# Revell Dracula now finished



## agentsmith (Mar 27, 2005)

I usually build aircraft models so this figure model was built to take a break from the wing things.

This Dracula figure was built O.O.B. and painted with Model Master enamel paints.


























































Agentsmith


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## Zombie_61 (Apr 21, 2004)

Nice, clean work. I like it! This is one of the first build-ups I've seen with the resculpted head; reminds me a little of Peter Lorre.


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## Lloyd Collins (Sep 25, 2004)

Excellent painting, you captured him just right.:thumbsup:


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## djnick66 (May 2, 2008)

Very clean work. Looks good !


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## rkoenn (Dec 18, 2007)

Excellent job for being an aircraft guy. You really got great coloring and shading and I'd swear you've been doing monster figures all your life. I need to do this one too as I've never built the original Aurora Drac either and I have one on the shelf waiting.


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## Tim Casey (Dec 4, 2004)

Nice paint job! It's weird seeing this model with a different head (neither of them really look like Lugosi).

As said earlier, it looks like you've been painting figures all your life.:thumbsup:


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## Spockr (Sep 14, 2009)

Nice work! I'm not a fan of the replacement head but I think your rendition makes it easier to get along with. The detail work is excellent and the bat is one of the best I've seen on this kit. Great job on hiding those pesky cape seams. Thanks for posting this build.


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## scooke123 (Apr 11, 2008)

I like the colors you chose - base esp has great details. Good work!!!
Steve


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## agentsmith (Mar 27, 2005)

Thanks guys!
I really appreciate the feedback.

When I bought this kit a few years back (from mail order) I expected a better likeness to Lugosi than this and was not too happy after getting the kit and looking at the parts.

The skin tones were hand mixed from Testors paint and I airbrushed them on to get the subtle shading effects.
The clothes were all airbrushed on and flat black was used for Draculas suit, a custom mix of gloss and flat black was used for his cape and shoes to give them a semi-gloss sheen.

As you can see I only used one of the bats from the kit, having two bats and the oversized spider was overkill for the base details, often with scale models less=more and it seemed to work here.
The headstone and rocks were airbrushed in gray tones while the grass was handbrushed in shades of green and drybrushed with light green to bring out the molded in detail.
The tree was airbrished in dark brown and then dry brushed in lighter brown and gray tones to give it the look of a dead tree.


When I can I will build more figure kits but I have been out of work for 2+ years and just don't have money to buy any new kits so I am building out of my stash right now.


Agentsmith


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## septimuspretori (Jan 26, 2011)

Excellent work!


Ben


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## agentsmith (Mar 27, 2005)

Thank you Ben!:thumbsup:



Agentsmith


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## Cro-Magnon Man (Jun 11, 2001)

Great work and nice finish, and you got rid of that pesky seam off the side of the tree.


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## Mark McGovern (Apr 25, 1999)

agentsmith said:


> ...I am building out of my stash right now.


The horror, the horror... 

This Dracula head was apparently the result of Revell not being able to come to terms with the Bela Lugosi estate at license renewal time. The original head looked much more like Lugosi than anybody else. You've done the best job with this head that I can recall seeing. :thumbsup:


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## Zombie_61 (Apr 21, 2004)

agentsmith said:


> ...As you can see I only used one of the bats from the kit, having two bats and the oversized spider was overkill for the base details, often with scale models less=more and it seemed to work here...


I couldn't agree more. I love the Aurora monster/horror kits, but in most cases it seems they threw in a bunch of detail items just to make the bases look more "busy". Some kits (Moebius' Invisible Man comes to mind) look good with a detailed base but, in my opinion, in most cases the base should be kept simple so that it doesn't draw focus away from what should be the focal point of a completed kit like yours--the figure.


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## agentsmith (Mar 27, 2005)

Thanks guys!

Even though I build mostly WWII aircraft models I can see myself building more of these movie monster kits, what I learned from building aircraft models really helps out with figure kits such as this Dracula and it was fun to make even though I hated the seam line on the cape, it was awful on my kit.

It almost makes me sick that I ''wasted'' many of the old Aurora monster kits when I was a kid in the mid 1960's...if only I had them now!


Agentsmith


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## Cro-Magnon Man (Jun 11, 2001)

agentsmith said:


> It almost makes me sick that I ''wasted'' many of the old Aurora monster kits when I was a kid in the mid 1960's...if only I had them now!
> 
> 
> Agentsmith


Tell us about it...then again, don't - we probably all have the same experience!


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## Night-Owl (Mar 17, 2000)

Kudos on a cool paint job Agentsmith!


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## agentsmith (Mar 27, 2005)

When I built the Aurora movie monster kits in the 1960's I had never even heard of an airbrush before and knew nothing about drybrushing either, just these two things alone make a huge difference in the look of a finished model. Heck, back in those days I never cut parts off the sprues I TWISTED them off! I was too young to use an X-acto at that age.

Thanks for the comment Knight-Owl!


Agentsmith


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## Zombie_61 (Apr 21, 2004)

agentsmith said:


> When I built the Aurora movie monster kits in the 1960's I had never even heard of an airbrush before and knew nothing about drybrushing either, just these two things alone make a huge difference in the look of a finished model. Heck, back in those days I never cut parts off the sprues I TWISTED them off! I was too young to use an X-acto at that age.


Ahh, the good old "kid built" days. Sprue remnants remained on the parts, seams never got filled, no basecoat painting if the styrene was already the right color...sometimes it seems it was more fun to build kits back then.


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## agentsmith (Mar 27, 2005)

Zombie_61,
I miss those days...no base coats, limited paint colors, no worries about seam lines, and no reference books. The word 'stash' was not in anyway connected to scale models, I remember when my parents would buy me a new kit at a dime store I would remove all the parts from the sprues and dry fit them while on the drive home and within a couple hours after getting home the model was done!


Agentsmith


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## MadCap Romanian (Oct 29, 2005)

Looks awesome! The new head re-design isn't the best...but it's nice to seeyour work on it! Very awesome!

You old "Nostalgia Buffs" are fun to read! Next you'll be wanting your 13 channel "rabbit ears" TV and your 8-tracks back!


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## agentsmith (Mar 27, 2005)

Thanks MadCap Romanian!

The old days were fun but I sure do like my reference books...and my stash...and my airbrush...and all the great new kits...etc, etc.

I am working on another figure model but this one is VERY small and not even as well sculpted as Dracula, its a figure included in the Monogram ProModeler 1/48 scale Me 410 kit, I will start detail painting it soon.

















Agentsmith


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## Zombie_61 (Apr 21, 2004)

^ Those tires look kinda' big for that car... 



MadCap Romanian said:


> You old "Nostalgia Buffs" are fun to read! Next you'll be wanting your 13 channel "rabbit ears" TV and your 8-tracks back!


You forgot to mention UHF and having to change the channel with needlenose pliers because the knob broke.


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## NavJag (Feb 23, 2013)

*Awesome work!*

Really like your work on this kit - I built it a few years ago, and really enjoyed the build. Your detail work on his face is really lifelike (or undead like!).

I had a couple of Aurora kits in the early 70's when I was a wee lad myself. Long disappeared, but I was really glad when Revell reissued the four big ones a few years ago!


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## agentsmith (Mar 27, 2005)

Thank you NavJag!

When I can I plan to build a couple more of these movie monster type of kits, Dracula was a fun kit to build even with the cape seam line problem.


Agentsmith


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## Zombie_61 (Apr 21, 2004)

agentsmith said:


> ...When I can I plan to build a couple more of these movie monster type of kits, Dracula was a fun kit to build even with the cape seam line problem...


Wait 'til you get to the Mummy and the Wolfman. :freak:


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## Cro-Magnon Man (Jun 11, 2001)

agentsmith said:


> Zombie_61,
> I miss those days...no base coats, limited paint colors, no worries about seam lines, and no reference books. The word 'stash' was not in anyway connected to scale models, I remember when my parents would buy me a new kit at a dime store I would remove all the parts from the sprues and dry fit them while on the drive home and within a couple hours after getting home the model was done!
> 
> 
> Agentsmith


Amazing, isn't it, that in those days model building was a bit of a rough-and-ready process because there probably weren't the accessories and tools and finishing products that there are nowadays, yet models were a large industry and they sold seemingly everywhere. Yet nowadays, when model shops are dying like flies and people say that model building doesn't have the appeal to today's youth, the accessories, tools, after-market products and bench fittings available to us now are worlds apart from the days of twisting the parts off the sprue.


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## starduster (Feb 12, 2006)

Gosh, thanks for all the memories of being a kid in the bad old days of model building, all the memories here are well remembered as I was building my first TWA moonliner back in the 50's, ahh the fun I had. you did a very nice job with that Dracula kit (too bad no one can come up with a reasonable aftermarket likeness of Lugosi for this kit I bet it would be a sellout ) the colors and shading are top notch as is the whole kit, thank you for sharing. Karl


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## Zombie_61 (Apr 21, 2004)

starduster said:


> ...you did a very nice job with that Dracula kit (too bad no one can come up with a reasonable aftermarket likeness of Lugosi for this kit I bet it would be a sellout )...


Ahh, but there _is_ an excellent aftermarket part that fits your description right here. Scroll down to the first set of photos (for the Aurora Dracula kit) and take a good look at the one in the center; the image will enlarge if you place your cursor over it. I have one, and the likeness is spot-on.


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## agentsmith (Mar 27, 2005)

Thanks Karl!

Zombie,
Whats wrong with the Mummy and Wolfman kits, just some dodgy seam lines?


Agentsmith


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## DCH10664 (Jul 16, 2012)

Great Job :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup: I love these monster kits. They bring back alot of good memories.


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## Zombie_61 (Apr 21, 2004)

agentsmith said:


> Zombie,
> Whats wrong with the Mummy and Wolfman kits, just some dodgy seam lines?
> 
> Agentsmith


It's not the seam lines themselves, it's all of the surrounding surface detail that needs to be replicated to completely hide the seams. The Mummy has all of those bandage contours, and the Wolfman has the sculpted fur. To be honest, I haven't built an Aurora Mummy--yet--but I've heard it can be a real challenge if your goal is to make the seams completely disappear.


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## agentsmith (Mar 27, 2005)

Thanks DCH10664!

Zombie,
The problems with the Mummy and Wolfman kits don't sound like much fun but not that all that bad either.
What I did not like about the Dracula kit was having to paint and finish the figure before the cape was put on, the cape itself needed to be prepainted as much as possible before the seam lines could be dealt with and then carefully touched up afterwards.
Another problem I had with Dracula was the seam line on the top of the head, not only was there a seam line but there was a bit of a step too. I sanded down the step to where the parts matched but that erased the molded in hair detail and I had to re-carve the hair detail to match the other half of the part, this was not too hard but did take a little while to do.


Agentsmith


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## Bwain no more (May 18, 2005)

Mummy seams are NOT too hard to eliminate, but WILL be time consuming. Dremel is the easiest way to go, alternating between cone shaped grinders and a micro-ball cutter (which is most likely the method used when the original pattern was carved from acetate.) :thumbsup:
Here is a pic of a customized Revell Mummy by my Clubhouse friend Toby Franks. He altered the pose and used one of my replacement heads sculpted by Ray Santoleri. This kit will be on my table at Resintopia next weekend if anyone wants to stop by and see it in person. :wave:
Tom


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## Jodet (May 25, 2008)

Spectacular paint job! Did you do some white/silver dry-brushing on the cape?


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## agentsmith (Mar 27, 2005)

Thanks for the advice Bwain no more, that Mummy head looks very nice.

Jodet,
I did do some highlighting on the cape of Dracula but it was done with the airbrush, the cape was first given a coat of semi-gloss black followed by black tinted with red that was sprayed in all the recessed areas. The final step was dark gray that was carefully airbrushed on all the raised areas of the cape.


Agentsmith


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