Brown Hornet

This Brown Hornet line is by Liz Kennedy.

The fun thing about 70's cartoon characters is that the animators seemed to draw them differently every time, as in the Superfriends' cartoons.

This gives you a lot of freedom to interpret, and makes it easier not to worry about being 100% on model.




The Brown Hornet was made from Cartoon Network's Space Ghost figure. The figure was sanded heavily to remove details, and Magic Sculp resin was used to smooth out the musculature and "dremel bites."

The Brown Hornet's face, ears, chin, and nose were all sculpted from scratch by using Space Ghost's head as a sort of core.

The shoulders, biceps, and thighs were sanded heavily to thin them then resculpted in the beefy but not muscular 70's cartoon style, including knee bumps. I love it that Brown Hornet is so buff from the waist up, but has skinny, knobby knees. Pointy toes and the cape details were added, and a wet washcloth was used to make the knappy texture of his afro.

Stinger started life as a Mulan "Po" figure. His entire lower body was removed and the plug which attached it to the torso was cut free and reversed, then inserted to "plug" the hole in the torso. It would have taken many hours and too much clay to completely fill in the body cavity.

Everything below his waist was then sculpted from scratch, excepting the feet which were added to and reshaped, then attached to the torso with heavy gauge wire as armature.

With this in place his thighs were sculpted. I think he was most difficult to make, because of his size. It was difficult to balance him so that he would stand alone.

His cape is part of a clearanced animated superman's cape and was attached to his rounded, pudgy back with clay.

Tweeter was made by beheading and de-feeting a PVC Minnie Mouse figure. A solid square of clay was wrapped around her torso, and her neck peg served nicely to anchor his hat. For practicality's sake his cape was sculpted on. Although it is inflexible and a little thick, it was easier than struggling to both make him stand and attach vinyl to his flat back.

Tweeter is now all sculpted clay, and as such is extremely heavy. However, his legs and arms remain the original plastic coated wire and are still posable.

Again, they're not completely on-model, but neither were the hazy, static filled cartoons I watched in making them. With 70's shows and toys, it's the spirit of the character you're after, and I'm convinced I (mostly) captured it.

Since this is my first ever entry into a Custom Con, I want to publicly thank all the members of each customizing group (Smartgroups and Delphi) for all the help in learning to customize. These figures represent my 3rd public showing, and I finally feel like I'm getting the hang of it thanks to your help and advice.

Thanks!