Catwoman - in 9 easy lives, uh, I mean steps!!!

Well, it's been a few years now since I've built a vinyl kit. Whew, how time does fly. This particular kit is a gem, the Horizon Catwoman, which of course is the Michelle Pfieffer version from the 2nd Tim Burton Batman film, Batman Returns. Opinions are mixed on this film, but not on this kit, it's a stunning likeness of Michelle and it is sculpted into a pose that is just spot on from the film. I built this kit for myself several years ago and frankly, I'm dyin' to have another crack at it so let's get goin'!

1.) Washin', Blowin', Cuttin', Trimin', and Fittin'.......
One key difference in vinyl kits is that you have to do some initial prep work even before you prime and putty. The first step is to take all the parts and wash them with warm water and a mild detergent, this makes sure that all the mold release compound is cleaned off the kit prior to painting. If you don't do this you run the risk of your primer and paint not adhereing to the kit. And that would suck, now wouldn't it? Once these parts dry of then you have to heat up and cut way the flashing from the kit components. "How the heck do I do that, Cal?" you may rightfully ask, and doggonit, I'm gonna' tell you. First, I carefully inspect all the parts to make sure I've got everything together, then one by one, I zap 'em with my trusty Vidal Sassoon 1500 Watt blow dryer. Once the part is soft and pliable, I quickly cut away the excess flashing with an X-Acto knife. Be careful with this part, kids. More than once I've cut into a good portion of my own flesh! As trim each part, I do a quick initial fitting to make sure that the parts are all going to seat well when I'm ready to assemble and glue. Just keep doin' this until all the parts are ready for pre-assembly and priming. Another neat lil' trick I use just prior to committing to the unforgiving adhesion of the ol' superglue is scoring, or marking the aligning parts. Basically it's like this: I lightly heat up the parts to be glued, before using any glue, I fit the pieces together and work them into the proper alignment. Once satisfied that everything lines up just right, I mark a line with a black marker across the seam of both parts. This way, when I get to gluin', I know that my pieces will be where I want them. 'Cause believe me, with vinyl, as opposed to styrene, superglue sticks FAST!! It's amazing how fast the glue takes hold. I had forgotten about that with vinyl kits, and had to do a couple of do-overs on my first few tries. Thankfully nail polish remover, if used soon enough, does remove the glue. So, keep this in mind, kids. Once I've gone through all the major parts, pre-fit them and marked them for alignment, it's time to glue. Once again, a light bead of superglue will suffice, and I always follow up with Insta-Set, just to really get a good solid bond. Now that the major portions are in place, I look over the whole kit and make note of the not so good seams. This kit is obviously a recast, and not a particularly good one, so there are alot of imperfections in the joint alignment. Not the end of the world, but it will take me a bit of extra work with the X-Acto knife to clean up some of the mess. But, perfection is what we're after here, so no use gripin' about the work.

2.) Primin', Puttying, Scrapin' and Sandin'.........
First, let me apologize for my unexplained absence. Shoot, it's been nearly a month since I did step one and this is the first chance I've really had to get back at this kit. So, sorry 'bout that kids, now let's get back to work. I noticed right away in the earlier step that this particular mold was not totally aligned, often the case with recast kits, so I knew there'd be a fair amount of seam repair, especially where the leftleg piece joins the body. But first I prime the whole kit with Plasti-Cote Sandable Primer, I'm using a white primer this time instead of my usual gray. Priming a kit will bring out details, flaws, misaligned parts, and all manner of other details that we'll need to address later during the process. At this point, I'm mainly concentrating on what seams will require the most putty and sanding. Well, since I'm not going to be attaching the arms until later (if I put 'em on now, it'll be real difficult to paint her face) that leaves the just the boots attached to the legs, and the left leg attached to the body That leg seam is gonna' need some work. This time around I'm using MMD Fast Drying Green Putty, by Squadron. It's far superior to the Testor's Contour Putty that I've used on lots of other kits mostly because it drys fast, sands smooth as glass, and is relatively easy to apply to the kit. I hit up the area around the leg with a liberal amount of the putty, not just to hide the seam, but to level the area between the butt and the thigh. Can't have those unsightly panty lines now, can we? After it sets for a day (or in this case, a couple of weeks!), it's time to break out the scrapin' and sandin' tools. I use a
combination of Loew-Cornell Sculpting Tools, 3M Sanding Sponges, Squadron Finishing Sticks, and good ol' fashioned sandpaper. I start by scraping the excess putty off with one of the sculpting tools, and finish by using increasingly fine grades of sanding sponges, sticks, and sandpaper. Before you know it, that seam, or seams, is lookin' pretty darn good. Once satisfied that I've smoothed 'er over, I hit the whole kit with another layer of primer and prepare to dive into the actual painting of the kit!! Oh, joy!!

Surf Fink, possibly one of the whackiest of the Ed Roth Fink series, is my task this month. Admittedly, I am hesitant about even starting the kit since it has been nearly a YEAR since my last build up. Wassup widdat????? Somehow, I fell outta' the saddle and just haven't been able to get my skinny behind back to the bench. Here's the view down the desk to my modeling area, see how it haunts me! Constantly reminding me that I'm not havin' that kind of crazy fun that only comes with lots of glue fumes and putty dust in the air! I think my "continuing to deteriorate" eyesite might be driving some of my reluctance to approach the act of kit building, or maybe I'm just plain busy. Who knows? Who cares? Let's build a kit and see just how happy it makes us!!

1. Boring, Repetitive, but COMPLETELY Necessary Initial Steps
You been readin' the ol' Cal Logs, so at this point you know where we begin this trip to Styrene Heaven. The basics, the fundamentals, the blocking and tackling of the modeling practice. Prime, putty, sand. At this stage we are basically laying out the job ahead. This stage allows me to assess the imperfections of the kit, like if the mold is out of line and the parts don't fit perfectly, that sort of thing. This is where I take care of those matters to make the remainder of the job easier. So I take all the darn lil' parts, shave 'em with my X-Acto straight blade, lay 'em out nice and pretty like on my used, and reused, priming board, and give those lil' guys a liberal coat of Krylon Grey Primer. Let 'em set for an hour or ten, then bring back down into my lair for preassembly. That's the part where I take the individual parts that make up arms, legs, bodies, etc., and match them WITHOUT glue, to see how there going to fit. Believe me, Super Glue is unforgiving as hell, so ya' better be sure how things are gonna' fit before ya' go slathering the glue all over it. Once satisfied that I know what I'm up against, I go ahead and commence to gluin' the sections together. And as I've said before, size up twice, glue once. These Ed Roth Kits have a nasty habit of havin' "hidden" parts that have to be glued into place BEFORE you glue other parts together. Case in point, this kit has an interior mouth section that I need to paint red and glue inside the front body half BEFORE I glue the two halves together. Likewise, the right arm has to be placed between the body halves BEFORE gluin' or we're never gonna' get that rascal in there. Now that we've blown through the matchin' up and gluin' together phase, we start sealing up unwanted seems, cracks, and other less than satisfactory features of the kit. Like with this one, the parts didn't match up to clean, the molding was not real tight, so I had to build up alot of seam areas with my ol' Testor's Contour Putty, to make for that Pro Look the the Cal-Meister lives for. So, I check out all over and putty up the seams around the body, head, legs and arms BUT I leave the right arm seam free, so the figure can be posed somewhat. Ya'know, you may have an "up" arm day, or you may be in more of a "down" arm mood. So, bein' the sensitive, forward thinking builder that I am, Iconsider that my client on this kit may want the option to move the arm. Ditto all of this action on the Wave Base of the kit, prime, putty, and fit. Now, we're gonna' spend some hours sanding, and finishing, all the putty work so that ya' can't even tell it was there! Oooooooooooooooooooooooooooh, Magic!

2. Foundations of Greatness - Warmin' Up!
Alright, if you follow my work (and ya' better if ya' know what's good for ya'!), than you know the Calster likes to slide on into his kit building by working out the bugs on the lesser parts of each kit. In this case, the base elements: the Wave, the Surfboard, and the Hair piece. Startin' out on these simple and basic items helps me to get my "kit paintin'" groove back, so that by the time I get to the main attraction, I'm ready and rarin' to go. So, to get me goin', I start with the wave base piece. I lay down a base coat of Design Master Deep Blue acrylic spray paint. Next, I tackle the first round of paint up on the surf board. Because I need this to eventually be a two tone board, I lay down the first coat of Liquitex Cadmium Yellow (medium viscosity, them's science words fer thick but not too thick!). Now, if you've ever used yellow paint, of any kind, than you know that it is NOT a one coat proposition. Somethin' about the make up of yellow makes it damn near transparent when you apply it over grey primer. I have literally struggled with this phenomenon on many a Batman kit (chest emblems, utility belts, etc.) and as yet, have no easy answer. Ya' just gotta' apply several coats to get a nice, dense, yellow finish. We'll get back to that surfboard later, 'cause it's gonna' take some real trickery and you'll wanna' pay attention. Next up, the Ol' Finkster's hair piece. I've done alot of these Roth and Silly Surfer kits by now so I have a go to system for paintin' up beach, bleached blonde hair and it starts simply enough with a nice coat of Liquitex Burnt Sienna. As you can see by the pictures, just paintin' these simple lil' things really makes a guy feel like he's makin' some progress!! I can literally feel the ol' kit buildin' excitement startin' to build!!

3.) Body Buildin'- Gettin' to the meat of the matter!
Now that we're cookin', and since I've already got out the Liquitex Burnt Sienna, I'm gonna' march right on into paintin' up the main character section of this kit. Geez, I thought I'd wait a bit longer but doggonit, I'm gettin' into it! Takin' the aforementioned Burnt Sienna, I make up a mixture of Caucasion Skin Tone by adding Liquitex Raw Sienna and Liquitex Titanium White. This is an "artistic expression" mixture, so I don't really have measurements,

I just keep adding a bit of each until I reach the skin tone that I'm lookin' for. Somehow, miraculously, I almost always come out with the same color each time. Go figger? We mix this into a smooth, seamless blend, and with a wide flat straight edge brush (in this case a Royal Gold #12 size) and than start applying it to the kit in smooth, thin layers. What ya' don't want to do is lay on the first coat too heavy, where ya' might fill up the details that you want to bring out later. So the rule here is: a nice even coat that covers, but isn't too thick. Occasionally as I'm paintin', I'll dip my brush in a cup of water just so I can smooth out some of the rought spots, and because acrylic paints tend to start dryin' out and thickening up pretty quick. Well, now as you can see, we're startin' to look all groovy and stuff. Oh, yeah, and just to add emphasis to the earlier passage on puttying and sanding, take a look at this fella's side! "Look, Ma!! NO SEAMS!!"

4.) Early Details - Them Devils!
Never too early to begin thinkin' about those lil' things that'll separate your kit from the ranks of the average and propel it into the realm of perfection, or, uh, something like that. In my case, now that I've got my base coat on the body, I need to address all the wrinkle, hair, and dimple details that these Roth kits always have. So I grab my trusty Le Plume Dark Brown art marker and painstakingly fill in all the lil' nooks and crannies on the Fink. Now, we don't have to be too steady handed here, ya' don't want to go sloppin' it all over the place, but ya' also don't have to sweat stayin' totally inside the lines. I'll explain why a bit later. Now, as you can see, this thing is beginning to take shape, and this is where we begin really bringin' the details into pro form. It's gonna' require some drybrush work, followed by some wash action, and repeat these steps as many times as it takes to get the look we're goin' for, which of course is...........GREAT!!!

5.) Mo' Details, Mo' Details, Mo Details!!
Remember those colors I used for mixin' up my fine lookin' skin tone? Well, it's a good thing, Sparky, 'cause they also comprise much of my system for creatin' bleach, blonde hair. I've already base coated with the Liquitex Burnt Sienna, so now I follow a dry brush layering process that begins with a light brush over of Liquitex Raw Sienna, than a light brush of Delta Ceramcoat Butter Yellow, than Liquitex Cadmium Yellow, and finally Liquitex Titanium White. As I work through each of these, I don't clean the dry brush or my painting platform. That way my color transistions appear more natural, blended, and even. Dig? And check out that do!! This guy is beginin' to be stylin' beyond belief. Remember earlier I told you that we didn't have to be too careful with the gel pen work on the Finks wrinkles and hair markings? Here's why: I take my earlier left over mix of skin tone and lighten it just a tad with Liquitex Titanium White, and begin to dry brush over ALL the areas of the skin, concentrating on the portions that have the gel pen details. This action smooths out the pen work, softens the transition color between the hair, wrinkles, and skin and adds texture and depth to the skin tone itself. (Does this guy sound like he knows what he's doin', or what?!?) After a few passes at this, I grab the Le Plume Marker again, only this time I use the Fine point side. Oh, what? Didn't I mention that these Le Plume Markers come with 2 tips? Well, boy Howdy, they sure do and that makes 'em a real versatile tool for this sort of work. I take the Fine point end and just do some touch up on the hairs and wrinkles, in case some got too washed out by the drybrushing. While I'm at it, I use the Fine marker to draw in detail to the feet and hands, you know, the knuckle wrinkles, and toe creases, and all them lil' type things. Sheeeeeeeesh! Would ya' look at that! This Hodaddy is really takin' shape.

6.) Stretchin' towards the Finish.............
I just realized that in my haste to build up and paint this fine kit while documenting the momentous occassion for you, the little people, I forgot that I needed to attach the feet to the legs and address the seam issue. There's quite a sizeable gap on this kit, so I just back up a few lessons, glue on this boys dogs, using Insta-Cure Gap Filling Cyanacrylate, uh, that's super glue for most of us, and apply a thin line of Testor's Contour Putty around them there gaps, and Oila!! Gaps no more! Now it's time to start flyin' through a lot of the finish up areas on this kit. I once again get my Delta-Ceramcoat Butter Yellow and give our boy's swim trunks multiple layers (damn that yellow paint!!! It never covers in one, or two, or even THREE coats!!). Grab up the little stowaway crab and using a small mix of Butter Yellow and Bright Red, both Delta Ceramcoat colors, and get a nice, crabby orange color goin' and lay a couple of coats on. Can't forget about the toungue, that's gonna' come in handy later, so I hit it with a base coat of Liquitex Burgundy. Later I'll dry brush some lighter shades on it to bring out the texture an detail. Can you hear the dominoes startin' to fall yet?? Now, I'm not quite totally satisfied with our boys overall torso look yet, I'm thinkin' he needs some shadowing effects to bring out his might pectorals and to pro up the appearance a bit. Some guys would opt for some airbrush action here, but me? I'm takin' the road less frustrating and using chalk pastels instead. I use a set of Loew Cornell Soft Pastels, and for this instance the brown pigment is what I'm after. Using a stiff bristle small paint brush, I'm gonna' use it to brush along the chalk stick then, just like I'm painting, apply the brown pigment to the areas of the chest and stomach that I want to highlight. I also hit a line down the center of his back just to really bring out some depth. It's a simple technique that really adds the pop to kits if you use it judiciously. Next up, bringin' some life to that deep, blue wave base. Easy to fix this up with a

session of progressive dry brushing. Taking the Liquitex Basics Ultramarine Blue color, I lighten it up with Liquitex Basics Titanium White. Using a well weathered artists brush, like the one pictured here, I dab it lightly in the paint mixture, then paint off most of it on the palette, than lightly brush over the raised areas of the waves. I repeat this again with yet another lighter shade of blue, then finish it off with by drybrushing pure white over the extremities of the waves and wave caps. You can see how it goes from blah to GA-GA with this technique. Don't want to forget the least items in this build up like Surf Dude's tongue. I've got a system for these things too. Start with a base of Liquitex Burgandy and then dry brush the ridges with Liquitex Cadmium Red. Ahhhhh, beauty!! Got just a few last minute details to adhere to before we go full bore and half crazy into the last dizzying moments of this tremendous modeling session!! Let's give some life to our Surfer Boy here by dazzling up his eyeballs. No Ed Roth kit is complete without the prerequisite veining, staining, and pupilizing of the magnificent bulging orbs. Lets start simple, first move, grab my Staples Opti-Flow Black Gel Pen and carefully outline the pupils. Next, color those boys in with the Le Plume Black Marker. Staying with the pen idea, grab the Le Plume Red Marker and use the Fine side to detail in the veins of the eyes. But to really drive home that blood shot look I have to make a dab of red wash using Liquitex Cadmium Red and just plain ol' tap water. With a micro-fine brush I apply this wash solution to the wells of the eyes, and even let some come into the white part of the eyes around the sockets. Now, that's a look that even Christopher Lee would be proud of!!

7.) It's been fun, but we got to run, let's get this thing done!!
I don't know why, but everytime I do a build up it always seems like it ends too quickly. I know that alot of hours went into this thing but here at the end, when we just put in the final few touches, it seems like I just started. So let's wrap this thing up. Had to put some finishing moves on the surfboard, and this is pretty tedious work, but I start with a Le Plume Red Marker and using the fine tip I draw in the flame and stripe details on the board. Next I flip around to the brush end of the marker and carefully, I mean carefully, color in the flames and the stripes to give me a bitchin' board that Frankie Avalon would be envious of. Lastly, a soft coat of Testor's Dullcote over the entire kit to seal in all that perfection. (am I braggin'?). All that's left to do now is to assemble this wonderful Ed Roth creation and ship 'er out to my client. He's gonna' be one happy camper when he gets this one and I'm sure it'll make a fine addition to his growing collection of Finks. So there you have it, Seeker. It was a long time comin', remember I started this kit in June, got as far as the prime and putty, then nothin' til just last week, Jan. 3 when I really decided to get back to work. Not bad for a weeks work, huh? Thanks for playin' along and tune in next when we tackle the Horizon Catwoman kit. Whole different style needed for that one so it promises to be an interesting journey. See ya' next time!!

1971 Aurora Neanderthal Man

Okay, this is the 2nd in a series of Classic Aurora Prehistoric Scenes kits that I am building. 2nd and most likely last, since this type of kit has never been my strong suit. But, as with the Sabertooth kit, I'll soldier on and do the best job I can and hopefully learn some new modeling tricks along the way. As you can see by the pic's, this kit was sent to me in a semi-built up stage.
Since these kits were originally issued as snap together kits, at least I don't have to undo any sloppy glue jobs. It is, however, partially painted up. Judging from the paint job, the type of paint, and the lack of any real concern about any other parts other than the main character, I'm gonna' guess that this is the original paint up done by some kid back when the kit was first issued. Sort of cool, really. It brings back the memories of when I first started in this hobby and how you really didn't care about the quality of your build up, you were just so darn excited about getting the kit built so you could SEE it. Ah, youth. Such luxuries of carelessness are gone from todays serious, grown up model builder and thus, we will commence on our journey to make this blast from the past a millinium aged museum quality display item!!! (too over the top?? Am I reaching??)

Gettin' It Started

As usual, we're gonna' head out of the gate by collecting and sorting main parts (those parts we will assemble and/or paint together), priming the kit, puttying and sanding the seams and making our color pallete decisions. As you can see from some of theses pics, there was alot of work to be done smoothing out the seams. Early kits didn't really piece together that well, but when you were a kid, who cared? These early Aurora Prehistoric Kits often came with multiple sets of arms and legs so the user could change the pose, or opt for a different look to the kit at times. But, with me, I'm building for forever.And Super Glue IS forever! So I have to choose my arm and leg combo ahead of time and commit to gluing it up. Since this kit was sent to me missing one half of one of the sets of arms, that choice was easy. With the legs, I
opt for the pair that fit into the base the best and will make for the best looking finished pose. It looks like I've got a good start on this kit, I'm feeling pretty confident that I can make it match up with the Saber Tooth Tiger kit, creating a sort of diorama setup. Since both these kits are for the same client and are from the same set of Aurora kits, it's important to me that they are built up in a similar and complimetary fashion. That's me, always lookin' out for the client!




Pickin' the Pallette

We already established that this kit has got to match up with the Saber Tooth Tiger,
so our pallette is gonna' be your standard browns, greys, blacks and greens. Startin' out, that's easy, we just grap everything except the Neanderthal man himself and coat it with a dark brown base. From here we'll be building up different hues and tones based on what details of the base we are trying to bring out. Because the base has elements of dirt, stone, grass, leaves and wood, it's gonna take quite a bit of doin' to paint up the parts without creating a mess outta' the whole thing.
Now we're gonna' head on back to our tutorial on building up the base for the Sabertooth Tiger kit, for a quick reminder on how we built up the dirt, plants and rocks. I knew those tutorials would come in handy for something, even if its only to support my failing memory!! But really, this package I know pretty well. Liquitex Burnt Sienna, and Raw Sienna, dry brushed up from the brown in layers to create a 3D like dirt appearance.You can see that the other little wood parts are in there too. The club, the log, and the tree. Later we're gonna' have to figger out a way to make each one of those have its own character, so it isn't so obvious that we painted them at the same time with the same colors! Oh the things we artists go through. Next we want to hit those rocks to separate them from the rest of the ground. In our last prehistoric kit we used increasingly lighter layers of grey, drybrushed onto the rocks only, and then highlighted the crevices even more with some dark washes of brown and black. So, let's stick with a winner and use that same plan. Plants? Ditto, we're gonna' use the same time tested layering approach only using varying shades of green. I start with a base coat of Liquitex Hooker's Green (eh, heh....he said "hooker"....) and from there I'll add dollops of Liquitex Butter Yellow, then
Cadmium Yellow, then finally White. This'll bring out those bad boys from the less than detailed base that was supplied with the kit. And as you can see here, the results are, if I must say so myself, stunning! It looks like you could just walk right into that base, huh? I had to do some lil' touch up actions with my trusty Le Plume Brown Marker. With this I detailed in the
graining on the tree trunk, patched up some green over brush areas, colored in some knot holes in the tree, log and club, and basically just brought out alot of detail that were NOT carved into the plastic. That's me, always goin' the extra mile for realism AND my clients.


Makin' It Real......

Well, you just can't put off dealin' with the main part of kit forever. I've spent a good deal of time putzin' around with the base, and the trees, and the logs, and the clubs, and now it's time to start diggin' into the ol' Neanderthal Man hisself!! Okay, so there's a lil' detour to do the sign first. It's simple and it'll buy me just a tad more time before I launch into the part of the kit that will make or break my entire build up. I wanna' match the sign for the Sabertooth so I just copy my earlier method. In short, Liquitex Black as the base coat. Then dry brush layers of Liquitex Burnt Sienna, Raw Sienna, and a finish brush of Tamiya Gold and it looks just good enough to be in a museum! Before I attack the body, I'm gonna' do this fella's underpants.......uh, well I guess technically that's a loin cloth, but really, by most standards accepted today, they're underpants. I'll stick with the pallette we've already established, but layer in some lighter shades to approximate the "skin & fur" look of some poor gutted and dressed animal that this dude picked out to make up his fine wardrobe. So I base it in Liquitex Black, follow with dry brush of Burnt Sienna and Raw Sienna, but to change up the look of the "inner" skin that folds back over the "outer" fur area, I add a touch of Liquitex White to my mix, and dry brush that area a few more times. Ahhhhh, now that's lookin' good. To finish, I wash the whole thing with a light wash of black, to bring out the detail and add some realism, then seal that bugger with some Testor's Dullcote. Now onto that body, and what a body! SinceI've got all my standard skin mix tones out, I just mix up a small batch of semi-dark caucasion skin tone. Give the fella a once, or twice, over coat and let it set. Before I get on with detailing out the skin to achieve that Neanderthal era rough and tumble look, I'm gonna' seal the base coat with Dullcote. No tellin' how many "trial and error" effect attempts are in my future at this point and I wanna' play it safe.

Gimme Some Skin, My Friend!!

I've done alot of kits in my time, but I can NOT remember one as doggone tricky and stubborn as this darn Neanderthal dude!! Lemme tell ya though, I sure as shootin' am glad that I hit that base coat up with Dullcote.................otherwise I'd be in an asylum by now. I have spent no fewer than 5 nights tryin' to get this fella's skin to look, well, authentic. I've tried watercolor washes, dry brushes with acrylics, even drawin' the damn hair on with a gel pen!!! All failures. I've washed 7 or 8 different attempts off this guy, and still was no further along than the last chapter. No one said it was gonna' be easy, but again, DULLCOTE IS KING!! In the meantime I've managed to get some pretty decent effects goin' on by using a
combination approach. I've settled for the fact that the kit is just not detailed enough to have a wash bring out all the chest, back, arm and leg hair. And I know that a guy in this time period is not gonna' be that clean, so I've decided to try and achieve a dirty, prehistoric skin tone that will create the illusion of hair and at the same time look authentic for the era. All this by accident really. My base tone I realized was too light, too clean and too Caucasion to be real. First thing I did was do a light dry brush over the entire flesh area of Liquitex Burnt Sienna. And when I say light, I mean LIGHT! I had recently read over at the Clubhouse that some guy had pretty good success using water colors for a wash technique. The advantage of water colors is.......THEY WASH OFF COMPLETELY IF YOU MESS UP!! And believe me, seeker, I messed up plenty. But now that I had made my peace with how I was gonna' approach the kit, I went back to the wash idea using an Art Studio Liquid Burnt Umber water color that one of my kids had in an old art kit that they got (and never really used) for Christmas one year. I thinned it with Windex. Yeah, that's right, Windex. I gave the whole body and leg area a medium heavy wash, one small section at a time, using my trusty blow dryer to speed up the drying time. With the water colors, it's easy to go back and smooth out the edges and imperfections of the wash. As I told you, these old Aurora kits really didn't have that great a casting, so although there are
indentations for the hair in the plastic, they're not defined enough to hold a good wash. So I settle for what I can get, knowing that I'm gonna do several more coats in phases. Next, I lighten the look of the wash with a dry brush of Liquitex Raw Sienna. Now, finally, things are startin' to look like the Ol' Cal magic is back in full swing!!

The Devil is in the Details

Okay, we're gonna' hit high gear now and polish off some of the effects that will really make the kit pop! I've achieved a great base skin effect, and even have taken it a step further now by adding a few more washes of my brown tone. After researching some archival pic's of Neanderthal Dudes online, I decided that MY initial approach was a tad too Caucasian looking so I opted to dark it down some, adding to the period realism of the kit look. (Is anyone buying that load?). To really bring out some of the essentials I hit the eyes and teeth with a simple coat of Liquitex Antique White and dry with my hair dryer.; Next, and ever so thin wash of
Liquitex Butter Yellow, to make the eyes look tired, old, and basically unkept. In the mouth area, I almost forgot, prior to the white I hit the inside of the mouth and lips with a light wash of Liquitex Burgandy, just to get a base coat on the soft mouth areas. EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEWWW, that looks NICE! Next, on to those pesky gashes, scratches and scrapes that are on the kit. I hit those with the Liquitex Burgandy, BUT to make it look more like human blood and meat, I wash the areas with a black wash. This provides the realistic clotting and drying look of blood. I'm not totally satisfied with my "hairy" areas of the chest, face and arms, so I break out my Loew Cornell Soft Pastels and carefully define the pectorals, the abdomibles, and the shoulders and triceps of the kit with a nice dark brown and then black pastel. Yessireee, Bob! That's the look. Dull cote this and then onto a light red pastel brush over the lips and mouth. That got 'er done. Just to really rub in how anal I am about these things, I grab my Le Plume Brown 2 tipped gel pen and detail around the eyes with the fine point, and color in the eyebrows with the marker point. Now thats a face that only a mother could, and should, love. OOOOOOOOPS! In all the excitement about finishing the Neanderthal Dude portion, I nearly forgot his "catches". This kit came with kind of a lame attachment of a rabbit and pheasant that the guy supposedly has tackled with his giant club. So they have to be given some attention at this point.

To The Finish Line, At Last!!

So, as usual with most kits, you're buildin' 'em for what seems like forever (at least to my clients!) and then with a flurry of paint, blow dryers, glue and
dullcote, your're finished. With this kit the last details boiled down to the bone knife, the wierd bone pipe (which I glued to the base for lack of a better idea?) the rabbit and the pheasant "catch", and the final assembly of all the pieces. A little scare near the end when I found out that the giant bone spiked club didn'tfit into the guys hand!!! A little careful routing with an X-Acto knife and presto, chango......it fits. Ditto with the bone knife, apparently designed to go into his hand PRIOR to gluing his arm halves together......duh. So to get around this little problem, I painted the bone knife, then cut in in half to fit into his hand, then glued it back together. There, nobody is the wiser, huh? So after a long, hard struggle to finish a kit that I had no previous experience with, I think I have accomplished one of my best build outs ever. Pretty amazing, given the time it took to get me to this place. Well, another lesson or 10 learned, and this one is in the record books and me? I'm on to that pile of kits underneath my workbench that are beggin' to be released. Until next time, Seeker, this is yer ol' Uncle Cal, signin' off!!!