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Scale: Not stated
Do I really need to tell you that this is the Martian War Machine from the
1953 George Pal movie adaptation of the H.G. Wells novel "The War of the
Worlds"? No, I didn't think so. More specifically, it is the Skyhook Models
resin kit of that subject, which I have built pretty much straight from the
box.
The first step (after washing off the mold release agent) was to remove the
pour stub on the rear of the model, and to then sand the rear tip until the
contours matched the rear of the craft as it was seen in one very brief
scene in the movie. This sanding opened some small air bubbles along the
back edge of each wing that had to be filled with putty, after which the kit
was ready for painting.
The craft itself was painted with Floquil Copper and Model Master Sublime
Green, with the green areas receiving a coat of Future to give them that
glossy plastic look the filming miniatures had. The tip of the 'cobra neck'
was painted with Tamiya Transparent Red over the base copper color. A small
spot of yellow was carefully airbrushed into the center of the red, and then
lightly oversprayed with Tamiya Transparent Orange to create the brighter
spot in the center that the heat ray shot from. Only after painting was the
cobra neck pinned and superglued into place.
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The real joy in working on this kit was panting the extremely detailed base
that depicts a destroyed building spilling out into a street underneath the
hovering Martian War Machine. The remaining bits of the building walls were
painted with Model Master Rust for the bricks and Poly Scale Israel Early
Light Gray for the trim. A variety of other colors were used for the street
and the spillage of rubble, with considerable use of washes, drybrushing,
and pastel chalks for weathering. The vertical edges of the base were
painted flat black, after which I carefully sanded the paint off the top of
the front logo, which reads 'The War of the Worlds', to reveal the bare
resin beneath. I had originally intended to paint the letters the same
Sublime Green as was used on the War Machine, but the white resin looked so
good that I decided to just leave it that way.
Finally, when I mounted the model I deliberately drilled the holes for the
acrylic rod at an angle, so that the craft would sit back a bit rather than
hovering directly over the base and obscuring the view of it.
Image: Top view
Image: Right/front view
Image: Left/rear
Image: Base
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