King Kong 76 (John Berkey poster)

[RossW]

Amazing Figure Modeler magazine produced two kits based on iconic '33 & '76 Kong posters (both sculpted by James Groman), and now I've finally completed the '76 one. Had this kit for 20 yrs. Figured it was time to finish it.

Painting fur isn't my favourite thing - hard to highlight it without it making it look too grey and old-manish. Used some Burnt Umber mixed with Payne's Grey to break up the colours. Went a bit overboard on the highlighting to mimic the poster, but alas not as good a result as I'd hoped.

The kit didn't come with decals for the plane so I got some stars-and-bars from a friend and made paint masks for "USAF". The plane from the poster (replaced by helicopters for the final poster after filming was completed) isn't real but close-ish to an F-104.

"The most exciting original motion picture event of all time". I think the Paramount marketing department forgot that this is a remake Still, I loved this movie as a 12 yr old and still love it today. Plenty of flaws but Rick Baker's work on Kong's suit and his portrayal of Kong were terrific. The score by John Barry is fantastic. I doodled Kong's face based on John Berkey's excellent paintings all over my school books.

 

[Attirex]

Awesome display!! That poster was an iconic part of my childhood memories, but...even as a kid I wondered which plane that was supposed to be lol.

 

[Analyzer]

Amazing Figure Modeler magazine produced two kits based on iconic '33 & '76 Kong posters (both sculpted by James Groman), and now I've finally completed the '76 one. Had this kit for 20 yrs. Figured it was time to finish it.

Painting fur isn't my favourite thing - hard to highlight it without it making it look too grey and old-manish. Used some Burnt Umber mixed with Payne's Grey to break up the colours. Went a bit overboard on the highlighting to mimic the poster, but alas not as good a result as I'd hoped.

The kit didn't come with decals for the plane so I got some stars-and-bars from a friend and made paint masks for "USAF". The plane from the poster (replaced by helicopters for the final poster after filming was completed) isn't real but close-ish to an F-104.

"The most exciting original motion picture event of all time". I think the Paramount marketing department forgot that this is a remake Still, I loved this movie as a 12 yr old and still love it today. Plenty of flaws but Rick Baker's work on Kong's suit and his portrayal of Kong were terrific. The score by John Barry is fantastic. I doodled Kong's face based on John Berkey's excellent paintings all over my school books.

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Excellent work and very cool statue

It is hard to paint black without getting the old mannish look as you say. I find it helps if you either use blue/black or brown/black instead of pure white to lighten up the black.
Although you did a great job so nothing I would change, just something you might try in the future

 

[RossW]

Excellent work and very cool statue

It is hard to paint black without getting the old mannish look as you say. I find it helps if you either use blue/black or brown/black instead of pure white to lighten up the black.
Although you did a great job so nothing I would change, just something you might try in the future

Thank you! I used Unbleached White ( a very light tan) to lighten the colours (Black, Payne’s Grey & Burnt Umber) and only white for the very top highlights.

On the ‘33 model I did fewer highlights to keep the overall brownish colour but it came out looking too much like a store-bought statue. I’m tempted to do more work on that kit now ….

 

[RossW]

Awesome display!! That poster was an iconic part of my childhood memories, but...even as a kid I wondered which plane that was supposed to be lol.

The scale is way off, too, but it’s a really powerful image.

Look for Berkey’s other Kong paintings - they’re equally dynamic.

 

[modelerdave]

That is really well done! You did a great job on the fur. The comparisons with the original one sheets is fantastic.

 

[RossW]

That is really well done! You did a great job on the fur. The comparisons with the original one sheets is fantastic.

Thanks! It was fun doing the poster/model comparison shots.