The model was painted with a combination of Vallejo acrylic paints and Golden's Artist's Airbrush acrylics and Alclad metallic lacquers for the keys. Most base coating was done with an Iwata HP-CH Hi-Line airbrush driven by a Silentaire Scorpion II compressor. Handbrushing was done with Imex and Windor & Newton Series 7 sable brushes #000 through #2. Painting thinners and mediums includes Golden's Transparent Airbrush Medium, Lacquer thinner (for the Alclad metallics), and a custom mix of distilled water, alcohol, and Photoflo surfactant.

The skin tone is airbrushed Goldens Airbrush Acrylic: Titanium White with a bit of Raw Umber Hue, Cerulean Blue Hue, and Shading Grey. I also made a lighter, more translucent version of the base skin tone to use as a glaze over the hand-brush veining and slight mottling across the skin. This gives the skin a sense of depth and translucency.

The eyes were hand-painted with Vallejo Model Colors: Off-White. Pupils were Flat Black. Irises were a combination of Red and Deep Orange. Over the eyes, I applied a thinned layer of Golden's Transparent Hansa Yellow Medium to give them a jaundiced look. Then I gave a lesser glaze of Golden's Napthol Red Light mixed with a good dose of Transparent Airbrush Medium. This was applied mostly to the corners of the eyes. Finally, a top coat of Future Floor Acrylic to give them a nice, hard shine.

Nosferatu's coat is actually a variation on his skin tone color. Instead of mostly Titanium White, I used Raw Umber Hue as the base. To this I added a little Titanium White and Shading Grey to get the final base color. I made 2 variations to the base color by adding more Titanium White for a highlight color, and more Shading Grey for the shadow color. The collar and cuffs was the coat's base color with more Shading Grey and just a bit of Carbon Black added. The ascot is Napthol Red Light and Shading Grey.

"Valk dis vaaaay!"

The key ring was painted with Alclad Steel. The keys were airbrushed with Alclad Burnt metal to give a worn brass look. I further aged them by roughly applying Rustall #1 and #2 solutions.

The finger nails were hand brushed with the skin base color mixed with a little Diarylide Yellow. A bit of Transparent Hansa Yellow was also glazed on to punch up the color a bit. For the crusty brown area at the base of the finger nails, I tried a glaze of FW Inks Sepia. It worked okay but I think I would have better control with the usual oil glaze. I find the ink dry very quickly leaving hard edges.

I painted in the nameplate with Vallejo alcohol-based "Old Gold" . The nameplate itself is Golden's Airbrush Acrylics. Base color is Carbon Black with dark grey tones of Carbon Black mixed with Titanium White. I also introduced some tonal variations by adding some Permanent Green Light and Raw Sienna Hue.

I'm certainly no expert painter or model builder, but I spend a lot of time trying things out, so I hope some of the info I presented is useful. At the very least, I hope you enjoyed looking at the buildup. Monarch did a great job producing this kit and Mr. Yagher is up to his usual impressive self. Along with Gary Makatura invoking the spirit of Aurora box art past, this is certainly is a great way to kick off Monarch's styrene reign. Thanks for looking at my build up!

Check out their site at monarchmodels.net

My review kits were purchased from Megahobby.com

Gary Makatura/Jeff Yagher