Action Figure Customization: Commando X (Part 2 – Painting)

Compared to the rollercoaster ride that was the building phase covered in Part 1, the painting phase wasn’t quite as eventful in terms of obstacles to overcome and solutions to improvise. Though, as I’m sure you’ll see in the pictures, I was continuing to fight an uphill battle against the cheapo plastic that kept flaking off no matter how many times I washed the figure, sprayed it with compressed air, and brushed with a screen-cleaning brush (which didn’t really subside until I was all done painting and sprayed it with a protective coat). Also, this was my first time painting using a wet palette that I bought on Amazon. I will say that it’s pretty invaluable in projects like this or miniature painting. In my previous projects, it was easy to let my paints dry out since I like to take my time and it’s nice to not have to worry about that anymore. I also found that I don’t have to thin my paints quite as much when I use a wet palette, so that’s a plus.

Starting out with a basecoat, I decided to go with some military type greens, using Reaper brand Naga Green as the base and mixing with Pure Black, Dragon White, Desert Sand, and Mountain Stone as I pleased and pleasured. I knew I wanted to paint the hair blonde, given my inspirations for this project (Captain Commando and Major Dutch from AvP). To find the right shade of blonde, I mixed Reaper Candlelight Yellow with Pure White and Desert Sand until I found a blend that wasn’t too pale or too bright. For his shades, I used the nice and vibrant Citadel brand Mephiston Red. The skin color was an even mix of two drops of Vallejo flesh tone and two drops of Reaper Leather Brown. I mixed some Reaper Harvest Brown and Leather Brown for the belt, straps, and boots. The arms I never really had a clear plan for aside from making it look as mechanical as I could, so I mixed some Reaper Mountain Stone, Blade Steel, and Pure Black. In some areas, I went heavier with the silver and others I went darker with the grays.

Before proceeding with the wash phase, I went ahead and painted a camouflage pattern onto the pants (apparently having not learned my lesson from the last time). But unlike the last time, I attempted to paint camouflage, I went as bright as possible with the first layer of green, mixing Naga Green with a drop or two of Pure White. For the darker layer, I just used Pure Black since going with a really dark green probably wouldn’t produce the kind of contrast I wanted against the already darker green pants. I finished the camo off with a few spread-out drops of Pure White mixed with one drop of Naga Green. I was much more satisfied with this time around. I dare say I’m getting better at this.

I used Citadel Agrax Earthshade on the pants, Nuln Oil on the robot parts, and a basic black wash (Pure Black diluted with about 8 drops of water) on everything else. I was quite pleased that the Earthshade wash didn’t completely muddy the camouflage and actually blended it together like I wanted it to (again, thanks to the brighter, more starkly contrasting colors that I used for the pattern). Also yes, flaky plastic is gonna flake. I just brushed it off with compressed air and kept going.

Up next was the touch-ups, dry-brushing, and more touch-ups (especially around the head and face area). Nothing too crazy here, I just dry-brushed over the clothes, straps, and boots using the basecoat colors, going one shade lighter on the straps and boots by mixing in one drop of Pure White. I left the pants alone since I feel the camouflage pattern provides highlights enough on its own. I went back over the arms, dry-brushing the high points as best I could with Reaper Polished Silver as well as my dark gray/Blade Steel mix.

While the paint job remained steady throughout the process, having been washed in water and dusted with compressed air several times in my futile attempt to get rid of the stubborn plastic dandruff that was present since I’d first sanded the base figure, I didn’t trust the cheapo plastic one bit. I finished the project off by spraying on a protective clear coat (Krylon Acrylic Crystal Clear) to seal in all the details. Now, a lot of people might take umbrage with my using a clear coat with a glossy finish rather than a matte, but I honestly prefer the way it brightens up the paint job and I appreciate the way it catches the light.

And there you have it, my first-ever action figure customization project. For a novice effort, I’m really happy with how it turned out and it was a lot of fun to boot. Given I still have so many garage sale pieces and parts and a bag of bootleg toy soldiers, I’m thinking of making Commando X the first in a series of themed customization and giving him a team of his own. Though I will do more to sand down and treat the surface of the base figure to hopefully cut down on the flaky plastic.