(Unpublished Model Maniacs article)

This is an old article, so some of it is out of date, as in these "new" products aren't so new anymore, but hopefully the information is usefull just the same.

[Click any picture to enlarge]

The Billikin Creature. Some people say its the best Creature From the Black Lagoon kit out there. Just about everyone who's anyone has one either on their shelf, or in their closet. Well, except for me. I missed out on all that cool Billikin stuff. He's got that lame "hug me" pose anyway. Kidding....I'm just jealous cuz I don't have one, but I get to paint one!

This was the second Creature I ever painted. The first being the micro Creature from Geometric. So really this was my first "full size" Creature kit. I wanted to cut my teeth on this classic kit with the classic painting style. Washes. I won't go into much detail about painting this kit, because this turned into more of a nightmare "lets make a base for this kit and try out some stuff I've never used and have no idea what I'm doing article."

The Creature I was given was already assembled and primed, and don't I wish every kit came to me like that. I airbrushed the Gill Man with a pale light green, dull coated, and got out the inks

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I mixed some green and sepia ink to make a wash, and brushed that over the entire kit, letting it settle in the details, wiping away the excess as I went with an old t-shirt.

To get that dark stripe in between each set of scales, I pretty much painted a line under each one with some Burnt Umber ink. Once that dried, I brushed a thin wash of sepia ink over everything, blending it together.

After painting the gills and fins, I again blended everything together with a wash of Antelope Brown ink. There was the highlighting of the belly plates with raw sienna, and the shading around the face, and painting the eyes, but lets get to this stupid base...
He is the Creature From the Black Lagoon, right? He lives in water, right? So the base should have something to do with water, right? Well, there was this stuff I saw at the hobby store I've been itching to try, so instead of something simple, like a stream or pool of water, I decided to try and make a waterfall. The two products in question are from Woodland Scenics. Realistic Water is a thick, clear solution that you pour right out of the bottle. Build up in thin layers, don't pour it on too thick. It dries crystal clear, and doesn't stink, heat up, or yellow. Much much better than EZ water. The second product I used is called Water Effects. This looks just like Elmer's glue, except it dires surprisingly clear. It is water soluble and therefore tintable by conventional methods. Yep, my mind already started working on that one, but lets play with this stuff before we get ahead of ourselves.

First off, please forgive the crudeness of my project. I know it kind of looks unnatural and perhaps the physics are just plain all wrong, but what can I say...go ahead and make fun of it, I do!
So I want a waterfall. So, I need someplace for the water to come from, and some place for it to go. So I got out the Sculpt-A-Mold and started sculpting on top of a wooden plaque like we all use for bases. I generated a dry spot of land for the Creature to stand on, with a pool next to him that the waterfall will spill into. A rock wall behind him, with a bit of a river bed or whatever it is running down it gave me an excuse for the existence of the spilling water. As the Sculpt A Mold set up during this process, I used the large drying chunks for the big rocks, using the thinner, fresh paste to stick it all together. There is a reason they call it Sculpt A Mold. Just so you don't have to worry about it, bake this stuff dry in your oven. If you work in a basement like I do, the stuff will MOLD. And get these creepy little bugs crawling in it. (No Ed, your base is not infested!) I baked it, but either too long or too hot, because the wooden base warped, since it had gotten moist working with the Sculpt A Mold. It sits pretty flat, the bottom just caves in a bit. Just thought I'd warn ya.
I painted the base with all my cheap Wal-Mart craft paints I like to keep on hand. All those browns and grays and greens come in handy. I threw in a bit of gravel here and there, mostly in the "river bed", and sealed it with that stuff Woodlands Scenics sells. You know, the thinned down kid glue?. I mean Scenic Cement. A crapload of Krylon Clear to seal it all up, and on to the fun! Oh yeah, as fun as watching my toe-nail grow back.

To make the falls, I cut out two pieces of paper, one for the wide flat section I wanted, and another thinner section for a smaller "trickle". I placed these under a piece of glass, and squeezed some Water Effects onto the glass. For the large section, I used a Q-Tip to rub it thin, and to texture it a bit to make it look like flowing water. The thin strip I left rounded, as I thought a trickle from a faucet looks. After a day, it all dried amazingly clear, more than I thought it would. I was quite impressed. I attached the falls where I wanted them with some more Water Effects (it works like glue too!) and let that dry.

For the pool on the base, I built a wall with some plastic wrap and thick packing tape, to keep the water where I wanted it while it dried. I didn't to a very good job, because when I poured my Realistic Water in, it kind of made a mess. I taped up the bottom of the base where it seemed to be leaking from, after this first pour had dried (about 24 hours) and did a few more pours, a day apart. I don't know much about how this stuff works, but be patient with it. Each consecutive pour will turn the one underneath kind of a milky white. The thinner you put it on, the faster it dries of course. However, even when I poured it on thicker than I probably should have, it did dry clear....eventually. In some cases over a week, and I'm not even sure if these final photos for the magazine will show it completely clear. I'm still waiting for some of this stuff to dry as I write this.
For the riverbed on top of the wall I tired a few things. First, I angled the base so that I could pour some Realistic water into certain sections without it spilling out. On one pour, I left it flat, and watched as it slowly poured downstream, and even dripped over the edges how I sculpted, so I guess the physics are sort of correct. I was having trouble keeping the Realistic water where I wanted it long enough to dry, so I tired letting some set up for awhile before I poured it. It helped some, but to build up a thick "river" this way was becoming obviously impossible, so I tried another way. I mixed some plastic wrap, or Saran Wrap, with some thinned down Water Effects, and stuck that into the river. It looked ok, but after it finally dried, it looked a little yellow to me, and didn't match the rest of the water I was creating.

Luckily, I was able to pull it off, and try something else. I took my sheet of glass, and spread a large section of Water Effects over it, like I had for the falls. I realized later that I wouldn't have needed the paper for a template, you can cut this stuff with a blade or scissors, it dries kind of rubbery. Once this dried, I cut it into strips, and glued it into the riverbed with more water effects. Much better. Once everything had dried, I brushed on some more water effects over the river, and the pool, and dabbed it with a paper towel, for some ripples. For the spray, I chose this fiber fill stuff for stuffed animals and the like called Cluster Stuff. It comes in little balls and seemed light and airy enough. Plus, I started feeling a bit self-conscious looking at this section of the store. The women about were starting to look at me funny. I dipped some Cluster Stuff into some watered down Water Effects and stuck it on the base where I wanted the water to "spray". I poured some more on top when I was finished, and let it dry. Last step was to dry brush the ripples on the water with some pearlescent white.

Well, there it is. It's not the best, and maybe not even very accurate. I'm not sure a waterfall that size, would create a spray like that. I'm not even sure water flows like that! But again in my defense, this was all practice. You know how they always say to test it on something first? At any rate, Woodland Scenics has come out with a couple of products you should try. Realistic Water is much easier to work with than EZ Water or clear resin. As for Water Effects, I've got a ton of ideas already. Drool, splashing blood and gore, glazed over eyes, or my next project: A lava base lit from underneath with spraying lava and everything! Now that I've got some experience with this stuff, I'm ready to go. I fully expect to see some great stuff from you guys, so get to work!