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A Bloody Mess

Undoubtedly, Frankenstein vs. the Creature from Blood Cove is about as close as we will ever get to a Universal duel between Karloff's monster against the Creature from the Black Lagoon.  But it also owes a lot to Roger Corman and Russ Meyer. 

So, what would you get if you crossed the Creature from the Black Lagoon, the The Monster of Piedras Blancas and Darth Maul?  Yep, the Creature from Blood Cove.  And yes, folks, there is a model kit that captures this in a shelf sized diorama . . . Geometric Designs' Creature From Blood Cove!

The kit is pretty easy to do, it comes in only four parts, and could be done in a weekend even if you are a novice.  The kit is pretty clean, though a few mold lines must be cleared off slowly with a sharp Xacto blade. The parts fit well and with some superglue and basic paints, you could have yourself a very eye-catching piece.

The arms have a tab and slot design, but it needs a little trimming with a hobby knife to fit tightly.  I want to support the arms a little, however, with a technique called posting or pinning.

In the photos below, you can see that I am first trimming the tab off with a pair of clippers (Xuron Rail Nips to be precise).  Secondly, I am slowly drilling a small hole in the center of the upper arm.  Then, I clip a small nail off near the head and using pliers insert it into the hole with the point out and press the second part of the arm into place gently.  The resin is soft enough to push the whole thing in if you don't leave more than a quarter inch of nail showing. 

You can also drill a corresponding hole if need be in second part of the arm.  Either way, a little superglue will hold it together, and this can be done fast if you use a product like Zip Kicker to accelerate the process.

When the creature is assembled, he still needs a couple of steps before painting.  First, you want to fill the gaps with putty.  You can use the Testor's white stuff if you can't find anything else, but you'll get much better results with a two part putty like Aves.

In the shots below, you can see the basic process.  First you take the two parts of the putty and mold them together (boring photo, so I did not include it.)  Then, after it has hardened up for a few minutes, take small rolls and press them into place with a toothpick (below left).  Then, I use a small screwdriver to imitate the  texture of the kit.  It takes a little time and patience, but it is a simple thing you can do to improve the look of the finished kit.  (PS if you look at the creature's head, you will see where I have put in a toothpick tip to repair a horn I broke off . . . a little putty goes on this too!)

Okay, we can let the creature go for a while and turn our attention to the half dressed female of the kit.  Well, actually, I guess she is dressed, but there is only half of her!

I put a coat of gray auto primer on the whole kit before painting, and when it is dry, I turn to the beach scene.  The victim gets an airbrush coating of Lifetone's Bronze Flesh and the high parts (facial features, breasts and arms) get a thin coat of Pale Flesh on top of that. 

The guts are sprayed and then hand painted with Deep Wound Maroon from Badger paints.  The sand gets an airbrushing of Rotten Tooth Tan (also from Badger).

The next step is to paint the rock a dark gray base coat and dry brush (more on that later) on a lighter gray to bring out the highlights.  I used Badger's near black for the base and then dry-brushed Dolphin Gray from Apple Barrel craft paints (acrylics found in Walmart).

She also gets a coat of hand painted Pearlized Purple from Createx on the bikini, Model Master Sandalwood Beige on the hair and a little Jezebel Pink on the lips and highlights of the guts. 

She's had a rough day, so I decide to move on to the creature at this point.

Now folks, one lesson I learned early on was that ya don't want to get your sticky fingers all over a freshly painted monster, so I developed this all purpose creature holder.  It is basically just a screw in a stick, but it holds the feet in place and I can turn it around from many angles to get the whole kit covered.

So what are we using?  Gangrene and Cowards Yellow, both from Badger.  That's it for the base coat, though you should seal it at this point with Testor's Dulcote spray.

So, the next step is to bring out some of the creature's features.  First, I spray on a thin coat of Coward's Yellow over the Gangrene on the face and hands to give it a sense of skin tone. 

Now, back to dry brushing for a while.  Using a little Apple Barrel Leaf Green, I dip a flat brush into the paint to put a little on the tip and then pull all of it right back off with a rag . . . because that's the way I roll.  When it is mostly off, brush it across the ridges of this kit and you will be able to bring out those fine details.  (Check the full scale picture for the full effect.)

You'll also notice that the eyes have been shaded a little.  I just put in a drop of white with a toothpick and then gold . . . and then a line of black, but you can't see that just yet!

Okay, now we are ready to wrap it up. 

First of all, the creature's horns and claws are painted with Americana Light Buttermilk.  The mouth is painted with Jezebel Pink by hand, then a little thinned down Deep Wound Maroon is applied before the teeth are touched with Buttermilk.  Lots of times I would do an oil wash on a kit at the end, but this one looks good like it is, capturing the over the top look of the movie in general.

Next, we have the base.

Obviously, I watch a lot of CSI, and this crime scene requires some blood.

First, I started with the widest spray and therefore the lightest colors.  I watered down some Jezebel Pink and spread it out from the body with a thick brush and allowed that to dry.

Next, I went in with Tamiya's transparent Red, which is also a nice glossy finish.  That is the second layer, a little closer to the body.  Then, on the guts, I mixed Deep Wound Maroon with Tamiya Transparent Red and swabbed the spillage.

Next, the kit gets the splatter effect.  Simply dip the paint brush in a thinned solution of each color and tap small amounts of it against the base of the kit slowly.  This will spray it and you can actually have a fair amount of control.

A couple of dots of light blue on white for the eyes, and we are ready to seal and ship!

There are a lot of reasons to get this kit (and naturally, we want to encourage you to do so), but something to keep in mind is that this is a real collector's item.  This is (and will be) the only kit ever produced based on this film, so by all means snag it.  Just drop by the Geo figures page for more info.

And if you have questions or want one built for you, email me at editor@creaturescape.com and we can work it out.