The Incredible Hulk (Commission Build)
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Back in March of this year (2009), I recieved an email from a gentleman with a problem. He had recently commissioned a model of the Hulk from another modeller and, unfortunately, the build was damaged during the shipping from overseas to Australia (where he, like myself, lives). After a few emails and viewing a few pictures, I was confident that I could repair the kit for him, so he sent it up to me and I began the job.
The repair was straight forward but involved a few extra steps. The kit itself is hollow cast, meaning that the insides are empty and there is nothing much for the pins to grab onto for support of the limbs. To remedy this, I filled each broken limb (being one arm and one leg) with Plaster of Paris. The Plaster filled the limbs easily and, once dry, provided the support pins something decent to grab onto. To help strengthen the broken pieces, I doubled pinned them (one at the top and one at the bottom) so as to provide extra strength on an otherwise weak joint. The joins were filled and re-sculpted with Epoxy Putty.
Unfortunately, all of the work done to repair the damage needed re-painting and even though the original painting was excellent, there was no way I could match the colours so after some consultation with the client I went for a full re-paint of the kit.
The base colour was air brushed on with Tamiya Light Green. The creases and folds in the skin were next with a coat of Tamiya Olive Green. To blend it all together so as to dull down the Light Green and make the Olive Green less harsh when compared to the Light Green, I mixed both greens together and coated the whole kit. The pants were masked off and painted with Tamiya Purple then dry brushed with Tamiya White to give them a worn look.
The facial details were handbrushed on with Tamiya NATO Black used for the hair. After a Clear Coat, an Artists Oil Paint wash of Black was added to highlight the smaller details around the hands, feet and face. Once that had dried, a final coat of Flat Clear was added to dull down the gloss look.
The Police Car was a lot tougher to finish. I began by air brushing NATO Black over all the areas that were to be painted with metal paints and into the folds and creases. Then Tamiya Blue was painted over the writing and rear window, Tamiya Orange on the indicator light, Gunze Dark Seagray on the Bumper, and Tamiya Sky Grey on the head light. Once that was done, a lot of masking was done on the writing and head lights/bumper/wheel. Everything that wasn't masked off was painted with Tamiya White whilst underneath was done with Model Masters Burnt Iron. All of the metal parts (including the rim) were done with Model Masters Steel and the damaged areas were lightly coated with Model Masters Burnt Iron after the Steel had dried.
Paints used in this build were :
- Tamiya Light Green
- Tamiya Olive Green
- Tamiya White
- Tamiya NATO Black
- Tamiya Purple
- Tamiya Red / White custom mix (for inside mouth)
- Tamiya Blue
- Tamiya Orange
- Tamiya Sky Grey
- Gunze Dark Seagray
- Model Masters Burnt Iron
- Model Masters Steel
- Tamiya Clear Gloss
- Gunze Flat Clear.
All in all, this was an interesting build. It was my first figure kit on this size and tested out my repair skills. Now that it's done, I am quite happy with how it looks, the greens make it more comic like that what it originally looked like.
I'll certainly be doing more figure kits like this in the future.