Feral Cat

Tim Reynaga · September 8, 2018

Here’s a fun change of pace — Monster Scenes 1/13 scale “Feral Cat”! This creature's twisted story is told in a small comic that came with the kit:

At only nine parts (the body halves, haunches, a 2-part head, ears, and tail) the cat assembled quickly.

The kit was designed with a twist-on head that could be swapped with a companion piece (a Saber Tooth Rabbit no less!), but this feature left an obvious seam at the neck.

I cemented everything in place and faired in the gaps with Milliput two-part epoxy putty.

There was a little putty left after filling the cat’s joints, so I used it to make an extra artifact to place inside the nasty cat’s cage for additional “atmosphere”:

I painted the cage black, and the cat received a coat of Tamiya rattle-can gray primer.

Painting the Feral Cat started with a brushed-on base coat of Tamiya Buff (XF-57) acrylic over the Tamiya primer.

The complex markings of my own cat Katya provided inspiration:

A rough pattern of Tamiya Linoleum Deck Brown (XF-79) stripes went over the cat’s tan base, which was partially overlapped with stripes of Tamiya Hull Red (XF-9).

Then the face, chest, and feet were highlighted with lightened Tamiya Deck Tan (XF-55).

As I waited for the stripes to dry, the accessories got their finish.

The poop is Tamiya Buff acrylic with a Raw Umber oil stain to darken it, and the cage key was painted with black acrylic drybrushed with Testors Metallic Gold 1144 enamel.

With the addition of green eyes (Tamiya XF-5 Flat Green with XF-3 Flat Yellow) and a wash of Grumbacher Raw Umber artist’s oil overall, the Feral Cat is painted.

After a final coat of Testors Lusterless lacquer spray to knock down the shine, I applied dabs of Future gloss acrylic to put the malevolent gleam back into his eyes.

The cat’s cage was airbrushed with Tamiya IJN Sasebo Arsenal Grey (XF-77). To vary the surface a bit I also misted it with some darker Tamiya German Grey (XF-63) in a light cloud pattern.

After wetting the entire cage with paint thinner, I applied exaggerated rust effects using Raw Umber, Burnt Umber, and Burnt Sienna Winsor & Newton artist’s oils.