Bob Schuller’s Gorgo
I just finished my Gorgo Model from Monarch. I recently retired, so now I have plenty of time to build models!
The first thing I did, was wash the model with dish soap to remove any mold release. For the next step, I see if I can build up the model to see how I can paint it. I like to work the whole model assembled ( that is the Gorgo portion), I do not assemble and paint in pieces, that way you get a better feel for it. I assembled and painted the mouth portion first, because it was in two pieces. I mixed violet and some pink, and coated it with clear acrylic gloss for the inside of the mouth. For the teeth I mixed an ivory with a brown wash. Next I assembled Gorgo using the Testor’s glue. On styrene models I always use Testor’s as opposed to Super Glue. Super Glue is better on the vinyl kits. Then I fill the seams with Elmer’s Squeez N’ Caulk, it paints over easily.
Choosing colors for Gorgo was a challenge, since most of the action in the movie was at night. I looked for stills online, and choose the colors from the scene in which Ogra is in the pen. The teeth and mouth were masked off to prevent overspray. First I air brushed the lighter Earth tan color and brown for the torso. Then I mixed a blue-greenish- grey for the rest of the body. I like to use Liquitex Acrylic Paints mixed with water, and sometimes rubbing alcohol.
Once the body was airbrushed, I then mixed a black and brown wash to make the pores look recessed. More black wash was used on his back to give the scales depth. Once the wash was dry, I dry brushed different colors based on the greenish and tan colors, going from darkest to lightest. I use a hair dryer for the paint to speed up the process, works great !
For the last portion I put in the detail, eyes , nails etc. The eyes were red, so I used flat red, then coated with acrylic clear. The nails are ivory with a brown wash and a touch of gloss clear. A nice touch for the teeth is that I dabbed a little Elmer’s Stix All, it always makes good saliva and slime ! The last step for Gorgo is that I airbrushed a small amount of gloss clear in certain areas to give him a slight ” wet” feel.
The base was airbrushed light grey, then I used different color washes of brown, black, tan, etc. to fill in the rubble. Dry brush was used in different earth tones on various parts of the base. The damaged buildings were shades of brown and then dry brushed in a lighter color then the base color of the buildings. For the nameplate, I chose a light green, dry brushed with white, since he is an aquatic creature, I thought that looked nice !
All and all, it took me around 20 hours.
Bob Schuller
