

Woops!

 

[Skiman]

Re: T&C Custom- I'm no expert, never was, never will be...

 

[intothevoid]

Re: T&C Custom- I'm no expert, never was, never will be...

Awesome work and tutorial - time to do some DIY