# KONG: Black or brown?



## rat salad (Oct 18, 2004)

I just finished his base and now it's time to tackle the big hairy ape.
I'm torn. Is he supposed to be black or brown (or brownish-black)?
So far the base looks kick ass. It's lush and green and jungley. I did some nice landscaping. But Kong has to rock!!!!!

I've seen some black versions where he looks like a ******* with big buggy white eyes (almost like he should be holding a lawn lantern and not Fay Wray, LOL)....not sure I wanna go this route.

Suggestions?
:freak:


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## wolfman66 (Feb 18, 2006)

I would say a reddish brown,but then again dont really have a clue on this one.Hopefully someone that does will chime in.


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## crazy mike (Aug 26, 1999)

(Looks down at chest) I'm thinkin' a reddish brown base coat, with a dark brown wash and some lighter brown/tan drybrushing.


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## rat salad (Oct 18, 2004)

Dan, I thought you did an awesome job painting your recent snowy, wooly mammoth. You painted the hair great. I would love to apply what you did to Kong only with darker colors. I use enamels for base and highlights and use acrylics for washes.

I'm thinking a black base (which is already on him); with dark/blackish, chocolatey, highlights. Maybe some faint gray, highlights on the muscles and a black/brown sepia wash over it all.

I'm liking the fur on these:
http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o279/COPPRODUCTIONS/000_0331.jpg

The paint on this Kong is cool as well:
http://www.theclubhouse1.net/photo/albums/userpics/10001/KongFinalCollageFlatSmall.jpg

This wins most awesome King Kong. It looks real:
http://www.modelzone.com/mangrasshopper/index.php?level=album&id=77


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## wolfman66 (Feb 18, 2006)

Thanks for the compliments  .There's a old article on a buildup that creaturescape did on RR king kong kit on there site.


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## brineb (Jun 12, 2007)

Since the original King Kong was covered in rabbit fur and filmed in black & white, we may never know the "true" color of Kong. My feelings about it are that he's probably very dark brown, almost black; but that's just me. Many of the posters from the 30s show him sorta brownish. I am also working on a Polar Lights version at the moment and have a similar problem resolving how to paint him.

When I was a kid, my Aurora version was left black, I painted his breasts alizarin crimsom; his teeth, eyes, nails and nipples yellow and his mouth red. The model is long gone, but I remember it being my favorite paint-job as a 12 year old!!!

I think that no matter what color combo you decide on, as long as you are happy with the results, it doesn't matter what color he is.


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## the Dabbler (Feb 17, 2005)

I'm figuring that real gorillas, both lowland and mountain ( which I think Kong was) are black with a tad of grey and the older ( mature) male "silverbacks" have, ah, silver on thier backs, that's how I did mine.


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## frankenstyrene (Oct 5, 2006)

brineb said:


> Many of the posters from the 30s show him sorta brownish.


You mean they had discussion boards back then?!? Or we have people that old posting here?!?


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## brineb (Jun 12, 2007)

frankenstyrene said:


> You mean they had discussion boards back then?!? Or we have people that old posting here?!?


No, I mean the movie posters, remember those things they hung in the lobby of a movie theater?


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## MadCap Romanian (Oct 29, 2005)

I thought King Kong was mage from an old fur coat, or am I thiking of Mighty Joe Young?


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## Mark McGovern (Apr 25, 1999)

I took a middle-of-the-road approach, a dark brown grayed with black. That's how I "read" the gray tones of the film and stills. My research showed that real gorillas are all black, save for the silvering that Dabs mentioned.

But then, Kong wasn't really a gorilla, was he? Apart from the size, he has many human or at least non-gorilla characteristics in the 1933 film. There are stills of some trial versions that had a much more human appearance in the book _It Came from Bob's _[Burns] _Basement._




brineb said:


> ...as long as you are happy with the results, it doesn't matter what color he is.


 So just go for it!

Mark McG.


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## Buc (Jan 20, 1999)

We had this discussion at the last Chiller show. We think it's a generational
thing. For those of us who grew up with the 33' Kong, he's brown... for those
who will grow up with Jackson's Kong, he'll be blackish.

Buc


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## RonH (Apr 10, 2001)

IMHO, prob both. I have a cat that looks black, but when you look closer a large percentage of her hair is reddish brown along with the black. Gorillas are the same :

http://sfgate.com/c/pictures/2005/02/18/ba_gorilla39.jpg


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## rat salad (Oct 18, 2004)

Apes, as a whole, look black with brown tones it seems.


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## The-Nightsky (May 10, 2005)

Well it was a simple choice for me. Black! why? well the movie is Black n white so I painted Kong in black n white like the movie. ( greyscale for you purists)


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## frankenstyrene (Oct 5, 2006)

Did my KK in blackish-brown, with brownish-black drybrushed highlights. And a fuscia wash. And heels.


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## the Dabbler (Feb 17, 2005)

I hope the heals weren't white before memorial day....how gouche !!


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## Mark McGovern (Apr 25, 1999)

the Dabbler said:


> I hope the heals weren't white before memorial day....how gouche !!


 Dabs, 'gouche' is an opaque watercolor paint; _gauche_ is the word I think you were groping for. The correct usage would be, "Wear white heels before Memorial Day? Gauche soak your head!"

No thanks necessary, happy to have helped.

Mark McGouche


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## The Batman (Mar 21, 2000)

One of the nicest paint jobs I've seen done on this kit is this one by Robert Hamilton:





















When I get around to painting my own, I plan to emulate his color scheme.

- GJS


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## rat salad (Oct 18, 2004)

I like the fur.
I see he redid her hair too.
Sweet!
I just finished doing putty work to his upper gum.


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## the Dabbler (Feb 17, 2005)

Mark McGovern said:


> Dabs, 'gouche' is an opaque watercolor paint; _gauche_ is the word I think you were groping for. The correct usage would be, "Wear white heels before Memorial Day? Gauche soak your head!"
> 
> No thanks necessary, happy to have helped.
> 
> Mark McGouche


Don't know what I'd do without ya Mark...............certainly willing to give it a try though ! :tongue:


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## F91 (Mar 3, 2002)

Touche'!- pronounced "toosh"


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## Mark McGovern (Apr 25, 1999)

the Dabbler said:


> Don't know what I'd do without ya Mark...............certainly willing to give it a try though ! :tongue:


Put down the rusty carving knife when you say that, pardner.

Mark McGee, It's spooky when Dab's eyelid twitches like that...


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## the Dabbler (Feb 17, 2005)

Did someone call former Chief Inspector Dreyfus ?


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## RogueJ (Oct 29, 2000)

Oh...the pain, the pain.


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## Mark McGovern (Apr 25, 1999)

the Dabbler said:


> Did someone call former Chief Inspector Dreyfus ?


Forget him - let us get back to the subject of the giant minkey!

Mark McClouseau


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## frankenstyrene (Oct 5, 2006)

I beg your pardon - did you just say 'minkey'?


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## scotpens (Sep 6, 2003)

Mark McGovern said:


> Dabs, 'gouche' is an opaque watercolor paint; _gauche_ is the word I think you were groping for.


In artistic circles, it's gauche to misspell "gouache"!


frankenstyrene said:


> I beg your pardon - did you just say 'minkey'?


Yes, Inspector, chimpanzee minkey! Don't you understand simple English? Or French English, or English French, or whatever. . .

Since the 1933 Kong is really a fantasy hybrid creature (unlike the Peter Jackson Kong which was modeled after real gorillas), I'd say go with whatever color scheme strikes you as appropriate. How about a blond Kong on a giant surfboard, or an all-silver-grey Kong? He's several hundred years old, you know!


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## Mark McGovern (Apr 25, 1999)

*D'oh!*



scotpens said:


> In artistic circles, it's gauche to misspell "gouache"!...


 I was at work yesterday when I realized that I'd goofed, and that someone was sure to catch it. The surprise is that it wasn't Chris White. But you win the prize, scot. Send me an address and I'll get this little box with the ticking sound coming out of it to you ASAP. 

Mark McGee, is scot gonna be surprised! :devil:


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## frankenstyrene (Oct 5, 2006)

Kato...Kato? Where are you hiding, my little yellow friend...


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## Roland (Feb 4, 1999)

You could also paint him orange, as in Godzilla vs. King Kong.
The original Mighty Joe Young was sort of an albino, mabey a light gray or white.


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## brineb (Jun 12, 2007)

Roland said:


> You could also paint him orange, as in Godzilla vs. King Kong.
> The original Mighty Joe Young was sort of an albino, mabey a light gray or white.


I thought only Son of Kong was the albino and that Mighty Joe Young was a more realistic gorilla.


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## Frankie Boy (Feb 28, 2002)

brineb:

You're correct.


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## scotpens (Sep 6, 2003)

Mighty Joe Young's proportions were more gorilla-like than the original Kong's, but his relative size changed from scene to scene even more than Kong's did. In some shots he appears only about twice as tall as a human, while other shots make him look huge. At least Joe didn't have the "creeping fur" problem that plagued Kong and his progeny -- someone figured out that a light application of mineral oil on the rabbit fur prevented the animator's fingers from leaving marks! And it gave the big ape's coat a nice healthy sheen!


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## the Dabbler (Feb 17, 2005)

Have YOU oiled YOUR minkey lately ??  Can one use coconut oil, banana oil, palm oil,........?


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## scotpens (Sep 6, 2003)

the Dabbler said:


> Have YOU oiled YOUR minkey lately ??


What I do with my minkey is my business!


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## the Dabbler (Feb 17, 2005)

It's 11:00 P.M., do you know where YOUR minkey is ?


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## brineb (Jun 12, 2007)

scotpens said:


> What I do with my minkey is my business!


Which now begs the question, when your minkey is naughty, do you spank it?


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## RogueJ (Oct 29, 2000)

At my age, I'm not even sure how to answer that question anymore. It's like running into an old boyhood friend.


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## The Batman (Mar 21, 2000)

*You may touch my Monkey!*






















- GJS


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## The Batman (Mar 21, 2000)

*Now ist der time on Schprockets vhere ve dahnce!*









- GJS


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## rat salad (Oct 18, 2004)

Leapsch meina hop schminkey!
:freak:


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## Lee Staton (May 13, 2000)

Bob Burns has told me in the past that the original 1933 Kong model had brown fur.

Not that this knowledge keeps you from painting your ape any way you want!

Lee

P.S. - Fay Wray had brown fur too, but they covered it with a blonde wig! You are free to paint her your own way, also....


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## scotpens (Sep 6, 2003)

The Batman said:


> *You may touch my Monkey!*


What makes you think I WANT to touch your monkey?


Lee Staton said:


> P.S. - Fay Wray had brown fur too, but they covered it with a blonde wig!


Really? TMI, man!

Sorry, I can't help having a dirty mind!


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## jayco35 (Sep 5, 2002)

This Kong is back in business:thumbsup:


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## buzzconroy (Jun 28, 2002)

jayco35 said:


> This Kong is back in business:thumbsup:


Do you mean, all 10 buyers have sent payment?

Randy


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## apls (Dec 5, 2005)

A good referece would the old 70's Volkwagan commercial, by Jim Danforth with I believe was Fay Wray's daughter. It's in COLOR!


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