Hey, I just got my first resin kit, one i have wanted ever since i saw the pic of it online somewhere a year ago. by a stroke of luck, i clicked on some random link here and when i landed on the site, i thought "hey, this stuff looks familiar", kept clicking and before i knew it, voila! there was that bad baby, but it said SOLD OUT.

so, i wrote the guy an email, thinking he was a vendor, and got a response back. turns out he was the artist and he had exactly one kit left of this marvelous sculpt. so, i bought it. it just came yesterday in the mail and it looks HUGE! Of course you enthusiasts know how much this sucker set me back, and i am scared to death of fucking it up.

what i need to know are any tips you can give me in painting and putting him together. What kind of paint should i use? regular old model paint? acrylic? and do i need to put any base coat or protector/finishing paints to it. what kind of glue? and the artist told me if i used aluminum wire in the movable parts, i can get some articulation in the figure.

which one did i get that bowled me over so bad i have looked for it ceaselessly?
G H O S T !



so any tips and tricks you could share with me would be much appreciated, thanks!

use cyano-acruic glue. it comes in various setting sppeds,all of which can be enhanced by some 'zapper'. you will have spend a lot of time trimming flash and sanding the parts. resin dust is very toxic so wear a mask. your going to want to drill and post all the joints with brass or aluminum rod. resin deforms easily so if you have a deformed part heat it carefully and reshape it.

once youve assembled the parts ( i recommend doing several suba ssemblies then fit them together with metal drill and posts, your going to want to clean it thouroughly with 91% isoprpyl alchol, then I would uase all tamiya primers and matte paints. when your done paintiong seal it with krylon or 3m dullcote.

hint: be VERY patient.

i once tried to put a resin kit together and it was a complete disaster. this bit of info would have been very handy.....

That kit says I FART A LOT all over it. If this is your first one and resin at that, you are asking for trouble.

There are a couple mags that have info on how to build kits and paint them which might help.

Amazing Model Figures and ModelKit Builder

Good luck, take your time and try not to get to mad in the process

Amazing Figure Modeler's site:
http://www.amazingmodeler.com/

Also, an hour or two spent searching/perusing this board would be very educational (and you'll see some cool shit, too):
http://www.theclubhouse1.net/forums/

Good luck, and again- PATIENCE!
If you take time to gather knowledge, and tackle the build-up with unrushed steadiness, this could be a really rewarding experience for you.

Tho the build will definitely take some time, you picked a kit that should be relatively fun and easy to paint- lots of washes and drybrushing will make this piece look great.

I love resin kits, I mostly collect large scale WW1-WW2 vehicle kits and lots of sci-fi vehicles and stuff. I even have a 1/4 scale litle alex.

they are very fun to build, but the key is preparation. look at and clean all the parts, do some 'dry run' fittings, keep your hands real clean etc.

red-handed, ungawa, frank - thanks so much for your input! This is some interesting info. I also heard back from the artist who said he uses lacquers for paints , painting all the parts with two coats, one dark grey, one medium brown - and then melt into them using thinner. then brush with a medium white and paint very light clear orange at joint parts. what do you think of this process?

when i drop off the sunguts "ghosts" early this next week, frank, i'll bring t's "ghost" with me....seems appropriate with the titles.

i have been looking at all the parts and just kind of holding them up together. was thinking i'd also take a trip down to the natural history museum to get a better concept of what colors i want to use. while t's colors look good, they don't feel quite right for bones.

i got lots of patience and i definitly want to do a good job with this since i've lusted after it for so long.

again, my thanks!

Certainly, that’s one way to go; modelers who are really skilled in using lacquers/enamels can make them look great; personally, I’ve only ever had problems in using them for anything but small details. They just dry way too damn fast, which leads to difficulty in blending and a lot of streaky, visible brushstrokes for a slow hand-painter like me (and I really don’t like to use a lot of solvent thinners when I paint).

The way I would go at this kit: get the build done, then spray it down with a couple coats (applied in mists, from a fair distance, to avoid build-up, with drying time in between) of a flat white primer. Then I’d work into it using water-thinned (you want the paint to be pretty milky in consistency, when doing washes; also, a tiny, tiny drop of dish soap will help the flow, too) acrylics, applied in successive washes (with drying time and some Testor’s Dullcote sealing in between) to slowly build up realistic bone color/texture. Then I'd do some drybrushing to really make the textural details pop (those pics of Aurora monster kits that someone posted here a while ago were a good- if extreme- example of the drybrushing effect), and I might also use "the poor man's airbrush" to add some color: chalk pastels, ground into a powder on fine sandpaper, picked up and applied with a soft, stubby brush. But, that’s just me…there are so many ways you could go with it....

I’ll see if I can find a good, consolidated overview on bone-painting techniques for you….

Here you go, pdp....

This one's basically more of a recommendation on paints (from an airbrush user), rather than a technique tip:
I usually basecoat skulls in the 'ol standby, Delta Ceramcoat Sandstone. Then I use Badger Freak Flex Bleach Bone Tan to add some highlight. Then to make further highlight, I will mix up a creamy white (ComArt White with a touch of Raw Sienna) and thin very heavy with alcohol and mist it over the top. Then with Golden Transparent Raw Umber Hue (thinned heavy again), I work in the shadows.

This is a great tip...I really like this and will probably try it next time I have to paint bone:
My secret (not anymore) weapon for creating realistic bone is to simply skip priming the resin and make a thick wash of Winsor and Newton Burnt Umber and a little flat black Humbrol Enamel. Rub it in with a brush and then rub off with a fine cloth. Try to remove as much as possible and buff up all protruding details so that you get down to the resin again. If needed brush on a little thinner if it's still a little dark.

I've used this technique on a lot of my fossil casts and on various skulls and stuff on my kits. If you already got it primed you can just paint it cream white and use the same technique as above, but go a little easy on the rubbing. The bones will be more opaque and you loose that nice bony translucency you get from the resin, but it is second best.

And finally:
Well, it all depends on just what kind of bone yer tryin' to get.....not to be difficult, but you know there's yer brownish bone, yer greyish bone, yer bleached white laboratory bone, etc. Me? I've had alot of success with the old sepia tone bone. Nevermind the rhyme, it looks pretty good. Here's one way I get it: base coat the whole bone with standard brown. Then in layers, drybrush on Raw Sienna, then mix that with some Antique white for a slightly lighter tone and drybrush that on, then just the Antique white and then finally, just flat white very lightly for highlights. If it still doesn't look just how I want it, I wash the whole thing with a light wash of my original brown base coat and OILA! Bone City, Bud! I have also used the reverse thinking by base coating with Antique white and them using washes of Brown, Raw Sienna, etc. to achieve the effect I want. Works for me, hopefully for you too!

thanks ungawa! now where can i buy an airbrush cheap?

i've actually really been wanting to get one but i don't know if i'll go with that for this first model. i like the tipon the enamel with brush andrubbing....sounds more practical for me right now....and i like that dinosaur type greyish brown...feels right for me for godzilla, as he's at least part kin to those old fossils.

i really appreciate the extra effort you took getting me that info. i've actually copy/pasted it all in another document that i've saved for future use, when i get that far along.

Even though I have a couple airbrushes I think I would love to ink and drybrush him by hand. Seems like a lot of work but if the bones have a lot of detail, it would be worth it.
And I would not get locked down into a color scheme esp from what you see in museums and books. The pic you have shows some color due to the lighting, pull the pic into photoshop or a similiar program and mess with the hues and colors, might get some good color ideas.

Best of luck and show pics of your progress.