1/35 Prospector

[frank2056]

I recently got the Master Box 1/35 The Wild West. Gold Fever Series Kit No 1 Gold-digger and was compelled to build it.


I also renamed it to "Prospector", because while he may be a gold digger, that means something else in modern parlance.

MasterBox figures vary widely in quality, with no real rhyme or reason. Some of the shortcomings have been poor detailing and a deviation from scale - some figures are as tall as 1/32 figures would be.

Luckily, this grizzled prospector is pretty good. Face details are adequate and so is the detailing. The donkey is nicely molded. The general pose and outfit could place the prospector anywhere from the 1800s to some futuristic post apocalyptic period.

I'm trying to improve my figure painting and I've made small gradual improvements, so this figure has been good practice.

The lacing on his boots was poorly molded and barely visible. I found a Trumpeter figure (which are almost all trash) with extremely prominent boot lacing, so I cut them off and transplanted them to this figure:







I detailed his open eye - even has a correctly scaled pupil - but the telescope blocks it completely:


I also have the beast and rifle from the Master Box 1/24 "World of Fantasy No. 2" kit:



I did some surgery on the rifle/weapon to roughly match the length of the Prospector's rifle. I also moved the trigger closer to the buttstock:



I used some glow in the dark powders mixed in with red and smoke clear Tamiya acrylics.

Here's the other side of the rifle:



I'm debating whether to fix some of the painting issues with the figure or move on to the donkey.

[perttime]

The figure looks great to me. Not so sure about the sci-fi rifle, though. It could be just that I don't understand how you are supposed to aim and fire it. And it looks heavy to be carried by a guy who is out there on his own.

[NARSES2]

Looks good.

I love the look on that Donkeys face in the box art  Lovely animals   

[Wardukw]

Another great looking figure from ya Frank 👌 😉
Looking forward to the donkey 

[PR19_Kit]

I love the look on that Donkeys face in the box art  Lovely animals   

He's saying 'Will you just GET ON WITH IT! I've been standing here doing nothing for half an hour while you point that thingie at me and my mate and there's half an acre of yummy looking grass just over there!'

[buzzbomb]

Really nice paintwork Frank. Subtle things like the patch in the trousers. Paintwork on the blanket roll is superb.

[frank2056]

Thanks, guys - I redid the donkey's donkey tail, to make it look more like the boxtop. Getting the shading on the fur will be tough, but that's why I bought this kit.

The space rifle is big. I just wanted to rescale it and play with the UV pigments. I modified the rifle (which looks close to the one on the boxtop) to look more like a Winchester.

@Brian - I was really tempted to make a decal for the pattern on the blanket, but this was more a figure painting exercise and I didn't want too much mission creep.

[kerick]

Really nice paintwork Frank. Subtle things like the patch in the trousers. Paintwork on the blanket roll is superb.

Speaking of patches, the knees always get holes first. Unless he got shot at!

This is really looking great! I'm interested in how the donkey turns out.

[Wardukw]

Really nice paintwork Frank. Subtle things like the patch in the trousers. Paintwork on the blanket roll is superb.

Speaking of patches, the knees always get holes first. Unless he got shot at!

This is really looking great! I'm interested in how the donkey turns out.

Same here Ken...ive got a horse to paint and some tips would be very useful 👍

[NARSES2]

Painting model horses is an art form in itself, they always have this sheen which is very difficult to replicate. People tend to recommend the use of oil paints for them. Donkey's don't have that at least 

[Wardukw]

Painting model horses is an art form in itself, they always have this sheen which is very difficult to replicate. People tend to recommend the use of oil paints for them. Donkey's don't have that at least 

Oh I'm really not looking forward to this now 😕 
But it's gonna be quite a cool build so mate I'm gonna need a heap of luck .
Least the figure will be easy 😉

[NARSES2]

Painting model horses is an art form in itself, they always have this sheen which is very difficult to replicate. People tend to recommend the use of oil paints for them. Donkey's don't have that at least 

Oh I'm really not looking forward to this now 😕 
But it's gonna be quite a cool build so mate I'm gonna need a heap of luck .
Least the figure will be easy 😉

Have a look at some figure painting forums for advice. Techniques may well have changed in the 40 years or so since I last painted some horses.

[Wardukw]

Painting model horses is an art form in itself, they always have this sheen which is very difficult to replicate. People tend to recommend the use of oil paints for them. Donkey's don't have that at least 

Oh I'm really not looking forward to this now 😕 
But it's gonna be quite a cool build so mate I'm gonna need a heap of luck .
Least the figure will be easy 😉

Have a look at some figure painting forums for advice. Techniques may well have changed in the 40 years or so since I last painted some horses.

Yes Sir..I fully intend to do that I ashore you..Im
gonna need all the help I can get.
Strangely though I'm really looking forward to this build .

[NARSES2]

Painting model horses is an art form in itself, they always have this sheen which is very difficult to replicate. People tend to recommend the use of oil paints for them. Donkey's don't have that at least 

Oh I'm really not looking forward to this now 😕 
But it's gonna be quite a cool build so mate I'm gonna need a heap of luck .
Least the figure will be easy 😉

Have a look at some figure painting forums for advice. Techniques may well have changed in the 40 years or so since I last painted some horses.

Yes Sir..I fully intend to do that I ashore you..Im
gonna need all the help I can get.
Strangely though I'm really looking forward to this build .

And that's what it's all about   

[kerick]

Donkeys have a much more rough and scruffy look than a horse. I've no idea how you would do that.