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16" Godzilla Kit by Polar Lights
This is quite an awesome kit. It is made of a very sturdy plastic, and fairly easy
to assemble. First of all, some of the seams don't provide a good surface to surface contact, if you're using a thin cement. I chose to reinforce the seams, by gluing them together from the
inside, with hot glue. As I said, the plastic is very sturdy, so the odds of hot glue melting the plastic are slim. If you're careful, this works out quite well. Afterwards, I still
noticed some gaps, or large seam lines.
Where appropriate, I applied Pro-weld to the outside of the Godzilla's body, along poor seams. This helped fuse the plastic together, in those areas. I assembled Godzilla in this manner, in its entirety – except the lower jaw; that would be the last piece assembled. At this point, I also did not assemble the "fins" that go on his back. I chose to fully paint them while they were still on the sprue-tree. For that "better" look, I puttied all the seams on the body and used my Dremel to re-scribe surface detail lost at the seams. After a good bath, Godzilla is now ready to paint!
I primed the whole body with flat black.
I then used my airbrush and applied "Dark Sea Blue", as the basic color for Godzilla. This is Model Master paint, #1717. I felt this was a perfect color to use, as it is straight from the bottle. It has just that "right" color of grayish-bluish-blackish-greenish color, that I feel Godzilla has. I then used three different colors in dry-brushing the detail. Straight from the bottle; they are Model Master – SAC Bomber Tan (FS34201), SAC Bomber Green (FS 34159), and Pale Green (FS 34227). Again, this was all done to the fins, while they were still on their tree. Additionally, I used my airbrush to paint white on the fins. The outer edges are more solid white, while the interior is dusted with white. For the inside of the mouth, I mixed three colors; a basic Red, Sand (FS 33531), and a touch of Aircraft Int. Black (# 2040 37031). This gave me a good "pink" look, without looking blood red. The teeth were painted with the same Sand color. The mouth was then washed with a mix of black and brown, to dirty it up. After all this is completed, I glued the fins on his back, touching up areas where they were removed from the tree. I then painted his nails an off-white and then applied a Dullcote all over Godzilla. I went back and brushed on a Glosscote over his eyes and the interior of his mouth; then the lower jaw was glued in place.
The base was pretty straight forward. The buildings are a light gray from a spray can.
The base is a mix of tan and dark gray that I airbrushed. I then painted all the detail; like the windows, the train, the train track, brick buildings, and debris. I even went to the trouble of gluing tiny rocks all over, to give it more of a realistic look. This is just surfacing that can be found for train dioramas at the hobby store. Then I washed everything with a mix of brown and black, to dirty it up, and bring out the surface detail. Finely, I used my airbrush and "dusted" the whole base with a light gray-tan color. I even dusted the bottom of Godzilla's feet. Surely, with his terrorizing, Godzilla would get his feet dirty!
I chose not to apply the train in Godzilla's mouth. I think he looks better without it. This kit is really impressive.
Craig Wheeler
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