This 28mm scale plastic model of Moon Knight is produced by “Wizkids” and is miniature number 062 from their Marvel "Heroclix" Avengers/Defenders War Booster Set. Ranked by "Wizard" magazine as the 149th greatest comic book character of all time, Marc Spector's alter-ego was created by Doug Moench and Don Perlin for the August 1975 issue of "Werewolf By Night" by "Marvel Comics".
Resurrected by the Egyptian moon god Khonshu following his murder at the hands of the mercenary Bushman, this sculpt actually depicts the costumed crime-fighter whilst using his Mister Knight persona, and initially had me reaching for a sharp modelling knife in order to remove him from the stone gargoyle he was perched upon. In the end though, I decided to leave the model attached to the rooftop cornerstone, as otherwise I thought the figure might look a little small lurching low across a bare 40mm circular base.
The entire ensemble was actually partially primed with "Citadel" Abaddon Black and "Vallejo" White. I also originally started layering the gargoyle-shaped base with a couple of coats of "Vallejo" Heavy Bluegrey, but then swapped this acrylic colour out for the much deeper Dark Grey so the masked vigilante's bright suit appeared all the more contrasting. The stone work was later drowned in "Citadel" Nuln Oil, before being thoroughly dry-brushed in (more) "Vallejo" Dark Grey.
I had hoped to get away with a similarly straightforward approach to Moon Knight himself. However, the miniature's squat stance meant I had to be particularly precise with my brushwork if I didn't catch his already finished basework. As a result I carefully applied two more coats of "Vallejo" White over Marc Spector and then strategically dropped in some Pale Grey around all the folds in his clothing, footwear and gloves.
This approach seemed to work far better than my usual technique of simply drenching the figure in "Vallejo" Pale Grey and subsequently fuming that the wash had bubbled up in some of the detail's deeper recesses. Disappointingly, the softness in the super-hero's sculpt didn't lend itself to being dry-brushed with (more) "Vallejo" White. So in the end I actually had to 'pick out' a lot of the millionaire's costume, such as his collar, shoes, tie and buttons with a delicate application of pure "Vallejo" White, as well as the odd bit of edge highlighting.
As I'm determined to get my "Games Workshop" Manufactorum Imperialis scenery set completed before the end of next month, I have additionally managed to make some more progress on my two crane towers. The vast majority of paintwork on these two formidably-sized pieces of machinery is almost complete; albeit I have perhaps somewhat foolishly decided to 'pick out' one of the constructions' metal walkways and ladders with metallic paint, rather than simply leave the entire ensemble in the same colour.
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