# Moebius Frankenstein WIP



## rkoenn (Dec 18, 2007)

I started my Frankenstein last night. At this point it is assembly only. I did note some things for folks contemplating a build themselves. The creature requires some assembly to be performed specifically before final painting. The shoes, jacket sleeves, pants, and, most critically, the head are locked into place by the jacket halves. This does appear to present some difficulties for painting. I usually assemble my primary parts and paint them before final assembly. This worked on the Invisible Man even though the vest and pants locked into the jacket, but the jacket could be forced apart enough to insert the pants and vest after painting. With Frankenstein the shoes can have the interlocking T removed and still be attached with no problem. The sleeves are not a problem and should be attached before painting anyway. However the most trouble will probably be with the head. It really needs to be interlocked into the jacket halves since the mounting points appear critical for proper suspension and positioning. Therefor I plan on painting the head and assembling the jacket around it. Hopefully I can completely mask it off for painting the jacket. The pants are interlocked into the jacket as well and I will probably try a similar approach although it will probably be easier than with the head. So be aware of this when you are building the creature. I will continue to post as work continues and anyone else with observations and suggestions is welcome to contribute.


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## roadflea (Jul 14, 2009)

dont have this kit yet but will be watching THANKS


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## rkoenn (Dec 18, 2007)

I have now filed and undercoated the head. The glue joint seam was not too bad, was worst along the neck. I filled the small seams with Bondo and then filed down as sanding on such a small area is difficult. I also used a v-tip dremel bit to carefully grind in any hair lines that were messed up at the glue joint. I then undercoated with Rustoleum gray primer. I find the Rustoleum is sandable within a reasonable amount of time as Krylon takes at least a couple of days. After the priming I found what appear to be mold seam lines around the the top surfaces of the skull imbedded in the hair. I carefully removed these with an x-acto knife and tried to etch any messed up hair lines in the process. I than also noticed mold lines from the forehead down towards the chin on each side of the face which I scraped off with an x-acto. The next step is to let the primer cure completely and figure out what color to do the skin. I read in a new book on the Universal monsters I got for Xmas that they did Karloff up in a green/gray grease and did the deeper facial features with violet makeup. I am thinking maybe a pale flesh with a tint of green but will settle on whatever mix appears good while I am mixing it. I also looked at the walls and door and assembly is simple with peg like attach points. They are big assemblies. The door also includes heavy rings for the handles.


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## NTRPRZ (Feb 23, 1999)

*Frankenstein monster assembly*

I got around the problem of locking the lower torso by cutting off the ring of plastic material above the waistline of the pants. I left the vertical locating tab. This allows me to just slip the assembled jacket onto the lower torso.
As far as painting the jacket, I've attached the assembled sleeves to the front part already. I'm not really worrying about seams where the jacket and sleeves go together, since that's a natural seam. Short of cutting the head off the locating piece, which I do not want to do, I've not figured a way to avoid having to attach the head before gluing the jacket halves together. I'll just have to be very careful.

Jeff



rkoenn said:


> I started my Frankenstein last night. At this point it is assembly only. I did note some things for folks contemplating a build themselves. The creature requires some assembly to be performed specifically before final painting. The shoes, jacket sleeves, pants, and, most critically, the head are locked into place by the jacket halves. This does appear to present some difficulties for painting. I usually assemble my primary parts and paint them before final assembly. This worked on the Invisible Man even though the vest and pants locked into the jacket, but the jacket could be forced apart enough to insert the pants and vest after painting. With Frankenstein the shoes can have the interlocking T removed and still be attached with no problem. The sleeves are not a problem and should be attached before painting anyway. However the most trouble will probably be with the head. It really needs to be interlocked into the jacket halves since the mounting points appear critical for proper suspension and positioning. Therefor I plan on painting the head and assembling the jacket around it. Hopefully I can completely mask it off for painting the jacket. The pants are interlocked into the jacket as well and I will probably try a similar approach although it will probably be easier than with the head. So be aware of this when you are building the creature. I will continue to post as work continues and anyone else with observations and suggestions is welcome to contribute.


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## rkoenn (Dec 18, 2007)

I got to do a bit more work today, I also have an Aurora/Revell Superman on the bench which I started first so Frankie isn't getting my undivided attention, I hope he doesn't get upset. I mixed up some paint for the face and hands. I wanted a pale greenish but still not too green color. I mixed Freestyle Pale Flesh (really looked more like slightly suntanned skin color) with Vallejo game color dead flesh. It kept appearing too "healthy" so I kept adding the green Vallejo. I may have ended up a bit more green than I desired but it isn't bad so I kept it and airbrushed it on the head after adding a fair amount of thinner. The picture shows him more "healthy" flesh colored than the actual model appears, he is a light, sickly green when seen in person. I then realized while painting the head that I needed to glue the hands together as the picture shows. There may be a little work filling in the seams but not too bad.

I also started on the pants. The seams aren't too bad but getting the internal seams smooth is a bit of a bear because of the small gap between the legs. After I did what I thought was enough scraping and sanding between the legs I put on a primer coat of Rustoleum texture paint. This will give the pants a more cloth like appearance rather than smooth. It went on fine but looking between the legs I can still see the seam. I guess I will try a bit more effort there after the paint cures. Considering that the pants will be dark black the small seam may not show up. But I think a bit more work and then the black can be painted on.


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## hedorah59 (Nov 24, 2008)

Alright! More WIP! Thanks for taking the time to share your build, I will be following along for sure :thumbsup:


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## rkoenn (Dec 18, 2007)

I have been very busy doing my secondary home job of servicing and building computers as well as my day job picking up again after the holidays. Anyway, I finally got some time over the weekend to get back into Frankie. I am also doing an Aurora/Revell Superman in parallel so Frankie doesn't get my undivided attention.

I have done some more work on the head. I basically finished the skin color from my mix and have now painted the hands as well. I've whitened in the eyes and did a preliminary painting of the hair. I have also done a couple of minimal washes. I will continue with some more highlighting with pastels and see how it comes out. I am very much a novice at faces so any suggestions are appreciated.

I also did a little puttying on the inner seams of the pants and painted them with a Krylon textured paint to get a more cloth like finish. Then, as seen in the pic, I painted the standard black color using Freestyle jet black paint. I mixed what I hope is enough of the black with a few drops of white to try and get a slightly lighter black. If this works out I am hoping I can air brush the deeper areas of the molding with pure black and maybe get a bit of contrast. We shall see if this works at all.

Finally I assembled the door and did some sanding along the edges. There was still a bit of the seam showing so I spread Bondo putty on it as in the pic. The door and wall are quite large. The stones come in 4 parts, left, right, top, and bottom beams. I will probably paint them separately as working with them in a single and unstable assembly would be much more difficult. It looks like they can be assembled after without any noticeable joints showing.


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## rkoenn (Dec 18, 2007)

I am finally getting a chance to work on Frankenstein again. I assembled the stone wall which comes in four pieces. Assembly was very straight forward and it does come out as a large piece. There are gaps at the joints in the mortar that I will fill with Bondo before continuing on the wall. My plan is to then spray it with Rustoleum gray primer. I haven't really done a stone wall before so hopefully I will manage a decent job.

I also sprayed the floor with Rustoleum primer and then air brushed a coat of Freestyle sandstone on it. I am attempting to get a light wood floor color so plan on brushing Minwax natural on it. This picture shown is with the sandstone and sealant on it. If the Minwax color doesn't get the color and effect I want I am hoping it isn't too difficult to clean up and start again.

I also have a coat of Rustoleum primer on the door. The work I did on the seams worked out well and they cannot be seen. I am going to give it a coat of intermediate brown color and then Minwax maple. In Kitbuilders magazine a couple of issues back Dan Jorgensen used Minwax to get wood appearances on plastic. You brush it on and then either heat it up with a hair dryer or wait 15+ minutes and as it starts to thicken you brush it again which adds a fairly natural wood grain effect. It worked nicely on my Invisible Man so I am going to give it another try. I will post pics when it is complete.

Also my air compressor died early this past week and I couldn't do any painting. I ran out to buy a Sears compressor on sale but opened mine up yesterday prior to unboxing the Sears. I found a wire came off the switch but had also heated up and needed repair. So off to Ace to buy some electrical parts and I have it running again. The Sears goes back as I am happy saving the money as well as being rather fearful it was going to be extremely loud.


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## rkoenn (Dec 18, 2007)

I wanted to post a note on a bit of work I did on Sunday and yesterday. I attempted to color the floor with the Minwax. I first tried the natural on top of the sealed sandstone paint and basically it was like putting on another clear coat, totally useless to get a wood effect. I then tried the maple but other than getting a slightly red color in the grain moldings, it was also useless. So last night I used the Minwax dark walnut and the results were pretty good. It is drying now, which from previous experience can take a while, so I will post a picture when I can. I now know that the trick is to use various acrylic colors for the base color and then to apply the Minwax dark walnut. The underlying color is what varies the final tone of the finish which makes sense since the Minwax is really a stain and not a paint. When I used it for my Invisible Man it really turned out good but I did the floor, bookcase, and table all with the same base coat. They looked very good but I wish I had used a different base coat for each. I also painted the door with Gunze Sanyo earth which came out as a medium brown and I will brush the Minwax walnut on over it. Something I would like to note about spraying the door with the Gunze Sanyo was that I didn't thin the paint at all but it was one of the smoothest flowing and nicely covering paints I have ever used in my air brush. I didn't get any runs and did quite a bit of continuous spraying with excellent coverage and I didn't get any clogging at all of the airbrush. I should have pics in the next couple of days.


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## hedorah59 (Nov 24, 2008)

Sounds like a neat effect, I'm looking forward to seeing the pics


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## rkoenn (Dec 18, 2007)

I didn't get too much work done this week due to being busy repairing computers in my spare time. However I did manage to get the Minwax stain on the floor and painted the door brown following that up with a sealer coat of Testors Dullcote. The Minwax left the floor shiny which I will dull down with a coat of the Testors prior to detailing the bolts and such. I am now going to put the Minwax dark walnut on the door and will post later in the week when it dries. This dark walnut takes 3-4 days to dry enough to be handled. I will also be getting back into the creature and the wall over the weekend.


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## mcdougall (Oct 28, 2007)

Looking Good...
Can't wait to see it all together :thumbsup:
Mcdee


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## rkoenn (Dec 18, 2007)

I got a bit more work done on the project. On Sunday I painted one side of the door with the Minwax dark walnut. It had almost dried today so before work I sprayed on a coat of Testor's dullcote. Then I did a second coat after work. The door can now be handled with no problem. I also put a coat of Dullcote on the floor. Remember that the floor was first sprayed with Freestyle sandstone and the door was sprayed with Gunze Sango mud. You can see the differences but both look pretty good to me. I will now do the opposite side of the door with the Minwax before getting into detailing the bolts and giving it a wash. The pictures really don't capture what it actually looks like. Some of the color is washed out looking in the pics and look much better in person.

I also have fairly well puttied and prepared the stone wall and it has an undercoat of Rustoleum gray primer on it. I am probably going to sponge paint it with varying shades of gray.


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## rkoenn (Dec 18, 2007)

I now have both sides of the door done with the wood stain. I then started doing the door bolts which I am using Tamiya metal gray on. It isn't too difficult to do the sides with out over brushing onto the door. It is going to be a tedious job though since there are so many bolts molded on the door. I also painted the latch assembly on one side with Testors gun metal. The pictures make it look a bit brown but the actual color is more of a black metal appearance. I brushed a wash of black into the grooves between planks in the door and may have to put another in since as it dries it tends to lose effect. But the door wasn't too bad and should be completed soon.

I also started painting the stone wall using Liquitex gray which I will darken and lighten for effect. I have only done one corner with a bit left over from the witch I am building and plan to attempt to paint the wall by sponge dabbing it with the shades of gray I mix up. Again, this is a bit experimental so I won't know how it turns out until I am complete.


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## rkoenn (Dec 18, 2007)

This afternoon I got some more work done on the model. I hand painted all the bolts on one side of the door with the Tamiya gray metal using a small, hard bristled brush with the tip of the brush cut straight. It wasn't too bad and I only had a small amount of touch up with the brown stain to correct over brushing.

I then finally got back into the head. I had kind of been putting it off as I wasn't sure how to get the effect I wanted. I did some touch up on the hair overall and along the forehead. I then dotted the eyes with black pupils, they are very small so a simple black pupil is sufficient, which went over the edges into the eyelids and I then touched up the over paint with the green flesh I had mixed earlier. I think they came out quite nicely. Since the head is going to be put into the body next I did some shading with pastels, a dark violet on the upper eyelids, and some more washing with a brown wash. I may try a bit more enhancing but overall I am fairly well satisfied with the head. The picture gives a good idea of what it looks like but does not capture the sickly green it is. The picture really makes it look like healthy flesh but it is definitely a dead flesh, off green color.


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## rkoenn (Dec 18, 2007)

Since the previous post I assembled the body with the head in place. As I said at the beginning, this really needs to be done this way. The sleeves, pants, and head interlock in the jacket. Although you could cut away the interlocking moldings, the head still needs to be placed in the body when assembling the body. I used the interlocking features for everything except the shoes as those can be put in without the interlocking T with no problem. I intend to completely mask the head off and continue with painting the jacket. I also found I needed to do a bit of puttying to fill in a couple of gaps and seams.


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## deadmanincfan (Mar 11, 2008)

What flavor pudding you using? I recommend butterscotch...


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## rkoenn (Dec 18, 2007)

I got a bit more work done today. I got Frank's jacket painted and the preliminary brown and black on the shoes. The hands are still as before, simply with the green skin coat and need to be highlighted and washed as well as painting the metal strap. I also need to remove the tab used to attach the left hand to the body and rotate the hand correctly per one of the frozen posts here. As I said I had completely masked off the head after the assembly of the body. I also had previously painted the pants black so I wrapped them in a paper towel. This was easy to do and worked nicely. The jacket is obviously black and then I painted the shirt under it Tamiya german gray, a dark gray. I am attaching a pic. It shouldn't be too much longer to finish the model. I practiced painting stones on a witch model I have that turned out fairly good. I am planning on sponge painting it in numerous shades of gray and then finish it off with washes.


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## Mark_6478 (Aug 27, 2000)

This is really coming along nicely... Looking exceptional so far! :thumbsup:


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## rkoenn (Dec 18, 2007)

I did some more work, basically about finishing up the door other than maybe some more washes. The bolts were a very tedious process and I had to do some touch up around them after painting them gray metal touching up with brown. I also got the hands painted and attached as well as the boots. The color of the monster in the picture still shows him more of a natural flesh tone while in person he is most definitely a sickly green, something to do with the camera of course. And I finally got down to doing the stone wall. I used Liquitex gray and sponged it on over the entire gray primed wall. This left the numerous indentations the lighter gray of the primer. Today I mixed up some of the Liquitex gray, it is a medium gray, with black and sponged dabbed it on which is the way you see it now. I will now go back and mix up a bit lighter gray and sponge it on. Then after sealing it I will apply washes. I am happy with how it is turning out so far so hopefully I won't screw it up with the remaining work.

I wanted to see how the model was coming together overall so I am attaching a picture after assembling the parts to see how it should turn out. Lots of little details to finish up but overall it is turning out nicely. The stone wall also wants to lean forward so I will probably have to figure something that doesn't show at the back corner of the door to lock the wall in the proper position.


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## deadmanincfan (Mar 11, 2008)

Lookin' sharp!


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