2023: The Year in Review

 It's that time of year again to look back at what I've done at the hobby bench this year. Still not back to my level before the hip surgery, But I'm happy with the result. 

I've decided to forgo the usual video...  Thanks for looking.

 

MvA: The Missing Link

 Always having an affinity for good animation, I just loved 2009's Monster v. Aliens. An homage to the Monster movies from the 50s and 60s, the story is a bride to be gets hit my a meteorite of Quantonium, grows incredibly large and is capture and sent to monster "jail" with other monster inmates.  An alien comes to Earth to destroy the Earth, and recover his Quantonium. A general and the President releases the monsters to fight the alien. 

A few years back on producer released a Dr. Cockroach (one of the monsters) kit.  After that nothing.  so I decided to get some of my Cosclay, and do the Missing Link from the movie. 

 This is the image I used for my pose - of course another image added the feet. Haha

Not many WIP pics were taken, but here's Link - before paint.  Thanks for looking. 

 

The '41 Wolfman

 You can never have to many Wolf-men. 

This one is prom sculptor Troy McDevitt, and it is an awesome rendition of the Lon Chaney Jr. character. The model comes in 4 parts - the head, base, arm and name plate. The resin is perfect. 

 Right out of the box, and test fitting. Looks terrific

Starting to add some base colors -

 

 

More base colors and starting the highlights.

 Decided on a blue shirt color so I based it with a dark purple to show the shadows, and then epoxied all the parts together. 

 

 

Ghost of Christmas Past (additional)

 It was weighing on my mind. After having another look at the image of the Ghost  from the movie, I couldn't get past that the Ghost was too colorful - lively looking.

To remedy this I too some watered down V. Ivory, and with everything masked off, including his eyes I gave the face a mist coat to make him a little paler and more ghost-like. Thanks for looking. 

 

Before

 

 

The Ghost of Christmas Past (1951)

 This bust was actually purchased last year, but I waiting too long to buy and couldn't get him done by last Christmas. So I wanted to make sure he was finished by this one. 

He is the Ghost of Christmas Past, played by Michael Dolan,  from the 1951 version of A Christmas Carol.  Sculptor John Dennett has a number of bust in his Christmas Carol series.  The kit is a two piece 1/5 scale bust in nearly flawless resin. There was a very fine seam line in his hair that was quickly dispatched.  

My "problem" with these type of characters is do I paint it as the character, a ghost? Or do I paint it as the actor playing a ghost? (Thinking too much?)  My idea was for the former, and so I primed it blue. Thinking about it, my last ghost in this series was painted as a ghost, so I changed my mind and this one would be the actor.

 

As with others in this series color is always a problem with the film being in B&W.  But not in the case. Even with the lack of color you can see white on white one white. Which presents it's own problems...

 

As with most busts I start with the face and this was no exception.

 

Hi hair and gown were apparently white, so I tried a triad of grays, figuring I'd end up with almost white. I guess I have a problems with "almost whites" as they never seem bright enough to me. So I ended up giving up and painted the gown just white, and then backed into the shadow colors. I was also having troubles with the skin color. I would end up with the skin too healthy looking or too pale - again the white on white on white problem.

I followed an idea a you Tuber had (Groundeffected)  where he just mushes three colors together and roughly mixes them up for the base.  I sort of liked it but I think it looks better with larger models and this 1/5 scale needed to be a little more dainty. So I kept mixing the wet colors to blend them a little more.

The flower wreath was started in purple and then highlighted with two shades of pink. Finally washed it in Citadels Carrosburg Crimson. The text in the base was painted with one of the reds from the Nocturna set - which coincidentally matched the flowers in the wreath.

In the end I left the face a little more lively, and then called it done.   Thanks for looking.

 

Jersey Devil Finale

 This post is a long time in coming. Not because I haven't been doing anything - just getting off the duff and taking pics.

To finish up the wings were epoxied on. Also I noticed that when I put the "pine needles" on I cut them from a disposable paint brush. The brush looked straw color until cut into pieces. Then they looked transparent. Being glued in already, I had to paint each pine needle individually... Ugh! 

 A few things to tidy up and I was done. One thing I did with the base was to paint it all black, and then with an Xacto knife, scrape the paint off the letters. Only took a few minutes. Then the white underneath looked too bare, I got V's yellow ink and colored in the letters. Again only took a few minutes. 

Thanks for looking. 

 

Jersey Fest 2023 Pics (part 2)

 More pics from the Contest Room -

 

Thanks for looking.

Jersey Fest 2023 (part 1)

 Jersey Fest for 2023 is in the books, and what a great time it was seeing all the models, meeting up with friends etc... I didn't take a workshop class this year, but they all sold out so a lot of people got some new skills. 

Due to timing I got there on Saturday late in the afternoon, and the turnout seemed a little light, but a friend was there early, and said it was very well attended. 

I didn't take pics of the vendor room - there are a lot of those on the various FB pages. But I did shoot the Contest Room. Each model was better than the one before it. Well done by all and looking to the one in 2024!

Yes, Virginia, it's not all Frankensteins and Draculas...
 

More pics in part 2

The Jersey Devil part 2

 Sometimes the figure comes first, sometimes the base. This time it's the base's turn. I added some real dirt, and then attempted to use the static grass applicator to put some patchy grass down. No good. Plugged in and there's no power. I'll have to get a 9 volt and try that. serves me right for buying a cheap one...  

 

Thankfully I have some pre-done tufts and those worked well. Once dried, I painted all the grass RLM 74 - a dark brown green. Lighter greens will be added  over the top, and the RLM adds a nice shadow effect. Also added were some leaves cut from a real leaf ( they're a bit too small) and some flocking to mimic moss. Finally I added some cut paint brush bristles to make fallen pine needles. They look a bit too translucent - I should have painted them first. :-/  The last step for the base will be to add some realistic water for the swamp portion.

Moving on to the figure and I have it stuck in my head that Devil = Red. So my original idea is a red into a purple color shift. Images have it more or less a horse shape, and many just leave it a brown color. So my idea will probably morph by the time I'm done. But I tried out my Red Purple, including the wings. Check back for the finale.