Edmontosaurus
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Dinosaurs are quickly becoming more common in my modeling space, so much so I have begun investing in some of the more detailed and correct resin sculptures like Jon Rader's Edmontosaurus.
Up to this point, I had never worked on a resin kit before. I had heard many horror stories and tales of woe regarding the assembly and clean up of resin kits so I was a little cautious when I began this build. I looked around the internet for while looking for a 'simple' kit to get me started, and I came across this Edmontosaurus from Rader Studios.
Each piece was cleaned up using files and my hobby knife until each piece mated it's matching piece as close as I could get it. Doing this made it easier later on when filling and detailing. Each extremity was reinforced with Brass Rod so as to provide not only stability for the kit to stand, but to give each piece something to grip and stay in place.
Unfortunately with resin kits, there are some flaws that are just impossible to stop such as bubbles for example. Luckily for me that this kit had minimal fault like that and the ones that were present were quite easy to fix.
The gaps were all filled in using Milliput epoxy putty and shaped and detailed using wax sculpting tools. Skin detail was returned using a texture stamp (made with Super Scupley pressed against the skin of the stomach) and droplets of PVA glue (which were applied with a skewer tip). The kit was primed and then checked for abnormalities (such as lack of skin detail or seams), repaired and then primed again. I repeated this process until I was 100% happy with the work done.
Painting was straight forward. Primed, base of Tamiya Buff, top half of Olive Drab, the line inbetween the first two colours (used to break up the colours and as a contrast colour) was Tamiya Brown, then the vein type pattern was with Nato Black. Olive Drab was lightly misted over the top half again to help blend in the black pattern. Toenails were done with Sky Grey.
The lower half was given a wash of Burnt Umber to help highlight the skin folds and other details.
Here is the list of paint used for this build :
- Tamiya Buff.
- Tamiya Olive Drab.
- Tamiya Brown.
- Tamiya Nato Black.
- Tamiya Sky Grey.
The base was intended to be a river side scene with the Edmontosaurus drinking from the river. I made the river bed with ballast and the water with PVA glue and everything looked great until I sprayed some adhesive onto the ground part of the kit to attach green flock. Turns out the adhesive got onto the water and frosted it over, making it all milky looking. I attempted to fix it but couldn't. Extra layers of PVA and even painting with Clear Blue just didn't feel right, so I filled it over and made the whole base earth.
Air drying clay provided a base for the beast to stand on. It was painted with Brown and Green and then topped with Green Flock, sand and a sprinkle of herbs from the kitchen. The trees are small twigs from a tree in my back yard which were coated with spray adhesive and sprinkled with the same herbs from before. Small rocks were placed around the scene and the bushes are comprised of Woodland Scenics green Lichen which was attached to the base with PVA glue. At the last second, I stuck a small piece of Lichen into the Edmontosaurus' mouth to make it look like it was having a feed.
Overall, I am glad with how my first resin build turned out. I recommend that anyone thinking of getting a resin Dinosaur kit check out Rader Studio's line of kits, the work Jon has put into this sculpt alone is amazing.
Hmm, now what resin Dinosaur can I build next?
Update : 25th May 2009
This kit was entered into the 2009 ScaleACT Model Expo and Competition and I am proud to annouce that this build managed to snare 2nd place in the Prehistoric Category!
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