Rogue, the fiery tempered southern belle of the mutant  X-MEN, has long been one of my favorite female superheroes.  While attending Wonderfest 2002 over the Memorial Day weekend (my first such national contest and convention) I came across this kit and decided to make it my first foray into resin figure kits.  Sculpted by Joe Laudati and purchased through Collectors Den, the dynamic pose caught my eye and helped compensate for some of the less than ideal surface finish of the casting.

Sculpted at 1/6 scale, the pose of this figure placed a great deal of weight forward of the lower foot.  In addition to the balance there was very little actual contact with the base.  In order to solve the problem this presented I discarded the resin base included with the kit and used a chunk of volcanic rock that seemed to mimic the diagonal stance of the kit.  A 1/8" hole was bored through the rock and a brass rod inserted as a mounting post.  A corresponding hole was carefully drilled as deep into the foot as I dared...about 1".  This gave the necessary strength to support the weight of the kit and allow me to still remove the figure for transporting.  While all of the joints were pinned together with brass tubing, special care was taken with the lower knee since this point would take the greatest stress of any seam in the kit.

A variety of paints were used in finishing this kit.  Floquil paints were used for the primer and the green and yellow tones of her costume.  The flesh tones and the browns of her jacket were Model Master enamels.  The hair was a combination of Model Master enamels and Tamiya acrylics.  As has become my habit I started with the flesh colors, using a combination of light tint base, warm tone, and some shadow tint.  I tend not to wait between colors, but rather work continuously drybrushing and blending to get a subtle transition between shadows and highlights.  This can be frustrating at times, but when it works....    The yellow was applied next, followed by the green.  A little shadowing was added to the yellow areas and some lighter green highlights to the other areas of the costume just to add a bit of texture to the green.  Leather brown with wood brown drybrushing took care of the outside of the jacket.  The jacket lining started with wood brown, followed by a wash of Tamiya brown, and then finished with a drybrushing of Floquil Antique White.

Rogue's hair started with the shock of white.  I used a base coat of Intermediate Blue on the locks that I wanted to single out.  Two passes of white drybrushed over the blue took care of the details for this part of her hair.  For the majority of her tresses I wanted an auburn look.  I started with Tamiya Hull Red for the base of red/brown that would be needed.  I followed this up with a drybrushing of Tamiya brown and then came back with a lighter drybrushing of Model Master Wood Brown.  The eyes were based with white, Pale Green for the irises, and then a touch of black for the pupils.

As you can tell, I like to restrict my color pallet to as few different colors as practical.  Instead of having widely contrasting colors I tend to like working with variations of the same colors throughout a project.  At least to my eye it gives the build-up a more cohesive, natural look.