I just typed paragraphs about this and it erased itself. Dang. Probably because I forgot to give it a subject title. Okay. Lemme see if I've got it in me to try to recreate what I wrote initially:

A couple of years back I bought a Lovik/Maher figure from a friend for an irrisistibly low price. It was an African-American woman figure with a living mouth and moving eyes. I struggled with finding a character and worried about writing for her as I am not African-American. I also have never cared too much with the living mouth configuration of some of the Lovik figures from that era. Also: It was a drop-through flat-end neck which I didn't care for either.
Fools rush in: I decided to change the living mouth to a slot-jaw and change the character to an old lady (white) whom I played on the radio back in the seventies and eighties. I had a huge number of scripts that would easily adapt to vent sketches. I wrote to Clinton who immediately replied (bless his heart) that it wouldn't be easy to convert the critter...especially the neck...but he was concerned about the swing of the jaw, too. The Lovik figures of that period featured a clever cabinet hinge swing on the jaw which might not swing ENOUGH for a slot-jaw re-do.
I gulped and tore into the thing. I removed the leather, cleaned up and enlarged the hole beneath the remaining lip piece. I built a lower jaw and chin out of cardboard in order to check out the swing and built up the neck and cheeks AROUND that in order to get a feel for how it would work. Once I was satisfied, I took out the cardboard jaw and used it to build a smaller cardboard piece that would fit inside. It was this smaller piece, then, that I glued into place beneath the moving lip board...and then used Magic-Sculpt to build up something shaped like my original experimental cardboard jaw. This way I cut down on weight by having a hollow center in the jaw and chin. It actually worked like a charm!
Then I added a nose-tip, some eyebrows (the originals had been painted on)and a very thin layer of Magic-Sculpt into which I added some wrinkles around the eyes and forehead and a slight jowel. The head is heavy...but the Magic-Sculpt was about as minimal as I could make it. I think I probably only added a very few ounces to the overall weight.
I decided not to try for a ball and socket bottom on the neck. Clinton was right...that would've involved a lot of interior re-engineering. I noted that Lovik had installed the headstick at an accidental angle, but it was built into the head so solidly, I didn't think I wanted to mess with that either.

Well, the figure is gorgeous, but pretty heavy. A LOT of that is in the body. The original legs, particularly, are awfully heavy. I could send the head away to an artisan to make me a vacu-formed duplicate...but that would defeat the purpose of the original work I did on it, I think. I have a box of Brose heads and limbs and bodies I've bought (largely to support the website) with the idea of maybe sometime in the near future building something maybe. I'm thinking maybe I should replace the original Maher body (which features that automatic sit thing some folks were talking about a few days ago) with a Brose shell body. I dunno...I'm just throwing all of this out there for your comments because I enjoy the conversations we have here...and I'm curious to get your takes on all of this.

Forgive the odd use of "with" and the use of the non-word "jowel." I was typing fast.

-Philip

I forgive you

Phil:

Care to share a picture?

Yes, I'd like to see a picture too. Having one of those Loviks with the living mouth, although I don't want to change mine, I'd be curious to see how it came out changing it to a slot jaw.

I'm surprised the body on yours seems heavy, mine doesn't seem too bad, but if it does, I would go ahead and swap it out for the Brose body and limbs if that will help, it's not like there's a worry of keeping the figure original at this point.
If that doesn't lighten the load enough, and it seems like it's a figure you're going to use a lot, then maybe consider having that vac-formed duplicate made, but probably after you change the body, there probably won't be as much of a need.

Y'know, Bob, I've been putting off learning about my camera for a long time now. I should probably stop putting it off...get a picture of the gal and post it.
Buzz...thanks for forgiving me. That's a relief.
Blueshawk...yours has the body with the extra upper leg tabs at the bottom and the molded legs? Is your headstick straight on? Does the head on yours seem a bit heavier than your other figures?
Inquiring minds want to know. :-D

-Philip

The head on my Lovik doesn't seem to be heavier to me, it could if I compared it to some figures like my carved ones, but compared to other molded figures, it doesn't seem any heavier.
I'd have to go look to see if the headstick were crooked, but off the top of my head, I'd say it is not, I would notice something like that when I got the figure and looked it over.
The body sounds just the same as mine, molded legs and all. I actually like the body and the way he did the drop through neck for the head. Clinton had one of those bodies up for sale on ebay not too long ago which I would have bought for a spare, but I had just bought two figures and was too tapped out to go for it.

I'm used to the ball and socket neck, B.H. Maybe I just need to spend some time getting used to the drop-through.

-Philip

I'm more used to the ball and socket too - I wouldn't order a new figure with that flat neck and drop through body, but I don't mind the one I have.
Part of that may be because even with a ball and socket neck, I still lift the head slightly so it isn't just sitting and sliding around in the socket, so having to lift the head in this figure isn't as noticeable to me.