HT Predator 2 Mods (Dreads + Left Hand)

HT Predator 2 Mods

Ok.. pics first.





DREADS BEFORE:


DREADS AFTER:




LEFT HAND BEFORE: (Source - PredatorStuff.com)


LEFT HAND AFTER (W/SKULL):




THE END RESULT:





Details to follow. I need to add another post since I have more pics. Thanks.

good job bro. I like it a lot.

outstanding work! would love to see a recipe for this indeed.

DREAD MODIFICATION
Tools Needed: Wire, Wire Cutters, Krazy Glue (I use the Gel Krazy Glue) & Possibly Scissors (Since Step 3 is Optional).

A member from The Hunter's Lair named hellonearth did the same exact Mod except he used a different technique. Here's his:

hellonearth said:

well initially, i tried the "remove and cut at an angle" method, and honestly it didnt work like it sounded it would but i had already sat down and decided i was gonna do somethin about em so i came up with a different idea, and like i said in the brief description, it is a tedious pain in the ass but im so glad i did it! now if you really wanna know ill tell you,it started by removing all of the dreads (except the tiny ones next to his face) KEEP THEM IN ORDER!! and right up next to the top of the dread (about 1/8 to 3/16 of an inch away from where the dread meets the head) on the bottom side of the dread i cut a tiny, up-side-down "v" shaped notch out, YOU WANT IT TO STILL BE CONNECTED dont severe the dread, keep it attached on the upper side, then once you have that little notch cut out put a dot of glue (krazy) in there and then fold the two pieces together ( it ll kinda resemble how the p2 elders dreads are bent at the top) but the closer you can get that notch to the top without ^^^^in it up the better, do that to every single one of them (at least the ones on the sides) and start re-glueing them from the bottom up! thats it really , was a major pain in my ass , but who am i kidding, i live for this ^^^^, and it was worth all the pain and suffering .

Click to expand...

With my Mod you get the same result but you avoid all the cutting with hellonearth's method.


STEP 1
Remove all the wonky dreads carefully. For my P2, there was quite a few but luckily the majority of dreads (especially in the back) were already pretty flat. So I ended up only having to remove probably 10 - 12 total.

STEP 2
Next I simply inserted a small piece of wire into the top part of the dread and bent it. Just plain thin wire you can buy from Home Depot or wherever. You can even use that flexible green wire used for gardening. Whatever, as long as it can maintain the bend you give it and it can pierce through the soft dread rubber straight. Now the dread (should) look like the P2 Elder dreds.. with that slight bend at top and then a nice even drop so the dread lays flat against the face. Best part is, you still retain the free flowing movement of the dreads near the bottom even though there's a piece of wire in near the top. So they'll still shake around.. but when at rest they'll lay flat like they should.

STEP 3 (OPTIONAL)
I personally cut some of the length off of certain dreads.. I didn't like how they were really long. If you don't wanna do that just skip to Step 4. Basically I picked the really annoying long dreads out, cut beneath the first/top dread ring. Then cut as much length from the black dread off as I saw fit.. then re-attached that black part right under the ring with some Krazy glue. imo it looks better.

STEP 4
Last part.. this step just involves visually figuring out the best way to re-attach the dreads so that all of them lay flat and give you the desired effect you're going for. I would suggest starting from the bottom up (lower dreads first) and then leaving the upper ones (if you have any) for last. The reason is, you might have to make adjustments because the dread rings sitting on top of each other are what really makes the dreads flail out. So when you re-attach them try to place them in a way that avoids that.. or at least as best as you can. If you run into a really pesky one just add more bend to the dread wire so the drop off part of the dread sticks further in towards the head. That SHOULD solve the problem.

And that's it. Real simple and all together it took me probably 1/2 hour to an hour.. I'm not really sure since I was doing other stuff in between. lol. Here's some more pics to illustrate the end result and one pic that shows how far/much wire I inserted and 2 of the (I think) 4 dreads I cut.












Next post will be the Left Hand Mod.
HT addicts will probably NOT attempt this Mod. lol..

Damn that looks good

LEFT HAND MODIFICATION
Tools Needed: Wire Cutters (or any cutting device), Krazy Glue (I use the Gel Krazy Glue) & Possibly Paint (For Touch-ups if they're needed) and Pliers (Since Step 4 is Optional).


If you're like me, then you were pretty disappointed that the P2 Kit only came with a wide open left hand. I had planned to display my P2 like how I have it now (after the Mod) which is a pose inspired by this pic:



Even the HT box art shows the P2 figure holding his Combi-Stick in his left hand while holding the bloody skull in his right. I just figured I swap the Combi-Stick for the bloody skull and I'd achieve the look I wanted. Well you know how that turned out. Oddly my P2 had a crossing guard left hand for stopping traffic. smh.. But he also had something else.. something useful. P2 comes with 4 hands. 1 Open Left Hand and then 3 Right Hands. 1 for holding the Combi-Stick. 1 Open like the Left Hand. And 1 for holding the Smart Disk.. but hey.. that 1 that's for holding the Smart Disk is perfectly shaped for holding that bloody skull. Hmmm.. if only THOSE fingers were on the left hand.

*grabs cutters*


OK HERE WE GO. PREPARE TO SHUTTER!


STEP 1
Take the Right Hand that has the really bent fingers used for holding the Smart Disk and cut off every single finger (including the thumb) ABOVE the finger armor.

STEP 2
Do the same exact thing to the open Left Hand.

STEP 3
Now rearrange the fingers and thumb from the Right Hand to the Left Hand. If there's minor gaps or problems with the paint don't worry it can be fixed later after glueing it all up. I suggest placing each finger individually one by one leaving the thumb for last. As you glue down each finger test fit the Skull to see where the fingers are falling to make sure it looks good and looks like it's gripping the skull. Remember this is 100% visual and well differ from Mod to Mod based off of preference and skull placement. For me, I didn't like how all four finger had an even bend to them (because the fingers are set up to hold the Smart Disk) so I gave the pinky finger a slight slant cut before re-attaching it so it has a deeper bend than the other 3 fingers. I did this because the other 3 fingers are gripping the jaw bone and the bottom of the skull.. but the pinky is near a section of the skull that has an indentation. So I gave that finger a deeper bend so it wasn't hanging out gripping nothing, which looked stupid to me. Anyways, once you have the 4 fingers attached to your liking place the Skull into the hand and figure out the final position you want it in BEFORE attaching the thumb. If you don't, the thumb might be too tight or too loose and not look right. Again.. just visually inspect it before glueing.

STEP 4 (OPTIONAL)
Depending on how you place the fingers and your display set up you might not have to bother with this. I HAD to because my Preds sit on top of an entertainment tower that moves quite a bit. Especially with my son banging into them. lol. What I did was I placed a very small nail with a nice size head directly into the part of the skull that will eventually be hidden underneath the palm. I just pushed it in enough to mark it so I'd know where to place the nail later. Next I heated up the nail head over the stove and burned the impression directly into the P2 palm. That way once the nail is attached to the skull the head will fit snug in the palm directly into the hole I burned. After that I inserted the nail into the skull (the skull plastic is very soft so it goes in really easy. Use some pliers to get it all the way in, depending on what size nail you use). Then I glued the nail head and slid it into the hole in the palm and that's that. I did this just to make it easier to glue because I tried to glue the skull to the hand as is and it didn't go so well, the paint came off both the skull AND palm. Like I said though, if your set up doesn't move much you can probably just skip this since the skull will probably sit fine in the modified Left Hand. I wanted to make sure mine didn't constantly fall out.

STEP 5
Once you've attached all the fingers and thumb, do a visual check for any problems with the paint. If you need to do touch-ups now's the time. I used fabric paint which is thick and dries like elastic for my touch-ups since it helps to fill in any gaps (which regular paint WON'T do). Once you're done with any touch-ups.. place the skull into the hand and enjoy!!!

Real simple and all together it took me probably 1/2 hour to an hour.. I'm not really sure since I was doing other stuff in between. Again. lol. Here's some more pics to illustrate the end result and one pic that shows where I cut the fingers.








P2 & WOLF (Why Not)



Well.. that's it. Thanks for looking.

Sweet (and brave) mods!

Great job !

your brave! But you've pulled it off very well! Looks amazing

P2 & WOLF (Why Not)



Well.. that's it. Thanks for looking.[/QUOTE]
That looks killer bro!! But....without a duplicate P2 I don't have the testicular fortitude to cut my pred.

Looks awesome but you are much braver than I am!

Yeah, I know a lot of people prefer to keep all the accessories intact because they like to switch up poses, and obviously by doing that Left Hand Mod you'll lose the Right Hand used to hold the Smart Disk. So that's definitely a drawback for people in that category. Myself, the pose you see my P2 in is the pose he'll stay in. So the 2 extra hands (Smart Disk Holding Right Hand + Open Right Hand) were just catching dust. So for me it wasn't a big deal to chop chop. Like I said it's all about preference. Some people don't really even care about the dreads.. so for those people my Dread Mod won't even matter.



FYI: ALTERNATIVE LEFT HAND MODS

METHOD 1: HOT WATER/COLD WATER MOD If you're not really down to cut up the P2 hands you COULD try this Mod but speaking from first hand experience, the result isn't as good. Everyone should know the Hot Water/Cold Water trick by now. Dip whatever piece of plastic you're trying to Modify into Hot Water, shape it and then immediately dip it into Cold Water and it'll retain that shape. Well I tried that, and atleast for mine I couldn't get the fingers to bend as dramatically as that Disk Holding Right Hand.

Plus you have to remember plastic has memory. Heat loosens it, Cold freezes it and helps it to hold the Modified shape.. but once it's heated up again it immediately goes back to the original shape it was in before you Modified it. I keep my figures out in the open.. and my house gets HOT. All it would take is one hot day and bye bye Hand Mod. lol.. also JUST handling the Left Hand (to fit it with the skull) after I used the Hot Water/Cold Water method made it lose the Modified shape. Just the heat from my hands! So imo you'll never achieve the same look with that method. If anyone does though please post pics, I'd love to see it. Plus it would be easier, since no cutting, etc.


METHOD 2: MODIFYING THE LEFT HAND FINGERS ONLY
I guess you could also try cutting up JUST the Left Hand fingers and reshaping them. But imo this would be twice as much work since you'd have considerable gaps inbetween all the joints. Not even fabric paint will fill in all that. So you'd need some type of putty.. then you'd have to touch-up twice as much including the actual P2 skin. So if you're not confident that you can match that Hand color I would suggest not even trying that since the hands are very visible and any discoloration will be immediately noticeable.


So that's 2 alternatives.. but I tried the first one and for me it didn't work like I wanted it to. But again, these Mods are about preference so maybe for you it might be good enough. Plus the water doesn't damage the hands so there's no harm in trying. Good luck!

devil_666 said:

Yeah, I know a lot of people prefer to keep all the accessories intact because they like to switch up poses, and obviously by doing that Left Hand Mod you'll lose the Right Hand used to hold the Smart Disk. So that's definitely a drawback for people in that category. Myself, the pose you see my P2 in is the pose he'll stay in. So the 2 extra hands (Smart Disk Holding Right Hand + Open Right Hand) were just catching dust. So for me it wasn't a big deal to chop chop. Like I said it's all about preference. Some people don't really even care about the dreads.. so for those people my Dread Mod won't even matter.

Click to expand...

Hmm...I've got an extra set of P2 hands...may have to give this a try. I didn't like the lack of options for the left hand.

EYE MODIFICATION
Tools Needed: Nail, Pliers, Ball Bearings & Paint.


The eyes have always bothered me on this figure. I mainly display my P2 with the Bio on, because I prefer it that way but also because the eyes look goofy. They're too close together, almost cross eyed and you could barely see them. Plus HT missed the mark with the black paint around the eyes. So I decided to fix that.



BEFORE:

PHOTO CREDIT: PredatorStuff.com


AFTER:




EXTREME MOD!!!! PREPARE TO SHUTTER!


STEP 1
Grab the nail with some pliers and heat that bad boy up over the stove. Keep the nail in the blue part of the flame. Make sure you make the holes big enough to fit whatever you plan on using for the eyes (I used the little ball bearings you'd find on a shower drain chain. lol). Once it's hot.. start poking. Remember: The head is HOLLOW so be careful not to poke completely through or even worse, through the front of the head right out the back into your hand! Use caution. The nail doesn't have to be super hot to make a hole. Also be careful not to burn any of the surrounding brow etc. on the face when making the holes.

I used this pic as a minor reference for the eye spacing:


PHOTO CREDIT: PredatorStuff.com

Mainly it's whatever looks good to your eye. You might want more or less. It's whatever you feel looks right.


STEP 2
This step will be interchangable with step 3 depending on which way you feel is easiest. I inserted the ball bearings in and THEN painted them. If you feel like painting them first and THEN placing them in is easier, do it like that. For me, I inserted them in first because the plastic expands around the holes you make for the eyes and as it cools it contracts. So I found I didn't need any glue since I inserted the ball bearings and the plastic cooled and contracted AROUND them. So those suckers are pretty much stuck in there. But like I said.. it's whatever you feel is easiest for you. Once you place them in it's time to paint.


STEP 3
Now I'm no Figure Master Les or DarkArtist.. so I do what I can and don't expect much because I'm real. My painting skills suck. So I'm 100% sure someone with actual skill could REALLY do this Mod some justice.. but I did my best. Also take into account: I painted these eyes with a F'ing wooden skwer used for Shish-kabobs(sp!?) no brush. What I did first was the black around the eyes. After that I made a nice size semi-dark orange circle in each eye. Then a smaller yellow circle. Followed by a very small black circle for the pupil. I intentionally left the silver of the ball bearings on the sides of the eyes because I don't display my figures in shelves with light. So these guys sit out in the open with only room lighting. What I found was, even making the eye white plus the rest of the eye coloring I used, you still COULD NOT clearly see the eyes. Again, because of lighting etc. It basically looked like 2 black holes. But after leaving just a little of the metallic silver from the ball bearings visible.. NOW you can atleast make out the shapes of where the eyes are. For some reason that metallic silver catches any little hint of light and shines. So I left it like that on mine. If you have a light source I don't think you'd need to do the same. But I think it looks cooler anyways.. makes the eyes look inhuman. Unfortunately the detail isn't showing up in any of my pics. Blah.. you get the idea though.













Next: Knee Pad Mod. (Minor Mod)

Nice mods on the dreads and left hand,
but the eyes, I don't know, looks a little cross-eyed...

PLUG I have 3 extra Predator 2 hands for sale if anyone is interested in trying this out...

kuzeh said:

Nice mods on the dreads and left hand,
but the eyes, I don't know, looks a little cross-eyed...

Click to expand...

You can't see the black pupils in any of my pics. Trust me it's dead straight. I'm picky like that.
Mainly focus on the overall position of the entire eyes and how it's more accurate as opposed to the default beady eyes and positioning of the head out of the box. For me it was always annoying.

D666,
Those eyes are pretty cool.

Guys/Gals,

The left hand mod is not that difficult, but you do need to take your time if you
choose to try it. You want to make sure the fingers are attached to the "new" left
hand in the position that you want them so you don't have to deal with any glue drama.

I am by no means a great customizer, so I know that if I can do the hand mod, most folks should have no problems. Here are a few pics of mine:

Hey GDZILLA95.. saw your mod over at the Lair. Excellent job!!!

in all seriousness... this is the best pred mod i've seen on here.
it's so subtle, but makes a whole world of difference on the look of the figure.
i always thought the head just looked too weird. like it was too big, or the wrong shape... and it was the dreads the whole time.


and i'm totally rethinking not wanting one of these now...