Got this on Clearance at hobby Lobby (have you notice the trend yet). How could you not notice this box sitting on the shelf? It was huge, and then I noticed the yellow sticker for 12.99 and it was the last one on the shelf. It was quickly placed under my arm and I headed for the cash register before any thug could hit me over the head and take it away from me. Being a big Godzilla fan this was a huge score for me. I never even knew this model existed before I picked it up. When I got home I did the happy dance till my wife thought I was crazy or reverted back to a 10 year old (which is not to say isn’t true). That was also about the age I was introduced to Godzilla back when the USA channel had “Up All Night” movies.
Open Box Review
Looking at the parts this model will be big. It was just a bag with a bunch of large and few spurs with back spines. The model should be pretty simple to put together. There is a base for Godzilla to stand one and a few trains for him to munch on while he steps around the buildings. Oh there is a tiny tank as well, but we know that it will just get stepped on. It is also cool you can cut the box up and make a background for the display.
Spure Shot Taken from the web
Planning
I haven’t figured out how I want to paint Godzilla yet. I have seen different colors ranging from a green to a dark greenish brown. I know I will do the back spines with whitish tips. The ground will be a muddy brown and buildings in a concert gray. The Tank will be a light green and weathered.
Paints and Tools used so far.
Paints:
Spray Paint
Krylon White Primer
Krylon Grey Primer
Krylon Crystal Clear Gloss
Krylon Clear Matte
Air Brush Vallejo 817 Scarlet (nameplate)
Vallejo 915 Deep Yellow (nameplate)
Tamiya XF-11 J.N. Green (Godzilla Basecoat)
Hand Brushed Vallejo Model Color 915 Deep Yellow (Eyes)
Delta Creamcoat Chamomile (Teeth & Claws)
Folkart 459 Hauser Green Light (Skin Dry brush)
Liquitex White glossies (Eyes & drybrush fins))
Liqutex Mars Black (Wash for skin)
Vallejo Model Color 817 Scarlet (Eyes, mouth)
Vallejo Model Color 829 Purple Heart Red (Tongue)
Additives:
Liqutex Slow Dri
Tools:
Cutter
Exacto Knife
Greenstuff to fill the seams
Masking Tape
Things I have learned from this kit so far.
I learned how to work with “green stuff” putty.
Work In progress Shots
I assembled the model and while that was pretty fun. I hit a wall on painting it. I was not sure how cover such a large without showing brush marks. So I let it set on the shelf for a while. Now that I have a airbrush I will pick it up again to see what I can do.
9-28-11
Decided to start work on Godzilla again. A while back I had assembled the model and filled the seams with green stuff. It worked pretty well due to it’s ability to be sculpted. So I used sculpting blade to make the ridges in the green stuff to match his skin. Today I just used sand paper and hobby knife to smooth off all the seams and sand them down a bit. I did have any holes to fill and the seams sanded nicely, so hopefully they won’t be two noticeable.
9-30-11
Now that the seams are smoothed out I need to get ready to paint. I have gone back and forth on what color to paint it. Godzilla is actually a blackish blue color, but almost everyone thinks he is green. I like both colors quite a bit. So what color do I paint him? I have decided to do a dark green almost black with a few light highlights. So I that means I should prime him gray to help keep him dark. But I want to keep his mouth and eyes light due to they will be white and pink. So I decided to prime his head in while. Once that was dry I use liquid mask on his eyes and tape over his mouth. I waited a day for mask to dry so I then primed him in grey. Not pictured but once the mask was dry I primed the head in grey as well.
10-4-11
I wanted to do the name plate to look like the graphic on the box. But I wanted the recessed parts to black to help make the letters stand out. I though t about doing it by brush but I don’t think I could make it look right so then I had my idea of using the hairspray method. So here is my idea. I do my base coat as Vallejo 817 Scarlet. Let it dry then do my shading with Vallejo 915 Deep Yellow. I did this by spraying at about a 45 Degree angle at the top edge of the letters letting the blow by do the fading for me. I am going to let it dry over night and then gloss clear coat it two times. Let it dry over night, then spray with hair spray and let it dry. Then Air brush the nameplate with black. Once dry use a cloth with alcohol on it and try to wipe way the black on the letters. The Gloss coat and hair spray should let the paint come off pretty easy leaving just the red letters. It just might work.
10-5-11
I have clear coated the name plate and am letting it dry. So I am going to start base coating Godzilla. After deciding on a dark green I found Tamiya J.N. Green. It is a perfect very dark green near black, so it is green like what I think Godzilla should look like and black enough it looks like the movies. Besides I assume J.N. Green stands for Japanese Navy Green which is kind of fitting color name. I didn’t know how big this model was till I started painting it, it took about 3 hoppers of paint to get it covered. After I finished clean my airbrush I noticed a few parts where the prime is peaking though. I will take a brush to those parts once it is dry. I may do another once over to event the color out or I may dark wash it to give it some shadow and depth. Next I am on to the name plate.
10-11-11
My Experiment was a success. I am quite happy with name plate and it looks just like I wanted it to.
After the last I had painted letters to look the way I wanted I put 2 coats of Krylon Krystal Clear Gloss, letting each one dry. Then I put a fairly heavy coat of Auqanet Hairspray on the front of the plate, let dry for an hour or so. I then spray a coat of Tamiya XF-11 J.N. Green all over the name plate. I first thought of using black but thought this might help tie the green tint might help tie it together. I let paint dry for about 30 to forty minutes. I then took a paper napkin with a bit of 91% Alcohol started wiping away the dark green off the edges and raised letter. It work great and was very easy to do. Once Dry I will do a coat of Krylon Krystal Clear Gloss and it should be great. I did notice that a bit of the Red came off on one corner, may be the Alcohol was a bit strong, warm water may work as well. I decided to and do a video of the process so if it worked I would post it. I hope it help someone, as the results looked good and it was very easy to do.
I had to shrink the video down a bit make it fit on my page, if you want to see it a little bigger look here on youtube.
1-6-2012
I started dry brushing all the skin texture with Folkart 459 Hauser Green Light. Wasn’t hard just took a while to do due to the size of the model. Once that was done I removed the liquid mask off of the eyes. I let it dry for a while. I then painted the eyes with Liquitex White glossies and painted the yellow iris of the eyes and did then paint a black slit to look like lizards eyes. I then used Delta Creamcoat Chamomile to paint the claws. I have found Delta Creamcoat Chamomile to be great for a bleach bone or claw look. After it had dried I looked at it and did not like it. The eyes did not look right and dry brush was stark. So I then mixed up a a very thin wash of Liqutex Mars Black. I would brush it on with a brush then immediately take a dry brush and start brushing wash around. This really helped darken the stark highlights and mute them quite a bit. Also since I had “darker” spots where I applied the wash it really looked a bit more shadowy. I then dry brushed the fins on his back with Liqutex white as well. Because in the movies when he breathed radiation his spine and fins glowed white. I still have to figure out something about the eyes.
1-8-2011
Ok I broke out my google-fu and found some pictures of Godzilla’s eyes. Excluding the American version (the lizard eyes) there are seem to be two. One is all red with yellow irises and a black pupil. This one looked evil or something I didn’t like it. The other one is the type I liked. The Eyes are white but the irises as yellow fading to red and black pupils. So I painted the eyes gloss white and then painted a large red circled, then I painted a yellow circle that took up all the read in the front faded a bit into the red. I then Black and made a circle in the front jus leaving a bit of yellow to make the eye look whole and looking forward not cross-eyed. I used a hair drier between coats to help speed up the process. They look much better.
1-8-2012
Finally the mouth. I removed the masking tape and dug though my box of paint. I knew I wanted the “mouth” and tongue to be a little different, with the tongue being darker. So for the mouth I came up with Vallejo Model Color 817 Scarlet and the tongue being Vallejo Model Color 829 Purple Heart red. It is just a shade or two darker. Once all the red was painted I tough a very thin black wash and wash over the whole mouth over to help give it some depth and texture. I then use the Delta Creamcoat Chamomile to paint the teeth. It didn’t look bad at all once finished.
1-8-2012
Pretty much finished Godzilla himself. Jus need to do the clear coats and then brush on gloss on the eyes and mouth. Once I get the base done I may go back and “dust” the feet to make it look more part of the base. But he is basically done now. On to the base.
