# Pegasus Hobbies Vermithrax Dragon



## Tim Nolan (Jul 9, 2008)

My favorite badass movie dragon of all time.

And so, it begins......

Drilled out the neck and head to accept wiring for eyes to be illuminated...


















It works!










Mocked up the entire scene.....










I got an idea for some of the "side lighting" fiber optics material from Paul at www.thefiberopticsstore.com


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## Tim Nolan (Jul 9, 2008)

There is a ring around the edge of the display base, that is a perfect fit for this 2mm solid core side light fiber. I made some small rings from plastruct tubing to run it thru and secure it. (it doesn't seem to accept glue well) 

After making some LED tubes to hold the strand and the actual LED's....










Cool Fx!










I cut out some "lava pools" and the crevace area in the base, and will underlight it for more of a volcanic look...










Neck drilled and cut out, LED in place to light the eyes...










Cool figure, should be fun to detail! 










Everything got a bath in hot soapy water last night, almost time for primer after filling a few seams..... Fun build so far!!! More to come.....


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## robiwon (Oct 20, 2006)

Now this is going to be awesome. Following with interest.


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## dreadnaught726 (Feb 5, 2011)

This looks fantastic! Can't wait to see the finished result.


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

Wow! Nice job lighting the eyes. And the first thing I thought when I saw the fiber wrapped around the base was ---LAVA! 
Nice to see your going to do more with the lava theme in the cracks and crevises. This has the potential to be an epic build!

:thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:


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## John P (Sep 1, 1999)

WOW!!! Great idea with the loop of firelight around the base!


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## Xenodyssey (Aug 27, 2008)

I really like the lighting FX on the base so far and look forward to seeng the lava pools.

Are you going to have the dragon breathing "fire" as well?


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## Marco Scheloske (May 16, 2000)

Wow...


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## Tim Nolan (Jul 9, 2008)

Do not, repeat, do not use any kind of enamel primer on this kit!! It will not dry!!!! 2 hours removing it with mineral spirits last night!!! Aaaaargghhh!!!


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## John P (Sep 1, 1999)

Never use enamel on vinyl!
Prime with acrylics, THEN you can paint with anything you want.


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## Jafo (Apr 22, 2005)

this is gonna be so cool when its done, it made me start mine


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## JGG1701 (Nov 9, 2004)

When I built my Horizon ED-209, I used fine white primer on my vinyl kit:
http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXVC47&P=ML then followed it up with Tamiya lacquer paints.

http://s377.photobucket.com/albums/oo218/JGG1701/?action=view&current=DSCF0294.jpg
http://s377.photobucket.com/albums/...18/JGG1701/?action=view&current=BaseCoat4.jpg
-Jim
P.S. 
Your build is looking GREAT!!!


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## Tim Nolan (Jul 9, 2008)

OK, got past the bad primer incident, Vermithrax is now in black AutoAire basecoat. I'll start adding color during the next week or so.....










I'm working on the base lighting. The "glow ring" around the perimeter is installed and lights up great!


















I am adding some transparent amber acrylic sheet over the holes I cut out in the base, as well as the crevice. This will be lit up with a red glow as well. The top of the base has been airbrushed with semi-opaque black, so light will come thru. I have both red and flickering amber LED's which will be under the rocks, giving it a "glowing lava" affect. I've tried it, and it works great! 
Time to start soldering!


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## kdaracal (Jan 24, 2009)

Tim, this is fabulous!


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## hal9001 (May 28, 2008)

What's the deal with Pegasus and vinyl anyway? I just bought the WOW alien and was rather dissapointed to see VINYL! I *hate* working with solid vinyl. Just give me good ole styrene. Or at least hollow cast vinyl!

You've got a great idea going there Tim, can't wait to see more.

hal9001-


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## Jafo (Apr 22, 2005)

Looking good Tim,
I agree Hal!
The vinyl is hard to work with. Is it cheaper or something for them?
But Ill still gladly take them over not having them at all.


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## hal9001 (May 28, 2008)

Jafo said:


> Looking good Tim,
> I agree Hal!
> But Ill still gladly take them over not having them at all.


Good point! And I too agree.

hal9001-


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## SUNGOD (Jan 20, 2006)

hal9001 said:


> What's the deal with Pegasus and vinyl anyway? I just bought the WOW alien and was rather dissapointed to see VINYL! I *hate* working with solid vinyl. Just give me good ole styrene. Or at least hollow cast vinyl!
> 
> You've got a great idea going there Tim, can't wait to see more.
> 
> hal9001-




I wish they were styrene too. People complain about seams etc with styrene but todays kits are much better tooled than older kits..so less seams etc.
And it's much easier to work with.

Nice job though Tim.


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## SUNGOD (Jan 20, 2006)

Jafo said:


> Looking good Tim,
> I agree Hal!
> The vinyl is hard to work with. Is it cheaper or something for them?
> But Ill still gladly take them over not having them at all.




It's probably a lot cheaper than styrene that's why they've gone with vinyl. Mind you if they've used metal moulds then that's a major expense.


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## Sgthawker (Apr 20, 2012)

This is looks like a great project. I am looking forward to seeing the final result.

I used to paint lead figures years ago, some required CA gluing; but is vinyl really that difficult to work with?


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## jbond (Aug 29, 2002)

I still find this preferable to a styrene kit for a subject like this. Far fewer seams (I don't care how much styrene kits have improved, for a shape this complex you would be talking about one heck of a lot more seams to fill) and the whole thing assembles in about five minutes. It also dryfits beautifully so, for instance, you can leave the neck joint unglued and do some overall painting and still pull the head off for easier handling to paint the details there before doing your final seam filling and painting.


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## FlyAndFight (Mar 25, 2012)

This is looking fantastic so far. Love the lighting plan, especially with the lava. Looking forward to seeing more!


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## SUNGOD (Jan 20, 2006)

jbond said:


> I still find this preferable to a styrene kit for a subject like this. Far fewer seams (I don't care how much styrene kits have improved, for a shape this complex you would be talking about one heck of a lot more seams to fill) and the whole thing assembles in about five minutes. It also dryfits beautifully so, for instance, you can leave the neck joint unglued and do some overall painting and still pull the head off for easier handling to paint the details there before doing your final seam filling and painting.




Not necessarily. I've got a Games Workshop Nazgul (the new FellBeast kit) and there's not many seams on that at all...if any.


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## robiwon (Oct 20, 2006)

I think it may just come down to cost. Could this have been made as a styrene, oops, it's Pegasus, as an ABS kit? Sure it could. Would it have cost more to cut metal molds for a plastic kit than whatever methods were used for making it out of vinyl? I bet the answer is yes. My guess is that the molds for this also will not last as long as metal ones. I dont think Pegasus is planning on this kit to be in the catolog for years and years like a typical plastic kit would. The molds will probably not last as long as metal. Get one while you can, I doubt this will be around for a long time.

Cheaper to do it in vinyl means a shorter kit run, means more money for future releases, means more kits for us we probably would never see. Pegasus has given us many many kits that never would have seen the light of day, either in styrene, ABS, or vinyl. I can work with any material and will happily support whatever they put out in whatever material.:wave:


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## Tim Nolan (Jul 9, 2008)

" I can work with any material and will happily support whatever they put out in whatever material"

I agree, and I'm the same way. Hell, I make stuff out of Sculpee baking clay all the time, and it totally sucks!! LOL!! I also will say, the only other offering we have seen of this beast was a high-dollar resin kit (which I still would love to have but can't afford), so I was thrilled to see it coming out! 

A few points, if you don't own this thing yet. Yes, it's HEAVY as hell! Most of it is solid cast. Yes, it smells bad when you are drilling it out, and little molten pieces of vinyl stick to your skin!! 

The detail on this sculpt is really nice and intricate, on both the dragon and the figure as well. It's easy to assemble, and I filled my seams with Zap-a-gap and then a small amount of putty. I didn't do the long seams under the wings, because it's just too much work and most of it is hidden. 

Overall, I think it's well worth the money, and this one will be going up for sale when it's finished, and I will surely order another for my personal collection. I think Pegasus has been brilliant so far in their choices of subject matter, truly great stuff!!!


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