Resin Realties "New World" V2

This is my second go at this kit from Resin Realities which I REALLY like.

The kit had a few improvements from the first time I built it. This time the manufacturer provided a whole length of guitar string for the head to chest tubing parts. Originally, the kit had just enough string to make the six pieces so there was no room for error on the builders part. I've complained about this above so I am not sure if Resin Realities was responding to my bitch alone or others but it is nice to know that they were listening. There were obvious repairs to some of the castings with efforts to fill casting voids and/or bubbles with epoxy clay, another improvement I appreciated. Finally, they provided two pairs of the extremely delicate hands which, I assure you, you WILL break at some point during the construction phase. It simply can't be avoided. On my initial build, I dropped one and half of its fingers were never seen again. Having said that, this is still a great looking kit that is well cast and fun to build.

I opted for a winter scene to bring a lot more contrast to the orange finish I gave the robot. I used a gloss teal color for the visor which I pin scratched to simulate bullet damage. I also distressed the robot a lot more with more pronounced battle scars and corrosion (using the salt method – see Tip #28) than what are on the original version. I also decided to replace all the struts with solid brass stock to replace the very delicate resin castings on the legs and arms. Like the hands, one or more of these will break no matter how careful you are.

This time out, I decided to scrap the original base (which is great BTW) for one of my own design. As I said, I went with a winter scene and added a human skull with a heat ray hole burned into it. I printed the skull on my 3D printer with a recipe I downloaded from Thingaverse. After painting, the skull is then secured to the base with an adhesive of your choosing.

The base is a section of basswood trunk I purchased at my local craft store. The oval size and shape were just right and, after I sanded off the bark, it resembled a rock precipice (sort of). I built up the surface with irregular applications of Sculptamold which I then sealed with Hodge Podge after it hardened. I then roughly painted it with splotches of dark gray and khaki colored acrylic paints followed by a black wash here and there on the still wet surface to bring out the surface details.

The weeds are actually bristles from a blown out paint brush from which I glued clumps here and there into the base and secured with white PVA glue (Elmer's). Finally, I gave the base a a watered down application of white PVA glue and sprinkled tea (yes, tea) about to look like dead leaves. After this layer completely dried, I sealed it with a clear matte coat of spray paint from a rattle can. You MUST do this because the tea leaves WILL bleed color into next layer (which will be the snow) if you don't. Once the clear coat has dried, wet the surface again with the watered down PVA mixture OR hit it with another heavy spray of clear coat followed by the application of artificial snow. Some use snow from Woodland Scenics, others use baking soda (NOT powder). It's your call. 4/1/2019