Head: The Black Hole- Durant cast
Chest/back, arms: DCIH- Commissioner Gordon
Hands: IJ- Mutt Williams
Waist, legs: DCIH- The Question


General Austin
Pentagon Oversight
US Army
-As seen in Marvel Comics-

Head: The Black Hole- Durant cast
Chest/back, arms: DCIH- Commissioner Gordon
Hands: IJ- Mutt Williams
Waist, legs: DCIH- The Question

Design:

This is a figure I've wanted for 34 years.

Before we saw the Joes rescue Dr. Burkhardt in Marvel Comics GI Joe #1, we saw General Austin doing the prep-work at the Pentagon. General Austin wasn't a direct member of the GI Joe team, but was the man to whom General Flagg reported. The design is 50% accurate, 50% artistic license. In later issues of the Marvel run, General Austin was drawn as being a bit heavier. The change was possibly influenced by Sunbow's General Flagg (which looked nothing like Marvel's General Flagg). I chose the slimmer General Austin to have a more generic body.

General Austin was also shown with thinner hair on top in later issues, but was drawn early on with the peculiar "Harry Osborne" waved-line hair seen in comic books of the day. I used the Durant head because it was age-appropriate for the character and had a good look for the leaner drawings of General Austin.

I considered updating General Austin to something closer to the current dress uniform worn by the Army, which is blue. As a civilian who has only seen the green uniform from an artistic standpoint, it looked pretty great to me. It stood apart from any civilian colors. There are different shades of green for business suits, but none that come close to the pine green of the army dress uniform.

I almost got to use an entire DCIH body, but couldn't because the hands looked like turkey sandwiches.

Colors & Paint:

Based on the comic book/retired dress green uniform, with some artistic license.

Sculpting & Modifying:

I tried to make a generic cast uniform body... and it was a clunky mess. See my Secret Service Detail customs. After giving up on trying to make a cast set, I've gone back to working with actual parts (aside from the cast heads) and have come up with several good recipes. The head is cast and the jacket is sculpted, but the rest of the parts are from figures. The buttons aren't sculpted, but simply implied with thick paint spots.

Thanks for looking.

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