# My Moebius Frankenstein



## Guest (Jun 29, 2010)

Hey all. This is what I did with the Moebius Frankenstein kit. Its came out a little green but it was a lot of fun. If any of you have ideas that would have made it better I'd love to hear them. I can incorporate those on the next kit.


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## Mark_6478 (Aug 27, 2000)

Really well done on both the Monster and the base. The wood portions of the base look great. The only thing you might want to consider is using some dull cote to tone down the gloss on the monster...

Other than that everything about your buildup is top notch! :thumbsup:


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## ark undertaker (Jul 2, 2009)

Great Job!:thumbsup:

Personally I've always perferred the "green" tones for Franky. Curious, did you build him up in sub-assemblies? Been trying to figure out a way to do the head and torso separate then put'em together after painting.

Looking forward to seeing more of your work and welcome to the forum.

A.U.:wave:


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## Guest (Jun 30, 2010)

Mark_6478 said:


> Really well done on both the Monster and the base. The wood portions of the base look great. The only thing you might want to consider is using some dull cote to tone down the gloss on the monster...
> 
> Other than that everything about your buildup is top notch! :thumbsup:


Thank you very much! I agree with you about that gloss - way too much. I'll try the dullcote. Most of what I find now is lacquer based. Will that be alright over my enamels/oils/acrylics?

For the base I used actual oak veneers. They come in strips and I cut them to fit, stained them with a wood stain and then added a clear varnish.


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## Guest (Jun 30, 2010)

ark undertaker said:


> Great Job!:thumbsup:
> 
> Personally I've always perferred the "green" tones for Franky. Curious, did you build him up in sub-assemblies? Been trying to figure out a way to do the head and torso separate then put'em together after painting.
> 
> ...


Thanks for your kind comments! Yes, I built and finished the kit in sub-assembly stages: head, arms, hands & shoes were first. As you already know some of these sub-assemblies "trap" others so I had to worry about sequencing. After finishing the shoes, I trapped them with the legs and finished them (masking the shoes). The head, arms and legs are trapped by the torso so that was a bit of a pain. After dry-fitting, I glued the head, arms and legs to the torso back, then attached the front. Fortunately the seams weren't too bad and after a bit of puttying and sanding I masked the head (with saran wrap) and painted the torso and rest of the arms. I stuck on the pre-finished hands last.

I'm sure there are better ways to do it but that was my method. Please post your Frankie when you get it done. I think this is a great series from Moebius.


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## DocJam00 (May 18, 2010)

My understanding is that you don't want to put lacquer over enamels. I have been reading a number of instructional books, and iirc, that's a no-no.


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## Guest (Jun 30, 2010)

DocJam00 said:


> My understanding is that you don't want to put lacquer over enamels. I have been reading a number of instructional books, and iirc, that's a no-no.


Thanks! I've read that, too. That's why I was curious. It seems the general rule is: lacquer over nothing; enamels over lacquer; acrylic over everything.

Testor's used to sell (or my local hobby shop used to stock) non-lacquer-based clear coats in cans (gloss and dull). Can't find them now.

Yet I have also read, I believe, that lightly sprayed-on lacquer-based clear coats are alright. It is confusing and I don't want to ruin anything. I'll study up on it some more.


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## ark undertaker (Jul 2, 2009)

May I suggest checking with your LHS if they carry the Tamiya line of spray paint. Their flat clear (TS-80) is what I use and it dries dead flat. Works much better than any of the others I've tried. 

BTW: How long you been building/painting kits?

A.U.


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## Dave P (Jan 5, 2005)

Testors dull works on both enamel or acrylic. Tamiya is very good as well. As with anything a light touch is required.


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## Tim Nolan (Jul 9, 2008)

Beautiful brushwork. Really nice job! (I love Frankenstein)


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## dklange (Apr 25, 2009)

Nice work, MM!! The Testors or Tamiya Dull Coat will help for sure. Also, I really like the latch you added to the door. Nice touch! - Denis


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## Night-Owl (Mar 17, 2000)

Kudos on a cool paint job and some nifty bits of customzing! :thumbsup: I use *Testor's Model Master Flat Lacquer No. 1960* and it's the flatest of the spray sealers I've tried. I use enamels for my metallics and acrylics for everything else and I've never had any trouble with it.

A tip I picked up a few Wonderfests ago; use Krlyon Matte Finish sealer during the painting to seal finished detail work as you go and then use the flat sealer of your choice to finish. The KMF comes in a large can and isn't 100% flat but it;s a good working sealer and this helps conserve the good sealers that only seem to come in small cans.


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## mrmurph (Nov 21, 2007)

I really like this! You even used some effective and moody lighting in your photography.

I love a good Frankie built-up!


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## Xenodyssey (Aug 27, 2008)

Model Maker said:


> For the base I used actual oak veneers. They come in strips and I cut them to fit, stained them with a wood stain and then added a clear varnish.


I'll have to remember the wood veneer and staining technique. It works really well for the wood surfaces! Very well done.


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## Guest (Jul 1, 2010)

Thanks to everyone for the great comments and suggestions! Sounds like the flat Tamiya or Testors is the way to go and I will choose one of them for Frankie. My hobby shop does sell a full line of both brands. Great tip on the use of Krylon too as an intermediate sealer - just the thing to preserve what I've already done while adding more.

As to how long I've been building, the recent answer is about a year or just a bit longer. Of course I built a lot as a kid but the less said about that the better! Actually I built many great classic kits in my youth, TOS Enterprise (with lights), TOS Klingon D7, Aurora Frankenstein, Creature, Hulk, Spider-Man, Godzilla, Flash Gordon (haven't seen that one come back), Superman, etc. Now as a grown man (50) I've built mostly sci-fi: a number of Star Trek ships, Jupiter 2s, Seaview, a few dinosaurs. Where I really struggle (and I'm no expert at anything) is with the figures. They're fun but I'm obviously still working at getting more tone and variety in the paintwork. Though the Frankie has some tonal shades in the face (hard to see in the photos) it is not as "realistic" as I'd hoped. Some folks' work on this site makes me drool.


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## rkoenn (Dec 18, 2007)

ark undertaker said:


> Great Job!:thumbsup:
> 
> Personally I've always perferred the "green" tones for Franky. Curious, did you build him up in sub-assemblies? Been trying to figure out a way to do the head and torso separate then put'em together after painting.
> 
> ...


Here is a link to my build which I described fairly well each step of the way. If you care to look it might be helpful. I had very little trouble with this kit.

http://www.hobbytalk.com/bbs1/showthread.php?t=277275

And this is a very nice build. I love the actual wood floor planking and the color scheme, very realistic. Frankie looks good too and probably even better dulled down a bit. Post a final pic once you get that done.


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## ark undertaker (Jul 2, 2009)

Night-Owl said:


> A tip I picked up a few Wonderfests ago; use Krlyon Matte Finish sealer during the painting to seal finished detail work as you go and then use the flat sealer of your choice to finish. The KMF comes in a large can and isn't 100% flat but it;s a good working sealer and this helps conserve the good sealers that only seem to come in small cans.


Thanks for the tip, Night-Owl. I'll have to try this one. @ $7.00/can for the Tamiya, I may be able to save a few $$$ to put toward more kits.




rkoenn said:


> Here is a link to my build which I described fairly well each step of the way. If you care to look it might be helpful. I had very little trouble with this kit.
> 
> http://www.hobbytalk.com/bbs1/showthread.php?t=277275


RK,

Thanks for the link. I had seen your build up of Franky in your photo album (another fantastic piece, btw) but somehow missed your origianl thread. I'll definately be pulling from this when I start my Franky. (Been wanting to start a new kit and haven't been able to decide between Franky and Dr. Jekyll as my next project)

A.U.


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## Guest (Jul 1, 2010)

rkoenn said:


> Here is a link to my build which I described fairly well each step of the way. If you care to look it might be helpful. I had very little trouble with this kit.
> 
> http://www.hobbytalk.com/bbs1/showthread.php?t=277275
> 
> And this is a very nice build. I love the actual wood floor planking and the color scheme, very realistic. Frankie looks good too and probably even better dulled down a bit. Post a final pic once you get that done.


Thank you rkoenn for the kind comments. I checked out your build thread which for some reason I couldn't find using the "search" feature here. Your kit turned out very nicely indeed! I thought it was interesting that without seeing each others' kits we both chose gray for the shirt and brown for the shoes. Your deathly pale green skin color is very appropriate and as I recall was what I had in mind when starting out but somehow the whole thing drifted to dark green.  I will definitely tone down the gloss and post another pic. If you do any more figures please post your pics and notes. I'd love to see them.


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## IanWilkinson (Apr 23, 2010)

Wonderful paint and build up!... i painted my Franky kit in dead flesh tones, but he looks just great in green tones!..


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## Guest (Jul 5, 2010)

Thanks, Ian! Some requested a pic once I toned down the gloss a bit. After several light coats of Testors flat clear lacquer (couldn't find Tamiya in my LHS) this is how he came out (for some reason I can't seem to make the photo any larger). Thanks for all the suggestions and comments!


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