AJM's Site

In Progress Models

Current on the workbench: Raptor Queen,  Emma Frost/White Queen (updated 10/22/08) Devin is taking this kit over from me, 1/4 Scale Tomb Raider (updated 11/5/08)

Starting Next: Don't know yet

Raptor Queen

11-16-09

Another mini update.  The base is painted and the raptor is almost ready to paint.

10-26-09

A mini update.  Lost of filling done and the elbow is finished.  The hand is mostly done.

10-20-09

I started repositioning the kit tonight, but I forgot to take a pic before I started gluing.

I cut the arm in 3 places, the elbow, fore arm, and wrist. I also removed the fingers. I used a razor saw for most, but I used a really find jewelers saw for the really small areas. This is a view from the top of the opened arm.

With the fingers cut off I bonded the staff to the arm.

Then I cut the staff to allow for easier painting and assemble.

Here is the arm with the base layer of Aves on it.

Here is a pic of the kit set back together.

Anybody familiar with the kit might notice that the raptor head is a little lower.  I had to trim almost 2 inches off the staff so it will fit in my cabinet.  I didn't want to, but sometimes you have to make allowances to make it fit somewhere.

My next step is to resculpt the hand. I kept all the peices, so I have the basic shape. Hopefully I can get enough time this week to finish the hand, and finish filling the arm.

So far this kit has been a lot of fun to build. It assembles into 3 basic sub assemblies, the base, the figure, and the raptor + head, but I don't see any reason it cannot be painted and assembled after finishing.

10-19-09

I'm trying to figure out how to handle the hovering arm.  I have played with a couple of ideas.

Here is a pic of the sculpt for reference.

My front runner is to cut the elbow and the wrist and move the spear with the raptor head.  The spear will be to the side and forward.  The pipe cleaner shows where the arm will move to when I cut it.

My second option moves the spear further forward and make the same cut on the elbow and the wrist, but this will require me to also cut the shoulder to rotate the arm far enough to reach the spear.  I took the pic from a different angle to make it easier to see it does not reach.  This is by far the harder option and I think it makes the kit look more cluttered.  It was also my first idea, but I am starting to like the one above better.

 

10-18-09

I just got this kit from a Dealer on the clubhouse forum.  This kit is adapted from the Shanna the She-Devil graphic novel.  This is a great kit with lots of interesting detail.

 I used 10-24 all thread as pins.  I went really heavy duty pins to make sure it held.  I used my normal 4-40 pins for the legs and soon the arms.

I put a threaded insert in the kit to hold her to the base.

 

The spear is really floppy and not so straight, so I found these long drill bits in at Lowes, so I had twisted the bit though the entire spear.  I was then able to put a piece of brass though the entire spear.  This makes it nice and rigid and straight.

Red Sonja

8-10-09

I found this kit from someone I met at Wonderfest this year.  I have always wanted this kit and was ecstatic when I found it.

 

Karnstien Bust

8-10-09

I don't remember when I started on this kit, but I found a new type of pastel recently and had to try it.  This stuff is called Panpatels.  Instead of being in a stick, it's in a powdered form.  The normal way of using a pastel is to use sandpaper to turn a stick into powder.  I sometimes have trouble getting a good consistent ground powder.  The pan pastels are very fine grain and go on perfectly.  I used it very subtly between the breast and around the abdomen.  It went on perfectly.  I need to do more, but the test came out perfect.  Next will be to finish pastelling this kit and then do it on Red Sonja.

1/4 Scale Tomb Raider

11-5-08

I finally got this big girl started.  The backing is 3 separate pieces and the base is 2 pieces.  The back and base are fully assembled.  Laura is only tacked together with hot glue.  I am working on the gaps at the joints.  They are pretty good, just a little aves is needed to tighten the gap.

Emma Frost/White Queen - White queen is an x-men Villain.  I picked it up because it's a interesting kit that I think I can do some different stuff with.

10-22-08

I just put this kit on the bench.  It's a very clean casting, so I figured I can prep it in an evening and paint when I want ot work, but amd waiting on paint to dry or something like that.  It's just stuck together with the alignment pins and some tape.

Hellboy - I found a full body Hellboy kit. 

9-7-08

I just got started.  I have a lot of prep work to do, but it looks really cool and very large.  Check out the waterbottle

9-15-08

I got the base partially painted.  I have a lot more to do.  I need to detail the dirt more, then the tenticals.

9-16-08

I added some more detail.  The tentacles are next.

9-17-08

After a 5 hour painting session the The tentacles are painted.  Still need to do a couple washed and some pastels.

10-22-08

I have been working with this kit for a while with slow progress, so I have not been taking pics.  I got the legs painted.  The original gun with this kit was backwards, it was set up as a right hand draw, Hellboy is left hand draw, so I had to scratch build a new gun and holster.  I assembled the torso and painted the base color, shadows and highlights.  I just quickly blocked in the hair and the eyes to create some definition.

10-28-08

It is SOOOOOO close to being done.  The boots had sculpted shoelaces, but they where not very well formed, so I dremiled them off and used string to make the new laces.  The laces where so bad, this was actually less work.  The gun that original came with this kit was backwards, it was right hand draw and every reference I can find has Hellboy's gun as a cross body left hand draw, so I rebuilt the gun from scratch.  I also added the belt communicator, it lights with an led, although the flash on the camera really washes it out.  I also added a scratch built rosary beads like he ware's in the movies.

 

Lucky Star - This is a model adapted form the end of the movie Alien.  I have wanted this kit for a long time, and I descided to pick it up at wonder fest this year.  I got it from XO-Facto

8-20-08

I've been repairing pin holes on this kit for a week, it's almost ready to go into color.

8-26-08

Flesh tones.  It's just my normal recipe with liquitex.  It looks real washed out, but I hope when I block in the hair and the clothing that it looks right.

9-3-08

New skin tone.  I still need to pastel in some shadows.

9-7-08

I've repainted the skin tones 3 or 4 more times.  The pair is ready to highlight.  I also painted the base. 

9-13-08

The suit is painted, the eye's are almost done, all that is left is a little detailing.  Suit was a little difficult to get the shading right.  The resin was just full of micro pin holes.  I could not even see them until the white was on it, but with a little work I got it looking ok.

9-15-08

Done.  There are more pics under the figure model page.

Godzilla -  This is an image kit I bought a wonderfest.  I am a big Godzilla fan.  This is Godzilla from 1968.

8-20-08

I actually started this kit with Thor, but it's the first I posted.  Although I did prime godzilla tonight while I was priming Ripley.

8-21-08

He's Green!  This is freestyle Black Green.

8-24-08

I finished him up.  I did not highlights with Freestyle gravestone grey mixed with 30% green black and dry brushed it on.  The base is a little custom base I made out of foam board and aves with model railroad sand.  It's real simple, and he is bolted to it.  I did not like the base that came with the kit, it was simple, but I would have needed a fair amount of work on it.  If I ever want to make a more complicated base I can just unbolt him.

Thor - This the first kit I started that I bought at wonderfest.  It is a Thor bust from Sam Greenwell.  I know Thor is a Viking god, but this kit puts me in mind of a Greek god.  I'm going to paint the hair a gray, but I'm going to try and get a light tan color not a dark tan like a Greek god, at least that is my plan.

7-30-2008

I prepped and painted the basic skin tone.  I'm using lifetones from Kit Builder Magazine.  I primed the kit gray, then used a red oxide as the base, then I use a nature flesh followed by kb flesh.  I then Shadowed with nuance burnt sienna, and then kb fresh with chestnut for the deepest shadows. It's still going to need some pastel work.

7-31-2008

I worked on the cape.  I painted it a leather color, then mottled in a transparent rich brown, dark brown, and transparent jet black.  There is a little dry brush with raw sienna.  Finalized with a burnt sienna wash.  Now with the cape, it's making the flesh look lighter.  The orange stuff is silly putty, it's great for a quick mask.  The only problem is sometimes it hard to get a really tight line, so I have to just do a little brush touchup.

8-1-2008

I worked on the eye's, pastels and hair.  The eye's need pupils, and the hair needs about 4 more layers of dry brushing.  I probably started a little too dark.  I think I'm happy with the pastels to define the muscles.

8-2-2008

The first pic is the hair without the wash, the second has the wash.

8-3-2008

I worked on the belt.  I need to change the belt a little, I think it blends to the flesh too closely.  The boars head was done with Pearl-ex antique bronze and the silver around it was pearl-ex antique silver.  It needs a little more work, but it's getting close.

8-7-2008

I reworked the belt a little to make it look more like warn leather.  I started painting the glove and the hammer.  I still need to do some more weathering, and adding some rust and some shadowing.  I did decide to add some more colors to the gloves.  I'm playing with Pearl-Ex powers for metallic.  I figured I would go a little nuts with colors, I have no indication of what is right or wrong, so I decided to play.

8-10-2008

DONE.  I finished the base yesterday and finished the assembly today.

 

Winged Karnstein - This is another kit I want to enter at Wonderfest 2008.  It is the winged version Countess Karnstein from Solarwind Production.  This is the second kit I bought from them and it's great to see that there quality is as good as ever.  This kit should only take a couple evenings to get ready to prime.

6-4-2008

I started cleaning the pieces, but here is a picture of the kit in pieces.  I know the Grinch is not done yet, but I'm working between the 2 kits while I wait for something to dry.

6-26-2008

I got all the pieces prepped.  I with I would have done more wet sanding to smooth out some of the flesh, but it looked good and I'm running out of time.  I was trying to use lifetones, but I could not get a good flesh tone, but like everything I think it's me, and I did not want to mess up the paint job, so I dropped back to my old standby of Liquitex.  This is only the base coat.  I'm excited about wonder fest, I will get a chance to talk to the kitbuilder people and get a better understanding of there Lifetone products, I really like them and have started having really good success with them.

6-29-2008

The eye's are done, Next is the clothing, then the hair.  I need to finish the wings.  They are mostly painted, but need more washes, and something to accent the paint.

7-2-2008

I got the clothing blocked in and some of the silver for the armor dry brushed on.  Although I had a bit of a disaster with one of the wings.  I ran out of dullcoat and sprayed a coat of model master flat lacquer, and it turned white and cracked.  I'm going to strip the wing tomorrow and repaint it.  I may have to do both of them. 

7-8-2008

I have a couple coats of paint on the hair, still needs a couple more, I'm going to a blonde color.  I also got the wings repainted.  I have about a week to go, I'm not sure I can get it done for wonderfest or not.

7-9-2008

The hair is done, I'm happy with it, I had to decide between doing a strawberry blonde and a platinum blonde.  I went with the strawberry blonde to give it a softer look, that and I have painted a platinum blonde already, so I wanted to try the other color.

7-11-2008

I leave for Wonderfest Thursday morning, so to give the kit enough time to cure, I need to finish by Tuesday night.  That gives me 4 days to go.  On the plus side I only have some light detailing work, some touchup's and some pastels to do on the figure, then finish the base and then assemble the whole thing.  I wanted to create a marble effect on the base.  I started with a base off white, then I put some blue streaks in it, then I have added about 5 coats of gray and several colors of white using a sponge to dab on some paint.  Maybe one or two more coats of dabbed white, then I'm going to spray a transparent coats of white over the whole thing to tie it all together.

7-12-2008

I'm getting close, I think most of the detail work is done.  I just need to work on the pastels.

7-15-2008

Finished;  I took it down to the wire, but I finished it tonight.  I don't know how it will do in the contest, but I don't care, I am very pleased, I think it's one of the best I have ever done.  I might have a couple ruff areas, but it came out well.

 

Wonderfest Update - She took a Bronze, but I got some good time on what I co do the make the next one better.

 

The Grinch  - I am building this kit hopefully for Wonderfest 2008.  I bought it last year at Wonderfest from Jimmy Flinstsone.

5-18-2008

It's just a bust kit without legs so I wanted to make a special base for it. 

It's just a bust kit without legs so I wanted to make a special base for it.  I got the idea from the Grinch cartoon.  I'm going to scratch build a base to look like a Santa's toy bag and then set the Grinch in the middle.  I stated with a foam egg and then places wood shapes on it.  I have no idea how to really sculpt, so I used the foam with the blocks to make the basic shape, I then used Apoxie sculpt to fill in the rest of the basic shape.  I'll then add more to get more of the open flap shape and finish it.  Hopefully once I add the paint I'll will come out what what I am imagining.

 

5/21/2008

I have the Grinch mostly prepped, a little more seam work to go.  The base is about half done.  I just need to finish some shaping and then some final sanding.  This is both peices put togerthe as the final product.

5/26/2008

Got a bunch of work done this weekend.  I got the base done, but I think it came out too dark, I'll probably repaint it.  I did all the shading on the dog with the airbrush, not sure I liked it.

 

5/30/2008

Getting near done. I have some put on some pastels on the white.  I decided to repaint the bag base.  I also added some putty to it to add a little more shape.  I'm still mixed on the dog, but this kit will be done soon.  All the paint on the kit has so far been Freestyle Lifetones.  I took a little bit of time to get use to it, but now I am starting to really like it.  I am very pleased  I have done most of the shading out of the airbrush.  I just can't get the right appearance from the white, so I think pastels will help.  The dog is another story.  I think I need to repaint it and then use pastels for a little more control.  I don't think I have the touch yet to get that detailed out of the brush. 

 

6/3/2008

I could not resist, I had to repaint max.  After about 20 different combinations of freestyle paint, I could not get the right color.  Then I hears about a golden retriever named Sienna and it dawned on me to use raw sienna.  I had to switch back to Liquitex, but raw sienna and white gave me that shade I was looking for.  I don't feel comfortable trying to shadow out of the airbrush with liquitex, but I'm probably just going to use pastel's.  The pictures might start looking a little better also, for some reason I never took the slr into my workroom, I always used the point and shoot, but the slr is so much easier to get a focus on.

 

6/26/2008

I finished the kit, but I guess I forgot to post the pics.  I also finished the string around the bag.  I used cross-stitch thread, seperated it into individual threads and used a drill and wax to re-twist them together.

Wonderfest Update - He took a Silver, This was a big surprise.

Tandem Twin - This is a kit that my buddy bought 2 of these, one for me and one for him.  We are curious to compare the final product.   I don't know why it's called Tandem Twin, but the I can only guess.

This is the first pic.   I started by getting the shirt to fit.  It's a really nice casting, but it is a very rigid brittle resin.  I used a hairdryer to heat the front of the shirt to and then taped it into place.  I was a very bad fit, but using the heat it got very pliable.  I expect that when I remove the tape tomorrow it will hold this shape.  I'll try and fit the back tomorrow night.  I also have some detail that I shattered, so I will be rebuilding that tomorrow also.

All of the pieces are scrubbed and ready to prime.

11/26/2007 - I primed the kit the other day.  I started painting today.  I tried something different with the flesh tone, but I think I cam out to my normal flesh color.  I wanted more of a suntanned skin.  I'll have a better idea how that will look when I get the clothes on it.

If you want to see the pic above without the blocks click here.  Although the finished project will not need be exposed.

 

12/14/2007 - I finally got to work on tandem tonight.  I painted the clothing.

12/16/2007 - I painted the eye's and sprayed some of the metal.  As I was painting I discovered that they eye's where not the same on the kit so I had to just make adjustments.

3/23/08 -  I finally got some time to take some pics.  I used some pastel's to accent the body lines.  I was amazed how good it came out.  I have all the parts painted, it's now time to assemble it.

4/6/08 - It's Finally done.  This kit seemed to take forever.  When I did the hellboy kit above I tried to do everything fast, for some reason on this kit I fell back into my old pattern of being too careful and deliberate.  I have another kit started that I will post soon, but I am making an effort to get flow from step to step instead of adding processes of masking and sealing too often.

I'll take better pics soon and move it to the figures page.

 

 

Hellboy - This is a resin hellboy kit I bought at wonderfest. 

It's a pretty nice kit, but the seem lines and mold lines where pretty bad.  I need to fill these seams, then I will be ready to paint.

I got the seems filled

The tail is a problem.  If I do not change the model I have a seem in the tail or I will have a difficult time painting around it.  So to solve the problem I glued a piece of all-thread in the tail and drilled and ground out the stub of the tail that was on the body.  Then I used AVES Apoxie Sculpt to add what was the stub onto the tail.

I got Hellboy into primmer.  I used Red Oxide to try and create a darker base for the red skin tone.

I got Hellboys flesh tones done tonight.  I used a red base, then I mixed that red with a flesh tone that I like to use and shaded his skin. I'm not sure I'm happy yet. I watched the dvd tonight about 5 times and I think he had some pink highlights. I think that when I put on the pastels for shading that will knock down the pink and give me what I want. However, I left the stone arm red.  The dark washes should handle that.

I got some more painting done on Hellboy.  I also used some red pastels to create contrast. I got the black shirt painted, but I had a problem.  Sometimes these resin kits will not get the best adhesion.  I use Lacquer primmer, but in this case it just flaked off.  The kit was well washed, but sometimes it just happens.

I started to pain the leather jacket.  I used a new type of paint.  At last years Wonderfest (Louisville, KY) I bought some Lifetones paints from Kitbuilder magazine.  At first I didn't like them, but I tried them again because I though there leather color looked pretty good.  They are very opaque, and I had a little trouble shading with them.  It did not come out in the pick, but there are 3 shades of the color on the kit.  I'm not too worried,  Once I start with the pastels it will come around quickly.

I did a bunch of work.  I shaded to coat with pastels, painted the belt and holster, and painted the buckles. I am still up in the air on if I have a good shad on the skin tone, so I painted the cigar, and ruffed in the eyes and teeth.  I wanted to see if it helped lighten up the look.  I might have used to bright of a color on the teeth, they kind of glow, but I will need sever washes on the teeth to make them look normal, so that might knock down the glow.

It's Done

I finished tonight.  The next update will be to more it to the figures page once I get good pics of it.

Wonderfest Update - He took a merit, I was pleased, I did not build him to compete with, but I got talked into it, and the whole purpose in building him was to change the way I built to get myself use to working more freehand.