Cal's Commission Corner: Cal's Modelin' Tips

PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER

Building Ed “Big Daddy” Roth’s ‘Scuz-Fink’ using all the techniques we know so far!!

STEP ONE: Piece & Prime

As always, pull that bad dog outta’ the box and check all the parts. Remove the pieces from the parts trees and shave off any “hangnails” with yer trusty X-Acto knife. Than get to priming! A nice even coat of Design Master Grey Primer on all the parts and lay ‘em out nice and neat to dry.

STEP TWO: Paste, Putty, & Paint

Check out your instruction sheet thoroughly, and plan your attack! It pays to think ahead when assembling these kits, don’t get to smart for your britches! I assemble the major parts, without gluing together any parts that might make my painting work any harder. And don’t forget to pre paint any parts that might be difficult to reach after you glue the pieces together. For example, with most of these Ed Roth kits, ya gotta remember to paint the inside of the mouth part, glue it inside the front body half and THEN glue the body halves together. Next, we putty and sand those unsightly seems. Then, apply base coats of paint to some major areas. In this case I apply some Delta Ceramcoat Flat Black to the sleeve portions of the suit. I don’t want these to be black, but to achieve the effect I want I need the base coat to be dark. Later I’ll dry brush a silver/grey color over these sleeve portions and the black will only show in the creases, thus adding cool guy texture to the kit.

STEP THREE: Base coating the Face, Hands, Legs
Ditto on the face area. I apply a dark green color, made up of Liquitex Ultramarine Blue and Cadmium Yellow. (Handily left over from my Riddler build up!) Later I’ll dry brush lighter shades of green, yellow and some white, leaving the dark green only in the wrinkles and creases of the characters face. This gives you that swift 3-D look all the kids are talkin’ about! And I’m gonna’ put the first coat of eye color on the 3 eyes of the kit. Later, I’ll detail ‘em out, but for now, one coat of Testor’s Primer Grey will do.

STEP FOUR: Color Washing, Phase 1
Okey, Dokey! If ya’ know anything at all ‘bout Ed Roth kits, ya’ know he makes all his characters with deep wrinkles all over the face. It just makes these kits jump out at ya’ when you can bring out the detail of those lines. I’m not confident that the dark green color that I’ve used to base the face is gonna’ give me enough definition when I start brushing up the lighter shades. So, as an insurance policy, I’m gonna’ give the kit a dark color wash of Delta Ceramcoat Black mixed with a dollop of hand washing liquid soap and some water. The addition of soap makes the wash adhere to the lines better; gives the wash a little more stick! AH, HA! Now there’s the deep lines I was lookin’ for!

STEP FIVE: Dry Brushing That Detail!
Now we get to building up the lighter tones with some dry brushing. I take the green color that I used for my base and mix in some Liquitex Cadmium Yellow and Liquitex Titanium White. When I get a semi-pale tone, I grab my handy, dandy favorite dry brush and begin lightly applying the tint to the raised areas. BE SURE TO GET MOST OF THE PAINT OFF THE BRUSH. The main difference between subtle dry brush effect and streaky looking dry brush is the amount of paint. The brush should be literally, dry. The tones will slowly build up to give you the effect you want. Be patient. After the first pass, I add more white and yellow to the green base and take another pass at the kit. Now, that looks pro!!

STEP SIX: Silver coat
Let’s get a quick smooth coat of Tamiya X-11 Chrome Silver on that space suit, and then we’ll hit it with the same dark wash we used on the face features. This wash will bring out the textures of the suit and add a lot more realism to the kit. (Which is what I’m sure Big Daddy was going for!! Sheeeeeeesh!)

STEP SEVEN: Dry brush, Part 2, and Some Facial Detailing

Remember back in Step 2, we painted the sleeve portions flat black. Well, now we return with the Tamiya X-11 Chrome Silver and dry brush the sleeves to bring out the raised wrinkles of the suite. Check it out!! It’s like 3-D, man! While we're at it, it’s time to go to work on the eyes, I’ve already got a base coat of primer so it’s time to break out the Liquitex Titanium White and hit ‘em up with a quick coat. From there, I take my handy, dandy Le Plume Black Marker and do them pupils. Then with the Le Plume Red, I do some of the fine veining work. Slick lookin’ ain’t it? Next, a lil’ dab of Liquitex Burnt Sienna for the pupils, leaving a small ring of black visible around them, and these eyes are startin’ to look alive!

STEP EIGHT: Color Washing, Phase II
Now to give that space suite a little “realism”. Grab that black wash we used earlier to deepen the lines on the face, and give a nice even wash to the whole suit area. You’ll see it sink into the crevices and pits in the suit, it’ll also give some added definition to the arm areas by deepening the shadows in the sleeve creases.

STEP NINE: Odds and Ends

OOOOOPS! Usually I start with this stuff, but for some reason I was in a hurry to jump right into workin’ on the main piece. Impatience, it can screw ya’ up if yer not careful. So we have all these peripheral parts, namely the baseplate and the lil’ set decorations that come with the kit, so let’s knock out that base first. I mix up a reddish, brownish, orangish color with Liqutitex Napithol Crimson, Cadmium Yellow and Raw Sienna. Tryin’ to match that dried up Planet Mars look they show on the box art. A base coat of that mix is followed by detailing in the cracks and crevices in the planet surface with a Le Plume Brown marker. Next, we break out the ol’ Badger 150 for some quick air brush work. I give the base some light shading with Badger Opaque Black, filling in the craters and shadowing the landscape. Cool! Lastly, I dry brush some of my original color mix over the raised areas to soften the detailing and the air brush work. Now, that looks like a planet, dammit! Then theres the rest of the lil’ parts that make a kit so………special. The Flag, the jet pack, the rip cord, the ray-gun and of course, the fish bones.

STEP TEN: The Home Stretch!
Now we can’t fergit about ol’ Dingbat, can we? That’s the secondary figure in this kit that serves as the mounting platform for Scuzzy. This lil’ guy is gonna’ get the full on treatment. First I base coat him with my leftover green color (the same that I used for the face of Scuz) lightened up with some Liquitex Cadmium Yellow. Next, I brandish my Badger 150 and layer in a light coat of Createx Transparent Ultramarine Blue along the tips of the wings, lightening up the tone as I move towards the body. This gives a cool fade out look. Then, I mix in some Createx Transparent Red and Createx Opaque White for a purple color and airbrush the tail, and again highlight the the bottom edge of the wings, fading lighter as I work out from the body. WOW! What a cool look, just like on the box picture. I love when that happens. Time for some dry brush now, I take my reddish orange color that I mixed far the planet base and dry brush that up along the tail area and the center of the body. I follow that with a dry brush coat of white, and just a tad of Raw Sienna. Finish him up with the eye detail and VOILA! Finished.

STEP ELEVEN: Grab and Glue
You know, its kinda of sad to get to the end of another kit, but onward we go. Grab up those parts, get yer Insta-Cure+ and put the finishing touches on a classic Ed Roth Monster kit. As you can tell by the pictures, this one was done with lots o’ love, Daddy-oh!