Barnabas Collins

 This all started out when I re-discovered the 60's series Dark Shadows on Amazon Prime TV.  I remember seeing some of it as a kid, but I also remember my Mom telling me it was a monster show. So after seeing a few shows and not seeing any monsters, off I went to Magilla Gorilla or some other show...

I was probably into the series about 5 or 6 episodes when all of a sudden I see that Jeff Yagher had just released a Barnabas Collins in 1/4 scale. There was nothing else I could do except pick one up. 

The kit comes in 5 parts - the bust the coffin base his arm/hand, and two pieces for the cane; the stick part in wooden dowel and the wolf's head topper in resin. All cast flawlessly by Gillman.  

 

 

Starting off the usual way, primed in black and then sponged on the white highlight. After that I was at the point in the series where the show switched over from B&W to color.  I also noticed for most of the time, even when he was biting necks (tho you never see it - oops spoilers) he remained a regular skin color. Only well into the seasons did someone think that he could be made creepier with fancy lighting. So since his fangs aren't shoeing in the kit, I'll give him a normal flesh tone. 

 

Next I had seen on YT that guys were painting texture to mimic clothing by reducing the psi of the air brush to almost nothing and have the paint "spit" out of the brush. So I lowered mine to 9 or 10 psi and then tried it on my cloth. I learned that when you first hit the trigger the "spit" comes out in dots too large for the scale. So the thing to do is open the air over the rag and you can with nearly no mess move the a/b over the part you want to paint.  Any too big dots can be eliminated right away with a wet paintbrush at the ready. After covering the face paint with Silly Putty I just spit away...

I noticed after the fact as see in the kit image that his arm can go a few ways into the socket. Looking at so many episodes where his portrait is hanging in Collinswood's foyer, I placed his arm where the ring is front and center. 

 

  

 While the figure was drying I turned my attention to the coffin and cover. I wanted it very simply, so I mimicked wood, with a bronze handle and then just used gloss black for the covering. The pic shows midway thru the painting. 

 The last things was a similar spitting technique - I thought I'd press my luck - to do his outer coat, and to paint his cane. For that, believe it or not, the best chrome I've found is Rustoleum's Brite Metallic. Another vampire put to bed for the day... ;)

Sidebar- I also discovered that Collinswood is a real place in Newport RI. It's a private mansion so if you searching out filming locations like I do - remember their privacy 

 

Nosferatu

 This model is the star of the 2024 film Nosferatu.  If you haven't seen it yet, you must. While it's a take off of the 1920s silent film, it is 1000 times creeper. Bill  Skarsgard has the title role and boy does he deliver!

The 1/4 scale kit is from Pestilence Labs and comes in five 3-D printed parts that are flawless. 

 

The hardest part was getting decent sample images of the Count. If you have seen the movie, you know many parts of it are visually dark. I found 2 images I liked, but still had to lighten them. If nothing else it clearly shows that his decrepit uniform wasn't just "plain."

 

 

Lets get started. Being his skin is a pale, dead color, I started with a base of purple. I don't know if the coat color was an artifact of the lightening, but I thought it looked good enough and went with the darkest blue I could find. After I painted the blue, I found a pic of the costume on display and the coat is nothing like I was thinking. The dark tone of the film his all the details.  But the embroidery and extras on his coat were clear and I painted them a bronze color. Once dry, I dirtied it up. The hat looks dark, so that was an easy part. 

 

 The skin looked to me as if it was colors of gray, But I wanted to add a little saturation to it. So in the end I mixed V's White Gray with a little bit of Pale Flesh. I thought it gave me that sickly pallor. His hand was done in a similar manner.

I also noticed that  the fur collar was just one color, so I started dark and then added highlights to the tufts. The painted was based in black, and then highlighted in a dark gray and dark brown. The jewel was done in the style of miniatures ( not all that happy with the result). Then the feathers were done in a very dark red with some lighter red just to draw out the detail.

The base was next and I saw in a critique video that the reviewer was knocking bases that attracted more attention that the supposed focus - the figure. So the base was painted with V's Black Gray, and then I added that bronze (to unite the figure with the base) to the adornments and skulls. Dots of Turquoise gave it the verdigris, and then I dirtied it all up. 

I left the eyes for the end the way his head is slightly tilted down, it told me that he was looking thru his brow. I painted them like I always do with a base of black, and then the 1/2 circles of brown, and corners of that same White Gray. To add to the creep factor I added a dark yellow to the part of the iris that would be lit.  Then that was dry A used a Citadel red wash to get them bloody. A few coats of V's Metallic Varnish gave me the gloss and I was done. Thanks for looking.

 

Buffalo Gal

 I figured it was time to get started on my "pledge model" for my local modeling club. Earlier in the year, I had chosen Buffalo Gal. This is a scene from It's a Wonderful Life, starring Donna Reed and Jimmy Stewart. I enjoy it, and watch it a few times each Christmas season.  Since it's been around since 1946, I'm sure everyone has seen it at some time.

The model is a well made 3D printed kit by Nostalgic Resin, and depicts the walk home after George and Mary fell into the school's swimming pool (BTW the pool's real and still exists at Beverly Hills High School). This is the first real scene where they start their romance.  

 

 The first problem I had was whether to do it in color or B&W. Due to the size I thought it was too large for it to be all in B&W, and soon after found a nice colorized image of what I needed - the clothes. 

 

The only problem I had with it was the sidewalk was warped, and no amount of heating kept it flat. So I quickly tossed it aside and got out a piece of sheet styrene. I also had a decent sized wooden base and tested fitted all the basing materials. Besides the sidewalk, it come with a section of hedge, a picket fence, and a pillar.

Getting started, the pillar was painted gray, the fence white, and the hedge a green. It looked a little too plain so the hedge got flocked, I painted the picket fence and added some miniature rose bushes to fill the void, and the  pillar was fine so it just got a coat of paint with a little dark wash. seems I never took a WIP of the base so we'll see it at the end. 

Now I know what's to be done with the figures it was just a matter of filling in the colors. 

 

Getting to the faces, Stewart's likeness was good, Donna's barely came close, but not being able to sculpt a likeness, I'll just add paint to this as well.

 My next decision was Mary's robe. I know it's white, but that's an awful lot of white and I didn't want to make her look like a ghost with a sheet. So being George's clothes were warm earthy colors, I tried making the shadows in the robe a similar earthy colors. No good... That just made her look like she rolled around in some dirt. So the robe was repainted and this time I took the palest blue to fill in the shadows. This looked better. and I was done. Thanks for looking. 

Sadly my roses were mostly hidden

 

Sponging

 

 

Two Minute Tip – Sponging

Kevin Kilkenny

This tip is probably the least expensive tip for modeling I think I’ve ever given It could be free if you’re brave enough to raid the wife’s cosmetic drawer when she’s not hope, else these things are easily found at the Dollar store. They are cosmetic sponges. The are dense, yet soft, egg shaped pieces of foam. An added benefit is that they are easily cut if you need a smaller sponge. 

 

In the hobby they can be used for at least 3 things. The first is for replacing the dry brush. The biggest complaint or hits from a modeling judge is that the dry brush result makes the edges of the model look dusty.  Take that sponge and to paraphrase Bob Ross of “Two hairs and some air” tap the edges with the sponge and instead of dust you’ll get texture. This also works when you want to pre-highlight for those that like to use glazes as a painting process. In a similar fashion prime the mode dark and then use a lighter color where the highlights go. Again, gently tap the sponge and create your highlights.   

Finally, it can be used for highlights to a model. They say that pastels are the ‘poor man’s airbrush’?  Well, my view is that the cosmetic sponge has replaced the pastels. The trick is when the base coat is dry, to take a slightly lighter color of the base coat onto the sponge and dab on a paper towel until there’s barely anything there, then dab onto the model that you want to create a faded panel etc…

 

 

When It Rains, It Pours

 Or, why do all the model kits I have on order - or Kickstarter etc... come in at the same time? ;) 

 First up is from Pestilence Labs, and is the star the brand new movie Nosferatu is the Count Orlock.  If you haven't seen the movie yet,what are you waiting for? It is Very dark and VERY frightening. This kit is mostly 3D printed (the base seems resin cast) with none of the typical defects associated with that process. It comes in 5 parts - the bust, head, hand, hat and base. 

I am a big fan of the artist Brom, and Mindwork Studios once again collaborated with him to put out a series of his artwork turn 3D. There was 5 or 6 figures, but I could only choose one, and this one had the most frightening face. 

I was playing around with Army Painter's Speed Paints (1.0) and loved them. In short they are more than a wash, but less than straight forward paint.  

It was designed to the mini guys would have to spend days or weeks painting and army to get them ready for the table top.  For our purposes I think it also fits in where it you're an armor builder, but doesn't really care all that much about figures, this paint would fit the need to get a figure or two on the vehicle with little aggravation. 

When you apply them over a white primer, the primer will be colored (like a paint), and also a bit will gather in the folds etc... (like a wash.). The method had become know as "slap chop".  The one downside with 1.0 is that if you think the color needs a second coat, and applied it the first layer reactivated and you ended up with a mess. So it was necessary for a clear coat to be misted over every step taken to seal the first layer in.

 To that end Army Painter came out with Version 2.0, and like regular paints, once the first layer dried - it was dried, and another layer could be put in over the top. And that led to the technique of "Double Slap Chop". Check it out and try it. 

 The next figure, from the Suite Life,  is recognizable to any 5th Element fain is the bad guy, Zorg. The likeness to the actor Gary Oldman is amazing. it is also 3D printed, and comes in 8 parts - head, bust, base, 2 arms, 2 hands, and the Zorg weapon, the Zorg ZF-1. 

Next is the latest addition to Gillman Productions' The Thing series - Childs. Once again the likeness to actor Keith David is spot on. Childs, along with MacReady were the last survivors of Outpost 31 after the Thing attacks. The ending is left ambiguous, but some feel that the Thing has replaced Childs...  This model affirms that theory. While he looks perfectly normal in the front, the back shows a split open head with tentacles emerging. Ewww... The kit comes in 7 parts - The bust, base Hand with the top pf a whiskey bottle, the bottom of the bottle and 3 tentacles. It also comes with a decal for the whiskey. I haven't look yet as to weather it's an actual water slide decal or just paper that needs to be cut and glued onto the bottle. 

Filmy's Girls usually come out with a new kit right before WonderFest. This year was no different. They had previously release a comedic 1/6th  (or is it 1/3) Space Girl, Daphne, who I think is an homage to the 1950s sci-fi space films. This time we see Daphne again. But this time as a 1/4 scale bust. Perfect for modelers like me who are running out of room. 

Another member of my modeling club and I often exchange kits. "You have this one? No? Here ya go." Back and forth. I gave him the full sized kit of the Daphne kit I just mentioned and in return I got this cool collection of miniatures. :) The group of guys are representing the main cast of Kelly's Heroes (1970), The one with the blue paper id Wolfman Jack howling with an LP in his hand. The one with the yellow is a car hop on skates, and then finally a Gamorrean Guard as seen in Return of the Jedi.

This kit was gotten because my Local club, The BPMS, has a number of group builds each year. This winter has become British Sci-Fi night. To expand it as much as possible we are allowing American movie subjects - War of the Worlds etc... as long as they come from a book written by a British Sci-Fi author.  I just loved The Thunderbirds as a kid, and especially Thunderbird 2 (I guess that were I get my love of big ugly spaceships from). so that's what I'll be building for the December. so all that should keep me busy for the summer. Thanks for looking.  

Aztec Princess mini

 Aztec princess mini - at least that's what I'm calling her. I've had this mini around my work desk for literally years. The packaging is long gone, and if you know my note taking skills, you know I don't have any... So no idea of the producer or the name of the kit.

She's about 28mm to her eyes, and 34mm to the top of her headdress. So this is actually past my size comfort range. Again being so old, I don't have any early pics of her - if I even took any.

This is the earliest shot from when I decided to finish her off a few weeks ago. 

 Doing a generic search, I came up with a lot of headdresses in the blue, green range. So that's what I did as well. Tho I don't know where an Aztec princess would find or want knee high leather boots...

 The next thing was what am I going to have her stand on?  I couldn't see just a simple 25 or 30mm circular base. Thinking of Apocalypto, I also couldn't make a giant temple, but I could do a small one.

So I got out my hot wire cutter and used a 1"X1" wooden block as a base. I drew bricks on it and a simulated stair. Next I created a background for her and looking up some Aztec designs, I found one that fit, that could be either a dragon head or fish.  Haha  I painted it a tan stone color and I was done. Thanks for looking. 

 

 

The Blue Meanie

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 Talking with my son (he's 20) I mentioned the Yellow Submarine. Him: whats that?  Me: You never saw Yellow Submarine? Him: Never heard of it.

So I got some of my polymer clay out (I'm not a great sculptor but no one told me to stop.... 😉  ) and started google searching. Coming across the Blue Meanie brought back memories of watching the movie + music, so away I went. Thanks for looking. 

For the base, I was looking for a Peter Max style design. I thought this one was pretty good.

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