SEVANS MODELS 'DR. WHO ICE WARRIOR'

[Tiger2]

Hi Bruce,

Wow, that's quite a list of Dr Who goodies you have there! I wasn't sure if the series was as popular in the US as it is over here, you've proven me wrong! A life-size cybermat, that must be huge!

The Daleks are becoming harder to find these days, especially the movie version, so well done on having one in the stash. All the parts are in the box to build it as a standard TV version as well, but I'll definitely keep mine in the movie style. I really loved the films with Peter Cushing as the Doctor, especially the second one, Dalek Invasion of Earth 2150AD. The Daleks were all very bright and loud in colour, lots of chrome and very 60's, they had a larger base plate to raise them up and make them look more menacing on the big screen.

I think you should dig yours out and get amongst it, you know it makes sense! A wonderful and very mindful way to relax, not to mention remembering the good old days before CGI. All you need is a cutting mat, hobby knife, a few grades of sandpaper and some liquid polly and you're away. Heaven!

Cheers,
Paul

[Ant]

Here's the flyer

[Tiger2]

Holy crap, that looks incredible, many thanks Ant for posting this! One of these came up on eBay recently and caused quite a stir, now I see why. I'm impressed that you managed to get a flyer, that must be worth a bit now, did you ever see one of these beauties made up? Very inspiring, I want to get started on my 1/5th version next!

Great stuff, this thread is turning into a wonderful trip down memory lane. Now then, mustn't loose focus on the Ice Warrior, get him finished first.

Cheers for now,
Paul

[Ant]

I think I picked that up from Stuart at a Memorabilia once, and I'm sure he must have had one there, but memory is foggy. I may have taken a pic, but it would have been on the old film camera in those days- early 90's - so god knows where that might be now.

[tay666]

This is such a cool thread.
It's like a history lesson for me, as I wasn't into the hobby in the 90's. So I had no clue about any of this stuff.
I didn't really become aware of garage kits until like 2000, and probably another year after that to get familiar with what they actually were, and what was possible.

[Tiger2]

Glad you're enjoying it Trevor and thanks for watching, it's always great fun when others chip in with their ideas and valued experience. More to come I hope!

Paul

[Tiger2]

Another update, I've made some progress with painting the Ice Warrior. After getting a grey undercoat on, I then
went back over any gaps and areas lacking in texture with Mr Surfacer 500. This stuff is like a viscous, liquid filler, it's
great for filling fine gaps and also creating rough textures when stippled. I think it's lacquer based, the fumes are quite powerful
so an open window is recommended!



I then got a dark green acrylic base coat on, followed by a black wash.





Then it was onto the head. The lenses were a deep red colour on the original props, but Stuart recommends painting them black.
I decided to combine both. I first masked the eyes and ears with Tamiya tape, (he kind of looks like the Invisible man!)
airbrushing a gradient from dark red to a brighter red, aiming to create a sense of depth behind the lens.







With the tape removed, I was happy with the result so went on to tidying up any overspray with dark green and black washes.
The eyes and ears were then glossed with Tamiya clear and I'm now onto developing the scaly surface colours.

At 16" tall, there's a lot of dry brushing and numerous washes to go, but he's slowly coming together

[Ant]

He's looking like a mean green mother from outta space!
Really like what you did with the eyes - very effective.

Is the 500 like an even thinner Mr Dissolved Putty?

[Tiger2]

Thanks for checking out the progress Ant, I've just glossed his eyes again which has given them a deeper, reflective sheen.

I've not tried the dissolved putty, this is like a thick acrylic paint, it comes in 2 other types, progressively getting thinner. I've used it for creating textures on WW2 armour before, so figured it would work nicely on this guy's armoured shell! I've now got all my blues, greens, yellows and a few browns lined up, all set for a big wash and dry brush session. I want to get lots of different colours coming through to keep it interesting, at the moment he looks a bit like a walking avocado!
Cheers,
Paul

[tay666]

Very cool.
Great decision on the eyes. It looks like it is glowing from within.

[Scooke123]

Great progress -

[Stewart Jackson]

Hey Paul:

While I'm a bit clueless when it comes to Dr. Who, I'm really enjoying watching your work on the Ice Warrior. I bet my aunt Carolyn would have known this character as she always watched Dr. Who. But this is very cool! I really like the way you handled the eye lenses, those look perfect.

[Tiger2]

After several rounds of painting, dry brushing, washes, splattering and more dry brushing, I think the Ice Warrior is finally finished.
It’s a large model and the biggest challenge has been to keep the surfaces interesting and not too toy-like. Hence I’ve used a little
artistic license with the suggested colour scheme.

The last element to add was the body hair, included in the kit, (I think it's from an old fur coat!)
The instructions suggest cutting strips of fur and wrapping them around the joints, but this just
doesn’t look right when compared to the props.

The hair on the real things was very ragged and thin in places, so I exercised caution, cutting small patches of fur
and adding this around elbows, armpits, knees and ankles, aiming for the moth eaten look. Finally I washed the
armoured surfaces with thin glazes of Raw Umber artist’s oil colour to help tie it all together.

I really enjoy the build, adding the scale texture with the putty was challenging but well worth the effort to get it
closer to the original prop. For a 40 year old kit, he’s scrubbed up pretty well and certainly delivers a good
nostalgia hit for this Dr Who fan. I will make some sort of a base to display him before taking final pics for the museum. Something with snow and ice, as seen in the original first screening back in 1967.

A few pics from the work bench below, now then, Cyberman or Dalek next…?

[revenant]

Excellent work Paul....when you posted up the pics of the kit before you started work, I never imagined that it would end up looking this good. You've employed so many techniques to raise it up to this level, and it's all been worth it. I'll look forward to seeing him on his custom built base!

[Rocketeer]

Geez, he looks like a million bucks!

[tay666]

That looks great!
And you did a lot of work to get it there, so kick back, and enjoy your achievement.

[Skeeletor]

This is pretty awesome - so cool to see your process, and I'll agree with others that after seeing the original shots, I never thought that model kit could look this good.

Great work!

[Tiger2]

Many thanks everyone for all your encouraging words! I've just realised I still have his wrist gun to paint and add on, although I don't think all the Ice Warriors carried them. It does look a bit lame, I'll see what it looks like and not bother if it doesn't add anything.

These Sevans kits are great fun, it's like scratch building, only with a good kick start! I was going to start the Cyberman next, but another grail in the stash has been beckoning, something Gieger related, watch this space for another build thread coming soon!

Paul

[kevtk135]

Late to the thread, but WOW that's a terrific looking build! Nice!

[brucebishoputah]

That's an excellent build of the kit! You put a lot of fine detail into it and it shows.

I was pleased with the quality of the Sevans kits when I first got some in hand, I believe it was approximately the late 1980's into the early 1990's. But I never even thought to try all the extra touches that make your build so nice. I was just happy to not mess them up too much.