Clayton Emery's
Custom Action Figures


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www.claytonemery.com

All these models started as action figures.  I cut them apart, mix and match, pose them heroically, freeze with Zap-A-Gap, fill with green and white putty, craft or steal props, then paint with Testor's enamels and acrylics, then usually spray with Dull-Coat.  I also use white glue, chamois leather, brown coffee filter paper, doll hair, string - just about anything, really.  Each model takes about eight hours.



Monk Mayfair and Habeas Corpus, Doc Savage aides, Custom Action Figures by Clayton Emery

Monk Mayfair of the Doc Savage crew with Habeas Corpus.  Adapted from some Archie villain (the Eraser?) with the trunk and legs of a snowboarder.  The pig is from a barnyard set ground down.  A rod between the fingers holds Habeas by the ear.  Renny Renwick stands in the background.  Monk quarrels endlessly with Ham Brooks, who's a sartorial wonder, so Monk dresses like a clown.  Hence the mismatched colors and suspenders with little red hearts.  He also wears a pocket watch "big as a turnip", hence the chain.



Doctor Solar custom action figure by Clayton Emery

Gold Key's Doctor Solar, or just Solar, from an animated Silver Surfer.  The visor is cut from some space-gun and deeply inset.  The paint is many thin coats of Testor's Metallic Burgundy, not Dull-Coated.



The Eye of Mongombo custom action figure by Clayton Emery

Doug Grey's The Eye of Mongombo is one of the funniest comics ever, though the series never finished. The hero, Cincinnati Carlson, gets turned into a duck on page 3 - and stays that way through seven issues.  The duck is a china collectible from Red Rose tea, padded with green putty.  The tiki is a salt shaker for luau parties washed in brown.  The mask is Princess Kida's from Disney's Atlantis.  The vine is from the Aurora Man from U.N.C.L.E. models.  All Dull-Coated, then the gem was glued on.


Ragman Custom Action Figure by Clayton Emery

Ragman, DC's defender of the downtrodden, was surprisingly easy.  I started with some Russian female in a red jumpsuit and ground her down skinny.  Plastered the body and face with brown coffee-filter paper soaked in white glue, then cut the eye holes with a sharp knife.  The cloak came from the spares box.  The hat is molded made from chamois cloth stiffened with Zap-A-Gap glue.  Then it's just paint and Dull-Coat.



Lead of the Metal Men Custom Action Figure by Clayton Emery

Loyal Lead of the Metal Men made from an early Toy Biz Hulk.  I had to cut the fingers apart and bend in hot water.  The chest plate is plastic card.  The rivets are brass brads.  Then he was painted silver and washed with black, and not Dull-Coated.  Once I was done, I realized he should be in his typical flat-and-wide morphed form.  Next time.



Awkwardman of the Inferior 5 Custom Action Figure by Clayton Emery

Awkwardman of the Inferior 5.  He's the son of the Merman and Princess Power, so super-strong and super-clumsy.  Adapted from a ball player fast food figure from the movie The Road to El Dorado, which meant an exaggerated cartoon body and dopey face to start.  The cape is Superman's warped over a candle flame and screwed on.  He's tripping over Merryman's big sledge hammer, yet to be built.



U.N.C.L.E. Agents Napoleon Solo and Illya Kuryakin Custom Action Figures by Clayton Emery

Napoleon Solo and Illya Kuryakin from The Man from U.N.C.L.E. 1960's TV show.  Customized versions of the original Aurora models, which were unexciting.  Napoleon was coming over a wall and Illya was hiding.  I soaked my old models in Pine Sol to pull them apart and slough off the paint - works like a charm, except they reek forevermore.  I straightened them up and filled in the joints and missing spots.  For a more exciting venue, I joined the old garden walls to create an alley in a foreign slum.  Behind is an electrified wire on insulators, a Wanted poster with their faces made in PhotoShop, a broken wine bottle from doll house supplies, a crumpled newspaper, and rust streaks down the wall.  The floor is acrylic sheet from Home Depot washed in grays and sprinkled with road sand.  Napoleon's suit was a base coat of gray and lots of tiny dry brushing with light blue for texture.  He's propped on a rod from the wall. 




Custom Thor Action Figure by Clayton Emery

Thor from the KB Toys Avengers set.  Cut and reposed.  I added a skirt to his tunic cut from a FedEx plastic envelope.  The cape is someone else's steamed over a tea kettle for shape and screwed to his shoulders.  I also ground down the oversize hammer head.  A good trick is to mix baby powder in the paint for a grainy texture.  Testor's grainy Steel and Silver metallic paints improve the helmet and metal bosses and buckles.



Stig's Inferno Custom Action Figure by Clayton Emery

"Next issue: Stig doesn't get to use the phone..."  Ty Templeton's Stig's Inferno is another very funny comic, also never finished.  Read it here.  Stig never does recover his pants.  The original was a naked Luke Skywalker from the Star Wars Immersion-Healing Tank.  The gaping hell-mouth base is from Men in Black.  The shirt and tie are very thin plastic card.



Shark-Man Custom Action Figure by Clayton Emery

Shark-Man is a marvelous comic lavishly painted by the talented Steve Pugh.  I'm glad somebody finally created a guts 'n gore sharky hero.  My version can't compare, so I call it a Silver Age version.  The base figure was some generic space knight.  The helmet curve is cut from a deodorant cap and much fussing with green putty.  The jet pack was Ultron's Vault shackles.  If you haven't read Shark-Man, find the three issues.  They're a brilliant breath of salt air.


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