James Prinzivalli
Antioch, California
James writes: “I built Moebius’ 1/13 scale ‘Monster Scenes’ Pendulum to get a break from armor modeling and Advanced Modelers Syndrome. To represent wood beams, I first painted with Testors Model Master dark tan, then sealed with Testors Dullcote. Next, I applied three or four washes of Minwax dark walnut wood stain — that’s correct, wood stain. But be sure to apply several applications of Dullcote before the Minwax or it will attack the paint. Once the wood stain was dry, I sprayed another round of Dullcote.” He painted further with Testors Model Master enamels and Tamiya and Vallejo acrylics and followed with washes throughout, including rust stains of burnt sienna oils and pastels. “I used a different technique to paint the skull,” he says. “I painted Golden’s titan buff, protected it with Dullcote, then, using yellow ochre oil paint straight from the tube, I scrubbed it into the whole skull and immediately wiped it off with a Turpenoid-moistened paper towel, leaving a light film on the surface. I used the same technique for the medium and deep shadow areas, but scrubbed the oil paint into only the recesses. I glazed with Games Workshop yellow, then gryphonne sepia and Devlan mud inks. Finally, I edged the teeth, nose, and brow with a glaze of Tamiya flat white.”