Action Figure Neca 1/4th Predator Custom Mod Thread Only

[Alice]

Haven't done a ton of work on this guy, but I'm slowly chipping away. Thought I'd post a few of my WIP pics of the torso.

This was after I'd taken my base white, added the brownish orange-red, and was just starting to layer up the white areas with some yellow to pull the colours together.

Here's the left side partially done with the right side still pretty much unblended.

And here's the torso with the first bits of blending pretty much done.

Here's the start of weaving the net. Started out using nylon thread. The thread itself is too thick, and my diamonds were closer to 1/2 scale than 1/4. Found some thinner twine. It's a bit closer to the proper size, but it's hard to work with. Very brittle, and it's hard to keep the diamonds very uniform. Putting the netting on the back burner for now.

And here's my current progress. Still tons of spotting to do, but slowly getting there.

On the next sunny day I'll reassemble him and take a picture in the sunlight to point out all the various stages of completion. Might help people to see the different stages of the paint up all in one picture.

 

[CodeTalker]

Looks absolutely insane.. One of the best City Hunter customs ever.

 

[Alice]

Here's a picture of it loosely assembled long enough to take a picture in direct sunlight. All the pieces are in various stages of paint-up and completion. You can see in direct sunlight that the darker skin patterns are still very much red-orange. I'm trying to paint it so it's light reactive, since in "on set" and "in shop" pictures the colors can vary from red-orange to dark brown and even almost black depending on lighting.

There are still several physical mods I have planned, so several armor pieces haven't been touched with paint at all at this point. The knee pads will be modified to sit on the knees properly, so I'll be removing the elastic. The right thigh armor will be resculpted to be more accurately sized due to it being made larger to accommodate the disc accessory, while in the movie a bit of movie magic was used and the slightly smaller prop was used to represent the "holstered" disc. I'm also going to segment the groin armor and do a few slight modifications to the plasma caster. The net gun is also getting a make over as well.

 

[CodeTalker]

So just going over your progress again so far, you first sanded the factory mask down for smoothness and applied putty to cover the existing pits and re sculpt the some areas a bit?

Also, that hand is looking pretty damn real...

 

[G-M53]

Outstanding work Alice. It's gonna be 5 years before I finish my Elder at the rate I'm going. Haha.

 

[Alice]

So just going over your progress again so far, you first sanded the factory mask down for smoothness and applied putty to cover the existing pits and re sculpt the some areas a bit?

Also, that hand is looking pretty damn real...

Yeah. I went over the whole mask really quickly with a light sandpaper just to knock back the paint, and then sculpted over it a bit. Then I used light sandpaper to smooth my sculpted bits to shape and then went over the rest of the mask with a slightly heavier grit paper to take out some of the heavier pock marks. Finally, I went in with the putty, and puttied it smooth, but left a few bumps and dings so it wasn't perfectly smooth. It still has plenty of texture. Just more along the lines of hammered metal like the P2 mask, and less like the heavily pitted AVP masks.

Outstanding work Alice. It's gonna be 5 years before I finish my Elder at the rate I'm going. Haha.

I wouldn't be surprised if mine takes me that long as well. Been working on it off and on since September. If I work on it too much I get burned out, but the way it's going it seems like there's no end in sight.

Well, no luck with the netting. Best I could find was 1cm mesh. Works out to about .4", so just a little under twice the .25" it should be. It's still a nice thickness, and has a nice cloth hang, so it will work fine until I find something better. I had it in a dye bath through the night.

Took the netting out of the bath, and gave it a good soap scrub. Dye didn't take 100%, so it's currently a deep, dirty, dark green. At the very least, it's not bright green like it was, and I had planned on a little aging and weathering with the airbrush anyway, so no biggie. Still looks slightly too big, which, I guess, is because it technically is, but I think it's the best I'm gonna get without having something custom made. It's got the closest thing to the baggy, grungy look the movies had. A lot of the netting I see people putting on theirs looks too new and "perfect" and I really liked the way it just looked like it was neglected, baggy and ripped in the movies. I think the slight oversize of some of the diamonds will look less obvious once I've futzed it a bit before I'm done.

 

[CodeTalker]

I see, I'm guessing by "sculpted over it a bit" you used Putty for that also? The netting looks great, maybe slightly slightly too big but it's definitely better than the neat "new" netting people apply. So far, with your latest image you could almost mistake it for the Hot Toys City Hunter, needless to say this is looking much better and "film accurate."
I'll also be customizing my 1/4 City Hunter soon too and selling my Big Red, so this guy will be the only Predator I have until I can manage to get my hands on a Classic Predator as a complimentary display partner. I really do wish NECA did 1:6 Scale, I wanted to have a quality Lost Tribe display but figured the 8" aren't as dawning but a 1/4 Lost Tribe would be too big and take up too much room. Can't go with Hot Toys 1:6 because they are inaccurate in terms of Sculpt, which is the most important part... I don't mind repainting, in fact I find it really interesting but if they mess up a Sculpt there really is nothing much you can do. So this guy and 1/4 classic will have to be it for me. Let's hope NECA also does 1/4 Aliens to go with these guys, now the 4 Main Aliens... That I wouldn't mind in this size.

 

[P.]

Alice
you're a real master of painting and of knowing predator colors. what you do is just magnificient. i'm envious.

 

[kam veitch]

that netting looks perfect for me, way better than Necas

 

[Alice]

I've put up an interest thread for the P2 helmet. Anyone that's interested can add their name to the list. Hopefully, we can get enough people to justify me going through the trouble of making copies.

https://www.sideshowcollectors.com/...movie-accurate-bio-mask&p=6745835#post6745835

 

[Psycho]

I was just curious.... Has any customizers recasted the Original p1 bio and able to put it on the gort head??? Seeing how easy the P2 bio comes off I think it would be cool for someone to offer an 1/4 P1 Bio.. As the P1 masked is over $200 now....

 

[Alice]

Please ignore any scratches or white spots, as those areas are in the process of improvements. While working on the interior I had a lightbulb moment. I recalled I had a bit of metal mesh I used for my model kits that was just sitting in one of my supply cabinets. I went and dug it out, and was pleasantly surprised at how close it was to being what I needed, and I'd had it all along. As you can see in the following picture, it's pretty dead on to what was used on screen (during the unmasking in the slaughterhouse). The only "problem" is it's shiny and reflective. I use problem in quotes, because it's totally fixable with some paint. I can easily dull the shine and add a bit of faux rust like the film.

 

[Psycho]

Please ignore any scratches or white spots, as those areas are in the process of improvements. While working on the interior I had a lightbulb moment. I recalled I had a bit of metal mesh I used for my model kits that was just sitting in one of my supply cabinets. I went and dug it out, and was pleasantly surprised at how close it was to being what I needed, and I'd had it all along. As you can see in the following picture, it's pretty dead on to what was used on screen (during the unmasking in the slaughterhouse). The only "problem" is it's shiny and reflective. I use problem in quotes, because it's totally fixable with some paint. I can easily dull the shine and add a bit of faux rust like the film.

That looks awesome!!!!! Very bad ass... Love it!!! Great work...

 

[geopina]

Wow, really great repaints. If i get one i may try to repaint mine.

 

[#Brian]

Took some pics today of one I did last year.. it's a bit dusty.
Some details are not 100% but I was just having fun on this one.
Is a "mid level repaint".. only painted armor, skulls, and minor touch up.
It was a Gort and I converted it with a cast bio I bought on ebay from a member here.

 

[Alice]

Has anyone ever managed to get the ball joint out of the thighs on the City Hunter?

 

[#Brian]

I was just curious.... Has any customizers recasted the Original p1 bio and able to put it on the gort head??? Seeing how easy the P2 bio comes off I think it would be cool for someone to offer an 1/4 P1 Bio.. As the P1 masked is over $200 now....

I did it. Pics a few posts back. You have to trim the lower jaw quite a bit and it is nerve racking. I heated it up real well so I could have more control when trimming

 

[OM1D]

Alright, I realize I'm a bit late on this predator collecting train. Just got my first Neca predator (closed mouthed 1/4 scale jungle hunter) and have been nibbling this thread in the past days. Amazaing, amazing stuff.

Now, I'd like to customize this bad boy. So I decided to jump into the shallow end; quills. Wondering if you have any suggestions on what to use, how to use it?

Actually, any tips at all is monstrously welcome. Not only about this, but about netting, artists who still do commissions, painting yourself, etc.

Multiple thanks.

 

[OM1D]

Has anyone ever, in the history of these figures, tried their hands on making a bio-mask for the closed mouth Jungle Predator?

I know even the closed mandibles protrude too far for it to work perfectly, but maybe the inside of the mask's mouth part can be made ridiculously thin. Or the mandibles heated and closed further...

 

[georgieboy26]

Has anyone ever, in the history of these figures, tried their hands on making a bio-mask for the closed mouth Jungle Predator?

I know even the closed mandibles protrude too far for it to work perfectly, but maybe the inside of the mask's mouth part can be made ridiculously thin. Or the mandibles heated and closed further...

even with the bio made thin, its nigh on impossible to fit because of mandibles, you would need to mod the manibles to be removable, like hot toys do...it can be done...made a few bio's in the past to use as props