Kit Information :
Scale : 1/13
Grade : N/A
Made by : Revell (re-issue)
Completed : March '09
Box Art :
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Pteranodon (Prehistoric Scenes Re-Issue)
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Prehistoric Scenes model kits have been around a long, long time now and have been re-issued many times by various companies. I've looked at them a few times but never really took an interest until Monster Model Review began a Prehistoric Scenes competition late last year (2008). Keen on entering, I grabbed this kit from eBay for cheap and planned to have it built by the end of January.
That never happened. Other things did happen though, and prevented me from beginning this kit when I wanted to. But then in late February, the folks over at the Fichtenfoo forums began a competition called '31 Days'. The idea was to build a kit within a 31 day period and the catch was that it was not to be a Gundam kit. Upon reading this, I instantly remembered this kit sitting in the 'to do' pile and decided that it would be my contribution to the competition.
I began building on the 21st of February (one of the competitions rules was that it couldn't be started before this date), by snap fitting the kit together only to discover that there was terribly large seams on the wings and even more difficult ones where the body joins the wings. I tackled this problem by use of CA glue to fix everything in place, then filling the gaps with Epoxy putty. Once the epoxy had cured, I used Tamiya Basic putty to go over the epoxy and give me something to sand down smooth (well, something easier to get smooth than hardened epoxy anyway).
All of the filled gaps got sanded back until smooth but this created a new problem, the skin texture was completely gone. I had tried earlier to use a texture stamp to get the intricate skin lines back, but it didn't work all that well, so I ended up drawing the pattern on and then engraving the areas with my Dremel tool and an engraving bit. Quite a few hours and headaches later, the skin pattern was returned.
Painting involved an initial base layer of NATO black which then the lower half was covered with Russet. The two colours were broken up with some Sky Grey and the beak was painted with a custom light orange mix (25% white / 75% orange). Everything was then clear coated and an Artists oil wash of Burnt Umber was added to blend everything together. This was finally finished off with some dry brushing using Sky Grey. The eye was hand painted with white and the pupil and flecks added with a fine paint pen.
Since the kit came with it's own 'stand' (aka the rock), I thought I'd use it to make an ocean themed base. Using a picture frame as a base, I removed the glass and glued the rock into the center of the frame and, using air drying clay, I sculpted some waves crashing against it. The rock was painted with Desert Yellow, shaded with Brown, and blended together with a light coating of Buff. The water was painted with blue first, then the waves were painted with white. The blue areas were then given a top coat of Clear Blue to make it a bit brighter and shinier (aka more waterish).
Paints used in this build were :
- Tamiya NATO black
- Tamiya Sky Grey
- Tamiya White
- Tamiya Orange (mixed with Tamiya White)
- Gunze Russet
- Tamiya Blue
- Tamiya Brown
- Tamiya Buff
- Tamiya Desert Yellow
Overall, while this kit isn't an accurate rendition of the Pteranodon, it was a fun, challenging and, dare I say, different type of build than I am used to. I learnt a few new techniques during this build, like sculpting waves, and most importantly, learnt that I can build a half decent model within a month.