Resin, 1/6 scale, sculpted by Thomas Kuntz for Artomic Productions
scratch-built base(see below for details)
Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes! I bought this figure decades ago. In the meantime, I've learned to paint and sculpt better.
This particular model had a scratch-built styrofoam base that I did back in the nineties.
It, and the figure, had been dropped and broken multiple times over the years.
The final indignity was it being displayed on a shlef right next to the entrance door to the Lowbudget Model Museum.
Every time someone shut the door hard, the base would fall apart and the figure would fall to the ground.
Time to do something about it!
The floor is a piece of carved wood from a crafts store, intended as a plaque.
I was trying to carve floorboards into it to no avail when I came upon the idea of just laying down 1" wide basswood "floorboards" to the base.
It worked perfectly, and I was even able to increase the spacing between the boards when laying them down.
The wall is a piece of 1/4" maple board; I cut the hole for the window using a jigsaw.
I then covered the wall in Celluclay, a very easy-to-work with papier mache.
I used random pieces of carving foam as an armature for the thicker parts of the wall.
The table is made of basswood and is a holdover from the original diorama.
This is the ugly rear of the diorama. You can see one of the wood screws near the bottom center.
I had to trim the decorated edge off of the back of the base in order to have a flat surface to glue and screw the maple wall to.
I then covered the wall (sloppily) with Celluclay so that the maple board would expand and contract on both sides equally.
You can also see the blue painted paper covering the window. This is the other blue I tried;
it's less saturated and also less green than the one that I eventually chose.
I am very, very proud of this base!
The metal candlestick is from the junk drawer. The clear flame on the candle is also from the junk drawer -
I think it was from the Moebius "Invisible Man" model which I never got around to building.
The candle itself is plumber's epoxy putty. I formed the candle around the clear plastic flame and kept rolling it as it hardened.
The clear flame has one dot of really bright orange behind it, which makes it look lit when hit by light.
The corked glass bottle is full of colored resin; it's a leftover from my "Curse Of Frankenstein" kit.
The book is a brass paperweight from a gift shop back in the nineties;
the reddish iron jug behind it is attached to it. It's really heavy! It had some Shakespeare printed on it;
I replaced the Shakespeare with a screen shot from the film
which I printed out on parchment laser paper.
Here's what I printed:
These were leftovers from the junk drawer. The castings weren't so great, and I sanded them a lot, but then I gave up.
When I started aging them with different drybrush colors, the flaws actually helped them look cool!
I drilled holes in their tops using a tiny hand drill.
The glass jar is full of tiny lichen.
I don't know where I got the nameplate from, but I'm eternally grateful to whoever made it.
The books are pieces of the now-banned balsafoam. I carved the pages around three sides of each book with a ruler and an x-acto knife.
I then measured the books in millimeters and created covers for them in photoshop.
It cost a dollar to have them printed as photos at the local pharmacy!
I then Mod-Podged them onto the books.
Here are the covers:
The skull is resin and is from my junk drawer.
When using the old balsa-foam for these books, I realized how right they were to ban it.
I used a mask when handling the stuff because it really gives off a fine dust when you carve it.
I can't imagine giving it to a kid to play with.
This window is two layers of laser-etched wood. I bought it on Etsy for about $25.
Just type in "1/6th scale gothic window" and you'll be faced with an array of choices from all over the globe!
I was going to put a framegrab of the village behind it, but the grillwork is too busy - you can't tell what the picture is of, no matter how simple.
I then tried painting a thick piece of stiff paper blue and sticking it behind the window - viola!
The contrast with the color scheme of the rest of the dio is perfect, and the window always looks lit from behind (it's not).
The first time I painted the Golem, I just covered him with a few layers of clay-looking paint. I mean, he was made of clay, right? But before I began re-doing this kit, I watched the film again for inspiration and I noticed the ropes and iron rings on his arms weren't clay-colored.
I also noticed that the star on his chest was metallic, as was the hook of the waist belt and the hardware of the belt near his neck.
Those details made a huge difference in the finished kit (as did the eyes, which are much better now).
Here's the old base and old paint job, repainted in the early 2000s after being broken a bunch of times.
The text from here on in is from the early 2000s as well.
The base is
scratch-built from plaster of paris poured over
styrofoam.
GRRRR! He comes with two
heads - the other one has his eyes and mouth closed in his
dormant state, but I thought the GRRR was cooler.
The table is
scratch-built from balsa wood, but the book and jug were a
paperweight from a gift shop.
There was a tiny long-stem
rose glued to the paper; the text is some flowery
Shakespeare sonnet, but it's too tiny to read
anyway.
This is an alternative shot with diffused lighting.
