CRISIS, WHAT CRISIS! PT 2

In an exciting development a parcel arrived containing Kingpin, Daredevil and Bullseye.

Now, since my comic heyday in the 90’s Daredevil has always been my absoloute favourite Marvel hero. He is such an interesting and tragic character that i couldnt help but root for him. It was always just as things seemed to be getting a little better for him everything would then go catasrophically wrong and ususally Wilson Fisk was somewhere behind it all!

So, desperate as i am to paint him i know from past mistakes its always better to take a step back on these projects as diving in too quickly always leads to mistakes. This isnt such an issue if its a generic model but when its something you really want to treasure it can quickly spiral out of control.

So putting Daredevil aside for now i decided to to have a go at Kingpin. Dont get me wrong, i love this character as well but i am absoloutely terrified of painting white! I have been avoiding it since my illfated Deathwing attempt back in the 90’s!

I knew from the start my standard speed painting formula of block colouring / brainmatter beige drybrush followed up with inks and tones wouldnt work. Ive tried before and white always get to discoloured or the transition from white to shade always looks weird.

I also decided that this might be easier to tackle unassembled. I dont want to have to paint the hands etc over white. My eyes arent as good as they used to be and i struggle with fine details, constantly trying to touch up white is something i wanted to avoid.

So with the model clipped out i masked off the contact points and set to with a tin of Grey Seer and a test model!

Now remember earlier when i was preaching about taking your time and not rushing…….

Should have really taken my own advice as after i had primed i immediately realised a problem. His left arm comes in two pieces and you need to attach the shoulder section to the body before you attach the forearm. It quite clearly shows this in the instructions but being too keen i completely missed this little detail.

So in an attempt not to panic i have already started to panic and at it was at this point all attempts at creating a stuctured project went out the window!

I managed to hack off the majority of the connecting tab and save the arm but it highlighted the fact that i needed to focus.

On the test model i tried some various techniques involving painting up highlights and thinned down dark tone in recesses, even my old faithful Stone Golem wasnt working. The only bit that actually looked okay was where some of the dilluted wash had ran down the leg of the model.

Over the grey seer it blended really well and i wondered if a white drybrush would be enough to bring it back from pure grey.

I took an arm and gave it a shot, the wash (3-1 medium to dark tone) went down well. I then gave it a few goings over with a white drybrush and the results werent horrible!

So taking the plunge i decided this was going to be the route i was going to take and set about the other arm and main body. At this point the head was still seperate so i detailed the shirt/shoes (Black) and the tie/kerchief (Alien Purple)

I then painted the hands/head whilst still seperate (Barbarian Flesh)

When i drybryshed the white on the suit i let the black an purple pick up the drybrush as these can be toned back with black and purple washes

A this point i did notice an irratating mould line on the arms that i hadnt seen before the washes. I toyed with the idea of trying to fix them but i was worried about causing more issues. I decided it wasnt worth chasing as i still had to get him assembled without messing up what was already there. I then gave the hands and head a brainmatter beige drybrush (just for Gerry 😉 )and after painting in the eyes i gave them a 1-1 wash medium and Soft Tone wash.

Finally i painted the base with London Grey and Shining Gold on the signage. Then a Brainmatter Beige on the base followed with a 1-1 wash medium and dark tone wash and flesh wash on the gold.

Tidied up the rim with black and then a matt coat to finish.

All in all not perfect but considering how much i could have ballsed it up i’m happy to leave him there. Now just need to work out what im going to do with Daredevil………