What's New

This time around the mailman has delivered a number of goodies. In no particular order, the first kit is a Harry bust from Harry and the Hendersons sculpted by Mark Van Tine and casted by Gillman Productions. The movie has been out quite a while so everyone should know who Harry is.

Next is another original creation from Skink Haunt. He calls it Stalk Eyed Flies! Below is the box art and the parts - 

I was reading an issue of SAMI when I saw they reviewed decals for a NASA version of a C-47. As a builder of NASA aircraft, I had to investigate, and found them on eBay - 

Having C-47 decals, I now need a C-47. So when Mega Hobby sent me their newest email newsletter I took a look. They had a number of 1:72 C-47 models but I chose the Italeri version. After building these tiny 1:72 models I was shocked to see how big it really is while in the same scale - 

While at Mega Hobby, they had Mobius' Death Dealer in their new kit section. Based on a Frank Frazetta painting, I just had to have this one - 

While there I had to pick up some new Vallejo clear coats. I don't know if the old ones I had just went bad, or there was something wrong. Either way they were leaving a sort of streaky, milky film on the kits. So I tossed them and bought new ones. Seems they changed the bottles, maybe the formula changed as well. 

Thanks for looking.

Zombo and the Hedge Lion - The Not at Wfest Builds

For those in the know, Wonder Fest went off last weekend. Wonder Fest is a scale model show and competition more dedicated to the horror, sci-fi, and fantasy genres. If you'd like to know more check the link or for a better flavor search "Wonder Fest" in YouTube. There will be a ton of video.
One of these years I'll get there, but this time around I have two completed builds and one that's getting ready for paint, MFTW Vampira (will be seen in it's own post), that were done during the WF weekend time frame. Being these were easy builds, I have no WIPs as once I started I just got in a groove and moved along.

The first is Zombo. Zombo was a character that appeared in an episode of the Munsters (1966).  
 

This has been colorized. Cannot find an actual color image.

Eddie, the son, wins a contest to meet Zombo, and appear on the Zombo show. Like many kids, Eddie thought Zombo was real, and when he got to meet the man behind the Zombo - Louis Nye - he was hugely disappointed to where he ruins Zombo. I'm sure the episode is on You Tube. 

The kit is about 6 inches tall, and was gotten from a guy on eBay. As a bonus he also threw in Gran'pa Munster. Nice! But anyway, the kit came in 3 parts - the head/body arms are all one piece and then the two claw hands were separate.

The sculpt was ok. There are parts especially close to the deep folds of the costume where it get a little rough. 

I didn't want to just maks another B&W model. So I took the colored image for the face but did the symbols on his robe and cape in Vallejo Silver and Gold. The robe was done in German Gray, and the cape in Gray Black. His face was done in a Blue Gray. To change things up I made his pants and shoes two colors of brown.
I'll have to come up with a base for him as none came with the figure. As of right now, Zombo is just stuck in a piece of foam primed black.  

The next build is another simple one. It's the Hedge Lion that appears in the book and made for TV version of The Shining. As you prolly all know the book/TV mini series and movie are very different stories. 

The Lion was obtained from Gillman Prod., when you bought their Jack Torrance with an axe bust. 
The Lion came in two parts - the body and then the tail. I painted a base coat of Vallejo green with lighter green highlights, and the shadows were done in Citadel Green wash. The eyes were painted black, then a dot of white, to lighten the area knowing I was going to end it with yellow. Vallejo yellows are rather weak pigment wise.  Thanks for looking.

 

Lost Boys David - part 2

Getting into the kit, the first thing I tackled was to add pant legs to cover up the boots. I have no idea how to sculpt fabric, or leather in this case, so I just went for it  - 

Next was to shave off the extra buttons and the feather earring - 

After a quick priming, it was time to move on to accurizing the coat. I worked on one side by taking the second button off, and converting the top most one to some sort of silver badge. It looks like one of those pins that was popular  in the 80s, but with the image peeled off - 

The other side I also took off a button and converted another to a watch body. As mentioned, the medal was wrong, but close enough. 
Then in a detail crazy moment, I noticed there was no holes in the button for the thread. Not having a drill bit small enough to drill in 4 holes per button, I managed to get 2 holes per button - 

Then I decided it was time to put a little paint to the face. I started with a mid tone, knowing that it needs to be more pale. Keifer in the movie, with the help of the lighting was very pale. I also started painting his outfit. David looks to be dressed completely in black. But I know whats not the right thing to do. Straight black leaves you no where to go. So his shirt was done in Vallejo's Black Gray. You can't see it yet, but the overcoat will be done in V's German Gray - 

If you look closely at the knee from the above image, you can see it's still very rough. So it was time to get the Tamiya putty and try to level off some of the rough areas - 

This is where we will leave it for today.  Thanks for looking. 

New Aquisitions

This time around I got a few new kits.

With the upcoming release of Guardians of the Galaxy 2, I picked up Fantastic Plastic's version of  Star Lord's Milano. The kit is 1:144 and comes in gray resin. There are a few seams and a few uneven spots. There also looks like there are a few tiny bubble clusters at the surface and just under the surface - 

Next up is my delivery from MegaHobby; Bandai's release of the Y-Wing from Star Wars. This is in 1:72 scale - 

I also have planned a diorama here I'll need some ruins with a sort of slimy, mossy look. So I pick up 2 bottles of Vallejo's Environmental paint - Slimy Grime Light and slimy Grime Dark - 

Finally moving over to the Ma.K world I saw the Gefechtsboter "Hammerschlag" from  Modern Armies in Miniature (MAIM). It's in 1:35 scale and the model just naturally lends itself to an interesting dio. 
Why does it seem that many of the Dystopian future vehicle operators are women? ;) 

Thanks for looking.

Gillman's Rosewell Alien Tribute

This is one of the newer kits from Gillman Productions in my pile. As is often the case, I start with the base.

The spaceship having been painted gloss black has been masked.

Having enjoyed the squiggle technique to make the Dunkleosteus skin more organic, I did the same to the little Alien-

 Knowing I wanted to make him a pale gray, I added a little blue to the recesses - 

Next I painted the spaceship with Chrome with Vallejo's Metal series. This is good stuff with microscopic pigment (flakes) as compared to both their Model Color and Model Air series. Then the ship is obviously crashed so I sprayed some smoke on to the craft, and up the rock face.

Then a pale flesh from Vallejo's Game Air Flesh set to slightly cover the wormy skin texture pattern. Finally I added some gloss black, and a few white dots to the eyes. Done.
Thanks for looking.

An angle that favors the spaceship

 

Troll !!!

This guy has been sitting on my shelf for quite some time now. Up and off to my left I have all my smaller "kits." Some, like these minis, are ready for painting others are actually kits. So when I have put something else together and am waiting for it to dry, I grab one of these figures and I paint with whatever I happen to have on my palette. This is one of the Trolls from the board game Blood Rage.

Disclaimer: I was part of the Kickstarter, so I don't know whats in the regular retail box vs all the stuff I got so this Troll may or may not be there. 

Anyway here's my Troll. Once again I am guilty of not seeing obvious seams and not doing anything about them once seen. I'll redouble my efforts next time. 
The base has been done with the new Vallejo Earth Paste, and some Woodland Scenics Snow mixed with glue.  

Fantastic Plastic's FDL-6

This time around I went back to one a NASA's mystery craft. From Fantastic Plastic's site:

The FDL-6C SOMV (Sub Orbital Maneuvering Vehicle) is one of several designs to emerge from the AFFDL (Air Force Flight Dynamics Laboratory) during the 1960’s. The FDL concepts developed to explore the characteristics of spacecraft during hypersonic re-entry.  The FDL-6 shape was one of the shapes explored by the Lockheed Corporation.

It is rumored that, in the 1970s, the shape was explored again and the vehicle was sized to 33 feet long  to fit in the cargo bay of the US Space Shuttle.  This would allow it to be launched from orbit for a return flight to the United States. Whether this actually ever happened or not is not known.  The vehicle was to have an all metal TPS (Thermal Protection System) consisting of overlapping Columbium (Niobium) and Hastelloy “shingles” as opposed to the more fragile ceramic tiles seen on the US Space Shuttle.  It would likely have needed some kind of active cooling for the leading edges and nose similar to that designed for the McDonnell FDL-7.

Having a 'time flies' moment, the kit was released in 2009, and is not currently in FPs catalog of available kits. But I would keep constant vigil of their Store, as retired kits are brought back for limited runs all the time.

The kit is 23 pieces expertly casted by BLAP Models. There was no resin odor, no bubbles, and the pour plugs were very easy to remove.

It looked like a super simple build until I read the part where I had to cut the canopy from the fuselage. Uh oh.  I took my time and was pleasantly surprised how it turned out. It was then that I noticed a separate canopy in the bag of parts! Doh, I thought I had to use the cut out part! I used a PE type super thin saw from Hasagawa (I think).

 And finally open - 

Since the canopy opening is super small I thought it would be a good time to practice hyper painting the cockpit area. After all if I screwed it up almost nothing will be seen.

In the end I think it turned out pretty good. It's a shame it won't be seen. 

Here we are where the craft is mostly complete and primed white. I should have mentioned that FP gives you 2 choices for the build. It can either be white in a NASA scheme, or black with a USAF scheme. As you see by the paint - I went for NASA.

Here's a view from the bottom. One thing to note is the build was going along very nicely and I was cleaning of of the small wheels. POP! It flew and was promptly eaten by the carpet monster. Despite tearing the area apart it's still missing. In the end I took a piece a styrene and fashioned another wheel.  The other thing you'll notice is that the front had wheels while the rear had skids.

With the white primer most of the painting was done. All I really had to do was paint the bottom and the edges along the top to be black. The thruster rockets were done with Vallejo Metallics Steel. As a little side bar, I think the Vallejo Metallics are every bit as good as Alclad, and the over the top vote for me is that they are acrylics. 
I added some MIG black pigment to dirty (and dull) the inside of the thrusters. I also had some Gundam markers and used them for "painting" the attitude adjustment rockets.

The last step was to gloss the top of the ship and then apply the decals. Being it was a "concept craft" there was no weathering. I was still mad about the missing wheel, but I think it turned out ok. 

Thanks for looking.