Spidey - Painting (3b)--Oils: "Reds"

Now things get interesting. . . 

While there is no such 'thing' as Spidey Blue--it can be painted with any blue colour ranging from indigo to cobalt, with virtually any bias (nb: keeping in mind that the original costume was black with blue highlights; blue was not the official colour until 1966), Spidey Red is where it really gets tricky. I've always felt that the red was more orange-y than not, if only because Peter grew-up in Queens, and those are the Mets' colours. Or if that is too granular, they are the colours of New York City. Regardless, it is the miniaturist's call. 

I settled on Grumbacher's Cadmium-Barium Red Light as the base colour, with Ivory Black as the shade and Liquitex Cadmium-Barium Orange as the highlight, carefully punched-up as necessary with Zinc White. To date, I have completed the plastron and cummerbund, and the results are ve- ry encouraging. As a word of caution, the webbing is rather heavily modeled/cast, so 1) be care- ful with paint accumulation; and 2) leave the painting of the webbing itself until the "red" is at least dry to the touch.

I think the next item to be painted will be the mask and cowl. Anticipating this progression, I went ahead and painted the black borders of the lenses earlier this afternoon (NOTE: this was very likely the wrong call as I intend to paint the lenses a chrome silver--I will probably have to repaint the black borders after I finish buffing the lenses).

More to follow. . . 

UPDATE 05.10.2018. . . The head (mask and cowl) are done! At least the foundation layer has been applied. Given my experience to date, I think there will be at least 3 phases to each "red" section--not including the final painting of the webbing. Coming along nicely. . . 

“When the cost of a hobby exceeds the fun and doesn't attract new people, the game is over.” -
Oscar Koveleski, August 2003