REVIEW - MARILYN MANSON
Producer: Simian Productions - Parts: 4 - Material: Resin
Marilyn Manson is... my own thoughts on the matter of what Manson is send shivers down
my spine, because I have found myself repeating the very same things my mother said to
me in 1971 after I added my first two Alice Cooper LPs to my collection, and-that-is-scary.
But what Manson is is a characture of his own media hyperbol, and love or hate him you
cannot help but admire the way he manipulates the media to his only ends; plus the
music is good.
This is one of four kits that I know of, and the only bust. Surprisingly it was not the
one I wanted, but having failed to secure the large 'Antichrist Superstar' kit I
purchased this on the advice of Steve from Frontier Models, and I have to
say that the advice was as 'sound-as-a-pound' to coin a local turn of phrase.
Sculpted by Barsom Manashian for Simian Productions this is the first product I have
from this US company, and given the opportunity it won't be the last. Cast in the off
white resin favoured by US kits producers it comes in four error free parts; the head
and base (as one piece), the arm, and two fingers. There is some great attention to
detail, both in the sculpting especially on the hand, and the 'tattoos' which are
raised - I assume for ease of painting - and the casting as each 'join' is hiden.
The fingers join beneath (inside) the rings, and the shoulder join is under the hair,
the only detail I am not sure about and have yet to make the connection with is
between the character and the worms that circle the base.
As for the likeness goes, I can't real comment as I have yet to see a clear full
on picture, but it would seem to be spot on. Such was the quality of this kit
that preparation and construction was a breeze, which roughly translated means
it was washed, dried, glued (with a pin for the arm), and primed in a matter of
minutes. There were no pin holes, no resin pearls, no...you get the picture.
As far as painting goes I did not deviate from the scheme that I have developed
over the past year or so: airbrush a flesh tone base coat (Freak Flex or
FW Acrylic Ink - ink in this case), followed by shading and highlighting with
pastal chalks, although I did not include the face as the white primer seemed to be
perfect for representing his facial make-up. For the base I first used Citadel
swamp brown on the worms, and bleached bone on the string/rope, this was then
washed with Citadels chestnut ink. Once dry it was sealed with a matt varnish,
topped with a gloss varnish for the worms.
With the tattoo's my initial reaction was to go for realism, and recreate the
flat colours that are common to most body art, but the fact that the detail is
raised ment that I wasn't working in one dimension. In the end I went for it,
and added subtle highlights and shades to the faces having painted them first
with a variety of Citadel acrylics, the idea being that they were facets of
his character that were trying to fight their way out; I don't know where I get
it from either - my mother say's its not her side of the family.
With the hair I tried something different. First I washed it with successive
Citadel inks, purple, blue and chestnut to try and create some depth before
applying Raven black (inscribe), this was then selectively dry brushed with
silver for the highlights.
My final task were the eyes.
I assume that I am not alone in my struggle to get to grips with developing
my painting skills in relation to figures, and having conquered the flesh
tone problem to my own satisfaction my next hurdle is eyes. To date I have
had varying degrees of success, some more satisfactory then others, but none
as good as I have seen other modellers produce.
I would dearly love to claim this idea for my own, but there is the possibility
that I have read it somewhere and unconsciously stored the information away,
if that is the case then all credit to the originator. In simple terms you
applied a thin coat of gloss varnish between each paint application.
Having determined where the iris and pupil need to be placed I painted in a
both as a solid black dot. Once dry I applied a thin coat of gloss varnish,
followed by the base colour of the iris (Inscribe burnt umber)and another
thin coat of varnish. The pattern in the iris was produced with inscribe
terra cotta, and varnish and a highlight to each pupil. The contact lens
for the left eye was painted in with a Citadel (dirty) yellow -
unfortunately the label is missing, and finally the last gloss coat.