Winter Warrior: Paleocraft's Wooly Mammoth
This is a kit I have wanted to get a hold of for a while, and thanks to a patron of our build up service, I got my chance. The kit is actually pretty simple, but I found a really odd shaped an serving platter in T J Maxx recently and I thought, THAT would make a cool base for something. And, as it turns out, the Wooly Mammoth really fit the bill.
As with all solid resin models, you should wash the parts in soapy water and trim off any excess resin with a hobby knife. As you can see, the kit goes together really well and practically no putty is needed at the joins because of the design.
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The first stage of the painting will provide layers of fur color. Using FW Inks Sepia, Antelope Brown and Raw Umber, I stripe in lines using an Iwata HP-B airbrush at about 12 PSI (right). The intention is to get some variation in the underlying fur tones. Over that, I drybrush a very light Sandstone brown craft paint to raise the details a little. The same color goes on the toes, though in the end, it did not matter because of the way I did the base. Of course, I did not know that at the time . . .
Anyway, I also sprayed in Lifetone's Bronze Flesh on the mouth and underside of the trunk. Then, at this point, you want to seal the kit with Dulcote from Testors and allow the protective coating to dry.
Next, I put on layers of brown transparents, more or less randomly, to give the kit a more natural color. I used Createx Light Brown and Dark Brown transparents as well as Lifetone's Burnt Umber and Chestnut as well, darkening the kit but allowing an observant eye to see the first layer (below left). Then, I do a kind of a weird thing, I know, but I do a quick dry-brushing of Sandstone brown craft paint over the kit to bring out the highlights (below right).
Then the whole kit gets a coat of Terra Cotta craft paint (Apple Barrel brand), and on top of that the kit gets another treatment of transparent browns.
When that dries, the kit gets a final coat of Umber oil wash through out. You can see it on the tusks below, but I do wipe it down a little before it is done. It adds a little more depth, but in the end, it does not look dirty . . . and then it is time to seal it again.
I also treated the tusks with a base coat of Freak Flex Bleached Bone and then a coat of Lifetone Transparent Amber Oxide, followed by some Createx transparent Dark Brown near the mouth to show weathering and age. Then, you want to seal the work with Dulcote again.
Let's take a quick look at the eye as well. These are really, really small. Like maybe a millimeter and a half. So, you want to use small brushes, practically no paint and simple circles.
First I put in a dab of white . . . mostly to allow lighter colors to come through. Then, in concentric circles, I put in:
1. black (the widest circle possible)
2. white again, leaving a black ring;
3. Terra Cotta gloss paint;
4. and finally a dot of black for a pupil.
I let that dry and then put a drop of Future floor wax on it to seal it. The effect is pretty good, but you want to make sure you put in that intermediate drop of white because with out it, the Terra Cotta won't show well.
The real challenge of the kit was creating a base that gave the beast a sense of power and drama . . . or should I say diorama (yeah . . . I know . . . don't write in on that joke). Anyway, the base included with the kit was not the size I wanted and when it all comes down to it, I like to build my own bases most of the time. Plus, I had this really cool and strangely shaped serving tray that I thought would make a great base and this was just the kit for it.
The first step was to figure out where the mammoth would eventually rest and I drilled holes that lined up the feet and kept those clearly demarcated.Then, I set up the underlying shape of the base. Using tightly balled and compressed tissue paper, I laid in a shape according to the outline of the base, putting in a carefully selected stone and a broken tree branch for a stump. The idea was to get the base to look lumpy, like snow across an unsettled landscape.
Next, I used some plaster cloth (the kind that is used to set broken arms) that I picked up at Michael's Crafts for a ridiculous price and laid down the basis for the snow.When that was dry, I secured the mammoth to the base and put in a very cool weathered stick that looks just like a broken log and glued it in place.
This is where it gets tricky. I put in a few plugs of dried grass (a horsehair product from Woodland Scenics) and then went to work on putting in a layer of snow. Using plaster in small amounts I began building up the base around the logs, the feet of the mammoth and around the stone. It took a couple of days actually, largely because the process was messy and had to be done in stages. The plaster around the base had to be removed, of course, with some water and better yet, a little mineral spirits.
The final touches on the kit are done with a little white drybrushing on the face, forelegs, trunk and back of the animal. This simulates a light layer of frost or ice that these creatures surely had to endure. I also used a tube of spackle to seal around the edges of the finished base and wiped up the base a few times with mineral spirits to remove some pesky plaster.This kit was done on commission for a client, so I had to give it up in the end. However . . . that's what I do, so if you have unbuilt kits you are tired of seeing in the boxes, email me and we can work something out.
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