Robertobagg10collection Thread 'NEW UPDATE' CUSTOM CHROMED IRON MAN SS COMIQUETTE

RobertoBagg10 said:

Hey guys, weekend update is here and with my new arrival...the Sideshow Collectibles Iron Man MkVII Life-Size Bust So as some of you may know, I'm a bit of an Iron Man fan so once Sideshow announced another release from their life-size bust range, I was pretty much not gonna pass up the opportunity of adding another to the rest of my other busts that Pre Order seems a long time ago now...2 years and abt 128 days I think in total from date of order to the time it arrived to my door so with that amount of time you'd expect Sideshow to deliver a flawless bust right? Er.....wrong! Flawless it certainly isn't

Okay, so when it arrived at my door I was pleasantly surprised to see how huge this box was I mean, it's gotta be up there with the original Hulk PF, comic Thor PF and more recently the Batman PF in terms of having a huge shipping box! So I was very eager to get inside and see whether the long wait was worth it

Upon opening up the styrofoam, I noticed that for the first time in this Iron Man life-size bust line, the head came detached from the actual main torso part of me was kinda happy to see this as it would hopefully mean better QC standards in regards to preventing possible scratches and dings to the overall bust had it arrived in one solid cast.

Well, that theory went out the window on closer inspection of the head, I'd noticed a number of scratch marks and paint chips and worse still, part of the faceplate had come loose where glue appeared not to have been added therefore leaving a wide gap between faceplate and helmet...so much so that I could fit my credit card inside

However, the worse was yet to come....

The actual torso part was mega heavy!!! almost double the weight of the MKIII version then again, for this bust you also have the inclusion of the Arc Reactor which was missing from the MKII and MKIII versions plus for the MKVII you also have the added weight of the ammo packs which come separate and are just lifted over the head and placed carefully over the shoulders. The base of the bust has the same design as all the other Iron Man busts in the collection which is nice however I noticed that stands of the base are much thinner in size compared to the others

but then you don't really see much of the stands from the front as they are covered by the low added torso and the Arc Reactor.

Okay, so if you thought all the flaws mentioned were bad enough on an $800+ collectible! you haven't seen nothing yet! Incredibly after placing the head onto the torso, I made a shocking discovery! The damn head had a darker shade of red when compared to the rest of the body!! WTF! 2 and a half years in the making and something as simple as painting the entire bust in the same damn colour appeared to be a stretch too far for Sideshow At first I thought it could be to do with lighting but after asking 4 separate individuals to offer their opinion aswell as waiting to see this bust in the daylight, I realised that this was definately two very different shades of red

This whole experience left a underwhelming taste in my mouth and I felt that I had been let down by Sideshow due to the amount of times this piece got delayed and now it was riddled with flaws. However, I decided to report the situation to Sideshow that very evening and then sleep on it and assess my opinion of the bust after a nights sleep. Well, what a difference a day makes...the next morning in the daylight, I inspected the bust again and felt somewhat different to how I felt the night before. The paint apps (despite Sideshows **** up of painting in different colours) was actually well applied and resembled that of a new car body shine to it and the overall size and added arc reactor makes this bust more of a complete piece compared to the others...however, there were some little nit picks regarding this bust which kind of let it down for me...firstly, as with all of the Iron Man Collectibles released by sideshow, is the epic failure of recreating that brushed metallic effect on the gold areas instead, what was applied was a smooth dull matte shade of what was supposed to be gold but looks like a dark mustardy colour

Secondly, the poor effort of workmanship that Sideshow portrayed on the Arc Reactor design was a total joke! A plain white circle wasn't enough that they had to add some blue slop around it to make it look like...well, look like plastic to be honest!

It's so badly done in my opinion and after comparing it to my War Machine life-size bust Arc Reactor, the difference in detail is a total disgrace!!

There are no excuses for this Sideshow

For this reason alone, I took it upon myself to attempt to improve the Arc myself and add at least something that could resemble an Arc Reactor...so within minutes of putting together a temporary design for test purposes I came up with this effect which just places on the top of the Arc

From this mod, I was able to eliminate the outer blue slop when in idle mode and yet add a hint of some kind of reactor detail once the lights were switched on....so with this done in just minutes, my thoughts turned to spending a bit longer on the MKVII design and see how good i could make it look. So here was a picture I found from the internet of the MKVII Arc Reactor design

During a free hour whilst at work, I put together another Arc Reactor Design using the same method as before and placing it over the existing Arc. Once the lights were turned on the image of the reactor design shined through with the blue tinge still evident around the outer edge which gave for beautiful light effect....this is what I came up with in just an hour

So for those who have the Iron Man bust and would like to try this mod for themselves this is how I did it:

first take a sheet of transparent card, these can be bought from any stationary suppliers or art and crafts store. You then primer one side of the card in white with a few coats until it's totally covered. Wait abt 10 minutes for the paint to dry and then by using a compass, measure the circle diamater of the Arc Reactor from the bust and then draw the same size circle on the card and cut it out Once you have it cut out, you'll need to put the painted side against the Arc so that the unpainted side of the card is facing you....which should look like this

So the next step is to find an Arc Reactor template of your choice via google, etc...and then print it out. The tricky part is getting the print out template to match the same size as the circle cut out of your Arc Reactor...I used a photocopier machine at work which allows you to increase or decrease the size of the picture to ensure that it fit inside the circle. Once you have the print out you then cut out (with a scalpel) all the parts of the Arc Reactor into individual pieces and then rebuild it onto the painted side of your circle cut out and glue it all in place. What you then have it's a self constructed Arc Reactor

The final step is to place your modified Reactor over the Arc on the bust, turn on the lights and what you should have is something like this

Remember, you can use any template of your choice, here is the Arc Reactor design for the MKVI armour which I also made to give you an idea

Now I know it's not ideal and nothing like the 3D representation of what we've seen on the War Machine bust but other than literally knocking out the original arc on the MKVII bust and placing in an actual arc reactor replica, this is probably the next best thing.....One thing to remember is that this mod is on the interior part of the Arc so unless the lights are switched on then your not going to see it hence why I've started to work on doing something similar but this time for the exterior side so that at least some kind of design can be seen when in idle mode as shown in this photoshop made by fellow freak markecho

So what's to happen in regards to my bust? Well Sideshow have actually been pretty helpful and are currently organising for a new replacement to be send out next week hopefully and so this time they will inspect things personally before sending it out (which should've been done by the head chief of QC at the Chinese factories no?)

All in all, if this new bust arrives with all the colours in the correct shade and with no major scratches, marks or dings...then I'd be happy to add it to my collection for sure. It's definately a grower and the more I see it each day, the more I like it....with that said, I still think the MKII and MKIII are better busts as a whole including War Machine thus making this MKVII my least favourite of them all but only by margins....it's still a very welcomed addition my only hope is that the MK42 and Iron Patriot life-size busts are taken more seriously in regards to QC and of course Arc Reactor designs...after all, they'll be coming with a whopping $999.99 price tag so that's gotta count for something....doesn't it? who the **** am I kidding

Thanks for looking guys here are some pics for you

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Asdf said:

Nice work Andy. I want to place stickers of those for the a Mark VII please hahaha

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Grumpy Bear said:

If you can get a good one it is a great piece, thx for the Review Andy.

The AR fworks and looks perfect. I hope SS will not see it, because the next bust will be +$200 for this easy fix.

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Boba Debt said:

What an agonizing journey.

The Arc Reactor mod looks great. I hope your replacement bust looks better. What do you do with the original bust when they send a replacement?

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Darkavatar said:

Good job on fixing the arc reactor but I am not surprized about the faults like the different shades of red between the chest armor and helmet by sideshow, they are not exactly known for their good QC. Hope your replacement turns out to be QC problem free.

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