Grave Matters:
A while back I got a kit from Buzz Works called "Grave Zombie." In our review I touted it as a great bargain and nice kit for the beginner as well. I also promised (or threatened, depending on how you look at it) to do the kit for a web article when the opportunity presented itself. Well, the style of the kit just begs for a classic look, so I give you a nice green zombie for your shelves.
Confused about a term used in this article? Go to the model builder's dictionary.
Prep the kit: The first thing you want to do is wash the parts of any kit you buy before assembling it. This removes any release agents, hand oils or dirt that will keep the paint from sticking. It may not be really exciting, but it is necessary. Once clean, you can begin removing excess plastic, resin or vinyl with a hobby knife. I won't bore you with pictures of this process, but I will give you some advice. Clean it off as neatly as you can and use a sharp (i. e. fresh) blade. You'll have more control that way.
With this particular kit, I cut the lower 1/2 inch or so off because I wanted it to rest on a different base (as you will see). The vast majority of the time, it is better to make any modifications like that first . . . before you start painting.
Prime the Kit: You also need to coat your kits with a primer to allow paint to adhere and color the surface evenly. I normally put the major parts on a piece of wood, either glued in place or on a screw, as you can see to the right. The advantage is you can move the kit around without touching the paint. You can also get difficult angles relatively easily. However, you also want to be able to remove the kit parts easily for assembly and detail work.
Painting: After the primer dries (typically 1/2 hour), you can paint. The first coats of paint are normally the darkest layers as they will be visible beneath highlights and other colors.
I used all acrylic (water soluble) paints for this project, starting by airbrushing Badger's Mummified Brown with an Iwata HP-B around the zombie and tombstone. You don't have to use an airbrush of course, but you know even with a $25 Testors beginner brush from Wal-Mart, you can get good results.
The shirt was done in Badger's Nocturna Blue and the face and hands got a coat of Model Masters Grun RLM62 (product #4776, if you go to look for it). Model Masters Acrylics (MMA for short) are great paints for brushing or airbrushing, but they don't have the cool names Badger gives to it's Freak Flex line.
You can see a little of the tombstone base above, but both parts were base coated with MMA #4782: Grun RLM72. The hair is hit with a color called Near Black from Badger, the interior of the mouth is sprayed with Jezabel Pink and the teeth, fingernails and a part of the skull exposed in the back of the head were sprayed with MMA #4249: #4 Brown 1/2. (That is not a misprint, and certainly not as cool a name as Jezabel Pink!) Anyway, you want the teeth and bone brown, not white, as a base color since this guy is rotting, ya see?
Highlights: The next steps are where the creature starts to take on features, so to speak. First, I highlight the kit with a technique known as "dry brushing." It is pretty simple. You take a shade of paint a that is visibly lighter than the base coat and put it on the end of a reasonably broad, flat brush. Then, you pull as much paint as possible off the brush. Then gently stroke the "cleaned" brush over the kit and a little paint will remain only on the highlights.
For the shirt, I dry-brushed MMA #4788: Hellblau RLM78. The teeth, bone and nails got a dry brush coat of Buttermilk from Americana craft paints, and the face was dry-brushed with Badger's wonderful monster color, Frankenflesh! And, I put in a base coat of Light Buttermilk for the eyes.
You can see how this technique starts to give shape to the model, making it look three dimensional. However, it is the next step that gives it a sense of realism (if such a word can be applied to zombies.)
Color Depth: The underlying dark shades are just as important, and you also want to blend in the colors to look like natural variations and transitions, especially on the flesh. However, before you can do any of this you must perform a very important step: SEAL THE KIT! I use Testors Dullcote in a can and spray it all over the kit between stages, sometimes twice. When it dries, it will protect your work and allow you to apply and wipe off colors without destroying what you have done.
Okay. So you have sealed the kit. Now what? I apply some "transparent" airbrush paint, specifically Createx's Light Brown, to the skin and mouth. Then I wipe it off with a clean cotton rag which effectively leaves the highlights, but settles into the creases and makes the flesh look both dirty and a bit rotten.
You can see in these pictures the basic process and results. You can also see that the tombstone has gotten a little attention. The green moss spots are light coats of Gangrene and the light gray is called, what else but Gravestone Gray? Both are from Badger's Freak Flex line.
Eyes: Well, I must have gotten distracted or something, because I seem to have forgotten to take pictures of painting the eyes. No worries . . . it is a simple process. Work in concentric circles. The outer rim of the iris is black (largest circle), the inner iris I made bright red (middle circle) and the pupil is black (inner dot). Just go slow with a dabbing motion and you can get a simple but effective eye on your zombie.
I decided to give the eye a gloss coat, and for that nothing beats Future Floor Wax. Yep! Just a couple coats will do. Now, if you wanna get crazy with the cheese-wiz, you can give the eyes a cloudy look with a drop of yellow, white or light blue depending on taste, but I went for a fully sighted ghoul (the proper name, of course is ghoul . . . okay, I'll shut up about it.)
Customizing a Base: For some reason, I typically discard the original base that comes with a kit, either in part or in whole and do my own. No slight against the sculptor here of elsewhere--I just like doing it.
For this kit, I decided a piece of flat stone would make a good base, and so I trimmed the bottom of the kit as flat as I could (before assembly, as mentioned above) and glued it to the base with Gorilla Glue.
In the picture to the right, you can see I have put down a layer of two part putty (Alchemy Works Wonder Putty in this case) to fill the gaps and make a smooth transition. This should be textured to match, so I am using the end of a very porous piece of broken brick to give it ridges.
Then I paint it the same Mummified Brown color as the base.
The next step is to apply some creepy dying vegetation. Woodland Scenics makes a product called "Long Grass," which is essentially horse hair colored to look like grass--which it does. Basically, you drill holes in the base and create plugs of grass by bending it at the halfway point and taping the bend into a tight cone. At that point, you just insert the grass plugs into the holes.
The picture to the left is actually a dry run, because as you will see below, I am going to apply "ground cover." So, I do this first, take out all the grass plugs and then cover the base with other materials. When that is done, I reinsert the grass.
Ground Cover: What you see below is a collection of "landscaping" materials I have gathered over the years. You can get this stuff in most hobby, train or game shops.
The kit rests in an old salad container because I will be sprinkling these materials on it and it helps control mess and waste.
You can see the jar with the white liquid. That is a solution of 1 part white glue (like Elmers) and 9 parts (about that anyway) water. With the brush, you wipe on a coat of glue. Next, using the little sifter (and this is very important to use), you can shake on various colors or textures to create a base with some character. I have used some brown ballast (small stones) and spring green ground foam with a little dark green "static grass." Between applications, I hit it with the hair spray to form an invisible coating of glue to hold it on from the top as well as the bottom. Then, I reinsert the grass plugs with a little glue.
To the right, you can see the results.
Well, I hope that was informative, instructive and most of all inspiring.
I always write these articles with the intention of drawing folks into the hobby, so consider this. This is a cheap kit at $25. It is about as big as a soda can and will stand out on your desk or shelf for sure and will give you something to do while you are watching old horror movies. The whole thing could be done in an evening with a brush and craft paints so you can have fun with this little baby and start getting ready for Halloween a little early.
So, if you have questions, want to talk about kits or need more inspiration, just email me at editor@creaturescape.com. Enjoy!
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