GinA - Goddess in Alloy
1/4 scale Resin Garage kit from Ground Zero
Article written in 2003
When I first saw this figure, it just knocked me dead. I loved it, simple as that, and no matter what the price I was having one.
Admittedly, I am a little bit mental ( understatement there ? ) about some kits, and once I’ve decided I’m going to have one, then I won’t rest until it’s in my sweaty little palms.
The problem here is, that some of these garage kits are big, and also very, very expensive. That’s one reason why I’ve stopped looking at AFM and Model Mart, simply because I can’t foot the bill for these models anymore.
It happened the same way with the Moonsinger werewolf, and I think I should at least pause for thought before swooping into my wallet and lifting the better part of two hundred notes out for a bit of resin.
However. This I assure you is worth every penny.
I said that about the Moonsinger too, if you remember.
I could rave about this model until the cows come home, then have a small nap, and wake up and carry on…..But I wont. The pictures should be good enough to do that.
So what’s all the fuss about.
Well, for an American Garage kit, it’s got class. It’s not a nude, it’s not rude, it’s well cast, and, wait for it…….It actually fits together.
It’s also quite deceptive too.
I got this one at the NEC Modelmania show a couple of years back, and having parted with a hundred and seventy five pounds, couldn’t wait to get it home and get stuck in to making it.
The problem is that I paused for thought.
Not a good thing for me to do really, and the more I thought about it, the more I realised what a lot of money I’d spent, and was I really going to do a good job of the paintwork ?
And so, it sat in it’s box for the better part of eighteen months, before I got in a bad enough mood with myself over this foolishness, and put some paint on it.
The model itself is fairly cleanly cast, there is some filling to do on her sides, and some mould lines to take off, but on a kit this size, and with the large pieces of resin involved, it’s to be expected.
There’s 17 resin parts in all plus a large brass tube for use as the staff for the spear.
The resin parts are split up logically at natural breaks, so there’s no filling of joints to be done, as she’s supposed to be a robot or android, and the joints at these points would be visible.
A complaint here is that the body is criss-crossed with “panel lines” as would be seen on an aeroplane or ship. There is no logic to these, nor do they match up from left hand side of the body to the right. Whilst at first glance they look O.K., the modeller will find these an irritation after he’s looked at them a couple of times, and feel the need to do some filling and re-scribing.
There are also some air bubbles on the tops of parts, which need filling in. I’d heard that toothpaste could be used for this, and found that it worked quite well for the job of doing the very fine bubble holes that were revealed when a light sanding was given to some areas of the parts.
With her all cleaned up, I test fitted the parts, and here was the delight of seeing a sculptor / caster who actually realised that someone would have to try fastening the parts back together once they’d been cast up and sold as a kit.
How very novel.
I kept the parts separate for painting, this really is a big model ( 22 inches tall ) when it’s all joined up, and is better painted in sections.
I’d better mention how the parts are split up, as I don’t seem to have a photo of them before I got started. Basically, the head is on part, minus three separate parts for the hair, these being two smaller parts for the fringes over the forehead, and a larger piece for the ponytail at the back. The fifth part is the main body, this encompassing the whole of the body from the top of the neck down to the upper thighs where they disappear into the boots. Part six and seven are the arms, the right hand is an eight separate piece, and the two legs are massive castings parts nine and ten. There’s a further two parts for the stiletto heels, and then the two parts that make up the blade and lower tip of that large spear. The final part I used was the base, which is very detailed along the lines of H.R. Giger of “Alien” fame. But that’s only fifteen parts.
There’s another two to make wing-like protrusions for on the tiara.
These looked silly ( to me at least ), even on the pictures on the box ( you get a further two inside showing different angles ), and even worse on the badly painted example reviewed in Kit Builder magazine shortly after the model was released.
I began with the face, and this really is a delight. The sculptor has gone for a simple beauty here, no gaunt cheeks, no pointy cheekbones or botoxed lips.
With the face done – in oils as usual, I painted in the eyes, the eye brows, and blocked in the hair, then hit yet another obstacle. The lips are probably worthy of mention. These were painted in with a dark purple colour – Alizarin Purple Madder, and then highlights of Titanium White added in fine lines for effect. A dark outline was left around the lips to make them stand out.
I still was pratting about with those panel lines ( maybe it’s me, and I’m not used to mechanical models ). I just couldn’t figure out which parts to paint flesh, which parts to paint metallic, and why all the bits that I thought would look best if painted in skin tones – the shoulders, thighs and hips, had what looked like bolt holes indented in them.
I had detailed these by making them look like screw heads by filling the holes with Milliput and then pressing a screwdriver in to the putty to give an indented line. Effective, but it didn’t help solve the problem.
I decided that I’d paint her as though wearing a kind of bikini and stockings, simply because I was sure that the flesh areas I’d picked would look right as flesh, and that these other areas just had too much mechanical detail on them to be anything but metallic in colour.
I had to compromise here and paint in sleeves too, as the arms had quite a few details on them too.
Once I’d got this straight in my mind, things did begin to move a bit. The legs were painted with an acrylic flesh colour to begin with, and then heavily thinned black enamel was used through an airbrush to add the stocking effect. See photo#1
This same method was used on the arms, dusting the area lightly, and adding more paint to fade the shadows into the highlights.
The other areas of flesh that would remain exposed skin were undercoated with the acrylic, but finished in oils.
As I’d committed myself to doing some areas in black, I decided to continue this theme with the breast area and also the groin. But wanted a more metallic effect here.
I used some black acrylic here to paint in the main areas ( part done in this photo ), and then stippled on Bronze, Antique Gold and Gold oil paints from Windsor and Newton, using the Bronze as the shadow colour, and the Antique Gold and then the plain Gold to build up the highlights.
These colours were used again to pick out the details on the arms and legs once those areas were finished.
The shoes were done with the acrylic black, adding two coats of this to build up a solid colour, and the small decorations on the heels were given an undercoat of white acrylic, then coated with some Tamiya Clear Red acrylic to give them the appearance of gems set in the heels. The hands too were done in the acrylic black, but as there is no real additional detail here, I decided not to add any other colour.
I’d initially thought to do the hair either white or black, but then came across some airbrush paint at a show ( Thomas my son actually saw it ) on a stand, that looked like a pearlised metallic effect. The final look of the paint is actually determined by the undercoat, the metallic coating being sprayed through an airbrush to give a final colour that changes and shimmers as the model is turned around.
It’s an interesting effect, and one that whilst limited in use, will tend to catch the eye of anyone looking at the model.
The paint is called Alclad II and this one id “Jade – Gold to Green” in the range. The final photo’s don’t give a very good idea of the effect, but it’s worth looking for this stall if you go to shows, and seeing the stuff “in the flesh” so to speak.
The details on the shoulder blades and the collar bones are painted with a dark blue acrylic, and then have the same Alclad paint airbrushed over them – a slightly different effect in colour from the black.
Then it was just the details to paint, adding gold to the swirls on the arms and legs, and matching the tips of the spear up to the hair with the black / Alclad method.
Finally I added some black panel lines to the model, and also added some black borders to the tops of the stockings and the arms at the elbow.
The detail on the brow was painted with the same gold / bronze mix as on the chest, and the red gem done in the same manner as on the heels.
I polished the brass tube up with some fine emery cloth, and then gave it a good smooth finish with some T-cut on an old cloth. To keep it shiny, I then painted it with a couple of thin coats of Tamiya Clear Smoke acrylic.
The base ( I’d actually done this pretty early on in the painting, simply because I was pondering paint schemes still, or waiting for paint to dry ), was painted with the Bronze / Gold oil paints, straight on to the bare resin, stippling in loads of Mars Black, Burnt Umber and also some Silver Humbrol enamel.
I tried foe a random effect here as if the metals had melted and run together in a casting. It worked out O.K. after a little playing around with the balance of colours, and I was quite pleased with it.
Now for the glue.
Admittedly, when I said that it was left in kit form to paint it, some of the smaller parts were glued in position. The heels on the shoes for example were fastened in place, but the rest of the model was only given the glue treatment once all the painting was finished.
This was a bit fraught, as the parts needed to be fastened together securely, and what with being so large, I opted for Epoxy glue rather than superglue.
Five minute Epoxy glue is the bane of my modelling life. It only ever sets when you don’t want it to, only ever runs onto finished and painted parts, and hardly ever gives me a satisfactory joint. I hate the stuff with a passion.
But in this case it really was the only way – the brass wire pins I’d been using were bending for fun with the weight of the model, and they wouldn’t be up to holding it together for those long trips to shows.
So, epoxy glue it had to be. Just for the record here, it took me several hours to get this darn thing set up, glued and satisfactory. At least it won’t come apart on me, for that I can be thankful.
And that’s about it really.
It’s a big model, and I like it’ It goes together very well, and has a beauty about it that a lot of the more contrived sculpts don’t possess.
I even reckon that it was worth the money, even though compared to the Games Workshop “big kits” it’s got nowhere near as much surface detail.
Basically, if you like the female form, then it’s very nice indeed. Although my better half does mention that the boobs are too low on the chest.
Somehow, I just can’t see it; maybe I’m biased.
One that’s definitely recommended for the modeller who likes women in resin, and has an abundance of cash.
2023 - as an addition to the text here, and twenty years on, this is one of my favourite models of all time. She's been to a lot of shows, and won a few prizes along the way. Her paintwork is looking a little chipped here and there, and if I'm honest, she deserves a repaint.
Why am I not doing that ?
Well, I worry that I'll not get the skin areas quite as good as they are now.
We'll just have to see if I get brave sometime soon.
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