After the fun I had working on my last custom action figure project, I was pretty jazzed to start work on my next project. I went to our storage unit and went through my different toy boxes, pulling out random figures that I wouldn’t mind screwing up with my paint. One such figure was a DC Direct Power Girl figure (which, once again, I didn’t photograph before futzing with). My brain immediately went to some of her other costumes, specifically the yellow and white one she wore while she was a member of Justice League Europe.I used this main image as the guide for the front of her costume and searched through my issues and finally found an image of the back of it. I just realized it doesn’t actually match up color-wise because in the cover her collar is yellow and the panel it’s not. Ah well, I went with yellow all around.

So, I accidentally broke her head off, then carefully removed her cape and belt and dismembered her pretty successfully. This time I just used the hair dryer instead of messing around with hot water. As you can see there were some holes in the back left over from the cape and one in the front from the belt.

One aspect of the JLE costume that I wasn’t sure how to capture best was the fact that all of PG’s chest is covered. Originally, I wanted to fill that in with something, but I didn’t have any sculpting material, so, I sanded it down as well as I could and then painted it. I tried using wood filler, which I had in my tool box and used to fill in the chest area and the holes in front and back. It worked for the holes, even though you can still see where they are in the photos, but came right off in the chest area. So, I just painted it. Here you can see everything separated with the holes filled, plus my color guide and notes. Then the painting began. This time I set up shop on the table in front of the couch. I started by taping off a V on the torso so my line between the yellow and white would be straight(ish). I then got the newpspaers, brushes, paints and Hanna Montana cup out and got to work, starting with white. I smartened up this time and put down a few white coats on the blue parts that would eventually be painted yellow and it worked a lot better. I also developed a pretty good system for drying my parts without smudging them (which was a big problem last time). I cut the top and ends off of a beer box, then cut the sides down. Em cut notches in it and it worked really well with the aid of some toothpicks. Here’s the torso. I painted the white first on the front then the back, removed the masking tape, did a black line with a Sharpie paint marker and then did the yellow on the front and the back. I also painted the boots and gloves yellow, doing about four coats or so. I only did two on the shoulder pieces because they didn’t need as much to cover the white. After finishing the body, I glued the head back onto the torso (I didn’t alter it in any way). The body fit perfectly in one of my paint holders. After that you can see all the other pieces painted and in a plastic container. This time, I didn’t bother painting the arm joint pegs because they were already white/clearish.

Finally, I popped Power Girl back together using the hair dryer again. It went a lot easier this time, I only needed to shave away a little paint in the elbow area on one of the arms. Aside from that, which took me a while to finally get, everything went together pretty smoothly. My one problem was that I might have put the shoulders on wrong. I think her arms stick out wider than normal, but I think it makes her look tough. Anyway, here’s the finished product front and back.

Overall, I think this custom went together better than that previous one. I learned from of my mistakes, but it’s definitely not a perfect job by any means. There was some bleeding through the masking tape I used above the boots and gloves, but I touched it up and it looks okay. I’m also not very happy with the black line. I didn’t want to do anything freehand because drawing straight lines isn’t exactly my thing. And let’s be honest, there’s nothing flat about Power Girl to draw a straight line over. So, I’m not a big fan of the front or back lines. They also probably don’t go down far enough on either side. There’s also some weirdness in the front where I tried to fill in and sand down the nub left over from the belt. Aside from all that, it looks pretty good from a distance. I just got a box full of discount Rocky figures from Entertainment Earth ($3 each, go get some yourself!) and a buddy found some loose figures he’s going to pass me next time I see him, so I’ve got to figure out what my next custom will be.

Does anyone know the best way to split the legs from the torso in a Jakks Pacific Rocky or WWE figure? I can use some help, thanks!