Not a build as such, but.....

As the BBC have done the dirty on this classic SF show (and pretty much destroyed my interest in having anything further to do with it OR the BBC) I looked back to the eras of the show I most fell in love with. Jon Pertwee and Tom Baker. Jon was my first Doctor, so will always have a special place in my interest in the show, but Tom was there for much longer - I only saw about a season of Jon before the regeneration and then Tom was there for 7-8 years.

Recently I noticed a sale on Doctor Who figures, and some from my favourite stories were reduced. So I caved and bought a couple. The Draconian Prince from Jon Pertwee's story "Frontier in Space", D-84 from Tom Baker's "The Robots of Death", and one of the mummy robots from Tom's "Pyramids of Mars".



Now please don't get me wrong. There is nothing wrong with these figures [other than the fact that the mummy robot had separated from his base during shipping] for a mass produced figure.

But I know I can do a better job than there is on these. That's just down to logistics. They can't afford to take the time that I can, use multiple different shades of primer, and let it sit for weeks if the weather isn't right or I just don't feel like working on it.

However. I can afford to do that.



The Draconian Prince. The most detailed figure of the three, and possibly therefore the most disappointing so far as how basic the paintwork is.



D-84. The story had 3 classes of robots. The 'D' class, or "Dumb" were basic menials that couldn't talk. 'V' class "Voc" robots were more intelligent and did most of the supervision, and a single 'SV' "SuperVoc" was in total control. D-84 was in fact an undercover SV class robot assisting in an investigation.

Not only were the robots distinguished by the letter and number on a plate on their chest, but by colour. 'D' class were dark green, 'V' class a lighter, more metallic green, and the SV was silver.

This came from my most fondly remembered era of the show. At the time a lot of fathers became interested in Doctor Who, and the reason was simple. At the time, Doctor who included the companion "Leela" - a woman who wore a leather leotard - and the show came on immediately after the football scores. [why can't they realise that's one of the best spots for a good show these days.]



The robot mummy. Earlier in Tom Baker's time than D-84, and the figure most in need of a tune-up, paint wise. A very bland - but again acceptable for a mass produced figure - paint job consisting of what looks to be a single colour and a wash.





The small pyramid shape on his back is supposed to be a red control crystal, but it seems even putting a mask around and painting it red was too much trouble. Not for me, it isn't.



As he was off his base anyway, I decided to go the whole hog and sand it down flat. It needed a little TLC to remove the excess glue around the bottom of where the feet had been anyway, so I might as well, I thought.

As I used a flat surface and sanded on that, it became quickly apparent that the top surface of the base was actually concave as the edges sanded down before the centre. I carried on until the base was flat.





With the sanding done, I cleaned the surfaces, and gently used masking tape to protect the material and sticker on the bottom of the base. I have since sprayed it with Alclad Gloss Black Base and will lacquer it as soon as I can, possibly tomorrow.

I have also layered on a 4 shade undercoat to produce some pre-shading on the figure. I start with the standard Vallejo grey primer and shoot that all over the figure. I then add a little black primer to the cup on my airbrush and mix it thoroughly to make a darker grey. This gets applied to the underarms, lower legs, small of the back, eye areas, under the 'chest' down to the pelvis, and under the chin. I then clean out the airbrush and switch to white primer. I shoot this sparingly from a high angle just forward of the head and left shoulder, this becomes my highlights. I finish off with black primer from low underneath so it only hits the inner legs, back of the arms, and below the shoulder blades.

Unfortunately, as I went to take a picture of this, I noticed that I had not gone high enough under the 'chest', so I will try and get out tomorrow to correct this, and put up pictures when I have.

If I can do this, I'll probably get the base linen colour on top too.

Stay safe, and keep watching for updates!

So finally got around to fixing my pre-shading and glossing the base.







Then spent some time trying to mix up a decent linen colour with the Vallejo Model Air paints I had. White, Yellow Ochre, and light brown. All I could come up with was a number of variants of a light flesh tone. Still, that'll be useful on the Draconian Prince later.

I also need to spend some time mixing the colours for my Enterprise build, so that's what I'm going to be concentrating on the rest of the week, with a new model arriving from America on Friday that I may be persuaded to put up here when I start building it [But that's going to have to be once I move. When completed it will be a fragile beastie, although there are some parts I may be able to get on with early that may give you a clue. I believe it will also be more impressive than the Enterprise once finished, I believe it will certainly be longer!]