Correcting paintjob of Papo's 2018 Blue Whale

[callmejoe3]

I really like Papo's 2018 blue whale for its size (38cm) and sculpt. However, the sculpt's realism is heavily butchered by the flat paintjob, which has it rich blue on top and white on the underbelly and throat. These colors are very unrealistic as blue whales appear more bluish-gray rather than actual true blue. So I took it upon myself today to repaint this figure to show off how realistic the figure looks when given a more accurate color. I started out with the first few coats by mixing light-blue and gray, but I finally got the right color with a mix of gray, black, and turqoise. I added a little more black to this mix for the underbelly. The color became more turquoise than gray when the paint dried, and there's no extensive mottling ( light spots) throughout the body like on a real blue whale. However, the base color still very much matches the illustrations used in my cetacean handbook and still a vast improvement that comes to show how far a simple paintjob can go to reveal how realistic the sculpt is. As you can see, the point where the articulated jaw meets the rest of the throat ended up getting some paint scratched off a bit.











For those aiming to recreate this. Try to do a roughly 1:1:1 mix of black, gray, and turqoise (or maybe another blue). Mix the black and gray first and then add the blue.

[Isidro]

Infinitely better! I only miss some whitish elongated small spots scattered over the whole body
This would be "my" blue whale if it has not a movable jaw otherwise is soo perfect!

[callmejoe3]

Infinitely better! I only miss some whitish elongated small spots scattered over the whole body
This would be "my" blue whale if it has not a movable jaw otherwise is soo perfect!

I'll try to experiment with some mottling later this week. With this paintjob, it instantly became one of my favorite models in my collection.

[callmejoe3]

@Isidro

I've added mottling. Now my alteration is a bit more complete.

[Isidro]

Now is near perfect! Congrats!

[Loon]

Wow, that's much better. I've been hemming and hawing about getting this one for a while, mostly cuz the paint seemed so subpar for Papo; but if it looked like this, I'd buy it in a heartbeat.

[callmejoe3]

Wow, that's much better. I've been hemming and hawing about getting this one for a while, mostly cuz the paint seemed so subpar for Papo; but if it looked like this, I'd buy it in a heartbeat.

Once I got the figure, I was able to see a strong sculpt when looking past the paintjob (especially from the dorsal view), but once I did my custom paintjob, it became really obvious just how much it was held back. It was ridiculous, it went from looking like a toy to looking like a scientifcally-accurate model. From the right angle, it looks unrecognizable. This went from being a b-tier figure to one of my favorites. Papo really hurted themselves by deciding to go so cheap on the exterior's paintjob. Had they went more realistic, this figure would have been the BEST commercially available blue whale figure outside of the Kaiayodo and PNSO models. No other I have seen from Schleich, Safari ltd, Collecta, etc. has that accurate of a sculpt and such a good size. It was pretty good before my alteration, but now other companies will really need to try hard if I'm ever going to buy a new blue whale ever again.

Honestly the Papo figure comes with a strong recommendation to anyone who is confident enough at holding a brush and can access acrylic paints and sray-on sealer. I'm not an experience painter, but with a light application and small, fine-tip brushes, I was able to get good results.

Basic recipe if you come around to go for this yourself.

Base color: 1:1:1 Black, grey, and turquoise. Mix the black and gray first and then add the turquoise. Add a bit of black for the darker underbelly. Add gray to base color to make the mottling spots.

Use a small brush and small amount of paint at the tip for applying base color around the face, eyes, and flippers and for the mottling. Use larger brush for the body. Use q-tip to clean off any paint you get on the baleen and tongue.

It's a bit of work, but I strongly recommend this for anyone who wants a decently-sized and nice looking Blue whale, but don't want to pay a mortgage for the PNSO and Kaiyodo figures.

[callmejoe3]

New update. Did some more research, turns out the color of the baleen wasn't even accurate either. The ''creamy'' color is more accurate for whales like Bryde's, northern minkes, humpbacks, and grays. For fin whales, blue whales, and sei whales, the baleen plates are generally dark.





Not my cleanest application, but I got decent coverage, all aided by the set of fine-tip brushes I recently purchased.