January 2024 ElastoWit On The Workbench - The Thing, Planet Of The Apes, The Sacrecrow, The Lost World

Assorted figure mayhem, you might call it. These ElastoWit figures are nearly complete. (ElastoWit is a Ukrainian toy soldier maker. The production runs are small so you need to get in quickly, but the company is continuously making new ranges).

The one that stands out is the towering Thing. Without the tunic style and thorns on knuckles he would also make a good Frankenstein. I recently re-watched the 1950s 'The Thing' and made sure it was the colorized version. I still couldn't decide what color the alien's uniform was but black looks good on him! The later 1980s film, with better special effects, was much scarier and more compelling. The acting in the original was wooden although that tease of a girl was the most animated. The alien himself has the large humanoid form rather than the mess of human and dog bits and pieces in the later film. I think the inference was that a parasite had taken over the pilot of the spaceship. It must have been an influence on the later 'Alien' film (as also was the Italian, 1965, 'Vampire Planet'). I gave him a pale greenish colored skin as there was a suggestion of plant-like cells. His eye color I made of purple irises on pale yellow, purely invented on my part as I could not see the eye color in the film.

The Disney Scarecrow series I have dim memories of as a child and have not seen it since. I just took a punt on the clothing colors. In any case, the scarecrows will enter my fantasy armies. My Ozzz Munchkin army has a unit of Britains scarecrows and these scarecrows will be leading character figures. I'm not sure about the firebrand, though - might be self-destructive! Alternatively, they may make up a 'League of Scarecrows' for Beerstein or Bogavania, in reality spies in hoods!

      The 'cavemen' will be getting a dry brush treatment to lighten and highlight. The nearest hominid I could think of was Homo-erectus. The earrings are a bit out of place but these are fantasy troglodytes, so anything goes.

   The Thing humans are great character figures for any modern scenario. I gave the set pale neutral base colors so they can be put in any situation. Most of 'The Thing' occurred indoors but the pale color can pass as snow.

   The POTA figures are just so cool! This is my second series set and I am awaiting the third. The bright green bases contrast nicely with the purple.

   The girl is from The Thing set. In the movie she had, alternatively, grey and black slacks. The coat was a light grey and the shirt a faintly checked salmon color but I didn't bother with the checks.

                             The pilot is a very snazzy looking bloke, in leather jacket and peaked cap. He could be used in all kinds of modern conflicts, including Vietnam.

      Here is a break from ElastoWit. The lefthand figure is a WW2 American officer, MPC or Lido, I think. When I was a small boy one of the exciting things was getting cereal packet toys and cards. One series was 'Warriors of the World'. I got them in silver plastic, and they were among the first figures I ever painted. I often thought of what countries and eras were NOT covered and eventually, as a teen and then an adult, I converted a few of them. This recent conversion was the US cavalry figure given a new metal head to become a colonial British officer. The sword was unimpressive, so I replaced it with a spare DSG one.

   Horses for gorillas: Billy, in the US, kindly sent me a box of figures, including these Lido medieval horses. I haven't decided if they will be the final mounts for my gorillas. The rider at left is ElastoWit and the one at right a metal casting from the MPC figure. His right eye did not come out properly, so I made it into an eye patch. he is a bigger figure than the Ukrainian figure. The horse armor is not something from the 1960s and 70s films but something like it was used in the 21st century reboot.

 

  These two missed out on being painted but I'll do them later.

 I have a few details left to paint before the figures are overcoated.

I have discovered a few things about undercoating and ovecoating ElastWit figures. You can apply the same lesson to painting any rubbery plastic. I undercoated the figures in ModgePodge and allowed them to set for three days before giving them a spray of white, bone or black games Workshop undercoat. I then painted them with acrylics, mostly model Color or GW. As I was painting the figures I noticed that the bases of the figure not undercoated with Modge Podge transferred any white undercoat to my fingers. This also applied to any parts of the boots that I missed with Modge Podge.

  The next step is to overcoat the figures with Modge Podge and wait three days before coating with an additional clear coat - I use artist fixative 'Crystal Coat' but Model Color brushed on clear varnishes I also use, sometimes as yet another coat over the Crystal Coat. I can experiment then with satin, gloss and mat. I rarely end up with a completely flat finish, but a lot of things are not so anyway. Horses and leather for example have a sheen. Even healthy human skin has a slight sheen, and more so if sweaty in hot weather! In any case I often prefer a sheen on the whole figure. Others might prefer gloss but I use that primarily for armor finishes.

  PVA (white glue) could also be used instead of Modge Podge. The latter is a mix of PVA and varnish and I am counting on it being a bit tougher than straight PVA. A couple of small drops of detergent mixed in helps with the floe. It is important to not let it pool too much anywhere on figures, especially with overcoats or it will become less than transparent. Modge Podge comes in mat and gloss finishes. PVA varies in finish.

  This same procedure can be used for non-rubbery soft plastics although I usually use clear plastic car undercoat prior to the GW spray paint. Don't do that on the rubbery plastics. And don't use enamels. In fact, I still use enamels but usually just for metal figures.