Stay Off the Moors . . .Here's a great kit from a sculptor with a low profile and a high level of talent . . . "Bad Moon Rising" from Mark Kabbenhoft and BTTG models. It really captures both the horror and the fantasy qualities of the werewolf lore. Not only that, it is one big, heavy kit and offers you a lot of serious drama for your shelf.
I first picked up this kit at Wonderfest in 2006. We did a review some time back, but my time and other commitments made it a start and stop kind of affair until just recently. The kit is about a foot tall and comes in 11 well cast pieces including a three part mouth assembly that allows for painting separately, which is nice.
Confused about a term used in this article? Go to the model builder's dictionary.
The first step is to clean and trim all the parts. There was a little flash here and there, but nothing out of the ordinary. In the picture below, you can see the mold lines, which I am removing with a razor knife by scraping along the ridges of the fur to hide it.The kit is designed with a lock and key fit for the main parts, so after a little test fitting and trimming, I decided all it would need is some epoxy. Using a popsicle stick, I mixed the two parts in the well of the body and put a little CA glue around the edges to hold it while the epoxy set up . . . which is about 3 minutes. After that, it holds like a rock!
The next thing to do is figure out a way to secure the werewolf to the base. Actually, it is pretty simple. I decided to put in a post with my favorite pinning process. First I select a nail that will serve to be our post and drill a hole in the base for the nail to sit. I head off the nail and then drop a toothpick into the hole and clip it off with just a little showing at the top (right).Now, I put a little red paint on the exposed part of the toothpick and line up the foot of the kit so it will rest properly on the base and press down, leaving a nice red dot where I need to drill my hole in the kit.
Then, simply drop the nail in the hole and glue it in place, leaving about 1 inch showing.
Using Aves two part molding putty, I went after the gaps where the parts come together. One cool feature that comes with this kit is the molding tool supplied with it. It is a simple copper wire with a sharpened point and a grip made of putty, but it is essentially the same thing the artist used to create the fur, so it is really useful.
Just blend the two parts of the putty, roll them into a small tube and press the strip of putty into the gaps. Then, using the supplied tool (or a nail or tooth pick, or hobby knife . . .) cut lines into the putty to match the fur details.
Most putty can be primed and painted even before it has totally hardened, but you should wait a little.
At this point, the kit is ready for a coat of primer (right). I just use cheap Color Place primer most of the time. You want to lay down a few thin layers in a well ventilated area (like outside!) Hold the can about 8 inches and move the can as you go. You should also assume that this will reveal spots you need to trim and putty over . . . that is just the way it is.When the primer dries (best to let it sit over night), it is time to block in the base coat. Starting with two colors, Badger's Weathered Black (which is really dark gray), and Badger's Fleshtone, I airbrush the base coat on with an Iwata HP-B at about 20 psi. I also decide to put in the base coat for the claws and eyes with the airbrush using white at a much lower air pressure. (I go back and cover the overspray with a light hand brushing of the proper colors.
You probably have noticed the teeth and tongue are in as well. These were sprayed and hand painted separately, then locked in place with CA glue. They fit beautifully, but you need to put in a thin layer of putty around the gum line. Using a thin strip of putty, a little water to make it pliable and our cool sculpting tool, I put it in place.Once it set up a little, I hand paint a little light gray for a primer and then follow that up with the same medium flesh color of the mouth.
As far as the kit is concerned, the base work is done and now it is time to turn to details--layering the paint, doing the eyes and finishing off the claws.
What we want to do next is give the kit some depth. Using Lifetone's Payne's Gray, I spray in a line of color in the recesses of the muscles. Then, I drybrush a light gray, FW Ink's light gray, actually, all over the fur of the kit. Then, I seal it with Testor's Dulcote.You'll also notice in the surrounding pictures that the ears and flesh are getting a little darker and the nose and lips have changed color. That is because the fleshy parts have gotten a light misting of Createx Transparent Light Brown, as well as the areas around the fur edges and a few places on the body. Also, I have thinned out a little of the same and given the mouth a light wash to tone down the mouth and give it a sense of depth.
I am also working on the eyes at this point. I sprayed in a light coat of Weyerhauser Yellow from Badger to give the eye ball an eerie sclera and a little bit of a comic book quality. I touched up around the lids and when it was dry, I put in a circle of black paint followed by a slightly smaller circle of white (above right). This forms the ring around the iris and lays a light foundation for the iris itself. Then, I dot in the pupil.
I am a firm believer that werewolves need red eyes. I got this using Tamiya's glossy transparent red and you can see how it brings out the iris against that yellow and black. When all that is done, I spray on a little Createx light brown transparent around the edges of the toe nails and claws and coat the eyes and mouth with Future Floor Wax a couple of times to give it a wet look.
We are getting close now . . . just one thing left to do. The base.First, I sprayed the kit with FW Ink's Antelope Brown, which is kind of a mossy brown. The gray primer on the rocks is not not quite enough, so it got hit with Badger's Near Black, Weathered Black and Gargoyle Gray rather randomly, but the darker colors were shot in the recesses. I also sprayed Createx Transparent Gray and Transparent Light Brown in randomly as well.
When this dried, I began to bring out the highlights by drybrushing FW Inks light gray on the ridges as seen in the picture to the right. The end results are seen below left.
Next I decided to apply some landscaping foam from Woodland Scenics. I used to resist this, but I have gotten much better at it.
First, mix up a solution of water and white glue . . . about 1/3rd glue. Then apply it directly to the base. By the way, the reason I paint the base before this is so that if any of the foam eventually comes off, it will look natural.Anyway, brush on the glue solution everywhere except the rock outcroppings. It is best to do this in an old box lid or on newspaper because this can get messy.
Next, load a small kitchen sieve with various colors of Woodland Scenics foam. You want some variation, including some dirt and rock colors, but I like the high green tones in this case as the dominant color. Again they seem a little more mystical. Tap the side of the sieve gently as you move across the kit. This will filter it out naturally, as you can see in the top picture.
In the picture beneath it, you will notice a strange mist coming in from the right hand side. Any guesses?
Actually, it is common hairspray (Rave is the brand . . . because it was super cheap). Anyway, hairspray is basically glue. If you give the whole thing a serious coating of hairspray, it will hold very nicely and tone down the colors a little as well.
That brings us to the end of this build up. It is a big kit and a good one for modelers to do to practice basic techniques. You could do a lot with the fur of course and the parts are nice and big, so you have room to experiment a little.
Now, if you don't feel like experimenting and want someone to take the burden on, as always, we offer a build up service . . . just click here.
The Rules:
- Actually PRACTICE your hobby. Just do it because it makes you happy and don't worry about it. Geeze . . .
- But DON'T BUY RECASTS. Artists need support to keep doing it and recasts are typically crappy anyway.
- If you want to use some of our images, cool by me . . . just credit the source as www.creaturescape.com
- If you want to link to us, knock yourself out. Use our banner if you like and contact us so we can return the favor.
- If you find an error, problem, bad link or foolish statement, let us know, but don't be a butthead.
- Support our sponsors because that is how we stay afloat.
- Support horror hosts at www.horrorhosts.com by buying their products
- Support rockabilly radio at www.rockabillyradio.net by giving them money
- Fight the power, wash behind your ears and for heaven sake, if you are drunk and surfing the web right now, take a minute to think about how cool monster models are and go immediately to our sale page and buy a kit!
© 2007 CreatureScape, All Rights Reserved Callahan