Catwoman - A Real Shelf Queen :)

[Joseph Osborn]

Hello, Friends!
When I saw the notice for the "Shelf Queens" group build and read the description, I thought I might add this little project to the mix: the old Horizon vinyl Catwoman kit in 1/6 scale. It is from 1992 and depicts Catwoman as portrayed by Michelle Pfeiffer in "Batman Returns." I got the kit somewhere around 1993 or 1994, and made an attempt at it... and quickly realized I didn't have the mojo to pull it off. So I stuck the kit parts back in the box and threw it into my stash.

I have been on a stash-clearing kick lately, and I actually built another old figure kit, a Halcyon Alien, a few weeks ago after seeing the movie "Prometheus." With the new Batman movie coming up, I looked at my stash and saw the Revell vinyl Batman and the Horizon Catwoman... ladies first This is a fairly easy build; most of the work is in the painting, and the face is the toughest part since everything else is shiny, shiny black.

I had originally glued most everything together except the top & bottom halves of the figure (it's split at the torso). The way the right arm is posed makes it very difficult to paint the face, so I broke off the arm that I had glued 18 years ago. I'll have easier access to the face, but I will also have to deal with fixing the seam on the arm before I can paint the catsuit. Here is the figure today after I got everything glued together (epoxy) and washed up for the primer:

The boots are filled with plaster for stability and a 1/8" brass tube is epoxied into each foot to provide a positive mounting point:

Most everyone uses expanding foam to fill out the rest of the hollow interior of a vinyl kit, but I stuffed this figure full of newspaper scraps since I didn't have any foam.

Here is the figure after the primer coat. I used Duplicolor sandable white lacquer auto primer from the auto parts store. It dries super fast and leaves a tough, smooth finish.

The left shoulder seam will need a little attention:

I attached the left leg to the torso 18 years ago, and did a decent job on eliminating the seam, but I may need to hit it with some high-build filler/primer to get it a little smoother:

The face is much easier to access with the arm out of the way!

I'm going to let this primer cure for another day or two and then address the seams, then hopefully start painting the face early next week. I will watch my David Fisher Model Mania DVD's again to get the process into my head first!

Thanks for looking,
Joseph

 

[Quaralane]

Looks like you're off to a good start.

 

[PANZERMAN]

Nicely sculpted figure. Pretty big,too. Good luck with painting. Like to see this
one completed. Bill

 

[NecronautDrummer]

Is that Michelle Pfeiffer?

 

[Quaralane]

That would be the lady in the suit, yes

 

[NecronautDrummer]

That is a fantastic face sculpt. I really think that the seam at the shoulder looks completely natural, if it wasn't for the exaggerated stitching all over the suit.

 

[Joseph Osborn]

Here's an update. I did some filling on the seams with Aves and they look fairly good now. The face is the big focus on this figure, though. Here's the base coat of flesh, mixed from Liquitex burnt sienna, raw sienna, and white:

Next pic shows highlighting added with a lightened version of the base flesh tone:

Next I added a light wash of burnt sienna to the features and around the mask edges:

In the movie, the character had a very pale appearance:

I took some white and tinted it with just a tiny bit of crimson and oversprayed the face to represent the white makeup.

I am sort of winging it right now and just experimenting and having fun. The next part of the process will be some hand painting with a brush (yikes, 'cause I don't have any really nice brushes!) for the eyes and lips, then the makeup around the eyes will be done with pastels. Wish me luck

 

[Quaralane]

Excellent work on the face so far.
That skin tone looks very close

 

[Joseph Osborn]

Thank you for your comments and encouragement

I painted the figure's facial features today.

Eyes basecoated with a mix of white, burnt umber, and raw sienna:

Notice the white "toga" which is actually a scrap of t-shirt cloth. I wrapped it around the figure to keep my oily fingers off the primer.

Painting around the eyes:

This part was tough. The brush I was using didn't want to stay in a nice point and would not hold enough paint to allow me to pull a nice, even stroke. The black Liquitex paint didn't cooperate very well, either. I should have tried another black paint instead of fighting it. I wish I had some Vallejo black.

The irises and pupils painted:

The irises on this kit are sculpted into the eyeball instead of the eyes being one smooth surface. That made it a little harder to paint, but I didn't have to worry about getting the eyes crossed

Lips & eyebrows painted and some additional shading around the features:

The mouth is kind of odd on this figure; the lips are parted slightly, but instead of the upper front teeth partially exposed, there's just sort of a void. I have to do something in there but I'm not quite sure what. I think I need to just paint it sort of a "tongue" color :-\

I am almost to the point I can spray the face with a protective Dullcote layer and start on the suit. The claws that came with the kit are tiny and just little raised bumps on a small sheet of vinyl. They give you twice as many as actually needed because they are quite difficult to cut off the sheet. I think I will have to make some resin copies, because I've already messed up two claws trying to remove them!

 

[JohnSimmons]

Looks great, man she was hot in this film!

 

[Grendels]

Very nice work on her face.

 

[Quaralane]

Excellent work on the face.
Looking very good

 

[Jaitea]

She's looking beautiful, just needs some smoke around her eyes

J

 

[Joseph Osborn]

She's looking beautiful, just needs some smoke around her eyes

And that, sir, is what is on tap for this short update

I did a little painting inside the mouth and on the lips and sprayed a sealer coat of Testors Dullcote on the face. I just put a warm flesh color inside the mouth; it looks weird but I thought it was better than putting a more white color because there is nothing that looks like teeth in there. When I put the glosscoat on the mouth at the end I may add a little darker wash to really push it into shadow.

Then I broke out the pastel sticks and added dark shading around the eyes and some more shading on the edges of the face. Here's a photo showing the result with no flash:

And here's the same pic with direct flash, which shows all the flaws

I went easy on the eye shading because I want to look at it again tomorrow and maybe add some more if I feel like she needs more smolder.

In addition to the face work, I also cast some resin copies of the kit's vinyl claws and they are much easier to work with.

And also, I need to mention that we saw The Dark Knight Rises a few days ago and boyoboy, that Anne Hathaway makes up into a nice Catwoman. Her outfit is a perfect blend of the swanky '66 version and the trilogy's purposeful, tech-oriented designs. I'd like to see an affordable model of her one day.

Thanks for following,
Joseph

 

[Quaralane]

Agree with you on Hathaway's Selina.

And your face work on Pfeiffer's is looking very good

 

[Jaitea]

She looks purr....fect!!

Great work on her face

J

 

[Grendels]

Nice!

 

[KA-22]

Love yur work on Vynil KatWoman
look is Good on face!

Is Old figure hard to work with?

Karl.

 

[PANZERMAN]

Beautiful work on the face. One or two suggestions I'd like to offer......
Studying the movie pic you have, a white highlight flare in the eyes would make them more "alive".
Like you said, the void inside the mouth is so indistinct...best to totally shade it out.
Keep up the good work. You've got this model looking "Purrrfect". Bill

 

[Joseph Osborn]

Did a quick paint test today just to make sure the black I intend to use will be a-okay:

This paint is Createx Wicked Colors Jet Black. It does best when airbushed at fairly high pressure, around 40 to 50psi. It dries in just a few minutes to a satin finish, which is really close to the finish for the boots, but the rest of the suit will need just a little more gloss.

Speaking of gloss, I added a thick gloss coat to the eyes to fill in the sculpted detail and try to emulate the smooth surface of a real eye. As Bill mentioned, this allows a natural "catchlight" to form in the eye and makes the face just a little more life-like. Some people prefer to add an artificial catchlight with a tiny dot of white paint, but I am going to leave these eyes alone for now. Also glossed the lips & mouth. I put a darker red-umber wash into the mouth after I took this photo.

Next job is masking the exposed face and attaching the right arm. I'll fill the seam as best I can with Aves and Mr Surfacer, and then basecoat the whole thing with the Wicked Colors Jet Black. It'll really start to look like the finished item at that point, but I'll spend quite a bit of time painting in all those stitches. If I can have everything finished by next weekend, I'll be really happy.

Karl: you asked if it was hard to work with this old figure. The vinyl material has not degraded at all and it's very easy to glue the parts together and paint them.

Thanks,
Joseph