"The Face of Crime" - Prep 2

Today, I modelled the foundation of the jester-themed tie tack that was omitted on the prototype.
ALL sculptural enhancements have now been roughed-in!

With any luck, that concludes the putty-work on the sculpture. The remaining prepwork is essen- tially PPP (pre-prime prep): seam cleaning and surface finishing. . .  

“When the cost of a hobby exceeds the fun and doesn't attract new people, the game is over.” -
Oscar Koveleski, August 2003

"The Face of Crime" - Prep 1

It was a very productive day, I am delighted to report. . . 

Not only were all current PpS sessions completed, but I finally was able to work on the Joker: 

• Legs tapped and pegged (large "non-skid" paper clips).
• All corrective putty work roughed-in.
• Head pegged and repositioned; neck resculpted in the process.
• Waistcoat* roughed-in.
• Breast pocket and pocket square* roughed-in. 

*These three items were omitted in the sculpture. 

Save for one more item and any attendant detailing, all sculptural enhancements have been, at the very least, roughed-in.

More to follow. . .   

“When the cost of a hobby exceeds the fun and doesn't attract new people, the game is over.” -
Oscar Koveleski, August 2003

Joker: "The Face of Crime" - Pre-Prep Observations

As I mentioned in the introductory posting/review, this iteration of the Clown Prince of Crime is taken from the conclusion of "Death of the Family". For those of you not familiar with this arc, this is a "must read" in the DCU, afaIc! By way of capturing the gist of the story, the Joker is captured by Batman and sent to Arkham Asylum. As it turns out, this was the Joker's plan all along, as his goal was to meet with the Dollmaker, and have him surgically remove his face. The Joker escapes, and a year later, he returns to Gotham City, recovers his "face", and begins to wear it as a mask (NB: this is particularly well-rendered in the figure!). 

The Joker is a VG+++, two-piece casting (+ plinth). It is cast in metallic resin, and herein lies Problem #1. Eaglemoss has come a long way since their first forays into resin-casting, but they have yet to take that final step that would allow, compel even, any reviewer to use the word "mas- terful" in their assessment. Granted, given that these are pre-painted collectibles, what I am about to describe is arguably irrelevant. . . 

The aluminum filler used is too coarse: too big and--relatively--too heavy (albeit less expensive!), especially when used absent a thixotropic filler (TF) (NB: TFs create stratified layering of the resin thus minimizing settling when prepared properly.). This results in a noticeably granular, rough surface in the distal 20%, give or take, of the figure, as the metallic filler settles to the bottom of the mold, while the rest of the figure is essentially pure resin. The aluminum filler they should be using should look and feel like grey talcum powder--this, when used in conjunction with a TF, will yield a 'bonded pewter' casting that one could polish to a high-luster, if so inclined; and be significantly and uniformly stronger. I maintain that such a medium would preclude the use of the reinforcing rods currently being inserted in the legs of their larger (>70mm) scale offerings.

Which brings us to Problem #1A. Using metal rods to support a casting is not an easy under- taking, IF one's goal is to provide a metallic endoskeleton that will reinforce and support the figure. My guess is that Eaglemoss experienced customer dissatisfaction with broken figurines and decided to use wire reinforcements in attempt to avoid such contretemps. The problem is that the rods are not anchored in any way, and thus float freely until the resin begins to gel. Be- ing lighter than the metallic resin, they tend to either freely gravitate to the surface of the mold, or are displaced by the settling metallic filler, thus marring the surface of the casting AND negating any reinforcement they might have been able to provide! Of the last 5 figurines I have purchased, all were reinforced with metal rods. . . AND THREE WERE BROKEN!!

AfaIc, dealing with the above is well-worth it given the price-point of the figure and the overall quality of the sculpture. Not knowing the particulars of Eaglemoss' production, or the production standards vs. cost ratio that they consider acceptable within the context of the marketed pro- duct and/or their business plan, I don't know if this is still a "work-in-progress", or if they have achieved their goal. Given the published reaction of some of their customers, I would say there remains room for improvement, especially as they have been noticeably responsive to the com- plaints received to date. . .  

“When the cost of a hobby exceeds the fun and doesn't attract new people, the game is over.” -
Oscar Koveleski, August 2003

Eaglemoss' The Joker & Harley Quinn Special Edition Box Set (LE 3000)

Looking to lick the wounds of failure by venturing onto more familiar grounds, I ordered Eagle- moss' The Joker & Harley Quinn Special Edition Box Set from their DC Comics Masterpiece Collection. I received issue 1767/3000. 

One might say that this is the resin counterpart to Eaglemoss’s DC All-Stars series: classic subjects; generous scale (1/14^th); and very reasonably priced (< US$25.00 per).

Both are DC New 52 iterations of their characters. The Joker appears as he did in the conclusion of "Death of the Family"; while Harley is in her re'vamp'ed ver.1 Suicide Squad get-up. 

As best as I can tell, the Joker appears to be a two-piece casting; Harley appears to be a six- piece casting (NB: not including the display plinths). The Joker is cast completely in resin; how- ever, Harley is a multi-media casting: her forearms are cast in white-metal (read: lead), and her mallet is a 2-piece white-metal casting. Casting quality is VG+++. And, I am delighted to report that pre-paint "clean-up", the usual destructive seam removal, was kept to an absolute minimum on both figures!

The Joker is definitely a SP3 (strip-prep-prime-paint) exercise. . .  He will probably be the next figure on the painting bench. As with Nurse Harley, there are a few mods in store for the Queen of the Suicide Squad; but again, primarily a SP3 exercise.

More to follow. . .   

18.12.2019--PpS is DONE for Harley and Mistah J! As a baseline going forward, I would recom- mend allowing a week for PpS. . . 

“When the cost of a hobby exceeds the fun and doesn't attract new people, the game is over.” -
Oscar Koveleski, August 2003

"The Clown Prince of Crime" -- Review

I have had my eye on The Joker from Eaglemoss’s DC All-Stars series since it was released: classic subject (Jason Fabok’s cover art in Batman 23.1 [Joker #1]); generous scale (1/14^th); very reasonably priced (< US$25.00). My only reservation was that, unlike the other offerings from Eaglemoss, this series is cast in ‘vinyl’. 

‘Vinyl’, like resin, is a catch-all descriptive whose purpose in this context is to differentiate, not elucidate. In other words, in this instance it is used to indicate that this figure is not cast in resin. The medium in which a figure is cast—be it white metal, PUR, metallic resin, plastic, or vinyl—is largely irrelevant to me; however, there are some variants of these mediums which are not acceptable to me for any number of reasons—particularly if I am not familiar with the produc- tion protocols observed.

The figure is cast in a somewhat “soft-ish” vinyl that on the whole captures detail well; AND the casting quality is VG+++. Being softer than PUR or metallic resin, it was not subjected to vir- tually any pre-paint clean-up—a PLUS! Not surprisingly, the figure appears to have been assem- bled "cold". Based on what I could observe, the adhesive used to assemble the figure was a cyanoacrylate, and this is where things get a bit “sticky”: how do I disassemble the figure; and how do I strip the figure--without damaging the casting?

Fast-forwarding to the present, I can state without reservation that Eaglemoss figures cast in 'vinyl' are not suitable candidates for complete "make-overs". The paint's--and adhesive's--re- sponse to the purple bath is negligible. While the paint responds very well to acetone, and the vinyl is relatively resistant to the solvent, any definition and detail is "softened" beyond accepta- bility in short order.

A real shame as it is a very nice figure. If it had been finished--assembled and painted!--to higher standards, it would have been a keeper. . .

“When the cost of a hobby exceeds the fun and doesn't attract new people, the game is over.” -
Oscar Koveleski, August 2003