 | Judge PredatorI’m not a fan of the tale – pretty dull stuff with even duller artwork. But the best thing about it was the stunning cover by Brian Bolland of the Predator in full Judges uniform. And it’s pretty evident that this is where the sculptor has got his inspiration from. He’s in 1/8th scale, stands 20 cm tall and is made of resin. He comes as a full body with separate hands, the four big teeth, holster and base. Luckily the dreds are cast on. I used superglue to put everything together and then it was on with the white primer. When it came to painting, the Predator was no problem as I’ve painted loads of them over the years so went with what I’d done before. The trouble was Dredd’s costume. As I’d painted the Predator with a “realistic” skin tone, logic says to do the same with the outfit. I guess that would mean more muted colours but I wanted to have the colours as per the comic so bright it was. The old prob of what colour the bodysuit is had to be addressed. I prefer it to be black with a real dark blue highlight so that’s what I went with. I also went with a nice bright green for the gloves, belt and pads. For me the badge and shoulder pads will always be yellow – don’t hold with the idea of gold (brings back memories of the Dredd film). I was going to go with some gore as Dredd’s helmet (steady) is pretty badly gouged so I figured there’d been one hell of a fight and Dredd must be dead as that’s the only way he’d have given up his uniform. But in the end chose not to and stick with the cover. I did the base in metallics and picked the helmet out in gloss colours and that was pretty much him done. I really like the kit – it’s a brave choice to put out, reminiscent of a great cover and the pose is fantastic. Its not reminiscent of the Bolland artwork in the way the Halcyon kits are but it’s still a cracking piece of work. He’s still available in kit form if anyone fancies a go, so if you want to know where’s the best place to pick one up contact me via the message board and I’ll be in touch. MANGAMAX |