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The model is pretty much straight from the box, with two exceptions: The original pose had the predator holding his machete aloft, but I cut off the hilt and attached it to the scabbard. I re-adjusted the hand and placed the scratch-built spear in it in place of the machete. The spear is made of several lengths of aluminum tube of differing diameter. The center length is covered in a kind of grip. The next length is ribbed with styrene strips. The final length is smooth. There are currently no points at the ends of the spear. I also replaced the gauntlet blades from the kit with a pair of styrene shete duplicates.
Painting was simple, with the pattern drawn straight from the box illustration. I used an airbrush for most of the figure, but used a regular brush for the spear and face and head markings--particularly the pattern on the top of the skull and eyes. I also used a fine liner brush to paint over the molded-on webbing covering the majority of the Predator's skin. The mesh was a fairly simple diamond pattern, but the pattern didn't match up when the front half and back half of the kit were glued together. Some fine carving work was called for to make corrections. In retrospect, it probably would have looked better if I had sanded down the raised mesh detail and just painted on the pattern by hand. Of course, this would have taken MUCH longer, and I wanted to make this a cheap and simple project with only minor modifications.
The skull was painted an off white, with a very thin wash of yellow/brown. Highlights were drybrushed with white. After dullcoating the entire figure to seal and protect the paint job thus far, a coat of Future Floor Wax was brushed on to the human skull only and allowed to dry overnight. A second, more liberal coat was brushed on, followed by a daub of slightly thinned gloss red. When the red paint hit the still wet Future, the paint "marbled out", pruducing a really nifty bloody effect. When this coat dried, a final coat of Future was applied to the human skull and Predator's eyes produce a wet look.
