Model
Specifications:
Scale = 1/9
Length = 15 cm
Width = 28.5 cm
Height = 27.5 cm
The ABC
(Atomic, Bacterial, Chemical) War Robot is an ancient war machine from the movie
'Judge Dredd'.
The kit comes in a nice size box with nicely molded vinyl pieces. It was basically built as per the instructions but I ended up adding small pieces
for some extra surface detail.
Vinyl can be a little bit of a
nuisance to work with sometimes as it seems to take whichever shape it wants if exposed to any kind of heat.
The most difficult part in the assembly was the joint between the upper
and lower torso. The instructions say that the lower torso simply pops
into the upper body but mine seems to have shrunk. After careful trimming,
mine ended up with a significant gap around the joint. I remedied this by
reheating the lower torso and gradually tacking it to the upper half until
I had filled the gap. It was then dressed up with thin styrene strips to
hide any flaws in the joint.
I first applied a base coat of Silver lacquer to the entire model
(Enamels don't seem to stick very well to vinyl). I then let it dry for
about 24 hours. The model was then airbrushed with Model Master Enamels.
I started with Flat Black for all of its inner mechanics
(armature, hydraulics, hoses and wires).
The rest of the body and coverings were painted using a base coat of the color
"Wood" and then just played with different shades of this color for
the deep crevices and highlights. Much darker shades of this color were used for burn marks and dried up oily
areas.
The
black areas were then dry brushed with light amounts of Silver and certain wires were painted solid
Black to represent electrical conduits. The rest was dry brushed
with a very light mixture of White and Sand.
The most nerve-wracking part was when I decided to try adding a
'paint chip' effect. I did this by rolling masking tape in a small ball and lightly
dabbing the model with it. The enamel paints never completely adhered to
the lacquer so small chips of paint would come back with the tape. The
trick was to be careful and not remove to big of an area.
Once I was pleased with the paint chipping, I painted its eyes
Gloss Red and gave it a couple of coats of Clear Gloss. Once completely dry, I added
a light wash over most of the model. Then it was sealed with two
coats of Clear Flat.
