Hot Toys 1/6 Christopher Reeve Superman - Making it Movie Accurate

Hi everyone,

Here's the early stages of an attempt at making the (already superb) Hot Toys 1/6 Christopher Reeve Superman figure MOVIE ACCURATE.
This is a real labor of love that I'm working on with my good friend and fellow Super-fan Martin-El.

Step 1:
Remove rubbery chest logo from blue costume. It's best to do this when the costume has been taken off the body. Carefully pull the logo up (starting at the corners) and then continue to pull it up at a steady speed until removed. There was no damage to the costume and no glue residue left over at all. However, as you can see in the pic, there is a darker "shadow" left behind on the costume. Not a problem though because this will be fully covered up by the slightly larger, accurately designed logo.



Step 2:
Several sizes of chest and cape logos were tested, but ultimately, an exact 1/6 scale version of the full size artwork was used. The width of the HT chest logo wasn't far off, but it's not tall enough and most of you know how I feel about the innacurate design of the artwork they used. Screen printed logos will be made and then attached to the costume (we've matched the red and yellow to the color of the red trunks and yellow belt on the figure).

The cape logo is very badly off on the HT figure as you can see by comparing it to the accurate test print below it in this pic.

*Note: The logo varied slightly in the movie, but I selected one from the interview with lois scenes on her apartment balcony. The publicity pics of Reeve (and the famous standing in front of the stars and stripes) is a strange version of the logo which was only used in the publicity pics. That particular style of logo never appears in the actual movie, so I didn't use it*



Step 3:
Once again, after several different sized test prints, the best scale was chosen for the boot top detail which will be glued over the top of the HT boot. The engraved detailing on their boot is innacurate because this detail should sit proud of the main boot surface (and should be shaped differently too). Here's the test print wrapped around the HT boot (test print on the right hand boot, HT boot on the left).

This looks good but too me at least the boot is still too short, look forward to seeing the complete version of this.

Nice work on the logos, boots still need some work i think

Cool! Looking forward to seeing the finished product.

i wondered as well if you were going to raise the boot so that it's closer to the knee. Also, could you tell us what that material is called that you are going to use for the symbol? it's not one of those iron on printable paper is it?

Great to see this thread start up.

I'd also be interested in what material you are using for the boot mod Chris.

The HT boots being too short was one of my sticking points and also the fabric and pattern used on the cape. This is something I definitely want to do a custom on depending on how easy it is to remove the HT cape.

Thanks guys.

Unfortunately, I won't be able to increase the height of the boots too much because the bottom edge of the new detail needs to cover up the engraved line which HT put onto their boots. The new detail will make the boots slightly taller, but not as tall as they should be. I'm not going to make new boots or paint the existing ones so I decided to compromise and just put the accurate detail at the top. We're looking at different types of material and will select the best one which does the job.

The logos will be screen printed and will be a lot better quality than the "iron-on" type of technqiue. They will look like fabric (instead of the rubbery appearance of the HT logo).

I know what you mean about the cape Tyderium - I don't like the fabric choice or pattern either. However, I'm just planning on putting the accurate logo on there for now.

If I was to upgrade this figure all the way, I would have an entirely new suit and cape made for it. Since my main focus is on the 1/3 scale display which is in progress, I decided to just upgrade the logos and boot tops on this figure to improve it a bit.

Cheers,

Chris

I'll be watching. Very interested in how you will create the new chest shield.

Might I also suggest I thought HT's belt was one of the weak points and looks cheap compared to the rest of the figure.

The chest shield (and cape shield) are being screen printed onto fabric. They will then be attached onto the HT costume.

I thought they did a nice job of the belt buckle, but the fastener joint being in the front was a bit of a strange idea. I won't be changing it though. As I said - this is just a logo and boots upgrade.

Chris

Kamandi said:

I'll be watching. Very interested in how you will create the new chest shield.

Might I also suggest I thought HT's belt was one of the weak points and looks cheap compared to the rest of the figure.

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Will you be stitching the new shield or using iron-on fabric?

It will not be stitched. I forget the name of the stuff which is used to "bond" two pieces of fabric together, (it's not glue, LOL), but that's how it will be done. It should be stronger than how HT did it. The trickiest part is going to be making sure the logo is attached in the correct location because it will have to be bonded onto the costume while it's not being worn. I can see why some of the HT logos are not straight etc because it's difficult to judge it properly when the costume is taken off the figure (because it "shrinks" back to its unstretched size).

Martin-El should be able to remind me about what the stuff is called.

Kamandi said:

Will you be stitching the new shield or using iron-on fabric?

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Its cool that you are doing this but, i don't see much of a difference between what you have printed and what we got with the figure other then maybe a slight width change.

I wish I could see what you're seeing and then I wouldn't have to worry about doing this! LOL.

Actually, there isn't any change to the width, but it is taller on the movie accurate version / my printout.

All of the yellow shapes have been updated to the correct shapes on my test print and if you look at it side by side with the HT, you would see that the HT logo is just wrong.

Chris

Valfar said:

Its cool that you are doing this but, i don't see much of a difference between what you have printed and what we got with the figure other then maybe a slight width change.

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Wait, my HT Superman isn't screen accurate.

Crap.

I'm afraid not. Sorry you had to find out this way. LOL.

jye4ever said:

Wait, my HT Superman isn't screen accurate.

Crap.

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I guess what jumps out at me when looking at the real costume is the hand-made quality of it. There's an imperfect quality to the shield. Everything is hand stitched. Perhaps it stretched in ways the costume maker didn't expect.

That's the biggest thing missing from HT's 'S' to me. Not the width or height.

I agree 100%. That's why I've made sure the artwork on the replacement captures the exact appearance of the logo as it was being worn on Reeve's costume.

Kamandi said:

I guess what jumps out at me when looking at the real costume is the hand-made quality of it. There's an imperfect quality to the shield. Perhaps it stretched in ways the costume maker didn't expect.

That's the biggest thing missing from HT's 'S' to me. Not the width or height.

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please do share updates. darn you, now i hate the cape 'S'

the cape S seems to be higher than it appears in the movie as well. I suppose theres no way to fix it?

Valfar said:

Its cool that you are doing this but, i don't see much of a difference between what you have printed and what we got with the figure other then maybe a slight width change.

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cking said:

I wish I could see what you're seeing and then I wouldn't have to worry about doing this! LOL.

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I wish you could to.