I've made a few different vcrsions of Leatherneck, but until now I haven't tried to nail his classic look. Here is my attempt...Parts: Head (25th Anniversary Gung-Ho), Torso & arms (RoC Sgt Stone), Legs (RoC Beachhead), Web gear (Comic pack Ripper), M16A2/M203 (Marauder, Inc.), Rucksack (RoC Benchpress).
Supplies: X-acto knife, Super glue, Paintbrushes, Testors paints, Testors Dull-Cote.
Reference: Card art from the 1986 ARAH Leatherneck figure.
So, essentially all that I had to do here was replace the Sgt Stone legs with the new ones and pop Gung-Ho's head onto the body. All the rest was the tiny little details that took what seemed like forever! The knuckleguard on the knife molded to the webgear was trimmed away and the remaining knife was painted to look like an M7 bayonet in it's scabbard. The hand grenades were carefully removed from the backpack of a 25th Anniversary Viper, painted and then super glued to the figure's chest. I always liked the color scheme of Leatherneck's uniform, so I tried to color match as closely as possible. His hair was painted using a very light drybrush technique so that it looked like the light stubble that a Marine Gunnery Sergeant would actually 
have, rather than the shaggy head of hair the original figure had. The mustache was repainted to be a bit thicker, which is not in keeping with regulations, but it did serve to put a little space between my various Gung-Ho and Leatherneck figures. The Eagle, Globe and Anchor on his cover and the 1st Marine Recon Battalion patch on his shirtsleeve was painted using a very fine brush, and in some cases, the tip of a safety pin. The colors for everything on the rucksack were matched to those of my old USMC ruck. The M16A2/M203 was painted according to what they actually look like (easy to find a reference since I have about a thousand pcitures of myself with them). When everything was done to my satisfaction, I gave him a light application of Testors Dull-Cote.
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