Merry Christmas, 007
superado
Regent's Park West (CaliforniaPosts: 2,656MI6 Agent
This is my customized Sideshow OHMSS Bond. Merry Christmas, AJBers!
Excerpts from Chapter 16, “Downhill Only,” On Her Majesty’s Secret Service by Ian Fleming.
“The three-quarter moon burned down with an almost dazzling fire and the snow crystals scintillated back at it like a carpet of diamond dust… Bond didn't pause. He went straight for it and over the edge… The first vertical drop had a spine-chilling bliss to it. Bond got down into his old Arlberg crouch, his hands forward of his boots, and just let himself go. His skis were an ugly six inches apart… But this was no time for style, even if he had been capable of it! Above all he must stay upright!
Bond's speed was now frightening… Danger was momentarily forgotten in the joy of speed, technique, and mastery of the snow. Bond straightened up and almost dived into his next turn, this time to the left, leaving a broad S on the virgin mountain behind him…
There was a slight upward slope short of the big turn. Bond took it at speed, felt his skis leave the ground at the crest of it, jabbed into the snow with his left stick as an extra lever and threw his skis and his right shoulder and hips round to the left. He landed in a spray of snow, at a dead halt. He was delighted with himself! A Sprung-Christiana is a showy and not an easy turn at speed… “
Excerpts from Chapter 16, “Downhill Only,” On Her Majesty’s Secret Service by Ian Fleming.
“The three-quarter moon burned down with an almost dazzling fire and the snow crystals scintillated back at it like a carpet of diamond dust… Bond didn't pause. He went straight for it and over the edge… The first vertical drop had a spine-chilling bliss to it. Bond got down into his old Arlberg crouch, his hands forward of his boots, and just let himself go. His skis were an ugly six inches apart… But this was no time for style, even if he had been capable of it! Above all he must stay upright!
Bond's speed was now frightening… Danger was momentarily forgotten in the joy of speed, technique, and mastery of the snow. Bond straightened up and almost dived into his next turn, this time to the left, leaving a broad S on the virgin mountain behind him…
There was a slight upward slope short of the big turn. Bond took it at speed, felt his skis leave the ground at the crest of it, jabbed into the snow with his left stick as an extra lever and threw his skis and his right shoulder and hips round to the left. He landed in a spray of snow, at a dead halt. He was delighted with himself! A Sprung-Christiana is a showy and not an easy turn at speed… “
"...the purposeful slant of his striding figure looked dangerous, as if he was making quickly for something bad that was happening further down the street." -SMERSH on 007 dossier photo, Ch. 6 FRWL.....
Comments
Dalton - the weak and weepy Bond!
" Where does he get those wonderful toys "
To misquote the Joker.
DG
"People sleep peacefully in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf." Richard Grenier after George Orwell, Washington Times 1993.
Gonna have to find time to watch OHMSS the next few days!!!
Happy Boxing Day!
Ed
the spyboys Facebook page
Thanks, Ed! This figure has been 10-plus years in the making. The figure of course is the Sideshow OHMSS Lazenby figure. The outfit was custom made for me by Project ARE Action Outfitters (project-are.com), who make outfits for GI Joe and I supplied them with women's tights in the correct color of Bond's ski outfit in the movie. This was based on their scuba outfit pattern and was the 2nd attempt they did for me, since the blue spandex they first used was Royal Blue and too shiny; in hindsight, I should have gotten smaller zippers myself and provided them with those. The mock turtleneck is the one that came with the Lazeny figure. A plush doll of Willy Wonka gave up its life for the goggles, which I liberated with a Dremel grinding tool with the straps printed out on photo paper and trimmed. The hat is Ken's with a pom-pom I added to the tip. I found the skis loose at a toy show, which I believe are from "The Corps" or maybe even Soldiers of the World; these were painted white on top, yellow on the bottom and black on the sides. The hands of the figure were already gloved.
The boots, bindings and the decals for those and the skis have been painstakingly reproduced by me, though it's a pity that the snow weathering obscured much of it. I wasn't sure of the boots, which I think were Molitor (which I ultimately used as my model). I made a resin cast of a pair of large boots made for GI Joe and resculpted them into a basic ski-boot shape and added these small metal hooks and ornamental pieces used for bead art. To make decals, I used logos of the real skis, Kneissl, and the bindings, SU-Matic. The poles are Hasbro spray painted black.
The older Sideshow figure bodies are now considered obsolete, but with a little modification I think it's they're still worth using instead of replacing with the newer, high-tech (and expensive) super-posable figure bodies in the market today. He is wearing padded long shorts (especially needed in the butt area because of the revealing outfit) and I grinded down the calves because Lazenby's physique in the movie appeared smoother than an action figure's body. Though hard to see, I also made extensions to the figure's elbows and knees since these features are not pronounced on the the figure. Long, skinny screws permanently affixed to the ankles, come down through the boots and skis, through an angled wooden base where they are secured with nuts.
Here's the figure taken in the daylight (and given the Day for Night treatment via Photoshop)
www.007jamesbond.dk
http://thedangermen.com/
EXCELLENT!!!!
Ed
the spyboys Facebook page
www.007jamesbond.dk
http://thedangermen.com/
AMAZING!! Congratulations, you are a professional, aren't you??
Thank you, ggl007. No, I am not a professional...I am merely a passionate hobbyist but I wish I could have a lucrative profession doing this! ("lucrative" is the key word
Your attention to detail, research, and artistry are excellent, and I thank you for sharing these treasures with us.
Watching OHMSS tomorrow night, as we always do. Just got a new, larger TV,and Blue ray, so it will be like seeing it again for the first time.
I look forward to your Yuletide greeting...
....Guns make me nervous...
Tom
Thanks, Tom! Yes, I did the same thing myself just last night as part of my personal Christmas-time tradition, watching the blu-ray on a new, larger flat screen. I'm really glad that the movies were given a digital restoration and OHMSS is such a treat to watch in its full, vivid glory.
Thanks, Stag! Was your airfix kit Bond related? I've tried modifying a diecast once, a convertible Aston Martin Volante into a hard top for the "winterized" Aston in TLD, which I never finished, and a model kit of the YOLT Toyota, that was a hard-top, into a convertible, which I did finish, though it didn't come out as polished as I wished. I'm glad that nowadays diecasts of these cars are more readily available.
As with recent past years around Christmastime, I resort to hobby therapy and get into a flux of Bond-related miniatures projects and this year is no exception with two. The first, a Piz Gloria miniature for my snow globe project that's still "in the works," and a current pain in the rump! The base of the Schilthorn mountain peak is roughly 3 1/2 inches in diameter. The figures are "z-scale" or approximately 1/200 and of course, not to scale with Piz Gloria, which I calculated to be about 1/600. Everything except the round "Alpine Room" building is scratch-built. I took the opportunity to take photos and footage before its actual insertion into the water-filled glass globe. As a follow up to the below video, I'll post one that will show the completed Piz Gloria snow-globe; therefore, watch this space!
https://youtu.be/Uljl9oJWGGo
My second OHMSS project that I just completed this month, is a snowy base for my Corgi Rockets bob-sleighs. I've had these for a few years and though they're not in mint condition, I felt they were not getting the proper presentation they deserved for all their coolness and they just sat in a pile of various diecasts. Therefore, I decided to construct a base to showcase them on, using a Lego Duplo chute as the starting point:
Very nice. Love the "ice" base. Custom headsculpt or did you use an Avengers figure?
Thanks! The ice base is an acrylic disc. Yes, it's the Emma Peel head from the Product Enterprises Avengers set. I used a Hot Toys body because it seems to have the most natural proportions for a female. As I mentioned, I'm not satisfied with how the hair and paintjob turned out, so I'm still contemplating redoing the head.