A 'request' by a fellow I met at the WizardWorld Comicon this past April: Bring his old, battered (and horribly painted) Captain America statue back to life.

::What needed restoration / fixing:

-The weasel-face. Check out the WIP shot - it's horrible! The original piece looked like a B-List Spider-Man villain, complete with unevenly sculpted 'crazy' googly-eyes, and a distinctly non-heroic looking snout. Resculpted the face as much as the fellows budget would allow.

-The funhouse-mirror of a shield: Either due to a casting error or time, the shields vinyl had warped terribly. I heated it up, reset/cooled it, but wound up resculpting the entire top-surface by hand. Painted the shield top with MR. Color lacquer paint (red) & Vallejo Acrylic (blue & white) + sealed with x2 dips in Future Floor Polish (for the glossy & leveling/smoothing effect). Attached it with pieces cut from a MM Batman cape (black flexible plasic) for arm-straps.

-Fix the paint job. Not easily done. The craft-store acrylic paint was peeling off in many areas (and had a noticeable texture to it left by the original brush work). I used 3 rolls of paper towel, an entire can of acetone, some paint thinner, 2 toothbrushes, then 3 sheets of sandpaper and 2 sanding sponges & to get this figure free of paint-burrs in any crevices.

-Resculpted missing 'chunks' out of the vinyl. Used Aves apoxie sculpt & sanded it flush to the figure.

-Add a base. I found a good beveled wooden oval base at Walmart in the craft isle. I'd hoped to use something I had in the house, but the oval was the ideal size for this statue. Sanded down the rough wood with a sandpaper-holding device (usually used for sanding trim/floors), washed it, let it dry, then spray-painted it black. Repeated this x2 times for extra-smoothness, then sealed it with Citadel Matte Spray. Counter-sunk a long screw through the base, and into the figure's left-heel. Superglued both feet using my hobby-airplane "MAXI-CURE" Superglue.

Used custom mixes of Mr. Color lacquer paints in new jars for the main body blue / reds. Added wet-blend shading to some areas by tinting the base color a bit darker with black. All lacquer work required using a self-leveling thinner, otherwise the paint is just too thick. White/Black areas are painted on top of the cured lacquer paints in Vallejo acrylics w/ acrylic thinner. Whole figure (before shield was attached) sprayed with Citadel Matte Finish sealant.

Restoring this statue certainly was a learning process. As a result, I've sworn off statue work until I get an airbrush. Large areas with fine details just aren't the same as working on a 6" figure. It multiplies your workload, and amount of paint/materials required. Something to keep in mind if you decide to tackle a similar project yourself. I'm pleased how the final piece turned out though. :)