This is another model from the “it’s cheap and will be a good kit for learning” category and that latter portion turned out to be quite prophetic as there certainly was a lot of learning going on. For starters, this was my first try at airbrushing. This ‘cheap’ Hulk kit also provided a number of obstacles, some of which I was able to overcome successfully, others that I will be better prepared to tackle next time.
Known more for their line of action figure toys, this Toy-Biz model was from a line of 1:12 Marvel characters kits put out in the late 90’s which included Thor, Wolverine, Rhino, Venom, Storm, Captain America, The Beast, and two different molds of Spider Man. While I can’t comment on most of the others, the fact that I found and bought not only this Hulk but also the Captain America kit going for $5 at Walmart within a year of their release speaks for itself.
Just looking at the box art it is clear that there are aspects to the figure detail left to be desired. Even for a face like the Hulk’s that is supposed to be ‘ugly’, this particular face mold would have benefited from some much needed prettying up. But at that price it was too hard to resist and seemed perfect for me to practice with a few things, most notably using the aforementioned airbrush for the first time.
With only 25 parts in total including the circular base, the build is fairly straightforward with little need for instructions. The one thing that neither the instructions nor the box picture were clear on was the placement for some of the background accessories but that was easily remedied by some online references to other built kits. As far as fit was concerned the pieces were surprisingly well aligned except for one area and that was where the feet join the legs. As the feet positions on the base are clearly defined, gluing the legs to the feet in those exact positions exposed some serious gaps. I used some regular glue to first have those fit together and then supplemented the joints with bondo and later Tamiya putty. I learned that too much bondo, while a great, strong filler for smaller gaps, can easily be susceptible to hairline fractures which is exactly what I got later when trying to glue the completed figure to the base. Luckily my hairline crack was exactly that, hairline thin, so hardly noticeable, and I was able to apply Tamiya Extra Thin glue to seep into the fracture. I guess you can say the “Achilles Heel” of this kit is more like an “Achilles Ankle”.
For painting I primed everything with some left over ‘rattle can’ primer, and then started airbrushing (all Tamiya acrylics) the body with a black preshading.
While worried that the preshading was too aggressive the first coat of green on the body looked great which was a huge relief to me. Unfortunately I soon learned that the second coat almost wiped out all the preshading which I eventually had to go back and airbrush over the base green. The second color was the purple pants which I applied after covering the areas to remain green, including my first use of Silly Putty as a mask on the holes in his pants. I did not use tape as a mask but learned that there are limits to using the Silly Putty for smaller protrusions that need masking. So not perfect but not bad for my first attempt.
The next thing I painted was the white shirt. Here I learned my most valuable lesson. Tamiya paints are really not good for brushing. The first strokes are fine but the problem is that any stroke over paint already laid down creates immediate ripples. I had to wait for the paint to dry, applying one brush stroke at a time, and repeat only after waiting to dry again. I also thought I could easily touch up airbrushed areas with a brush but could immediately tell the difference between the two. I later did my best to blend in touched up areas with some Pebeo acrylics that I mixed on a ‘wet pallet’ box I made. Again, not perfect but it did look a bit better than the first touch up with the Tamiya right out of the jar.
All the accessories and the base were painted using cheap craft acrylic paints with both washes and some dry brushing. I tried various different colors and tones for the rocks for as much variety as possible and they came out great. I added some sand over PVC glue to some areas of the base and tint of greed for mosses and a few actual dried mosses. I could not figure out whether the pedestal looking structure on the right side of the base was supposed to be a broken lamppost or something else so I tried variations of white and grey until I got a look I liked. (I still can’t quite figure out what that is supposed to be.) While most builders opt to paint the bent metal construction “I” beam at the back grey, I knew right away that I wanted mine “rust red” (the color they are manufactured in) to which I then added my own rust, both as washes and dry brushing. I found many references online of people creating their own rust application by soaking a ball of steel wool with vinegar and made a batch of that. I found that the vinegar alone did not do the job as quickly as some sources claimed so I added salt to the mixture which did the trick. After letting my batch of DIY rust decompose it was good enough for some light touches on my “I” beam. It’s unfortunate that it is hidden at the back of the model like that and I briefly considered repositioning it to be more prominent, but in the end gave in to the intended spot.
To finish off I just applied Tamiya semi-gloss clear.
I can’t say I’m thrilled with the end result but it does look better than some of the pictures here. The pictures obscure some of the detail in the shirt which looks completely white no matter how I tried lighting and camera settings. I hope to make a simple camera ‘light box’ for better pictures in the future.