Head: '87 Mercer
All Else: '97 Hawk

Design:

This was one of the first customs I made as a "grown up" back in the late '90's.

The '97 figures were really hit and miss. The milky plastic used for the flesh tones was horrible. The Joes' heads looked buttery and almost semi-translucent. The detail in the molds was pretty much lost- and the paint applications weren't very good either.

To salvage Hawk and bring the character closer to its Herb Trimpe comic book design, I replaced the Hawk head with an '87 Mercer one. The flattop haircut and angular features were a much better match for Hawk than was the wavy-haired head of the Hasbro figure.

Colors & Paint:

Even when Hasbro first used the wavy-haired Hawk head in '86, it just didn't feel like Hawk. (It wasn't until '04 that Hasbro put out a Hawk head that looked right). I assumed that Hasbro wanted to make Hawk and Duke look less alike, so Hawk (being the less popular of the two characters) got a dye job. The face of the '86 head is really well sculpted and detailed, but I couldn't get around the brown wavy hair. The Mercer head was an easy choice. With the blonde hair, it's a pretty good replacement head. Aside from the hair, I also painted the shoulder rivets to better match the jacket.

Being an early custom, this one was done before I learned to wetbrush. Some of the paint has visible brush strokes and rough patches.

Thanks for looking.