2009 October | Resin the Barbarian

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Archive for October, 2009

My first look at the new Moebius Frankenstein’s Monster

October 23rd, 2009

Disclosure: I sell this kit and need money, so the opinions expressed herein may be tainted. Please take that into account.

My case of Moebius Frankenstein’s Monster kits arrived today. I was pleased to note that, despite a hole in the side of the shipping box, my kits are in good shape, as opposed to the beating UPS gave my case of Spider-Man kits. There was a little bit of a muddy spot on the shrink wrap of one kit, so that’s the one I kept for myself and opened up this afternoon.

Let’s not bury the lead. Plenty of people have objected to the look of this monster and I agree that it’s not the out-of-the-ballpark home run of the Mummy. This kit looks less like Karloff and is overall a bit stiff, even for the Monster. However, I still like it, and I was pleased to see how detailed the kit’s facial features are.

At first, I thought it might help to use some Aves to lengthen the face a bit. Now that I see the kit in person, though, I might instead suggest chopping a couple of millimeters off the neck to give the creature a somewhat tougher, more bull-necked look. Of course, Karloff himself was thin, but the costume’s padding hid that. I wanted to show how this new Moebius Monster looks next to the Aurora classic. Unfortunately, the only version of that kit I have handy is a Luminators with that wild translucent orange plastic, but I did the best I could.

Here’s one where I turned the Luminators Frankie black and white to try to better highlight the facial features.

A look at the profiles. I love the classic creature as much as anybody, but the new one definitely has a sharper, more realistic look.

The kit’s head went together nicely and the seam line isn’t intimidating. If the rest of it is as easy to assemble, it won’t take long to get it ready to paint.

I really appreciate how Moebius pays attention to some details I don’t even consider.

For example, on the Spider-Man kit, the seam line on the head follows the web pattern on the character’s costume. On the new Frankie’s base, there are a couple of delicate connection pins that are nicely protected by a clear plastic shield.

Frankie’s box is nice. It’s about the same height as a classic Aurora long box, but substantially wider and deeper. It also has a little more heft than the Moebius Spider-Man and Green Goblin boxes.

Overall, I’m pleased with this latest Moebius Universal Studios Monster and look forward to seeing the recently announced Lugosi Dracula.

Filed under Hobby news, Monsters, Styrene plastic | Tags: | Comments Off |

Official photo of Monarch’s Sinbad model

October 16th, 2009

SinbadUpCloseScott McKillop of Monarch Models shared this with me. It’s the official high-resolution photo of Sinbad, built and painted by Randy Eveleigh. Click it to see the whole image. I think Monarch still hopes to have this out before year’s end, but don’t quote me on that.

Filed under Hobby news, Styrene plastic, Swashbucklers and buccaneers | Comments Off |

‘Legends of Film & Fantasy’ James Bama, Jeff Yagher
and dozens more meet the maker of the Witch’s Dungeon

October 1st, 2009

Click here for an update about the DVD specifics.

In 1966, two people took major steps toward living their dreams. One was James Bama, a New York City commercial illustrator, about 40 years old, whose portfolio included dozens of cover paintings for Doc Savage paperbacks and the box art for many of Aurora’s monster model kits. The other was Cortlandt Hull of Bristol, Conn., great-nephew of “Werewolf of London” star Henry Hull, a 13-year-old lover of classic horror movies and builder of Aurora models.

Looking over my notes for this month’s “Resin the Barbarian” interview, recognizing the time frame of the turning points in these two men’s lives, I was fascinated to realize that Mr. Bama began to move away from the genre work that has remained popular about the same time Cortlandt embraced a life ever influenced by monsters. Cortlandt’s decision was made in part because he — like millions of others — so loved Mr. Bama’s box art. Decades later, Mr. Bama was impressed with the work Cortlandt and director Dennis Vincent did profiling artist Basil Gogos on “The Witch’s Dungeon: 40 Years of Chills”, so he invited them to visit his home in Wapiti, Wyo., for a rare interview that will be featured in the documentary “Legends of Film & Fantasy”, to be available on DVD in early 2010.

Wapiti is where Mr. Bama finally settled a few years after he and his wife, Lynne, departed Manhattan, according to the introduction to the book “The Western Art of James Bama”. They’d visited a friend in Wyoming in 1966 and began to realize how different their lives could be. After return visits in 1967, the Bamas settled in Wyoming for good in 1968. Bama continued doing commercial work for a few years to make ends meet, but his focus quickly turned to his own works. His realist approach to Western people and places has gained Mr. Bama widespread respect as a fine artist.

Around the time Mr. and Mrs. Bama were discovering Wyoming, Cortlandt was working with his father, Robert, to turn a Swiss chalet-style building into the Witch’s Dungeon, a place to house the life-sized monsters the boy had started fabricating when he decided the Aurora models just weren’t big enough. The Dungeon, open every year around Halloween, continued to grow over the years, as did Cortlandt’s artistic abilities. In October 2009, Zenobia the Gypsy Witch (Cortlandt’s original creation) welcomes visitors to a visit with many of Cortlandt’s monsters, including the Phantom of the Opera, Frankenstein’s Monster, Count Dracula, the Creature from the Black Lagoon and, of course, the Werewolf of London.

Cortlandt and Dennis… Read the rest

Filed under Monsters, Movie makers, Sci-Fi | Tags: , , , | 4 Comments » |




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