DC Universe Classics Custom Batman – a Personal Interpretation

Happy Holidays AFP Fans!

I may have been MIA for a while, but I’m still plugging along, albeit little slower than usual.

With that said, here’s a little “quickie” custom Batman I just finished up on Christmas Eve, that was initially inspired by a couple covers by artist Jim Calafiore.

Recipe:

• DCUC 10 Batman
• DCD Jim Lee Batman head cast
• DCD Batman, Inc. cape
• Custom made vinyl bat-emblem
• Airbrushed cape and head with FasKolor Black
• Airbrushed bat-emblem with FasKolor Gold

The trickiest/scariest part of this custom was modifying the DCD cape. Using an Exacto with a fresh blade, I cut the neck off of it, then, very slowly and carefully, widened the hole with a brown grinding bit on my Dremel Stylus. Luckily the material of this cape was thick and tough enough to withstand that without shredding. Then I smoothed it out by using finer grades of sandpaper – 600 and 1000. Once I was satisfied with the look and fit, I cleaned it off and used my airbrush to spray it with FasKolor Black.

If you’re not familiar with FasKolor paints; the FasKolor line of paints are made by Parma/PSE for use on RC Cars. The great thing about FasKolor paints is that they are super tough and flexible, so they work great on capes and other parts that need to have elasticity. The down side to FasKolor paints is that they are very thin, because they’re made to work with an airbrush, and they take a long time to dry. I have yet to find another paint that works as well on capes as FasKolor.

Because of those great properties, I decided to try a little experiment on this custom by painting the black vinyl bat-emblem with FasKolor Gold. I airbrushed the sticker while it was on it’s paper backing and let it cure for an hour. When I transferred the painted emblem to the figure, I was amazed at how tough the FasKolor Gold was! It didn’t chip or crack at all and I had to reposition the sticker on the figure three times! Super tough paint.

Now I have a “variant” Batman of my own design, and even though he’s not comic accurate, it was fun little project and he turned out pretty sharp. I might switch out the belt, if I come across one I like a little more, but for now the bright yellow gives him a little “sizzle” to his dark demeanor.

Buzzy Fret Customs News!

I have just launched a Buzzy Fret Customs page on Facebook to replace my old Blogspot page!

It’s a little bare right now, but I’ll be slowly adding some of my old customs to it, along with new customs, WIPs and other “Man versus Plastic” stuff! Please stop by to check it out, give me a “Like” or hit me with a friend request.

And I’ll still be contributing customizing articles and the occasional action figure review here at AFP, at least for as long as Ron wants me around!

I hope you all have a fun and safe holiday and I’ll see ya in 2012!

Buzzy