Kelley Jones' Vampire Bat

"The Many Faces of the Bat" is a very limited series commissioned by a private collector of 1/9th scale busts sculpted by Jim Maddox depicting the "Dark Knight" in five of his more famous—or infamous— guises, including my favourite—and the subject of this review and project—the Kelley Jones' Vampire Bat(man) from Crimson Mist, the third installment in the “Vampire Trilogy”.

The kit is comprised of four pieces: bust, two ears, and the pedestal base. It is cast in a high- grade, buff-coloured PUR—think Ft. Duquesne or UEM!—that is a dream to work. The casting quality is a solid A: the only reason it did not receive an A+ was due to a slight mold-shift along the right side of the bust. In the interest of thoroughness and full disclosure, I found but a single air bubble of any kind: this was at the base of one of the ears, hardly worth mentioning as it will not be seen once the ears are attached [MODELLING NOTE: despite its hidden nature, it should definitely be filled prior to mounting.]

By way of follow-up (20.11.10) the bust is now assembled, filled (business-as-usual fairing of the joins where the ears attach to the cowl), and in final finishing and clean-up. . . of which there is very little. In fact, I could very well have this ready for priming by the end of the weekend, but I prefer to let it "simmer" for a few days and then reassess. [UPDATE 28.11.10--Now ready for priming!]

So. . . have I reworked the kit in any way? No. . .and yes. I have not made any changes whatso- ever to the bust itself; however, I have reworked the pedestal base considerably. The base would work fine as is IF one accepted that it would serve as the display base as well. And that is unac- ceptable. Thus, the overall height of the base was reduced by at least a third and somewhat "squared" to fit on a 2 x 2 x 2 1/2 stained burl display pedestal. I also had to adjust the fit of the bust to its base. As provided, the bust was looking down: it was marginally acceptable using the base as it was; once reduced in height, the face was effectively hidden from view and in profile-- so what was the Bat looking at? I corrected this by reworking the attachment join of bust to base, effectively slightly repositioning the bust.

And that about wraps this up! THIS is what figure prepwork should be: short and sweet. My next posting will launch the painting of this piece, with before-and-after-priming images. Until then. . .