Judge Anderson (and Iria/Chani)

[Will Vale]

So after another couple of hours the Alclad primer smell had gone, and I prefer spraying that so I've used it:

This is after several rounds of filling, sanding and re-priming, sorry I didn't take any intermediate pics but it was pretty boring. Plenty of pin holes to fill, and some tapering of the Miliput was needed too. I filled the pinholes with either thinned Tamiya putty or CA depending on where they were. The worst offenders were the gloves, and the corners on the eagle pauldron.

I thought I'd got all of those but the close-up reveals this not to be the case. Each time I fill something I risk uncovering more as well so it's not clear when to cut my losses and move forward.

One thing I have to fix is the face, which is awful! I knew there was some surface texture, but I didn't realise JA had been the victim of a vicious acupuncture attack:

I'm thinking maybe thinned Miliput for this - it's easy to wipe off and I want to avoid sanding as much as possible since I suspect this will be all the way through. The hair is similarly affected.

I suppose it's progress, but it feels a bit retrograde. I wish there was a good way to make the sharp bits sharper rather than end up rounding them all off!

Cheers,

Will

[SMD70]

Those pin holes in the face are really bad. I built the Judge Dredd Halcyon figure last year but apart from the odd pin hole didn't have many to deal with and certainly nothing as bad as that.

The proportions on the Dredd kit are off as well… I did shorten the giraffe neck, but the odd proportions of the character are in keeping with the 2000AD Brian Bolland illustrations.

Terrible photo as I haven't taken any "proper" photos but gives an idea of the scaling and pose...

Edited March 14, 2016 by SMD70

[Hunter Rose]

She's looking good Will, its a bugger about the face. Alclad do a micro surface filler that you spray on likeca primer that might help? Though im not sure how effective it is if their too deep.

[Jockster]

Perfect plastic putty? Works well with water!

[Yeoman1942]

Wow the finish on the body is super smooth. Bit of work on the head will see it in the same shape.

[Will Vale]

That's an awesome Dredd, it's so nice to see a picture of one that isn't from the '90s - he looks very sharp. Are the metal bits metallic, or did you do a cartoony metal look finish with normal paint? I ask because they're so smooth

She's looking good Will, its a bugger about the face. Alclad do a micro surface filler that you spray on likeca primer that might help? Though im not sure how effective it is if their too deep.

That's actually the primer I'm using, although the face has had one very thin coat so no opportunity to build it up. I'll try and fill the holes using thinned Miliput and then re-prime, hopefully that'll be better.

W

[Hunter Rose]

Good luck mate!

[Will Vale]

Ta very much!

I made up a little bit of Miliput tonight and then mixed it to a slurry with water. I brushed this onto the hair and smoothed it out with cotton buds, then did the same with the face. I found a chisel-tipped clay shaper and my gloved finger were good tools for trying to get it level on the skin and digging it out of the relief.

Can't really tell how well this has worked until I re-prime it - I thought at first it wasn't going into the pores at all, but I think now that maybe it has? I took the pictures under a harsh downlight to try and highlight the texture.

So fingers crossed! I'm sure there'll be another round of this if it looks OK under primer, and some very careful sanding back as well.

Cheers,

Will

[Will Vale]

Two more coats of Alclad, some sanding, a touch-up with thinned Tamiya putty and more Alclad gets us to here:

Lost a bit of detail in the hair, but I think there was almost too much so I don't mind. The face seems to have survived pretty well.

Quite a big change from this!

I've also done some more work on the body, trying to smooth the eagle pauldron leaves and fill in the remaining holes. Oh, and I smoothed the texture of the body suit below the knees but left it on the boots since it'll add to the leatheryness.

Next step is probably to re-prime the body in black.

Cheers,

Will

[Andy Moore]

That's a massive improvement Will. Can't believe you managed to eradicate all those pin holes. Great job.

I think you're right about the hair too, it looks more natural now.

Andy

[Hunter Rose]

Nice, that turned out great Will, shes much better now shes slapped on her foundation!

[Will Vale]

It was a bit like foundation! I'm glad it's left some dimpling, I think that will add something to the finish if I can keep the paint thin.

I'm intending to pre-shade the face in colour (e.g. red on the nose and ears where the blood is near the surface, speckling on the nose and cheeks, grey-blue under the eyes, etc.) and build up the skin tone over that which should be interesting. A bit like what Chris Clayton did when painting "Hush", but for more of the finish than just the base layer. We'll see how well that works!

I've just sprayed two very thin coats of white primer on her face, and a coat of black on the bodysuit and metal bits. The black primer was a bit thick and I had a run, maybe from an over-long painting session? So I've stopped and will come back to it tomorrow. I want to get a good black base since it'll cover any bits I fail to reach with the dark blue.

Cheers,

Will

[Bengalensis]

You're doing wonderful work Will, as usual. The alteration to her pose made wonders, what a difference, as well as the other detail improvements. And the work on those dreadful pinholes might give you a new career... Now I have a niece who is a professional make up artist among other such things, she might need your help doing foundations... I might talk to her.

It's going to be most entertaining to see the coming progress. I really want to start another figure right now...

[Jockster]

What they said! Big improvement in her complexion and I bet that was a huge relief for you! Lovely work!

[Will Vale]

Heheh, thanks for the kind comments. A career in make-up beckons, and perhaps it will benefit the next time I dress up as Frank'n'Furter :D

I had some more free time today so thought I would get into the painting before I try and chicken out. I sprayed the bodysuit and metal parts with a couple of coats of Alclad black primer as mentioned above, and cut it back a little with a Wave sanding stick. Then the metal areas got two coats of Tamiya gloss black which I polished a little. It's not a great finish but hopefully it benefits the metal bits:

The metal paint is Alclad Polished Brass with highlights of Pale Burnt Metal and a bit of Sepia to shade it. I need to let it cure hard because I'm going to have to mask over it to finish the bodysuit.

It might seem an odd paint order (and it is!) but I wanted to polish the black while I was still at a point that I could wash off the polish residue. If I'd then painted the suit and masked the metal I'd have probably lost the effect of the polish from overspray. So I got to do two lots of masking of the same thing - woo-hoo

Have just had a stiff drink so I might start some face painting tonight!

Cheers,

Will

[whitestar12chris]

Coming along beautifully Will, the metal finish is exquisite.

All the best chris

[matiwashere]

That gold is looking ace!

[Hunter Rose]

I actually like it as is with the black and gold! Looking good Will

[Shawn M]

wow, wonderful work on the re positioning and filling on the face, looks great!

[Will Vale]

Thanks all! I opted to leave the face (for now) but I did tediously mask up the eagle so I could paint the bodysuit:

I mixed Tamiya Semi-gloss Black and Sky Blue to get an inky black and sprayed this over the whole suit, then lightened it twice with successively more sky blue to gradually build up highlights. Most of this was applied from above, particularly around the wrinkles to keep the shadows dark.

I was thinking about spraying a top layer of Clear Blue to cool the teal down a bit, but it's growing on me. Oh, and I'm not intending to keep the wet-look, I think that's a bit impractical for a Judge, so it'll probably be sealed with a semi-gloss varnish.

There are some problems from aircraft modelling that cross over to figures - like the way paint bounces and dusts in concave spaces like wing roots, or in Anderson's case under the arms and around the groin. I'll let it dry overnight and try and sand that back very gently.

I have sourced some ex-service laddered stockings from Mrs. V. which will I think allow me to spray a woven pattern. The stretch will also help emphasise the curves of her (Anderson's!) body which will be interesting. I don't know if the pattern is small enough that I need to worry about lining up different patches of fabric, but I hope it is.

I have a spoon sprayed up with the blue-black highlights to try this on first

Cheers,

Will

[Bengalensis]

Looking really good, I don't think you need any clear blue, at least not at this stage. It will be most interesting to see the effects when you start spraying the pattern, it has great potential.

[Shawn M]

I agree, leave off the clear blue as the tones and color you have a are very nice and rich.

[Hunter Rose]

Whoa that looks great dude

[Will Vale]

Thanks folks I knocked back a couple of rough areas with a soft sanding stick, then cut the top off one of the stockings and pinned/pegged it around Judge Anderson's legs and lower body, tweaking the stretch a bit to get the right kind of look.

Then I sprayed some thinned black/blue mix I'd saved from painting the suit originally.

In the picture it's had a couple of coats of Alclad Light Sheen varnish, which was a bit scary since I wasn't sure if my many many paint layers would protect the vinyl. So far so good I did test on a scrap of primed vinyl first, likewise I tested the masking on a painted spoon.

It took a few more applications to do the remaining body parts - for the arms and shins I hand-held the stocking. I tried to get the pattern break under the belt, but it's actually not that visible in any case as the mesh is fine. I wasn't able to do anything with the lower back - too concave.

That was all quite good so it was time to start the head. I preshaded for blood vessels, bruising under the eyes etc:

Then tried to go over that with a linoleum colour, but it was a bit sallow and grey-looking:

So I added in some more texture and pre-shading:

and tried with a warmer skin tone - this is a bit too orange I think, although the photo is quite convincing:

I finally sprayed some blotchy pink, added a peachy colour (Flat Flesh and Deck Tan and White) to the lips and eyes, and finished with thin coats of White + Deck Tan to end up with this:

I think it doesn't photograph too well but it looks nice in real life. I'm not sure how many of the underlying layers were worthwhile, but it's the first time I've done this so I don't really mind what the process is like provided I like the result.

Next to warm it up a tiny bit and maybe start some brush painting. I haven't decided between make-up and no make-up yet...

Cheers,

Will

[Bigdave22014]

That material effect is remarkable

Now, how does a single man go about obtaining a stocking without looking like a wierdo/pervert?