Perfection is not a word I use often, but the latest work by sculptor Steve West has left me no other choice.  Alkali Lake, a 1/3 scale bust depicting Hugh Jackman as Wolverine, is a stunning piece.  Leather texture, skin pores, beard stubble, even stitching...everything is reproduced in breathless detail.  This is a kit that begs for the best effort from anyone who attempts it, and in return, rewards it's builders with boundless inspiration to excel at their craft.  Perfection has a way of doing that to you.  Do you get the feeling that I really like this kit?

Usually I like to experiment with a new technique or material with each build.  This time I chose to concentrate on practicing and perfecting my use of paints and techniques previously tried on other kits.  To that end, skin tones were my greatest concern and strongest focus.  For most of the build Liquitex Artist Acrylics were used--custom blending all of the various shades used for the flesh.  As mentioned in a previous build, I used primarily Burnt Sienna, Raw Sienna, and Titanium White in differing proportions for the various layers of shading.  The one new step was a final shading of a coral color applied to the naturally tanned/sunburned areas of the face and neck to add warmth to the complexion--an effect that I feel was very successful.  The hair was hand brushed using Floquil Engine Black, with hightlighting handled by a dark blue/grey.  The jacket was airbrushed with Liquitex Black while the velour patches over the shoulders were airbrushed with Floquil Engine Black.  All of the pinstriping was hand painted using Humbrol yellow (three applications).  The gold belt buckle and collar insignia were painted using Floquil Gold.

Alclad II metallic paints have become a favorite of mine.  Except for the belt buckle and collar emblems mentioned earlier, all of the metal tones were done with this paint.  The claws are Chrome over a base coat of Floquil Gloss Black.  The gloss black base is a necessity for the polished finishes.

The base was also painted in Alclad with a gloss black base coat.  In this case, it wasn't necessary to use the black base but I wanted the tones somewhat muted and felt the black base would help darken the effect.  Each panel was masked and painted individually, using various dark metal tones--Dark Aluminum, Steel, Magnesium, Titanium, and for contrast Pale Gold.  Most of the time I blended these colors together to achieve subtle differences from panel to panel.