THE CLUBHOUSE

PART 1

I thought I'd do a WIP on the Typhon Studios "Karloff - Pierce" double bust I got recently.

I've only ever done one full WIP once before so bear with me as I put this thing together. I'm a relatively slow modeller so updates may take more than a few days... and that may be a generous understatement.

For those of you unfamiliar with the Typhon Studios double bust, it depicts Boris Karloff as the Monster sitting in Jack Pierce's makeup chair as the makeup for the 1931 film is being applied.



The castings from Typhon Studios were extremely clean. Literally thirty seconds of cleanup to remove one barley-noticeable seam (Pierce's forearm) and two spots, one under the chin of the monster and the other under Pierce's chin where vents were located.

After washing the parts and letting them dry overnight I began by slightly modifying the monster's electrodes.
I used a pin vice to drill a small hole through each electrode and then clipped off a small section of a staple to insert into the hole to make the electrodes more screen accurate. The cut staple was simply glued in place.



In test fitting Pierce's upper arm to the torso there was a gap I felt needed filling. So, out same the trusty Aves apoxie sculpt and the gap was filled in no time. I used a sculpting tool with the safety solvent to scribe the seam back on to the bust between the sleeve and Pierce's jacket.



Next: Some light sanding to smooth out the Aves even more and blend it with the jacket followed by priming and the base coats.

Brilliant idea using the staple. Did you ever work under Dr. Frankenstein, hmmm...?

Look forward to your WIP on this great looking kit! Sure wish I could snatch one up but my kit buying days are over.

Model on,
Carl-

Warped Speed wrote:Brilliant idea using the staple. Did you ever work under Dr. Frankenstein, hmmm...?

Look forward to your WIP on this great looking kit! Sure wish I could snatch one up but my kit buying days are over.

Model on,
Carl-

Carl, live vicariously through me!
And thanks for comment on the staple.

Well done Derek, a great start to an exciting build project, the castings and detail look awesome.
I've got my armchair and popcorn ready for the next episode!

All the best,
Paul

PART 2

After sanding smooth the putty work/Aves that I used on the Pierce shoulder joint, I pinned, glued and puttied the Monster's shoulder joint. The connection was so good that no sanding was required on the Monster.

Then, it was on to priming.
I use primarily Duplicolor but I had a can of Tamiya white on hand and used that too.

For all flesh areas I've been using a rust color for years. This was a tip suggested by Jim Capone at one of the JerseyFest classes I took some years ago. It helps establish a base coat and shadows.

For the Monster's torso and the film canister base I used grey. White was used on the back of the Monster (the back of Pierce's barber chair), for the barber chair' support column, and for Pierce's jacketed torso.





From primer, I turned to paint.

Lately I've been using the same formula for Caucasian flesh and I like the results. Here are two exmples of finished works using the same technique:



My first step is to spray a bronze flesh (Jesse' s GK paints) over the rust primer. I try to paint from an angle that suggests a light source. After bronze, I use pale flesh (again, Jesse's GK paints)





Next up are washes. This tip comes from some painting tutorials from Sideshow.

The basic colors are yellow, red and blue but the order can change the look of a kit.



In one of the Sideshow videos someone mentioned that blue can give a deadly pallor to an image so I started with blue on the monster (as I did with Old Man Dracula above)





All you're doing with this technique is tinting the flesh very subtly. You're not painting the color on to the figure. My wash is a 1:6 ratio of paint to water with a touch of soap to break the water's surface tension and allow it to flow everywhere. I use a sponge to dab off the excess. The next two washes - yellow and red - can brighten up a the flesh and give it life.

So those were the next two washes for the monsters face (and arm - not shown)




When you choose a different order you can get different results.

For Pierce's portrait I used yellow and red and used blue last, but only on the beard line.

Adding blue at the end gives a very subtle five o'clock shadow (see the archival photo of Pierce).



** NOTE Because the Pierce portrait is integrated into the torso I used Silly Putty to mask off the white jacketed torso to minimize over spray. **

Next instalment will move to pastels.

Thanks for reading...

Very nice work and also informative, thanks for taking the time to photograph the washes going on and how subtle
and effective the tinting is on the underpainting. Great build thread, looking great so far!

Cheers,
Paul

Very cool build so far!
Never hear about the rust base. The guy I watch on YT recommends green. Ha. But that’s a topic for another thread.
Following.

PART 3

When it comes to applying pastels to a kit I have a very 'loose' style of application. That is to say I frequently switch from color to color and feature to feature as my mood strikes me. I never fully apply one color, or finish one area, before moving on. And I frequently find myself moving the brush back to areas where I've already applied pastels either to brush on a different color or to deepen one I applied previously.

I should also mention at this point that I repainted the Pierce portrait because I didn't like the job I had done.
This is something beginners should keep in mind: just because you painted something doesn't mean you have to live with it. It's only paint. Do it over again if you don't like the job you did.
In my case I wasn't happy with some of the speckling I did on Pierce's face and so simply repeated my process outlined earlier - including the washes - and ended up with something I preferred.

So - on to the pastels...

I have a set of pan pastels that I've been using for a few years ever since Greg McKellar showed their uses at a JerseyFest lecture I attended.



You get enough pastel powder that, barring an accident, you'll probably have them for the rest of your life (and then some).

Laid out from left to right and top to bottom are: Payne's Grey, Black, Red Iron Oxide, Raw Umber, Burnt Sienna and Burnt Sienna Tint.
The set also came with (not shown) four other pans of greys, raw umber tint and white.

I also had four other colors (not shown) that were ground on a piece of sandpaper: Cobalt Blue, Violet, Juniper Green (dark green) and Nougat (a milk chocolate brown)

To apply pastels I just use a couple of different sizes of brushes that are no longer suitable for precisely applying paint. And when I switch between colors I simply wipe them quickly on a paper towel to remove most of the pigment.

The monster has the most interesting face for pastel application:



Under the harsh light conditions some of the colors may be hard to detect but I used the Raw Umber in the recesses below the heavy brow/above the eye to create a shadow. I also deepened it with the Payne's Grey.

The raised areas of the cheeks, chin, the tip of the nose/nostrils, and the ear lobes/tops of the ears get Burnt Sienna. The application is light. I usually dust on some pigment, apply it very lightly, blow off the excess and work what remains onto the surface of the kit.

Under the eyes I applied the Burnt Sienna, and deepened it with Red Iron Oxide.

I also used a little blue and purple under the eyes and at the temples.

Payne's Grey, Raw Umber and Black were used in combinations on the sunken part of the cheek, the mouth and the hairline. Once paint is applied to the hair the shadow will take on a different look

Purple, Blue Cobalt, Red Iron Oxide and Burnt Sienna were used around the electrodes to show bruising and irritation. The gashes on the head and neck will also be 'distressed,'

Any deep recesses in the face where there are shadows are emphasized with Raw Umber.

Anywhere I think I've gone too far with either the Red Iron Oxide or the Burnt Sienna I use Burnt Sienna Tint. It knocks the color back.

I'm not a huge fan of a green Frankenstein monster but when it's don'e right it's fantastic. I did use green as a tint for the monster's portrait with just a hint on the brow, the jawline, the chin and the eye lids. It's so subtle I don't think the camera picked it up.

For Pierce, the process is the same but with fewer colors applied.



One difference with Pierce is that he has facial hair. So, the eyebrows and the moustache get Raw Umber to create shadow.

I don't use pastels to create a five-o'clock shadow because that's what the blue wash was for when I was painting the portrait. To my eye, the wash does a better, more realistic job of creating that shadow.

Still to come: Detailing the faces, the torsos and the base...

I love this, Derek! Very thorough and informative.

Another great update, I love using pastels too, your skin tones and subtle colour blends are really effective.
I'm so behind on my WIP thread, although I shouldn't be glum as finally it's paying work that's getting in the way!

Cheers,
Paul

PART 4 (Final instalment)

In the previous instalment of this WIP I showed the pastel work I did on the portraits of the Monster and Pierce.

The colors might look garish at first, but once the hair is blocked in and the detailing on the faces is completed it all comes together.

On the Monster, what may have appeared by be heavy shading at the hairline becomes much more natural looking once the hair is blocked in.

I used Minitaire paints from Badger for much of the face detailing including Raven Black for the hair. It's not a pure black but more of a dark charcoal. Ancient Bone was used for the whites of the eyes, and various blues and greens were used for pupils (one eye is blue and the other green). Testors aluminium was used for the electrodes and head clamp (toned down with black pastel) and transparent blood from GK paints was used for the head wound and neck slash.



For Pierce, the same method was followed: blocking in hair with Raven Black and then further lightened with a tough of grey. Browns were used for the eyes.

For the eye brows and moustache I used short strokes of the brush to streak the paint in place, purposely leaving some of the flesh color showing to make the facial hair appear more realistic. This is where the pre-shading with the pastels pays off. For Pierce's lips I used GK paints Transparent Tongue with a light touch of Pale Flesh over the top.



The base is comprised of two elements: a film canister and parts of Pierce's famous barber chair.

Aluminium was sprayed on the film canister and pastels were used to deepen the words 'Eastman Kodak Company' to make them more visible.



A long time ago in AFM David Fisher wrote a Model Mania item about the Janus Pierce/Karloff kit and he detailed how he achieved the look of the barber chair. Many of us might remember these kinds of chairs with their enamelled and chrome elements. Fisher used enamel paint to get the right look, so I did too.



The biggest part to paint with the white enamel is the chair's support post. I chose to let it dry for a couple of days before attempting chrome.



I looked at a variety of options for chrome paint and heard all the horror stories about marring the paint with a sealer. What I finally chose was Molotow.

Let me tell you - this stuff should be called Molo-WOW. It's great.

I purchased a few different sized paint pens and even their 3 oz. refill thinking I might spray the color on. But in the end I simply drew the paint on with a 1 mm paint pen.



And the Liquid Chrome lives up to it's name.

Here is is on the barber chair support post:



Here it again on a much more complex surface: the section of barber chair arm support that connects to the enamelled frame of the chair.



Here it is on the makeup brush that Pierce holds in his hand:



If you do try this paint I advise a couple of things: use a liberal application and leave it to fully cure for two days. To get great results you want a lot of paint on the surface. The shine will astound you. I have not sealed the chrome and I have handled it lightly. There's been no dulling of the paint and no fingerprints. But again, if you do use a chrome paint try not to handle it.

Pierce's torso is mostly white with shading since he's wearing a smock.

The Monster's jacket and shirt were weathered with brown to simulate rubbing up against dirty, dusty dungeon or castle walls.



The completed kit will be posted in the Model Museum soon. I still have to glue and pin the various elements together. But if you've read this WIP then you've already know what it looks like.

If you are at all interested in getting this kit it may only be through the secondary market since I think all 100 castings were sold soon after it was released.

But Typhon has an establish record of releasing quality kits and their next is a half bust of Bela Lugosi as Dracula. Images are on the Typhon FB site and the kit is stunning.

Thanks for reading.

man derek, you should always do this.....please do again! Love seeing your steps!

Avall15 wrote:man derek, you should always do this.....please do again! Love seeing your steps!

Angelo,
I'm super lazy and was surprised I got this one shot and written!
My wife asked me if I was going to do a WIP of the Black Heart Bride wall hanger I posted in the Museum and I looked at her like she was crazy...

derekc62 wrote:

Avall15 wrote:man derek, you should always do this.....please do again! Love seeing your steps!

Angelo,
I'm super lazy and was surprised I got this one shot and written!
My wife asked me if I was going to do a WIP of the Black Heart Bride wall hanger I posted in the Museum and I looked at her like she was crazy...

I can tell you one thing she has great ideas!

Wonderful step by step Derek, thanks for taking the time and sharing!

Redwing wrote:

derekc62 wrote:

Avall15 wrote:man derek, you should always do this.....please do again! Love seeing your steps!

Angelo,
I'm super lazy and was surprised I got this one shot and written!
My wife asked me if I was going to do a WIP of the Black Heart Bride wall hanger I posted in the Museum and I looked at her like she was crazy...

I can tell you one thing she has great ideas!

Wonderful step by step Derek, thanks for taking the time and sharing!

Very welcome, Scott.
Thanks for reading the posts!

Only just spotted this

Love WIP's - OMG that's some quality paintwork Derek

Thanks for sharing!

.

Heavy Metal Spike wrote:Only just spotted this

Love WIP's - OMG that's some quality paintwork Derek

Thanks for sharing!

.

My pleasure, Ian.
Thank you!

Very informative WIP - thanks!!

Great work there Derek...lots of modelers old and new will be helped by you here...great kits from Mike at Typhon...castings A1 and Mike a good guy to deal with! K