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(Six more photos at end.)
Although there is apparently some disagreement among audiences, I consider Conan the Barbarian a much better film than Conan the Destroyer. That said, it is undeniable that Conan the Destroyer has provided what is perhaps the most iconic image of Arnold Schwarzenegger as Conan, and especially so in its opening scenes.
I had long wanted to make myself a custom 1/6 action figure of this character, seeing that the high-end companies have consistently failed to make one (although there were several 7" iterations by NECA). Kaustic Plastik did provide two clothing and weapons sets (one of them including a decent but not quite great head sculpt), which still omitted any of the several prominent headgear from the two films and also the very characteristic teeth and gold/bronze amulet necklace worn by the character throughout Conan the Destroyer. A nice-looking 1/6 head of Conan with sculpted leather headgear and hair is available on eBay, but it did not work well with the Phicen M34 body, its sculpted locks either digging into the flesh or causing an overly long neck; I tried to fix the problem by clipping off the bottom of the sculpted hair, but then realized that in proper light the sculpt was that of an older Schwarzenegger that did not match the on-screen appearance very well. You can see this in a couple of the images I provided in my Phicen M34 body review HERE.
So I had to improvise, customize, and kitbash. I used the Kaustic Plastik "Fantasy Warrior Expansion Kit" and the Phicen M34 body as a starting point. I added a relatively youthful Hot Toys T-800 head (or knockoff), sliced off its sculpted hair and glued on Tibetan lamb hair from Morezmore (on eBay), following a helpful tutorial you can find HERE. The worst part was actually repainting the lips on the head sculpt which came looking as if someone had applied dark red lipstick to them while Conan reposed. I used the dagger, sword, sword scabbard, belt, codpiece, and boots from the Kaustic Plastik set, but I had to paint in the gold/bronze detailing on the sword and to make a new scabbard for the dagger and provide new fur and lacing for the boots; I used the same fur for the kilt, and made new vambraces out of leather, leather lace, and what seemed like a zillion tiny gemstones I repainted in bronze. The alterations were necessary to achieve a more screen-accurate appearance. I also made the characteristic teeth and amulet necklace out of leather and air-drying clay painted as bone and bronze/gold, respectively. The leather headgear I made out of leather, leather cord, and microbeads, gemstones, and some sort of pyramidal decorations for women's nails, all painted in bronze.
As source material I used the films themselves, movie stills and set photos. There was much that was difficult to figure out, for example the black-looking leather vambrace, headband, and boot lacing turned out to be very dark brown. There are things I wish I could improve: the necklace I might commission from a 3D printer for a sharper and more accurate appearance. On the other hand, I don't imagine I would be able to find a more youthful, trim, and sharp head sculpt any time soon.
I hope you enjoy.
