Modeling Tips

To order "Cursed" contact Nocturna Productions as this limited edition 1/6 scale kit is exclusive and only available through them! Nocturna Productions web site is: www.nocturnaproductions.com or write them at: Nocturna Productions, P.O. Box 160859, Nashville, TN 37216-0859.

I've promised for a while to provide an online painting guide for the beautiful new release from Nocturna Productions and Mike Hill, "Cursed!" Well, better late than never! With this article, I want to cover the painting of this amazing two figure kit, and how to mask a detailed and highly textured surface for airbrushing. Most airbrush artists paint on smooth, flat surfaces; canvas, illustration board, surf boards, whatever- but usually, the surface finish is smooth and flat. With model kits, the surface is anything but flat, which can create a problem for the artist used to traditional masking techniques. For this article, I've selected Nocturna Production's "Cursed" kit for its various textures and surfaces, from skintones to fur and fabrics, the kit is a perfect choice for demonstration. Sculpted by one of our hobby's best-known artists, Mike Hill, "Cursed" is based on the 1961 Hammer Horror classic, "The Curse Of The Werewolf."
For kit design purposes, Mike used a well-known publicity still of Oliver Reed as the Werewolf holding Yvonne Romain, who actually played his mother in the film but dies giving birth to him! The two never appear on camera together during the entire film, but the publicity photo left an indelible mark on fans of the film everywhere.The result is an exciting two figure kit that no classic horror fan should be without! To begin, you have to assemble the figure kit. I always recommend washing the parts in warm soapy water to remove any mold release residue that may be left on the pieces from it's production casting. Once dry, I sand any rough spots or seams and assemble the pieces with a five-minute fast setting epoxy glue. I recommend drilling through the female's arms and into her shoulders, then placing a small piece of coat hanger wire into the hole and puttying the area to "pin" the arms to the body for extra stability. I'd also recommend pinning the Werewolf's feet to the base as well. The only tricky area on this kit is adding the girl's head and bust casting to the figure. I glued it into place with 5-minute epoxy, then I used a small amount of epoxy putty to fill in the gaps and smooth and blend the area. Once assembly is complete, we're ready to begin.
Photo A: After the kit is assembled, I spray a couple of coats of light gray sandable automotive primer over the kit to give the surface some "tooth" for the paint to adhere to. Do not skip the primering process as your paint may come off the kit through handling as well as during the masking process. Make sure the primer gets into all the details, but don't spray so heavy a coat that you clog up the details.	(Photo A)
Photo B: Before I jump in I think through the steps to painting the kit as to minimize the masking back and forth of the figures. I decide to begin with the fleshtones. I mix a warm toned flesh color by combining Liquitex Raw Siena (a warm yellow brown), Burnt Siena (a reddish brown) and Titanium White. These three colors can give you a wide variety of fleshtones. If you want a warmer tone use more Raw Siena, a redder tone, more Burnt Siena. To lighten, add more white, you get the picture, so experiment! I take my mixture and spray a basecoat of flesh with my Badger Sotar 20/20 airbrush over the Werewolf's face.	(Photo B)
Photo C: I also spray a coat over the female figure's face and chest, as well as her hands.	(Photo C)
Photo D: The next step is to lighten my flesh color with white and spray highlights over the raised areas of the face and chest. I spray highlights on the forehead, bridge of the nose, cheeks, collarbone, neck and breasts. I prefer to work from dark to light when painting model kits, I feel it gives you natural shading and shadowing transitions. I find spraying darker shadows and tones over lighter colors on models of this scale can make the shadows look painted and unnatural, but there are always exceptions to this rule.	(Photo D)
Photo E: I use the same light fleshtone and spray highlights on the Werewolf's face. I then add a touch of Liquitex Red Oxide (a rusty red brown color) into the flesh colored paint to make a reddish coral color and spray this around the eye area, the edge of the face and the mouth. I use the coral color to add warm tones to the female's flesh as well.	(Photo E)
Photo F: To judge whether I have the skin tone shading where I want it to be, I need to see the areas contrasted against another color, so I decide to hand brush the fur with a base color of a light grayish tan. If you watch the film that the kit is based on, you'll see that the Werewolf is a silvery gray with tawny touches of color here and there. I use Liquitex White with a touch of Raw Siena and Payne's Gray for my base color. After the paint has dried I decided that I liked the skintones and left them as they were.	(Photo F)
Photo G: I "Drybrush" lighter shades of gray and white over the fur texture to add highlights and depth to the details. Drybrushing is a simple technique where you dip a brush into paint then wipe the brush over a paper towel or similar material to remove most of the paint, leaving an almost "dry brush." Then you take the brush and lightly "fan" it over the surface details and allow the paint to gently adhere to the surfaces. It's usually most effective adding lighter colors over darker ones.	(Photo G)
Photo H: The next step is to bring out the details even more by applying a paint wash to the fur textures. Before adding a wash, I seal the painted surfaces with a couple of light coats of Testor's Flat Lacquer. This seals and protects the work done to this point. If I didn't seal the surface, applying the wash might loosen and remove the paint underneath. I take a bit of Liquitex Burnt Umber and Payne's Gray and mix a smokey gray color. I thin the paint with diluted airbrush thinner and a touch of soap to help keep the wash from beading up and brush it liberally over the fur.	(Photo H)
Photo I: After the wash is applied, I take a piece of paper towel and dab off the excess wash from the top textures of the fur. Once the wash has dried, I seal it again with a couple of light coats of Testor's Flat Lacquer.	(Photo I)
Photo J: After drybrushing and adding washes to the fur, it's time to paint the details of the face. I shade above the eyelids with dark brown as well as in the nostrils. I then paint the eyes off-white with blue irises and black pupils. I add a wash of red oxide in the eyes for a bloodshot effect. I paint the eyelashes a dark brown, as black would look too cosmetic. The mouth is detailed with a dark brown interior, ivory teeth and reddish flesh colored lips and tongue. After the details are complete, I spray the face with Testor's Flat Lacquer and let it dry. I then return with a little Testor's Gloss coat and brush it over the eyes and mouth for realism. Here you see a detail shot of the face after completion.	(Photo J)
Photo K: Now we move on to masking off a model kit. With the usual airbrushing projects, you would mask off areas with frisket or tape, but the nature of most model kit surfaces doesn't lend themselves to those time honored techniques. I remember using liquid frisket from time to time on illustration projects, but that material is too delicate for models, you would be picking out frisket from the fur textures for hours!	(Photo K)
After trial and error I found a great solution for most model masking projects, using Liquid Latex Mold Builder. This material is generally used for making craft molds for plaster casting and is available at most any art or craft supply store. Before you mask, be sure to spray the figure with Testor's Flat Lacquer to protect the work done from the masking material. Since my next step in painting will be to airbrush the dress, I use a brush and apply a thin but liberal amount of liquid latex over the face and fur of the Werewolf and the flesh of the female. I use about two coats of latex as opposed to one heavy one. If the latex is brushed on too thickly, it will take hours to dry all the way through, so better to brush on a couple of thin coats and let them dry until the latex turns from bright white to a translucent tan color. Be thorough in your coverage to keep the painted areas protected from overspray.
Photo L: In the film, Yvonne Romain wears a coral pink dress with white cuffs and undergarments. I want to match those colors as closely as possible. I mix a basecoat color of pink using Liquitex Crimson mixed with a touch of Yellow Oxide and Titanium White. I spray the color over the dress. At this point I want to mention that it is always a good idea to keep some of each color you mix set aside for touch ups and cleaning up your masking line if needed, it's easier that trying to re-match your colors later.	(Photo L)
Photo M: I take my original pink color and lighten it with a bit of white and air brush highlights over the details and folds of the fabric. Just follow the sculptor's handiwork and lighten the raised areas leaving the darker pinks to show through as delicate shadows between the folds.	(Photo M)
Photo N: After I am happy with the shading of the dress, I let it dry and then remove the latex mask. Be gentle with the removal as to not damage the paint. I like to roll the mask away from the painted surface gently with my finger to get it started and then lift it off with a dental tool or tweezers. If you find that your paint is too thick, you may have to score the edge with a fresh X-acto knife blade to get it started, but the paint shouldn't be that thick. As you can see in the photograph, a little of the paint has peeled up along the line where the flesh and fabric meet along the bust line. You can usually burnish it down with your finger and touch up any flaws with the colors you just used as long as you saved them as I recommended. Once all the masking is removed and edges touched up, seal the areas again with a couple of light coats of Testor's Flat Lacquer.	(Photo N)
Photo O: Repeat the masking process, this time mask off the fur and dress around the shirt area and let it dry.	(Photo O)
Photo P: For the first step in painting the shirt, I airbrush the surface with a light warm gray using Freak Flex Banshee's Shadow Gray.	(Photo P)
Photo Q: I spray highlights on the shirt with Liquitex Titanium White.	(Photo Q)
Photo R: Here you see the shirt, fur and dress fabric area after the masking is removed and any edge flaws touched up.	(Photo R)
Photo S: After the airbrushing is complete on the shirt and dress, I detail the female figure. I paint her hair black with dark brown drybrushed highlights. Her eyelashes are painted black, and lips coral red to mimic the sixties styled makeup worn by Yvonne Romain in the film. Another touch I added was to paint a little white lace around the bust line and edging of the fabric to not only soften the transition, but to again mimic the costuming in the film.	(Photo S)
Photo T: Now we're in the "home stretch" on our model kit! I spray the Werewolf's pants and boots with Badger's Freak Flex Body Bag Black, and then mixing it with a little Freak Flex Near Black, spray subtle highlights over the folds and details. I also paint the waist sash crimson red with brighter red highlights. On the female I paint the cuffs and undergarments off-white with white highlights.	(Photo T)
Photo U: The film is set in Spain and all the stone work leans toward tan tones instead of grays, so for the model kit base, I spray the stone with a brownish tan color and then dry brush lighter tan highlights. I seal the base with Testor's Flat Lacquer and add washes of rusts, browns and blacks to dirty up the surface. To complete, I paint the nameplate a pewter color and detail with red lettering for contrast, and there you have it- a beautiful modeling project made easy with the help of the airbrush and liquid masking. Nocturna Productions has a stunning model kit production on their hands, courtesy of the talented hands of the U.K.'s Mike Hill.	(Photo U)

To order "Cursed" contact Nocturna Productions as this limited edition 1/6 scale kit is exclusive and only available through them! Nocturna Productions web site is: www.nocturnaproductions.com or write them at: Nocturna Productions, P.O. Box 160859, Nashville, TN 37216-0859.
Tech File: Airbrush: Badger Sotar 20/20 Paint Media: Liquitex Acrylic airbrush paints, Badger Freak Flex, Testors Flat Lacquer and Gloss Top Coat Surface Media: Resin model kit Masking: Mold Builder Liquid Latex