I posted this on the Scale Auto forum but the car geeks were not as receptive. This was my first true figure kit. I have a long way to go in terms of true detailing, but I still enjoyed this immensely. First up are some pics. I’ll reply with some of the personal touches I added… Enjoy!
The kit was built primarily box stock. The wood finish on the table and chairs was pure experimentation. I mixed dark brown and then lighter browns and black and essentially dragged lines with a fat brush and even my fingers until I got a look that I liked. Once it dried, semi-gloss clear was used. I didn’t want the furniture to look new.
The floor was done in a similar manner. I also used a black wash to bring out some of the textures. The broken glass pieces were glossed with Future. You can’t really see them, but they’re to the right of the carpet when looking at the pic.
Bottles were done with Tamiya and Testors clears. The light green was made with a combination of green and yellow. The brown (far right, top shelf of bookcase) was done by mixing near equal parts of red, orange, and blue, believe it or not. I wanted them to almost look like they might have soda in them. Why, I don’t know, I just thought it would be a nice break from the primary colors.
The rats are Tamiya Flat Earth with a generous coat of German Grey over them. The tails, noses, and inside of the ears were done with a base of flesh followed by a mix of red and white until I got a muddy pink that was highlighted over the flesh. When the Mrs. saw them and said “Yuck,” I knew I did well. The skull was sprayed Testors light ivory and then dunked in a muddy brown.
The papers were printed from websites on a Brother color printer. The pages on the table are late 19th century anatomy illustrations. The pages on the bookcase are samples of script writing. Moebius had pages molded into the table. I filled these and painted over them. The folded page on the bookcase was a heavy sheet of plastic - that’s in the parts box but I have no idea what use it will ever have.
The rat cage had this terrible molded straw in it. I painted it and it looked like crap. I Dremel’d it down and then took some sawdust and glued it to the base. I didn’t even have to paint it. As the glue set up with the painted colors underneath it took on a slightly dirty look. The powder in the mortat and pestle bowl is just ground up chalk.
The Invisible Man’s glasses were solid plastic. I took a pin vise, made holes, and then hollowed them out with an X-Acto knife. I used Testor’s clear glue and carefully spread it across the openings, hung the glasses to dry, and got cool clear lenses that were finished with Testors Clear Green.
The only problem I had with the whole thing was getting the shirt/jacket combo under the overcoat. After building the overcoat, filling it, and painting it, I tried to slip the completed shirt/jacket/pants assembly in. One side of the jacket split and the left arm fell off. I put everything together, superglued the broken parts, did my best to patch them, masked off everything, and re-shot the damaged areas. If you decide to build this kit, think this assemble through before building.
A very fun build and I have the Moebius Mummy in my collection also. I’m generally a car guy so this was a nice change of pace. The re-released Meyers Manx is next and then the AMT Vantasy Chevy Van. I have to stay true to my roots!
Nicely Done !
[:D]
Great job Dan, your details are excellent!!
Mostly , thanks for sharing!
Bill
“Alone-- it is wonderful how little a man can do alone! To rob a little, to hurt a little, and there is the end.” — H. G. Wells, The Invisible Man
Dan,
Fantastic job! I’ve got to pick up one of these one day.
Thanks for the comments guys! Now I need to find something to display it in. I found a 10 x 10 x 10 basketball display case on hobbylobby.com that I think might accommodate it perfectly. And the Mrs. still wants me to letter titles on some of the books - she’s actually the one who bought the kit for me. She was so fascinated by the idea that a model kit had books and bookshelves that she wanted me to build it.
There’s also a display stand - it’s a stack of books and then one additional open book that says “The Invisible Man” on it. I’m still painting the book stack. I don’t consider this essential to the completed model and so I didn’t wait to post these pics.
Very good for a first real attempt a this sort of thing - the wood looks excellent from what I can see! [B]
I was going through my SD card and found a couple of early pics of just the table and bookcase and the IM’s partially completed body. It gives a better sense of the wood finish on the table. Again, I experimented with this and found a technique that worked. I was quite happy with the result.
Here’s a closeup of the completed bookshelf:
Excellent build! I only would like to point out that the glasses are not “historically” correct 
The glasses used by the invisible man in H.G. Wells’ novel are blue and not green.