1:8 Nosferatu (Count Orlok)
100th Anniversary Edition
Monarch Models
This is my buildup of Count Orlok from the 1922 silent film Nosferatu, which is a particular take on the Dracula story. It was later remade in a 1979 film by Werner Herzog.
This kit is the 100th Anniversary edition of the model from Monarch, which comes in an oversized box.
The overall fit of the kit wasn’t too bad, but there was a gap in one leg that I couldn’t close. So, I used sprue-goo, along with scraping and sanding. There was also a warp in the base that I managed to fix with a heat gun and some ice.
Most of the putty work was to manage sink marks, which were numerous. For that, I used either Taimya White putty or one part Bondo as a glaze. The shoulder joints were filled with Liquitex Modeling Paste, which is essentially the same as Vallejo Plastic Putty, only cheaper, price per unit volume.
The base was primed with Duplicolor Sandable black, while the rest of the sub-assemblies were sprayed with Tamiya Gray Surface Primer. A spot of the gray did not want to harden, so I had to scrape and sand that back and respray. I’m still not exactly sure what happened …
Colors were various Army Painter Warpaints, shot through an airbrush. I chose colors I thought appropriate. Vampire Red, Toxic Mist, Royal Blue, Abomination Gore, Orc Blood, Monster Brown etc. There was no masking. All the airbrush work is free-handed just to see if I could do it. I also tried to shoot the coat colors slightly under pressure to create a bit of texture. I think I sort of accomplished that, LOL.
After a seal coat, the final finishes were put on the clothes and final details then hand painted for the face and fingernails. I chose orange irises to contrast the blue skin. Then it was the final finishes and assembly with super glue.
The base was painted and washed with a mixture of Apple Barrel craft paint, with a seal of Plaid Gloss spray in between and a final flat of Krylon UV Resistant Clear. The nameplate is being kept unattached from the rest of the base.
If you are a monster/horror fan and like various things vampires, I would recommend this kit to build and paint; although, I’ve been told Monarch will no longer be producing this kit after this edition. There are no decals, so you can take your time getting to it.
Just watch out for sneaky mold lines. Just when you think they are all gone …
