Construct All Monsters!  Building Image's Baragon '68

Bilal El Amin, or as you may know him, "Hobby Dude," loves those kaiju kits by Image models.  In his latest build up article, he takes us step by step through his build of this kaijuphile favorite--Baragon.

Here is another great kit from Image.  This time I am building Baragon from the 1968 film, DESTROY ALL MONSTERS.  This movie has always been one of my favorites because no less than 11 monsters appear in the move.

  For those of us up to the challenge of building the ultimate DESTROY ALL MONSTERS diorama, Image has produced 20 cm scale kits of all of the monsters except King Ghidorah which will hopefully be released sometime in the near future.  Image did a great job capturing Baragon’s goofy ferociousness.  The kit comes in 17 parts including two ear options, two horn options (opaque and clear) and a simple base (right).

Assembly

Clean up was pretty easy.  Just some slight mold lines and pour spouts needed to be removed.  After the cleanup was done, I tested fitted all of the parts to make sure the joints mated well.  Then I drilled and pinned all of the joints and attached the main body parts with two-part epoxy glue.  The joint lines were filled with Aves Apoxie Sculpt, which is a two-part epoxy putty. 

I matched the pattern of Baragon’s hide by stippling a stiff bristle brush into the still soft putty and blending into the surrounding area.  I made sure any mold release, dirt and resin dust was cleaned off by washing the parts in warm soapy water.  Finally, I primed all of the parts except the clear horn with gray primer (above).

Body

I started out by base coating Baragon with a red brown shade all over his body, ears and lower jaw (right).  Then, I darkened the base color by adding some dark brown and shaded the deep folds in Baragon’s skin and muscle groups a dark brown (below left).  Next I took my base color and lightened it by mixing in some tan. I took this lighter color and sprayed the raised areas of the sculpt. I also took this color and airbrushed an irregular pattern all over his hide to give his skin a more organic look (below right).

His chest, belly and the underside of his tail has a scaly pattern that I painted a yellow tan color (right).

The back of the ears got the same paint treatment as Baragon’s skin.  I painted the front of the ears a pinkish burgundy color and then outlined them with the same brown as the rest of his skin.  At this point, I decided to attach his ears.  Again, I blended the seams with two-part epoxy putty and stipple with my stiff bristle brush.  I painted the seam to match the surrounding skin (below).

 

Everything was then dry brushed with Testor’s flat tan.  I then sealed everything with a couple of coats of flat lacquer.  This was followed with an oil wash of burnt umber.  I finished up with a protective layer of flat lacquer (right).

Mouth and Teeth

I started out by priming the inside of the mouth white.  Next I painted the teeth a tan color.  Then I created an inner mouth flesh like color by mixing Freak Flex Pink Eyed Burgundy, FW Ink Flesh Tent, and Golden Titanium White.  I used this custom color to paint the roof of the mouth, lower jaw section and tongue.  I dry brushed the raised area of the mouth and tongue with gray to bring out the details. When everything was dry, I seal my work with a couple of coats of flat lacquer.

Now I grabbed my Grumbacher oil paints and started applying washes of Raw Umber to the base of the teeth and gums. Then I followed up with a wash of Venetian Red and let that tent the base of the teeth and fade into the gums.  I let that dry and then I sealed everything with flat lacquer.

Next I dry brushed Yellow Ocher and a little Titanium White on the top portion of the teeth.  My goal was to create a gradual color progression from off white to a Yellow Ocher to a dark reddish brown at the gum line. Sometimes I would work the brush very softly up and down length of the teeth to get the colors to blend. I also used an old T shirt to rub off any excess oil paint at the top of the teeth.

Claws and Horns

Baragon’s claws and horns were pretty easy to paint because they were so easy to reach on this particular sculpt. His toes and fingers are spread apart far enough that it was easy to get to each digit with my Sotor 20/20 airbrush.  As I was painting the body with the brown color, I let it overspray on the claws and horns. 

Next I sprayed the tips of the claws and horns with the tan color I used for the teeth.  Once I had this done, I went on with the rest of the painting. When I was just about done, I came back to the claws and horns and dry brushed them with Raw Umber at the base and Unbleached Titanium – a tan color at the tips. 

I then used a wide tip paint brush and worked it from the base of the claw/horn to the tip which faded the Raw Umber into the tan color.  Once this was dry I sealed it with flat lacquer and then applied Future Floor wax to give it a nice shine.

To help you achieve the look of Baragon’s glowing amber main horn, Image included a horn cast in clear resin.  I started out by priming the horn with clear flat lacquer.  Unfortunately, I did not have any translucent amber paint.  To solve this, I mixed Golden’s Airbrush Transparent Extender, Hansa Yellow, Bright Orange and a little Burnt Sienna to create a decent transparent amber color.  I painted the whole horn in this amber color. 

Next, I darkened the amber color with a little FW Ink transparent sepia. I then sprayed this from the middle of the horn to the base. Finally I darkened the color again by adding some more Burnt Sienna and airbrushing the base only with this dark color.  The result was a gradual transition from dark brown at the base to clear amber yellow at the tip.  I finished up by airbrushing a few coats of Future Floor Wax on the horn to give it a nice even gloss coat.  The horn was attached with two part epoxy glue. (Figure 13a and 13b)

Eyes

Baragon has huge eyes. The eyes were first base coated with off white.  Next the outline of the iris is drawn in by applying Golden’s Bone Black with a fine tip paintbrush.  The Bone Black is then used to fill in the eye in a spoke like pattern.  FW Purple Lake is then used to fill in the spoke pattern resulting in a deep purple black iris pattern. This is sealed with flat lacquer and then followed up with washes of Golden Pyrrole Red to get that red eye look.  Once that is dry a dot of white paint is applied in the center and then three or four coats of future floor wax is applied to give it a nice wet shiny look.

Base

The base is a simple asymmetrical shape with some terrain and rocks sculpted in.  After priming it gray, I painted the outside edges flat black.  Next I sprayed some brown in an irregular pattern all around the base.  Then I loaded my airbrush with Olive Drab and continued to spray in irregular patterns around the base.  This gave the terrain a nice random look of earth and vegetation.  I painted the rock formations with browns and blacks and then dry brushed with gray to bring out some of the texture.  I finished off by sealing the base with flat lacquer (right).

Well, that’s about it for Baragon. This was a fairly easy model to build and paint.  I highly recommend it for anyone who’s looking for a great Baragon sculpt in the 20 cm scale.

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