My first completed figure

Posted on March 18, 2022 by Niek Nijsen

Despite starting Wonder Woman first, the samurai bust is the first (large) figure I’ve finished. I began this kit on my workbench at work as a little project to get my mojo back, thinking it would be straight forward gluing some resin parts together and having a bit of fun with hand painting a model. Surely someone could have told me it wasn’t going to be like that?

Despite the little setbacks of parts not fitting, there weren’t any major issues that a bit of extra sanding and filler didn’t solve. I elected to change the model slightly by changing the weapon layout and the helmet ornament to fit in better with my planned theme.

Once the model was assembled, I began the painting process which I started off with a layer of black primer. This was then followed by various colours and tones of acrylic paint by brush to add the details and shadowing effects. I used oils at first since that’s all I read about online during my research on how to paint figures. Sadly, it also meant that I ended up with a massive delay in between applying colours due to the endless drying time for the oil to go off. And that’s even after having thinned them down to almost water.

After many layers of (oil)paint and even longer waiting times, I finally got to the stage where I could now assemble the various subparts to make up the final model. For some reason, the weight was slightly different (probably thanks to my modifications) and so the balance was completely out, meaning that the model would keep falling over once placed on its stand. This was eventually solved by “pinning” the various parts by drilling holes and inserting a small steel rod to strengthen the joints. I also added a wooden base to the stand which created a bigger surface and allowed me to place the model off-centre, thereby restoring the balance and ending up with a figure that now stands up by itself.

I’ll try to get some photos done in the next few weeks and upload them to the site for your viewing. Once that’s done, I’ll post an update here and will mention it in my monthly newsletters (don’t’ forget to subscribe if you haven’t already). See you at the next one!

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