Creature from the Black Lagoon

[T-bone]

Hello all!

I am going to try and make a model of my all time favorite monster: The Creature from the Black Lagoon. I remember watching the movie as a kid and then going swimming, trying to move underwater just like the creature.

Here is an image of the completed kit from an online webstore. I don't know if I'm going to use the base with the cave and other creatures since I want to play around with making a little lagoon scene, but we'll see about that a little later.

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So as with most of these kits, the fit and finish is not up to those of good modern injection molded kits. Gaps and misaligned parts are standard when assembling these kits. I personally feel that this is some of the charm of these kits in that you actually get to do some "modeling" to improve the fit and appearance. So here is the misalignment at the back of the head.

At first, I thought this step was going to be a huge problem since the top aspect of the front piece aligned with the bottom of the rear head piece. I was dreading the thought of using filler to eliminate the step since I though it would create a truly distorted head. Fortunately after some fiddling around, I was able to push the rear piece down about one mm. to a little apposition of the two pieces and this created a solid connection between the two sections. I was then able to aggressively sand down the step and after some fine tuning the step in his nogging was eliminated.

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The junction between the torso and abdomen have some impressive gaps that I tried to equal out between the two sides.

I filled these gaps with stretched sprue and melted it into position using thin liquid cement.

There are sink marks in his palms that I filled with Milliput then was able to match the grooved pattern on his palms.

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The detail doesn't show well in this image but it turned out OK.

I also used the Milliput to shape the gaps between the legs and feet as well as fill the seams along the body halves.

I still have to correct the joint between the dorsal fin and body and fix the seams along the body, legs, and arms so those procedures are to follow. That's it for now ...

Edited April 7, 2010 by T-bone

[madmike]

Great work so far.

My lady wife is still working on this kit two years after starting. The filling of each seam means recreation of every scale, so it is tedious work. Actually she mentioned to me a couple of days ago that she might give the whole thing up as a bad joke.

[T-bone]

Great work so far.

My lady wife is still working on this kit two years after starting. The filling of each seam means recreation of every scale, so it is tedious work. Actually she mentioned to me a couple of days ago that she might give the whole thing up as a bad joke.

Mike thanks for the encouraging words...

Your wife sounds like she has much better judgement than me!

Yes it is definitely one of those kits that just when you think you have fixed a problem and can move foreward, you notice another bad seam, sink mark, etc. The cleaning up of the seams along the sides of the body, legs, and arms create a daunting problem by removing the details of the scales and body plates. I tried using the Milliput to fill the seams and to recreate the scales but I didn't like how the Milliput handled. I am more comfortable sculpting with Green Stuff so now I'm using it to see if I can correct the defects and recreate the scales. At first, I was just going to paint the appearance of scales but I want to see if I can recreate the scales with the green stuff before resorting to the paint option. So far I have only done one side of the thorax with the green stuff and have yet to prime over this to see if the results are going to be acceptable.

[HOLMES]

T Bone.

I am sure your Creature will look fantastic like the image that you posted..

Good start and look forward to seeing this genre of modeling here....

[T-bone]

Here is an update...

 After putting on the dorsal fins there was a large gap. I filled these with green stuff and sculpted in the rays of the fins. 

I did not like the feet because they just have the top 1/2 molded. So I made the bottom 1/2 of some toes and pads for the lateral and medial aspects of the feet. This makes them contact the ground a lot better to my eyes. 

I also filled the joint between the neck and shoulder to create a little better transition into the shoulder.

[madmike]

Hmmm

Lori is only just begun using green stuff, so I will suggest that to her as a substitute for Tamiya putty

[T-bone]

Another update...

I really like green stuff for sculpting. I got use to using it modifying 40K miniatures as well as sculpting stowage for AFVs. I like how it handlest as well as the long open time. After looking at the creature, I thought the back of the calves needed some fins so out came the green stuff. I further refined the fins after this image was taken to better define the rays of the fins.

I also added to the poorly defined fins on the back of the head and neck. I don't know if the creature has these but since I was having fun making fins I figured what the heck!

I then started to recreate the lost scale details that were eliminated by sanding the poorly fitting seams. I make a mold using some two-part putty and used this to stamp the scale detail into some green stuff that I placed along the seams. It looks just ok but is better than the bare flat area and much better than the large step that was there at first.

[T-bone]

With some practice using the Green stuff and the molds of the scales, I was able to make some pretty good repairs to the sanded smooth scales along the joints.

I have primed the creature so just waiting for it to dry to start applying some color!

[Rampage55]

Excellent work Tim!

You are working magic with that green stuff, it looks great. I'm looking to build this kit in the near future with my son and I was considering making a stamp to recreate the scales along the seams as you did.

I look forward to watching this one progress.

Mark

[T-bone]

A little update...

Let me start by saying I am trying to make this model without my normal modeling supplies since I am away from home and all my model making kit -- like my AB/compressor, the vast majority of my paints, brushes, tools, artist oils, solvents, etc. -- is very far away. I am also trying not to buy too many of the things I already have because once my kit and I get back together, I won't have a need for extras. The last time I was home, I brought bring a small shoebox of some odds-n-ends back with me but they were just whatever was sitting out on my model station. It did have one of my ABs but not the hose.

Anyway, onto the build. I am at the point were I can start painting. He is primed and ready to go.

If I had my AB set-up, I would spray the shadow color for the recesses and then being very careful about direction, apply a midtone from the top. Then either dry brush or selectively pick out the highlights to create the effect I am after. But since I don't have my AB working, I thought I could apply the midtone and then use a wash to make the shadows then dry brush the higlights. So I brush painted the midtone using a color I had in the box and then I tried making a wash with another color mixed with some acrylic glaze medium. Before ya ask, the glaze medium was in the box. I use glazes sometimes so I thought this glaze might create a good shadow color for the recesses as well as maybe even be a little of a filter for the midtone. Man it looked like crap! The recessed details on the model are too inconsistent to make a uniform appearance! So I stripped it all off and I'm awaiting a home visit to maybe be able to continue. So until I either get my stuff or I get more stuff this bad boy is on indefinite hold!

I just don't know how long I can last before I need to go on a shopping spree since there are some inexpensive compressors at Harbor Freight that keep calling my name. You don't think my wife will notice an $80 charge on the bank balance from Harbor Freight? Or a few charges for HobbyTown?

[T-bone]

I made it home this past weekend and I unpacked my compressor so I could use my airbrush. It felt great to be using some of my old stuff -- actually I was using my new Iwata HP-CH airbrush. It has precise control of both ariflow and trigger pressure (paint flow) so I hope to be able to use its fine control to paint this guy properly!

I applied a shadow color using Tamiya XF-70 and than started to apply the base color using XF-61. I plan on making about 3-4 color steps for the base color adding more of brighter greens before starting to add yellows for the highlight colors. So far this image is only the first base color. I'll probably paint the highlights by hand but at his point I plan on seeing how far I can go with the AB. This image doesn't really show the contrast between the shadow and first color that is more apparent with the naked eye, but gradually it will be more recognizable on photos as I proceed. I had to stop painting because I wanted to spend time with the family but it was a blast to be using some of my modeling stuff while home.

I packed up my compressor, all my Tamiya and Vallejo paints, some tools, some paintbrushes, and a few other odds & ends to take back with me to Mobile so at least I'll be able to do some painting while I'm away from home.

I hope to apply some color tonight but we'll see what time I get back from work.

That's it for now...

[HOLMES]

GOOD WORK..

getting there....

[T-bone]

So here are some more images of my continuing to add color. I have only placed the background color for the eyes, mouth, and gills but I have the basic pattern down. For the mouth and gills I plan on making these a very pale color like an alligator. I'm going to change the colors on the back blotches as well as tone down the gloss to a semi-gloss and see how that works  Anyway, here is the body: 

Here is a shot of the back. I'm going to change the blotches to a darker color and make them more like bars. I also think there needs to be some highlights so I'll add them later.   

Here is a picture of the belly. I think this is about done and I might only change the sheen.

 

 

Here are pictures of the legs and an arm. I'm going to work in the fins some more -- maybe a spot color--  but I don't know yet...

Finally, here is a picture of the creatures face and upper chest.  I still need to do his eyes, mouth, and gills but this is the start. 

So, still a lot of work left but I'm pretty happy with the start and I'm getting good practice with the airbrush!   

Thanks for looking and I'll keep y'all posted!

[arkhunter2002]

Looks great. I really like where you are taking it color wise.

I love "green stuff" too. It's great for sculpting and all...

Take care,

Austin

[T-bone]

So here is the creature with a little paint on his face. Here is a upper thorax front view:

I'm not a 100% happy with his mouth yet but were getting there...

Here is a 3/4 dorsal thorax and his gills view:

And here is a whole body cranial view:

Just a few more details to tidy up with his body then it is onto the building of the base!

[Drone #1]

There are a few COLOR shots of our favorite gillman on the DVD set in the special features section. The actor is actually dancing and is in a silly pose, but full color showing his many greens. Their were two actors and two suits made. Ben Chapman played the creature "AboveWater" and he's much bigger than Ricou Browning who did the underwater shots. Ben's chest piece has three sections, while Ricou had two on his chest. There is a Colorized shot of creature with bright red lips, and red suckers(?) on palms , but this is not what suit looked like. Also it is said that the suit for underwater shots was highlighted with gold to better catch light while filming under water.

GILLMEN Unite!