Kitbash:Dragon vs Gryphon Done 2025-05-28

[bucketfoot-al]

Best of luck and godspeed to your wife in her recovery. As I mentioned to you privately, I'm in a similar situation taking care of a family member and will not be very active doing anything model wise until that task has been successfully completed.

[barad_dur]

Thank you Vlad!
Wishing your family a full and fast recovery as well.

[barad_dur]

Started reworking the dragon head.
Replacing teeth with larger ones. This is some seriously tedious work. But glad to now be making some progress.
Reworking horns on the head. New horns are just roughed in. Final horns will be much much thinner and sharper than shown here.

When I put the head back on, I plan to extend the neck a bit more and align the head to be looking directly at the gryphon above.

Started adding wing fingers back in where I removed the original huge hands.

[bucketfoot-al]

That's more like it! That new head with those bigger teeth vaguely reminds me of the Giant Behemoth from the movie of the same name animated by Willis O'Brien. An absolute classic, and the fact that the resculpted head is giving me those vibes definitely means that you're on the right path!

Wing fingers also looking great!

Extending the neck also sounds like a great idea as it will line the kits up better.

[barad_dur]

Continuing to refine the dragon head
Opened the jaws much wider; will add a tongue next
Narrowed down, sharpened , and added texture to the horns

[barad_dur]

Trying to get back in the bashing groove after some travel and home projects.
Working on detailing the dragon neck and head

[Squidy53]

[From the ranks of the walking wounded, but still following] Yikes. What an incredibly aggressive and dynamic build...

[barad_dur]

Thanks Steve ! I hope that all is well with you.

[bucketfoot-al]

Its starting to get that "barad_dur" look - which means you are on the right track!!!

[Squidy53]

Thanks Steve ! I hope that all is well with you.

Thanks Joe, it's been a challenging time health-wise but the end of the issue is within sight.

[barad_dur]

Ok, so trying something way outside my comfort zone !
Going for a very colorful paint scheme on the griffin.
Just quickly blocked in some basic colors .
Tons more of washes, glazes, and drybrushing will be required

[bucketfoot-al]

Now THIS ... is going SOMEWHERE!!! I'm liking it - A LOT!!! When your oil washes settle into the feather grooves this is going to be SPEC-TA-CU-LAR!!!

GO WITH IT!!!!

[barad_dur]

Thanks Vlad , I am not too sure yet about this bright color scheme, but will give it a try.
I want it to look lifelike, so hopefully I can figure out how to achieve that .

How do you make your oil washes?

[bucketfoot-al]

Mix a tiny bit of black oil paint, or whatever color oil paint wash you want to create, but as Bill Jones told me way back when, black is pretty universally good for most bashes, with mineral spirits. Michaels has excellent mineral spirits that come in very large bottles. I'm not at home right now, so I can't tell you what the brand is, but if you can't find it I will post it later when I get home..

The key here is Bill told me when he told me this technique years ago, is to use only a tiny bit of black oil paint in the mix. You can always do it again if it turns out too light, but if you make it too dark at first, well you'll use up a lot of Kleenex soaking it up off the surface before it dries!

Call me been there done that!

[bucketfoot-al]

Here's the link for the gamsol mineral spirits

https://www.michaels.com/product/gambli ... -MD015531S

[barad_dur]

Thank you Vlad!

[tay666]

Definitely bold, but I like it.

As for oil washes. I've only done it once so far, so maybe it was beginners luck.
I just mixed some oil paint with mineral spirits, slathered it on where I wanted it. Let it dry for a day, then wiped off everything on the high parts.
I used make-up sponges with just a touch of mineral spirits for the removal.

It was surprisingly simple and easy.

[barad_dur]

Thanks Trevor!

[bucketfoot-al]

Definitely bold, but I like it.

As for oil washes. I've only done it once so far, so maybe it was beginners luck.
I just mixed some oil paint with mineral spirits, slathered it on where I wanted it. Let it dry for a day, then wiped off everything on the high parts.
I used make-up sponges with just a touch of mineral spirits for the removal.

It was surprisingly simple and easy.

I'm gonna have to try the "wiped off everything on the high parts" technique. Sounds like a good way to keep the highlights while amplifying the "depth" look from the oil wash application. Thank Trev!

[tay666]

Yeah, Can't remember the exact video I saw with that method, but I saw it and thought 'that seems easy enough'.
So I gave it a shot with this piece.


https://www.tylisaari.com/models/tv/GOT/walker.htm

It was amazing how nicely it just settled right into the grooves. No fighting with it, or fussing with it.
I think the key is to make it thin enough to flow, but not so thin that it runs everywhere. I started out kind of thick and just kept adding drops of mineral spirits until it felt right.