Dragon Tortoise: Bones II Large Figure

     This past week I painted the large Dragon Tortoise figure from the Bones II, Expansion Set 1.  In planning my color scheme for this, I Googled images of snapping turtles, and scrolled through those for a while to get an idea of what the real thing looked like.

       I prepped the figure in the usual way; soaking the pieces in a dish of water with a couple drops of dish-soap added, then giving them a light scrub with a soft toothbrush, and then rinsing and drying them.   I then assembled the model using Gorilla superglue. When the superglue was set, I then glued the figure to a black-primed 2" fender washer with Aleene's Tacky glue.

     I began by painting his skin with Folk Art "Barn Wood", and his shell with Model Color "USA Olive Drab".   I then made a mix of the two colors to paint his arm, leg, and tail scales, as well as the top of his head, blending it into the lower lighter part of the head.  After that, I painted the inside of his mouth with Apple Barrel "Apple Light Pink".

     Next, I painted his claws and toenails with Americana "Khaki Tan", and his teeth with Americana "Bleached Sand".   I then mixed some of the "USA Olive Drab" with some Accent "Golden Harvest", and blended the tops of his shell spikes as well as the edges of the shell, working from the base "USA Olive Drab" up to pure "Golden Harvest" on the tips and edges.

      After everything had a while to dry, I gave the entire model a wash with Citadel "Agrax Earthshade" wash using a wet brush.  When the wash was dry, I painted his eyes with Apple Barrel "Lemon Chiffon", and then mixed a little of the "Lemon Chiffon" with some of the "USA Olive Drab", and used that to paint a cross on the eye, followed by a Black pupil.  I then highlighted his teeth with Crafter's Acrylic  "Light Antique White."

    After the teeth,  I highlighted the tongue with the base "Light Apple Pink",  and then the "Light Apple Pink" with a little White added.  Next, I highlighted the skin with a drybrushing of the base "Barn Wood", and I highlighted the shell as well as the neck, head, arm, leg and tail  scales all with a drybrushing of  the "Golden Harvest". I then highlighted the claws and toenails with some of the base  "Khaki Tan" mixed with a little Americana "Bleached Sand".  Lastly, I painted the area of base around each food with some Ceramcoat "Walnut".
    I let the figure dry overnight and the next day I gave him a coat of Americana "DuraClear Matte" varnish. When dry, I flocked the base. Another overnight dry, and I sprayed him with Testor's Dullcote".

     He's not quite how I had envisioned it in my mind's eye before I started, but I'm generally happy nonetheless.  And it's always  great to get another of these large figures completed!