After a superb two week hoilday break, it’s fair to say that I have managed to press the ‘reset button’ and arrived back from my holiday fully refreshed, rested and ready to get back to my hobby! I found the time to clarify my thinking on just what I intend to do with the rest of the year and my push to reduce my lead pile continues, albeit with a bit more focus.
One of my projects is to paint at least one version of the entire DeeZee range. It’s something that I have been working on for a number of years. In fact, the first Blog post was written in 2014 when I painted the newly commissioned Bear Cubs DZ28. You can see the post here:
I do have painted examples of all of the DeeZee Range. However, the idea was that if I painted them myself, I would have a clear idea how to advise my customers as to how to do so. It also would mean that I could refer customers to the appropriate blog article for further information. Alas, good intentions and all that, DeeZee has taken a back seat to other hobby projects and to make matters worse, when I have painted the odd model, I’ve failed to document it or mixed it in with a work bench update.
So, with all that in mind, here’s a short guide to painting the DeeZee Giant Crocodile DZ22.
There are pictures on the web listing of earlier painted models. One is the original from Duncan’s collection, the other is painted by the extremely talented Kevin Dalimore. I’m by no means in Kevin’s league when it comes to painting but I thought that I could improve on the original model. The first job was to clean the model up and I then primed it with Army painter Skeleton bone primer. Trying to decide what colour to paint a crocodile is not easy! A google search returned the answer that Crocodiles are a green/brown colour but can vary based on the species.
I decide to use Vallejo US Olive drab70887 as the base colour. To get the lighter colour on the belly and tail, I mixed in some Deck tan 70896. The inside of the mouth was painted with 70804 Beige rose, the eyes with 70913 Yellow ochre and the teeth with off white, 70820.
I then used German Cam. Black Green to paint some stripes towards the tail and added a few random blotches to the body. After a very light dry brush with the Olive drab/Deck tan mix, I gave the croc a good wash with soft tone ink to bring out the detail and give the model a brownish hue. When this was dry, I re-painted the eyes with deep yellow and added the iris. I then touched up any of the details that required sharpening. I left the semigloss finish as I wanted the Croc to look wet!
To base the Crocodile, I used a large MDF Oval base and covered it in Milliput to give a ‘mud’ effect. I wrapped the bottom of the Croc with cling film and pushed him into the wet milliput. This gave me the indent where the croc would sit and the cling film stopped the milliput from sticking to the model. I used some pebbles from my garden as rocks. Once everything was dry, I painted the base with my usual emulsion basing paint – Delhi Bazzar- a nice green brown muddy colour! I added a few highlights by mixing in Iraqi Sand and some depth by using strong tone ink.
Once the paint was dry, I added a variety of Gamers grass tufts and with the Crocodile now in place, I poured Vallejo Water Effects 26230 over the base. This self-levels and dries to a clear water effect. To get some depth, I added a second layer – it’s best not to pour more than about 3mm depth at once. The model was now finished.
THE COMMERCIAL BIT
I hope that you all enjoy your hobby as much as I do – our web site will have much of what you need! Click here to see our shop.
To see the full range of DeeZee animals, click here:
You can find all the Vallejo Model colour paints here. If you don’t want to browse, just enter the paint number into the shop search bar;
To find water effects and other textures, click here:
You can find Gamers grass here:
If you need Milliput or other fillers, click here:
Happy Modelling!