Old School Vinyl AMT Rancor Model Kit Build

[skahtul]

I had picked up this kit on eBay a few years back and it was finally time to break it out! I have never built a vinyl kit before so thought I would share a bit of my experience along the way.

One of the more interesting discovery's was heat. At first blush it seemed that the model did not fit at all, gigantic gaps. But, once I started heating it up a bit to cut out the different parts, it dawned on me that I could just heat it up and squish it together, this was a game changer and I did very little filling. Another item of note, super glue worked okay but epoxy was much stronger. I did have the finger tips break off a few times and had to re-glue them. Next time I may try one of the more flexible super glues.

The other item of note I wanted to share was a complete 180 in my approach to painting maquette's. Previously to burning through hours and hours of video from the Stan Winston website, I always did these types of paint jobs from dark to light, as you will see, I reversed that to a large degree.

Here is the kit in all it's glory. And it's a great kit, lots of details. I love my 3D printed projects and, not having done one of these in the past was a bit surprised at just how good the details were and I knew painting it up was going to be fun.

First up was to cut off all the 'flashing' which was much easier if you soaked it in warm water or gently hit it with a heat gun. Once you did that, it cut like butter. I can only imagine the number of ER visits this kit caused with people needing stitches If you don't heat it up, look out!

Once all the holes are cut it's time to glue and fill! There are two parts to this, one was to jam a bunch of bolts into his feet and legs to hopefully get him to stand on his own. It didn't really work but did help to give the kit some heft.

Next up was to fill it with some foam. I am sure there are better options but this seemed to work okay and gave the kit some rigidity.

A little putty in some spots and he was good to go.

 

[skahtul]

This is where my paint job both starts and departs from my normal process. I started with a black primer:

And then base coated it with some Yellow-Brown from Tamiya to get the basic skin town down. From there I will build up from light to dark hues along the way (with a bit of back and forth mixed in).

Second step was to take a slightly lighter tone and do some dry brushing on the Rancor and the Guard.

Next up was to lay down some transparent Red, Blue and Yellow. The theory here is to put these down to start building up some realistic base skin colors. This is one of those steps you aren't sure will make a difference in the end, but in my experience it's all about the layers and the more you throw down, the better This thought here is to attempt to build out the "skin" in a 'realistic' way like you might see in nature.

First up was to spritz on some red (this is pretty watered down). You can already see how dramatic the effect is with just the red.

Next up is to thin down some blue and apply that as a wash along with dabbing it off in any areas where it's pooling:

You can see how the blue work's it's way into all the crevasse.

I followed this up with using a tooth brush dipped in thinned down yellow to spray the model randomly. I followed all of these first steps on the guard also to get h is base color down.

Here is my first test fit on the base I built. It's basically just one of those pre-built table top looking wooden deals from the hardware store. I also used some of the pink foam to build out the 'rock'. I threw down some sand texture from Tamiya followed by some Mod Podge to seal it up.

 

[skahtul]

The next step was to lay down a ton of shading in all the crevasse I could find. For this I chose a red-brown from Tamiya and used a .2 mm needle in my airbrush to really get in everywhere.

Next was to go all in on the shading and for this I mixed up some Deck Brown and Nato Black to get a darker hue.

I also used these colors to do something called "Mottling" which was a new term/technique to me. But in short, it's just a way to randomize the surface of the model. I have always had a hard time getting a random and 'realistic' pattern when I am painting creatures but this is my new go to method.

Here it is after some more shading and putting down the mottling.

Threw down my go to color for teeth/nails on the Rancor which is AX Olive Oxide.

I did not get any after shots, but to get some of the the details back I did a very light dry brushing pass with Cork to get some highlights in.

My second to last step before the final coat was to break out my secrets weapon, inks. I have only recently discovered these but they are my new go to for that little extra 'something'. If you have not used them in the past, grab some and mess around, they are a great way to add and draw out details for these types of paint jobs.

I mixed up some green and brown/black and thinned it way down with water. I sprayed this on and used a dryer to move the material arround.

 

[skahtul]

It was finally time to turn my attention to the "victim"

I pretty much followed a similar process as with the Rancor, but just did it all with a brush. I basically used a series of AX browns, blacks and weathered colors as washes and just went from light to dark. The green was put down with Ink and basically act's like a transparent wash.

Finished him up by flat coating him and then dry brushing it with Tamiya Chrome Silver.

 

[skahtul]

And here he is after getting a semi-gloss coat applied, pretty much ready to go.

I finished up the base with some pigments to get some color variation in there. The wood was just sanded down and then I applied a black stain, followed by some more sanding to 'weather' it a bit and finally applied some urethane to give it some shine.

The very last step was to use my favorite paint of all time, Mr. Color Metallizer Dark Iron. I use this on almost everything where I want a dark colored 'metal' look. If you have not used a metallizer paint, they are a ton of fun. They brush on super easy and flow well. Once they are dry you basically polish them. I usually follow this up with a bit of dry brushing with a bright silver or chrome.

That's it, here he is in his new home

 

[Analyzer]

Excellent

Very convincing look for the skin

 

[StevenBills]

Very well documented! Awesome work on this. The tonal variations in the skin make all of the underlying layers worth it!

SB

 

[skahtul]

Thanks guys! Have really enjoyed expanding into creature painting

 

[starks]

Just freakin WOW!

Cheers,
Josh

 

[JediMichael]

This turned out really good.
Hes crying for joy now.

 

[skahtul]

Just freakin WOW!

Cheers,
Josh

Thanks!!

 

[skahtul]

This turned out really good.
Hes crying for joy now.
View attachment 1936323

Ha! Nice

 

[joberg]

Great results and that painting tuto rocks big time

 

[skahtul]

Great results and that painting tuto rocks big time

thanks!

 

[Attirex]

Yes, much respect to you guys who can paint organic subjects well, it's hard. Why I don't ever include figures with my military aircraft builds--either the pilots/crew aren't designed realistically, I can't do them justice via my mediocre painting skills, or both.

 

[Sym-Cha]

Excellent build and painted Rancor ... so I just added a chain on the manacle on my upgraded Hasbro Rancor :

and created a drip of slime out of some glossy modpodge and a tiny transparent string, which you get with SW action figures to hold their lightsabers in their hands :

Chaïm

 

[skahtul]

Yes, much respect to you guys who can paint organic subjects well, it's hard. Why I don't ever include figures with my military aircraft builds--either the pilots/crew aren't designed realistically, I can't do them justice via my mediocre painting skills, or both.

Ha! I only find that funny as a long, long, long... time ago when I was younger and into building models, I never painted them. I only built them and was always afraid to put down even a drop of paint on anything. Now, it's my favorite part, I only build them so I can get to the painting

Oh, and the one thing I did not post here is that this was not my first try... I really want a specific look for this and pretty much got what I was after, but I painted up 5 3D printed ones while I worked my way up to this one

 

[skahtul]

Excellent build and painted Rancor ... so I just added a chain on the manacle on my upgraded Hasbro Rancor :

and created a drip of slime out of some glossy modpodge and a tiny transparent string, which you get with SW action figures to hold their lightsabers in their hands :

View attachment 1936643

Chaïm

HA! I am now just realizing I forgot to paint the earing on mine (it's molded onto the kit and totally missed it), need to break out the chrome paint!

I also like the chain, I may throw that on also, thanks!