Whenever one thinks of the devil and what the god of the underworld looks like, look no further than the character called Darkness from Director Ridley Scott’s 1985 fantasy epic Legend.

This long out-of-production resin kit is the quintessential figure showcasing the mammoth horned lord played in the film by Tim Curry. Sculpted to perfection by Mike Trcic (former Stan Winston Studio creator of the T-Rex from Jurassic Park), the proportions are expertly crafted from horns to hooves, exquisitely capturing his defiant pose and maniacal smirk.

Though other renditions have tried to capture the essence of this character, none has ever reached the level of Trcic with the exception of a similarly scarce resin gem sculpted by the character’s original designer, Miles Teves, who produced a stunning quarter-scale bust back in the mid-90s., Both kits are revered and top the list of some of the most sought-after kits throughout the modeling world.

This vintage kit was originally manufactured in nine parts and stands upon a thin cobblestone base, clutching a serpentine staff in one hand.

After carefully examining the parts, I cleaned them of any excess resin flashing and test-fit the parts. Assembly was straightforward with very few seam lines to deal with. I first antiqued the non-black areas to fill in the recesses, then airbrushed the exposed skin with transparent red with a touch of orange. His hair-covered legs were colored with transparent dark amber while the hooves, claws and giant horns were rendered black. I also used a gloss coat on these black areas. The eyes were painted yellow and the teeth were given a treatment of yellow-white with a wash of orange. The clothes were painted flat black and dry brushed with white. The chains clutchiing his clothes were rendered in gold while the head of the staff was painted to resemble a living creature as opposed to making it a solid statuette.

Finally, the cobblestone was given a base coat treatment of black with a generous dry brushing of white and blue, making the finished product a stunning sight to behold. In my decades of modeling, I’ve been asked to paint 6 or 7 copies of this kit for clients, proving that as one of the true mainstays in the hobby kit world for collectors. Not a bad sculpt for a guy who specializes in dinosaurs.

Until next time, always keep your modeling fun.

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