Helmet:
Note the smaller, amber, cooler-looking goggles than what I was going to use before.
What's neat about the helmet and facemask is that I don't have to shave my goatee or color my mustache and hair black.
I only realized the other day that I should've painted the helmet black. I always knew the action figure's helmet was black, but since all the accessories were, I didn't give it much weight. This pic is what threw me:
I mistook the helmet color for shading and the shading for the helmet color. Just like Spider-Man's early days, where the blue was meant to be the highlight and black the true color, only to have it reverse later.
Mutt's very first cartoon appearance is similarly misleading. This is the first shot of him in pt 1 of "The Revenge of Cobra":
But it looks a dark grey here (not black, like the goggle straps):
And seems a satiny black on the filecard:
And besides, you guys were right--blue is just too Cobra-y. So I'm going to repaint.
Dammit.
Gauntlet:
I bought the gloves for Star Wars costumes, for which I wear them unbuckled to maximize the flare, like so:
For Mutt, I cinch it up:
...which means I can't remove the straps as I'd planned for Star Wars use. Come inspection time, I know I'm gonna get an earful from my Rebel and Imperial superiors.
Mutt's glove is supposed to have ribs; sue me.
The kneepads are from an inline scating set of pads from K-Mart, painted brown:
Right after I painted these I remembered that I had originally intended to pick up SWAT kneepads. Owel.
I couldn't help replacing my little toy Uzi capgun with an Airsoft Mac 10 (close enough to a Mac 11):
The "Doby the doberman" Ty Beanie Baby was transformed into a rottweiler by blackening the brown "eyebrow" patches and scooping the black down into the brown areas of the cheeks:
I also gave him a black leather collar. Awwww...
(Don't tell him it's really a cat collar.)
This is how I'm attaching the baton and leash to the pants and belt:
I'm still tweaking the holster straps. How the hell do holster leg straps stay put without cinching 'em to the point of blocking blood flow? I sewed on loops for the straps but it needs work.
The holster I showed previously was too small. This one is almost perfect for the Colt. I also have a springer Beretta that needs work, but it also fits...barely.
Shoulder pads:
Army suspenders, worn inside-out since the padded side is puffier. The knife is attached to one strap, and the pouch will be to the other. I need to find cross-straps to keep them from trying to pull to the side and rip the wings off my shirt.
I'm going to have to wrap them around a cylinder to make them "remember" the shape of my shoulders so they won't try to poke out, especially in the back. I also had to keep the suspenders pretty tight to prevent this, but found it caused back strain. Might have to velcro them after all, and leave the straps fairly loose.
Speaking of the back, they go down much farther than on Mutt but oh well.
The shirt, color-corrected closer to reality:
Note the sergeant stripe pins.
The original filecard says he's a specialist, but later stats given here
joes.propadeutic.com/1989.html#muttshow a promotion, so I eagerly took the excuse to use the pins. I'm not sure where those stats are from but I'll take 'em.
I'll be inserting a cheater to stiffen up the collar, and will find a white t-shirt with a smaller neck hole. Not doing the turtleneck, sorry!
The facemask is a paintball mask from Wal*Mart, cut down considerably. It attaches to the chinstrap assembly via snaps:
The liner is not purple.
The hunting vest never arrived and I received a refund. I haven't come across another one that I like as much, so I'll probably just stick with the cartoon look.