I really wanted to work on this kit alot more this past christmas weekend, but there was too much family greatness going on. I just finished washing the kit in Dawn to remove any mold release agent. The great thing about this kit is that you dont really have to “pin” the arms and legs to the body. I love kits with brackets that you just insert. Overall the kit is fantastic. There are slight mold seams, but they are easy to take care of. Just a little apoxie sculpt and sanding will do the trick. I’m going to leave the arms unattached until i am done painting the entire kit. It will be easier to paint without his arms in the way. I test fitted everything and his right arm rests on the stone wall perfectly. I really love the detail this kit has. I believe i am going to pin his feet into the base. I dont want him falling off while moving the display.
Vigo is next to my latest project, Draco the dragon . When the weather starts drying up and the flash flood warnings go away, I’ll start airbrushing both projects. It’s gonna be a very “brown” week. (draco is primered black )
I had a chance to work on vigo a little while today. Im still on the gap and seam filling process. First you need to trim off all the flash from the molding process. This was casted very well and there is very little of it. However seams from the mold halves are evident and must be filled in. I use my favorite material Aves Apoxie sculpt.
Since i am filling in small gaps, I tend to make small ■■■■■ of each part. A little goes a long way, especially when the repairs are not very big.
I worked the gaps between the boots and the legs. Filling it in with apoxie sculpt also makes the connection stronger.
I worked on the arms filling in the mold lines and missing armor tips.
there is a major seam going along all the way around the wall. I dremeled it out and filled it in with apoxie. I used a rolled up ball of aluminum foil to break up the smooth seam. I also wanted the wall to seem like it was a part of the base and not just attached to it. So i filled in the gaps so that portions of it ran flush with the base. I noticed also that they put a wood piece in the middle to save on resin. ingenious.
I will give the whole kit another wash in dawn, because my fingers tend to be on the oily/dirty side when i build kits. I want to make sure the primer adheres properly.
I will post pictures after the primer shots…then on to painting!
Lookin’ great so far. Love the tin foil idea! I just wanted to post this here since it got lost in the “for sale” thread. I made this up in Photoshop in case anyone wants to print it out as a background image.
I’m liking it. The build looks good and your observation of the kit is fair. When I say fair I mean clear, to the point, and constructive things said about it. I am looking forward to hearing and seeing more.
The weather was nice out this evening. That gave me a chance to shoot my primer. Primer really brings out the details and unfortunately the flaws in a kit. I have to touch up a little more of the kit on top of vigo’s head and shoulders. I missed it somehow.
There are some great details on the kit. Kudos to the sculptor!
I’m gonna let it sit a day so the primer can dry out nicely. Hopefully the weather doesnt get humid again.
base coated brown with a badger airbrush. Seams and folds darkened with a transparent black using a badger. Kinda boring, but here is a shot
paint that i used if you are interested.
dry brushed to create highlights with this paint
here are the initial results
its a boring paint job. Basically 5 basic types of brown (sienna) is going to be used. There is some white, and grey for his eyes. He basically blends into the base/background. I’ll do a wash of transparent black to bring out the folds better. I’ll try to post pictures tomorrow of me painting his noggin’.
thanks for the kind words. helps motivate me to keep working on the kit. I painted some of the head of vigo. I still need to finish his hair, but for the most part I’m almost done with his noggin.
photo of just skin tone directly airbrushed onto his head.
Light washing of a darker flesh tone on areas with folds. especially around the eyes, lips, nose and forehead.
lips painted in and more washes
eyes painted in and more detail work. Also base color put down for his hair.
arms glued on
calling it a night after this last shot. I will continue with more detail work on his hair, and metal pieces on his costume. I will be picking up the blank background painting (less vigo) at kinkos. 45 bucks at kinkos on canvas. I’ll post another pic to see how close i got to the color match. I also need to drybrush some of the details of the lines under his eyes. Tomorrow will be putting washes and highlights in his hair and some uniform detail work.
Maybe a bit too much contrast in the face? I think you are painting in shadows where shadows would naturally fall. Like the folds around the mouth and in the eyes, which makes him look like he has black eyes or is a ■■■■■■. I think your second image looks more natural than the later ones.
