Post by luclin999 on Oct 21, 2013 10:31:02 GMT -5
As a child, "Danguard Ace" was my absolute favorite of all of the 6" diecast "Shogun Warrior" toys which migrated to the US. Each year I would check out the new toys listed in the Christmas "wish books" and each year I would be disappointed when I saw that it still wasn't included in the 24" line of toys. Marvel Comics only made things worse a few years later by including Dangard in the comic series.
So like a lot of adult American collectors, this figure has been my holiest of grails for quite some time.
As some of you already know, I did manage to snag one last May however the condition was not what anyone would describe as "good".
As you can see, the toy was suffering from both physical damage as well as missing almost ever removable piece except for the helmet.
Now normally when I receive a figure in this bad of a shape I tend to immediately begin the restoration process however this time that wasn't the case. The timing of this purchase was terrible in that I had just launched a Kickstarter for my business which would end up occupying nearly all of my time for the entire summer which in turn meant that I had to put all jumbo projects on hold... Even this one. The only work I managed to do on the figure before becoming swamped was to cast a new peg and repair its right arm, replace the missing launcher and shooting fists and cast a ~very~ rough piece to replace the missing chest cover. Bourno helped considerably by providing a set of his excellently done Repro leg blades as well as by making a rough mold for me of the outside of the black chest cover from his own Dangard which gave me a starting point for reconstructing one of my own.
But that was all that I had time to do for the figure before becoming swamped with other obligations.
So for months I have had to stare at this toy in its relatively sorry state and keep telling myself "maybe next week"...
... Well around the 1st of this month, "next week" finally came.
I scanned the scraps of the decals that came on my Dangard into my computer and scoured the web for additional images that I could use to base a set of reproduction decals from and took the time to clean up the black chest guard and recast one that both looks and fits properly onto the toy.
I may still make one more edit to the decal set (and add in the last 4 or five stickers that I still need to finish working on), cast a replacement for the missing missile clip on its left leg and of course, reproduce the missing wings but for now at least the figure is now back to the point where it can sit next to it's Jumbo brothers and not look like an extra from the "Island of Misfit Toys".
So like a lot of adult American collectors, this figure has been my holiest of grails for quite some time.
As some of you already know, I did manage to snag one last May however the condition was not what anyone would describe as "good".
As you can see, the toy was suffering from both physical damage as well as missing almost ever removable piece except for the helmet.
Now normally when I receive a figure in this bad of a shape I tend to immediately begin the restoration process however this time that wasn't the case. The timing of this purchase was terrible in that I had just launched a Kickstarter for my business which would end up occupying nearly all of my time for the entire summer which in turn meant that I had to put all jumbo projects on hold... Even this one. The only work I managed to do on the figure before becoming swamped was to cast a new peg and repair its right arm, replace the missing launcher and shooting fists and cast a ~very~ rough piece to replace the missing chest cover. Bourno helped considerably by providing a set of his excellently done Repro leg blades as well as by making a rough mold for me of the outside of the black chest cover from his own Dangard which gave me a starting point for reconstructing one of my own.
But that was all that I had time to do for the figure before becoming swamped with other obligations.
So for months I have had to stare at this toy in its relatively sorry state and keep telling myself "maybe next week"...
... Well around the 1st of this month, "next week" finally came.
I scanned the scraps of the decals that came on my Dangard into my computer and scoured the web for additional images that I could use to base a set of reproduction decals from and took the time to clean up the black chest guard and recast one that both looks and fits properly onto the toy.
I may still make one more edit to the decal set (and add in the last 4 or five stickers that I still need to finish working on), cast a replacement for the missing missile clip on its left leg and of course, reproduce the missing wings but for now at least the figure is now back to the point where it can sit next to it's Jumbo brothers and not look like an extra from the "Island of Misfit Toys".
