Thanos - Prepwork (4a): Infinity Gauntlet, phase 1

It's been a rough couple of weeks, and any accumulated momentum was at a critically low ebb. So I decided to simply park myself at the bench and not move until I had something to show for the time--and effort!--spent.

That "something" was the first phase of the Infinity Gauntlet. As of this writing, the settings for the gems have all been roughed-in, as has the metallic trim of the gauntlet's cuff. While still remaining to be finished, I am quite pleased with the overall look; to say nothing of the relative ease of the process!

As to the assembly of the "Titan", I have decided to wait until all the enhancements on the gaunt- lets and boots are done before finalizing assembly: it is simply more manageable this way--and less likely to result in any unforeseen damage to the castings: remember, these are cast in a lead alloy and are comparatively 'soft'.

Thanos - Prepwork (3): Assembly

If it's month-end, that means disposable [bench] time is at a premium. . . Which in turn means that it is the perfect time to engage in basic clean-up!

So after a leisurely half hour or so of filing and polishing, the head/spauldler-to-torso join was ready for permanent attachment, and what were 4 component pieces are now 3. With any luck at at all, the Mad Titan will be fully assembled by the weekend.

More to follow. . . 

UPDATE 27.08.2014 - The waist join and girdle have been finished and the torso can now be permanently attached to the legs unit. . . however, there are still some pesky seams to be addressed  on the insides of the arms--and final polishing to be done!--so final assembly of the body will have to wait a bit longer. . . 

Stay tuned! 

Thanos - Prepwork (2)

With the release of Guardians of the Galaxy, "The Mad Titan" (bka Thanos) has once again leapt to the forefront our collective consciousness. And so it was time to dust-off a project last touched over two years ago, and reassess. . .  

As per usual, I was surprised at how little there is left to be done in terms of the basics. While I have yet to finalize the waist join, the head/spauldler unit fit to the torso has now been finalized. Also, I clipped off all the Infinity gems from the left gauntlet, and have begun to refinish the set- tings. How--and with what--I will refinish/replace the gems is still under evaluation. On the plus side, once I finalize the fit of the gauntlet to the left arm, work on the figure can continue inde- pendently of the former.

More to follow. . . 

FOLLOW-UP . . . The waist join is now finalized, as is that of the Infinity Gauntlet to the left arm. And now. . . final finishing and the IG sub-project. . . 

Thanos - UPDATE

For the sake of clarity in the forthcoming posts, the 4-piece casting is comprised of the following:

• head/spauldler
• torso w/ right arm (complete) and left arm
• Infinity Gauntlet (i.e., left forearm)
• pelvic girdle/legs

As I mentioned in my introductory review, the figure is stripped, disassembled, and any remaining paint removed--in short, it is ready for prepping.

I began by fine tuning as best I could the waist join: torso to legs. It is barely adequate, so I shimmed the waist-edge of the torso with some MS, and carefully joined the two pieces--it is now curing in the oven. Once cured, I will finish the MS shim so that the join will be seamless. I also rebuilt the left distal forearm stump and fitted the Infinity Gauntlet.

Finally, I took the opportunity to fill in some of the more glaring "dings" (the one disadvantage of a primarily lead figure), as well as redetailing some of the features of the costume.

More to follow. . .

FOLLOW-UP . . . The shim and stump have been all-but finished: there is still a little bit of tweaking to be done on the join of the IG to the forearm; but the waist shim is just about there.

"The Mad Titan"

Without any ado -- and I'll say no more -- I managed to find for the listed srp what will soon be- come, if it hasn't already, a grail figure in the Eaglemoss CMFC series: Thanos (Special Issue #4). These are not yet impossible to find, but be prepared to pay a 50-100% premium on the srp.


To the matter at hand. The figure is already stripped and "broken out". The 92mm casting (to the eyes) is cast in 4 pieces + the branded resin display base. I'll admit that I expected a 5-7 piece casting, but unless I've overlooked a very clean join, the folks at Eaglemoss worked their magic by under-engineering the piece!

Clean-up is progressing nicely. The only area that will require additional attention is rebuilding the left distal forearm stump to seamlessly accommodate the Infinity Gauntlet. As to the latter, this will be a mini-project onto itself: I plan to detail/enhance it as much as possible, possibly replacing the six Infinity Gems.

Other than the Infinity Gauntlet, the work on this piece will be limited to a thorough clean-up and redetailing where necessary. In short, this project will be just a repaint of the stock figure.

More to follow in the days to come. . .