Splash's Black Widow figure. DNF

[splash]

This is taking me right out of my comfort zone, when hobbyzone closed, they sold off their Marvel Studios 1/8 Black Widow figures for under £5, at that price I thought what the heck it's not an a/c but figure painting it's something I admire and should try.

I will drag the box out of my stash and start straight away, the last time I tried to build figures was back in 1996 when I picked up two AMT vinyl star trek figures both got started but never reached the paint stage due to the vinyl not wanting to stick.

Photos of the model will follow on shortly.

Regards Splash

[splash]

The kit is plain and simple, made of hard pink plastic with snap fit connections.

The skill with these kits is not with the build but the painting, so the construction will be quick, this kit contains both of the things I have problems with, painting black and flesh, so why I picked this kit is beyond me

I have only seen the first and last of the Iron Man films so I have no idea who the Black Widow is, as she was not in either of the films I watched





Regards Splash

[JamesPerrin]

think she was at the end of Iron Man 2, but not sure.

She's strangely popular as this is the third build we've had on the forum

[mattbacon]

Dunno what you mean "strangely"... a badass Scarlett Johannsson rocking it as a redhead and gussied up in a skintight catsuit? What's strange about that? ;-P

In case it's any help, Splash:
http://uamf.org.uk/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=6988;

bestest,
M.

[SJPONeill]

She is a sideline in the Ironman series but a key character in The Avengers...

[splash]

Cheers for the link Matt, if I can get mine looking half as good as yours I would be happy.

Regards Splash

[splash]

She is a sideline in the Ironman series but a key character in The Avengers...

Is she on the side of good or is she a villain?

Regards Splash

[mattbacon]

Oh, I think we can safely say she's one of the good guys:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ncgjW1i8ZrM;

bestest,
M.

[Chris]

Splash, the Black Widow is a Russian defector that joined SHIELD and was the love interest of the archer 'Hawkeye'.

In Ironman II she is assigned to keep an eye on Tony Stark by playing a typical secretary, later in the film her battle skills are showcased as she takes out an entire squad of goons.

She is excellent at manipulation of men to gain information (she even does it to loki) and is very skilled.

She is also red hot.

[BlohmWolf]

Actually Chris, about gaining info with her talents, it didn't work on Loki, Loki just accidently let off about Hulk.

[Molly-new]

Nice choice Splash, I am looking forward to seeing this one progress (and more reference pictures of Scarlett Johannsson of course )

[general rocket]

Seriously tasty, in every context.

[splash]

Cheers for all your help guys, it looks like I need to get the films

The pink plastic is not the easiest of plastics to work with as it's hard to see what you are doing, to help I have run a black marker over the joins, this helps to show when you have sanded the joins evenly.

Having now given the body a coat of primer I can see several joins that will need a smear of filler. I can also see the attraction of making these figures







Regards Splash

[lancfan]

This kit - - - is now on my wants list.

David.

[mattbacon]

Looking good!

It's probably a wee bit late now (sorry Splash, I should have remembered this earlier) but a good trick I find with these large scale figures is to apply cement (the kind that comes in a plastic bottle with a needle, not MEK or tube glue) reasonably generously to both sides of the joint surfaces, wait 30s or so, and then put them together and squeeze the bejabers out of them for 30 mins while it sets. You get a bead of molten plastic squished out, and you can take it off with a fresh blade the next day when it's solid. It eliminates the need for 90% of the fine seam filling. I wouldn't do it on something with fine detail, especially with panel lines, but on big figures that you can basically carve a bit, it works wonders...

I think the main thing with her "black" suit is to closely study some stills from the film to get a sense of all the different materials; it's very important to understand exactly how the suit stretches over Ms Johansson, I think ;-P. If you Google, there are actually instructions out there on the web from "cosplayers" -- people who dress up as superheros at sci-fi conventions -- on how to replicate the suit, which talk a lot about the different elements and accessories, and even how they differ in different films. The main body of the suit is actually a very dark blue stretchy material with a sort of mesh surface effect, not black. On mine, I used a variant of my carbon fibre technique for cars, and painted her black and then sprayed a dark blue top layer through some mesh fabric (which as you stretch it over the figure naturally distorts in the right way over her assets...)

bestest,
M.