I've been working on some A.I.M. soldiers for quite a while, ever since I found Pyro on sale at a local comic shop for $4 each. I struggled with how to make the helmet at first, but then I decided on using the lid from a glue stick. I completely sculpted over the helmet to give it a baggy look, and then cut out the eye holes. This left the ribbed plastic of the lid showing so it gives an impression of a mesh visor. I am really happy with how the helmets turned out.

Sculpting the belt buckles was a bit of a task, but I managed to find a neat way to do it. I sculpted the first layer of the five buckles on a glass bottle, so they'd be slightly curved on the back. Once that dried, I sculpted the thin outline around edge (the yellow portion) so it would be raised. I thought about just making them flat, but I wanted to try some new techniques, and I'm really happy with how they turned out.

I wanted my guys to have slight variations in their looks, while still maintaining a cohesive look. A couple of the soldiers have the Pyro backpacks, while three of them had it removed. I also left the tall boots on two of them, while the others have shorter boots that I cut down.

Finally, I wanted a leader for the group, so I left the hose on the backpack and put together a flamethrower gun for the main A.I.M. dude. It's made of the gun from the Avatar human guy Movie Master and one of those clip-on Iron Man movie cannons that no one seems to want.

I'm really happy with how everything turned out. Painting all that yellow was a real pain, but it ended up looking very smooth. I actually stumbled upon another Pyro and thought of making one more soldier... but I think I'll keep it at five! I don't want to see yellow paint again for a long time.