God of Thunder .....And Rock'n'Roll ....

[thundergod]

As a life long KISS fan , it was only a matter of time before one or more of the members made their way to my workbench . So , with that in mind , here's my first attempt , founder member , Bass player , lead vocalist and biggest tongue/mouth/ego in rock , Gene Simmons !
The base body is a Sideshow buck ( o.k , I'd have preferred a better one , but I had a couple spare so that's that ) and the body suit is one of Spiderrogues custom jobs .

First I started with the face paint/make up .

Then I used Milliput to sculpt the hair . ( I'd previously experimented with rooted hair , but had mixed results and I wanted this to be a "quick" build , so I went the sculpted route ) .

I also used Milliput to sculpt the "Dragon boots" onto the feet . Here's the early stage of the first boot .

Next up was the "body armour ". I used craft foam and covered this with aluminium tape , which I scored with a scalpel to get the "stud " detail .

I used "pleather" for Gene's batwing "cape" and added studs for detail . The wings are made up from two layers and have gardening wire in between to enable posing .

Here's how Gene looks so far . The "wings" have yet to be fixed properly , so are not in the final position . More to follow ......

 

[katkuru]

That is Awesome!

 

[SirGor]

That a great start looking forward to the others.

 

[thundergod]

Thanks guys , I've re-done the body armour for a better fit , so Gene's looking a little neater now . ( And don't worry , I'm working out how I'll fill out Gene's codpiece before I'm done .)

 

[shocktrooper_au]

Looks great but yeah, figures have come a long way since the buck

 

[TheFiend]

Cool! KISS is one of my favorite bands! Did you sculpt the heads itself or is it from another figure just painted? Will you do other members?

 

[thundergod]

Cool! KISS is one of my favorite bands! Did you sculpt the heads itself or is it from another figure just painted? Will you do other members?

The head is the "Spinal Tap" David St John figure with sculpted hair added .

 

[Punishment1218]

Ive always been a fan of Kiss, and this looks awesome.

 

[thundergod]

I've done a little more work on Mr Simmons . I've completely re-done the batwings , as the pleather I used was too inflexible and didn't really work . The new material is more like a p.v.c and although doesn't look quite as authentic , works better with the figure . The boots are the next major headache as although I've an idea of how to do them " in theory " , " in practice " is not quite so easy ! But , I'm in no rush so I'll get there in the end . Until then , I'm starting to put the Bass together and I'm experimenting with adding " real " hair .

 

[thundergod]

Begun work on Gene's Bass ( heavily modified Gibson EB-0 , fact fans ).
First I found a good shot of it on the internet and printed out a few copies as close as 1/6 scale I could . I paper-glued this to a piece of styrene sheet and used my Dremmel to cut around the "template" .

I then used a sanding disc(s) to get as close as I could to the paper outline .

After removing the template I began to refine the guitar's shape ( by hand) with files and sanding pads . I've also added the neck/fretboard with another strip of styrene .

So that's where I stand at the moment , I see ahead of me a weekend of filing and sanding !

 

[SchmittyJames]

This is looking great TG!

 

[thundergod]

I've mostly been working on Gene's Bass over the weekend . I've refined the shape using mostly files and sanding pads then added details such as the scratchplate , pickup and nut ( the small strip at the top of the neck ).

I decided that the Bass was too slim so I added another thickness of styrene to both the body and neck . I also angled the headstock for a more accurate profile . The guitar won't end up 100% accurate ,but it'll do the job ! ( In fact , more eagle-eyed KISS fans will have spotted that the Bass is a Gibson EB-0 , which Gene had stopped using about a year earlier , but hey , sue me ! )
I've also added some "real" hair . ( It looks a little crazy at this point , but I'll tweak it as I go on .)

( Sorry for the varying size of photos , but my kids "helped" to take them and obviously someone got a little creative with the settings ! )

 

[thundergod]

After a couple of days unable to work on Gene , I've managed to get a little more done . Got some paint on the bass , put together the beginnings of a guitar strap and made the collar and chains . Just need to "tidy up" the batwings a little and add a couple of little details before I tackle the boots .

When the body/outfit is complete , I'll be returning to the head/face/hair as there are still a couple of little tweaks needed . Also undecided about whether to add some "blood" around the mouth and face , to depict Gene post blood-spitting !

 

[nexus]

This is looking great. The "real" hair makes it. I've been hoping a producer would do a 1:6 KISS line. May end up having to be a custom job.

 

[thundergod]

This is looking great. The "real" hair makes it. I've been hoping a producer would do a 1:6 KISS line. May end up having to be a custom job.

Have you not seen the "Repro Mego " line of figures ? They're very good and the line is expanding to include the various looks/outfits the band have had over the years . There was also the Medicom Gene and Paul figures which were excellent but VERY expensive . There are figures out there , but to be honest , the cost is prohibitive for me at the moment . But , I'm enjoying putting my Gene together and I'll no doubt be doing more versions of him ( if not the whole band ) . Thanks for the positive comments , by the way !

 

[TheFiend]

These two are brilliant! The really hair does wonders. That bottom pick really looks like Gene. Will you paint a bit of hair on the chest?

 

[TheFiend]

This is looking great. The "real" hair makes it. I've been hoping a producer would do a 1:6 KISS line. May end up having to be a custom job.

Have you seen the Medi Gene and Paul?

 

[nexus]

Have you not seen the "Repro Mego " line of figures ? They're very good and the line is expanding to include the various looks/outfits the band have had over the years . There was also the Medicom Gene and Paul figures which were excellent but VERY expensive . There are figures out there , but to be honest , the cost is prohibitive for me at the moment . But , I'm enjoying putting my Gene together and I'll no doubt be doing more versions of him ( if not the whole band ) . Thanks for the positive comments , by the way !

The 12" megos look poor quality and dollish to me. I even thought of picking up some for the costumes but those don't even look that good. The Medicoms look good, but only two out of the four. If they finished off the line I'd pick it up.

Maybe I can figure a way to get Ace and Peter customized at some point to work with the Medis.

 

[TheFiend]

My bad. That last one is a PF.

 

[nexus]

PFs look cool. Almost bought the set a couple of times. They are just bigger than I want. I might eventually get the Medis and transfer to HT bodies.