Hot Toys The Batman modifications & OT Customs collars

[rory]

I received my Unreal collar/neck combo last week and compared them to my OT and HT versions. Grandted, I modified my HT neck to be a bit taller, but for the most part I'm looking at sculpt and finish. The Unreal has a really well designed neck, and is solidly made in general. But it has a very matte paint job, and flat texture, which is problematic when seen against the Hot Toys semi gloss leather textured parts. I could solve the finish by adding some semi gloss topcoat, but there's nothing I can do for the smooth texture.

The Unreal neck is really well built and has a great, though maybe somewhat overly corrected height. The head still sits better and more seamlessly on the HT neck.

The OT customs is still my preferred option, with my modded HT neck. It has a better finish that matches the HT sculpt better and the sculpted thread work has that dull brownish/red paint that helps it blend into the head, neck.

I'd love to get my hands on the Art15 or OSK bits, but don't know whether or not I'll keep this Bats, given the InArt shipping eventually.

Unreal neck and collar...

OT Customs collar with HT neck

OT collar and HT modded neck installed.

 

[Nine Inch Nails]

How do you mod the hot toys neck?

 

[rory]

How do you mod the hot toys neck?

I removed the black rubber socket from inside the neck and repositioned it by about an 1/8 inch. Then added glue to secure it. Was really a simple and clean mod.

 

[Nine Inch Nails]

Sweet. Thanks.

 

[Captain Clown]

It almost looks like the Unreal neck + collar need a layer of paint for them to really pop.

 

[Blobbins]

I removed the black rubber socket from inside the neck and repositioned it by about an 1/8 inch. Then added glue to secure it. Was really a simple and clean mod.

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Dang, that rubber piece is a pain to get off. How'd you manage to remove yours? Also, is that the stock cape on the OT collar and HT modded neck picture?

 

[rory]

Dang, that rubber piece is a pain to get off. How'd you manage to remove yours? Also, is that the stock cape on the OT collar and HT modded neck picture

Yeah that's the stock cape. Just used some double sided tape here and there to get it to lay naturally.

Hopefully this pic helps, you want to slide a very thin metal/plastic tool between the wall of the plastic neck and the outside of the rubber socket plug (where the green arrows point), going all the way around to loosen it, and then you can gently pry/pop the socket out and reposition it. I pulled my socket out by about 1/8 - 1/4 inch and then added a few dabs of glue here and there to hold it in place. I used a dab black paint over the glue to blend it in because I'm neurotic, lol, because obviously no one would see that anyways.

It's a pretty durable part, so you can adjust and redo as necessary.

 

[KerotanFrog]

Decided to go with the OSK collar. It looks good enough to my eyes and will def improve the figure's look. And its def the cheapest collar put there lol. I doubt anything else is $55 shipped.

 

[rory]

Simple mod. Since modding the figure with to OT collar (or any collar that adds much needed height) the Pattinson sculpt now sits way too low. So I carefully pried out the existing connector and modified a generic rubber neck connector to sit at the right depth, trimming away excess rubber until I liked the length. It friction fits in the head, like any other and gets me the height I wanted. I saved the original HT neck connector since it can easily be restored, though I'm not sure I'd ever swap it back.

 

[DEATHASYLUM]

Looks way better now with the correct height

 

[bk9196]

Decided to go with the OSK collar. It looks good enough to my eyes and will def improve the figure's look. And its def the cheapest collar put there lol. I doubt anything else is $55 shipped.

With coupon code, it's 45 actually. Yeah no one gonna beat it

 

[Gipetto0812]

Simple mod. Since modding the figure with to OT collar (or any collar that adds much needed height) the Pattinson sculpt now sits way too low. So I carefully pried out the existing connector and modified a generic rubber neck connector to sit at the right depth, trimming away excess rubber until I liked the length. It friction fits in the head, like any other and gets me the height I wanted. I saved the original HT neck connector since it can easily be restored, though I'm not sure I'd ever swap it back.

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Super cool little trick to get the right height! thanks for always sharing your processes with accompanying photos

 

[rory]

Super cool little trick to get the right height! thanks for always sharing your processes with accompanying photos

Thanks. Yeah, I hate it when people post there mods but keep it all super secret. I've learned a lot from other's walk throughs, I feel compelled to share my own.

 

[Lee in MI]

Simple mod. Since modding the figure with to OT collar (or any collar that adds much needed height) the Pattinson sculpt now sits way too low. So I carefully pried out the existing connector and modified a generic rubber neck connector to sit at the right depth, trimming away excess rubber until I liked the length. It friction fits in the head, like any other and gets me the height I wanted. I saved the original HT neck connector since it can easily be restored, though I'm not sure I'd ever swap it back.

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Thanks for sharing.

Why did you have to mod the peg though? You moved the neck ring down but I don't get the peg modification.

 

[Chopper Face]

Thanks for sharing.

Why did you have to mod the peg though? You moved the neck ring down but I don't get the peg modification.

If he didn’t file away the base of the peg, the head would sit too high on it and Bats would look like a giraffe.

It’s not necessary to file the centre pole section as thin as he did as it only needs to be slim enough to fit inside the Pattinson sculpt neck.
Keeping it as wide as possible would retain more rigidity and lower the risk of it snapping.

 

[rory]

If he didn’t file away the base of the peg, the head would sit too high on it and Bats would look like a giraffe.

It’s not necessary to file the centre pole section as thin as he did as it only needs to be slim enough to fit inside the Pattinson sculpt neck.
Keeping it as wide as possible would retain more rigidity and lower the risk of it snapping.

Correct. Though I didn't intend to shave the inner post, I just ended up removing a hairs width while sliding the exacto blade down it into the chunky base peg. It's a tough rubber though, so there's not much chance of snapping. Since it's friction fit, the head would pop off before the socket got damaged anyways.

 

[Chopper Face]

Correct. Though I didn't intend to shave the inner post, I just ended up removing a hairs width while sliding the exacto blade down it into the chunky base peg. It's a tough rubber though, so there's not much chance of snapping. Since it's friction fit, the head would pop off before the socket got damaged anyways.

All helpful stuff.
With all the uncertainty surrounding the InArt figure now, it’s looking more and more likely that I’ll end up keeping the HT (whenever KG finally send out their stock) so I need to actually start paying attention to all these mods and neck collars now.

 

[rory]

All helpful stuff.
With all the uncertainty surrounding the InArt figure now, it’s looking more and more likely that I’ll end up keeping the HT (whenever KG finally send out their stock) so I need to actually start paying attention to all these mods and neck collars now.

Yeah, while I’m optimistic about the InArt, I’m not quite sure it’s the giant leap in quality initially predicted. I think the HT can hold its own.

 

[Luisenigma1]

Cool mod for the BW sculpt. I did the one for the cowl neck, but I ultimately decided to put the peg back into it as I felt it wasn't necessary to do in the end (even though I made a slight mess of glue and tape at the base of it but you'll never see it anyways) I like the stock neck in the end.

 

[rory]

Cool mod for the BW sculpt. I did the one for the cowl neck, but I ultimately decided to put the peg back into it as I felt it wasn't necessary to do in the end (even though I made a slight mess of glue and tape at the base of it but you'll never see it anyways) I like the stock neck in the end.

Yeah I think if the collar is left at stock height, there’s not much need to mod the neck. I only did so because i raised the height of the collar and shoulders, so it was necessary to maintain proportions.