Donovan – Atlantis

What a great time for fans of plastic figure models. Five years ago, it seemed the “big guys” had declared our hobby dead and not worth resuscitating. Polar Lights was at the end of a spectacular run of kits, including a few wonderful originals and many “repops” of classic Aurora monsters and heroes. But Playing Mantis, PL’s owner, was purchased by a larger company that was much more interested in Johnny Lightning cars than model kits.

Atlantis plans to revive Aurora's long-out-of-production pirate kits, Captain Kidd and Blackbeard, in 2011. The company recently acquired an original Blackbeard to reverse-engineer.

The message that seemed to come down to figure-kit hobbyists was, “You’re not worth our time anymore.”

Fortunately, a few “little guys” decided not to accept that the hobby was dead and took steps. Moebius emerged and started producing terrific figure kits. Monarch’s Nosferatu was a hit.

Wasn’t long before figure kits started appearing from other companies that had the molds handy. Revell has put a handful of Aurora classics on hobby store shelves for the umpteenth time. Polar Lights is back in the game.

Still there’s plenty of material to mine. Hobbyists throw out wish-list material at every opportunity, hoping for revivals of kits they knew and loved as kids, and for stuff they’ve never owned but always been interested in.

Enter Atlantis Model Co., another small producer ready to make some of those dreams come true. The company has already released three UFO models. It plans to follow up soon with reissues of Aurora’s American Buffalo and Black Bear kits.

A bevy of Aurora figure kit releases are in the works for 2011, including Blackbeard and Captain Kidd, Gladiators and more.

The masters of Atlantis, from left: Rick Delfavero and Peter Vetri of Megahobby, owner of the new model company, and consultant Andy Yanchus.

The “little guys” behind Atlantis Peter Vetri, 39, and Rick Delfavero, 45, of East Northport, N.Y. They’re the owners of Megahobby.com Inc. and founded Atlantis in April 2009. They’re getting help from hobby expert Andy Yanchus, who serves as a consultant.

The company is named after Donovan’s classic folk-pop song.

Megahobby is about to celebrate its 10th year in business. Peter says he and Rick have “built many models over our lifetimes and continue to do so.”

My introduction to Atlantis Models came courtesy of Scott McKillop of Monarch. “If they can do faithful repops of the aurora kits, I will be a big fan, he wrote in an e-mail. “Looks like a great company.”

Q&A WITH PETER VETRI

Resin the Barbarian: When and how did you decide to start Atlantis?

Peter: Atlantis was started last April. We wanted to grow Megahobby through another sales channel besides retail sales. We love kits and think we can do a good job making them so Atlantis was born.

The EVE flying saucer kit, now available, was produced for Atlantis by Light Force.

RtB: So far, the kits available from Atlantis were manufactured by other companies, correct?

Peter: This is correct. The EVE saucer was produced by Light Force for Atlantis. The TR-3E mold we purchased from Light Force and the UFO flying saucer was produced for us by Lindberg.

RtB: Will one or two of the wildlife kits be the first reissues coming directly from Atlantis? Looks like the Black Bear and American Buffalo are almost ready. And, when will they be available?

Peter: These will be the first two kits (NEW TOOLS) completely done by Atlantis. Hopefully they will be ready to ship July, August 2010. Both of these kits will have new box art by Chris White. We knew there would be a learning curve and unforeseen things when we started this. This has proven true.

Atlantis plans to enlarge the Black Bear kit to 1/10 scale. This prototype model was built by Joe Walonis and Andy Yanchus.

RtB: The Atlantis Black Bear will be larger than the original Aurora kit, correct? Do you plan to make other kits different sizes than the originals?

Peter: No, just the bear as we felt it was too small. Besides the Black Bear, all kits will done true to the originals except some may have a few extra building options.

RtB: What new parts will be offered with the Gladiator and Crusader kits?

Peter: Still working on ideas.

RtB: I’m particularly happy about plans to repop Captain Kidd and Blackbeard, which I consider two of Aurora’s best figures. Now that word about Atlantis is getting around, what do you think people are most excited about?

Peter: I think just the idea that some the old kits will be available again at affordable prices.

RtB: I can’t find the Laramie Stage Ghost on your site anymore. Is that still in the works?

Peter: Some of the tooling is missing so the project has been put on hold.

Test shot of the Atlantis American Buffalo. The kit is scheduled to be available this summer.

RtB: I hear you’re having your molds made in China, but the actual manufacturing of the kits will be in the United States. Is that correct? If so, where are you having them made?

Peter: Yes, the molds will be produced in China and then sent back to us. We are working out deals with local injection molders. One I talked to even did work for Aurora and Addar. I liked them.

RtB: Are you getting bombarded with wish lists yet? If so, do you enjoy reading those lists?

Peter: Yes, we love getting the wish lists, it’s always great to hear what the builders want.

RtB: How did you select the Aurora reissues Atlantis has announced? A few are kits that hobbyists have been begging other plastic kit companies to repop, such as the Aurora pirates. Is there any sense of a “race” to bring back an old kit before another company gets to it?

Peter: We looked at all the kits that were not reissued and picked the coolest ones. We’re doing things at our own pace and do not feel a sense of being in a race. We’re taking our time and trying to do things right.

The UFO Flying Saucer, now available from Atlantis.

RtB: Do you plan to do original kits, or just reissues and repops?

Peter: We are working on a new line of UFO kits with Light Force. All UFO kits will be 8 inches in diameter from here on out. Beyond that, we will be concentrating on the repops.

RtB: Do you plan original artwork for all your kits, or will you reproduce the original packaging of some? I’m curious about the pirates in particular.

Peter: We will use the original artwork for the pirates, new artwork for the wildlife kits we may keep the bighorn sheep original artwork. The gladiators I would never change, crusader and viking I would like to do new artwork but we will see.

RtB: Everything you’ve announced so far requires no licensing, correct? If so, do you intend to ever move into licensed properties?

Peter: Yes.

RtB: You hope the bear and buffalo will be available this summer. Do you have any idea about pricing?

Peter: Most of our kits will be under $30 retail.

RtB: Anything else you’d like to add?

Peter: Nothing at this time. We will keep you in the Atlantis loop.

Black Heart Enterprises owner George Stephenson at WonderFest with his new company's first kits, Medusa and Mr. Hyde. George is the founder and former owner of GEOmetric Design.

Some people like pro football, so they pay attention to NFL players, and not just when the players are on the field. Same goes for fans of every other sport, or movies, books, daytime television … whatever. If something interests us we study it, and the people involved, with more enthusiasm than anything our social studies teachers could have dragged out of us.

I like model kits and have learned a lot about the people who make them. One fellow I’ve always wondered about is George Stephenson, founder and former owner of GEOmetric Design.

Al Matrone now runs GEOmetric Design.

GEO was one of the first big garage-kit companies I became aware of after re-entering the hobby in late 2001 and its models quickly captured my attention. They were wonderful, affordable kits sculpted by some of the most talented people in the hobby, including William Paquet, Mike Hill, Jeff Yagher, Joe Simon, Thomas Kuntz and Takayuki Takeya.

It didn’t take long to figure out George was the man who ran GEOmetric. It also didn’t take long to figure out George was quitting the business and slowly shutting down GEO.

Bad, bad news for this budding middle-aged hobbyist. It was a relief when Phoenix Comics owner Al Matrone made a deal to buy GEOmetric in 2003 and continue the company.

In the years since, I’ve crossed paths with many of the creative people involved in GEOmetric and have interviewed some of them for Resin the Barbarian. George … well, I briefly met him twice, once at Imagine-Nation Expo 2002, which I believe was the last hobby show he attended as GEO’s owner; and the second time at WonderFest 2005, where I found myself standing next to him in the dealers’ room. I took the opportunity to introduce myself before quickly running away for fear of being even more of a pest than I’m used to being.

Both occasions predated the creation of this blog, and so I couldn’t create an excuse to throw a bunch of fanboy questions at him. In the years since, it would have felt rude. The guy’s a judge in his day-to-day life, I had no business pestering him to talk about the hobby he departed years ago.

Imagine my delight upon hearing in 2009 that George Stephenson was returning to garage-kit production, and that his new company would be called Black Heart Enterprises.

GOODBYE GEOMETRIC, HELLO BLACK HEART

A brief confession is in order. An awful lot of what you’re about to read is the barest rewrite of an autobiography George put together himself. He’s a good writer and I know better than to mess it up just so I can say I did it myself.

George ran GEOmetric Design, Inc., from 1990 through 2003, when it the became the only American GK company to slush-mold vinyl kits in the United States.

Todd Powell's buildup of GEOmetric Design's vinyl Mummy kit, sculpted by William Paquet.

“I sold GEO because I simply could not handle the load by myself anymore,” he wrote in an e-mail interview. “GEOmetric had always been my partner, Lynn Suilmann, and me handling all the art direction, licensing, molding, casting, packaging, shipping, you name it. Two guys! When things would get too heavy for us to handle, we had part-timers who helped out.

“In 1998, my partner wanted to resume his career in sales; he and his fiancée wanted the security of a regular paycheck. So, in 1997 or 1998, I bought him out. At the end of 1998, the hobby market was sagging, vinyl recasts of our kits were being sold all over Europe and Asia, AMT/ERTL went head to head with us on vinyl Trek kits, and our sales drooped.”

George was approached by St. Paul, Minn., to represent the city in housing matters and in human rights matters. “They made me an offer I couldn’t refuse and I went back to practicing law full-time. I naively believed I’d be able to convince the city that I could do that work part-time while I continued to run GEO. I nearly killed myself trying to do that.”

George hired a shop manager and an office manager to run the business on a day-to-day basis. The company cut back on producing new vinyl kits and turned more to resin busts, which were easier to produce than resin figure kits.

After three months, the city moved George to a position as special prosecutor for a particular part of St. Paul. Three months after that, the city made another offer he couldn’t refuse and appointed him chief prosecutor. “I supervised about 35 lawyers, investigators, law clerks and clerical staff. The money was great but it kept me from being as involved with GEO as I needed in order to keep the company viable.

“Then in 2001, I was appointed judge by Gov. Jesse Ventura (I’ll have to tell you the story about my hilarious judicial interview with Jesse). Anyway, I was handling felony trials (everything from drugs to murder) and I knew I couldn’t continue doing GEO. I started talking to AMT/ERTL, Polar Lights and Testors about purchasing GEO’s assets. But things were moving slowly.

“Phoenix Comics had been ordering a ton of kits from us each month and when Al heard I was looking to sell it, he contacted me and a deal eventually got done. He purchased GEO’s resin kits, busts, bases, and accessories. I still own the molds for all the vinyl kits.”

George Stephenson, left, and Mark Brokaw in the Earthbound Studios shop. Click the photo to read more about their history.

His job and raising his children kept George too busy for garage kits, so he put away his hobby supplies and didn’t paint a kit for six years. “I figured I should stay away for a while to focus on being a judge, and to give Al’s GEOmetric a chance to get its legs under it. Then, last Christmas, my older daughter bought me a cool Santa Claus statue that was poorly painted; she asked me to paint it. I did and had such fun doing so that I got the itch again … the itch to not only paint but to produce something.

“I had periodically kept in touch with sculptor Joe Simon and with Earthbound’s Mark Brokaw. I started talking to them about my itch and we kicked ideas around for several weeks. If Joe had not been pumped about sculpting for me or if Brokaw had been unable to mold and cast for me, I would have left it alone. But, things just fell into place.”

George wanted something simple to mold and cast. He also wanted something different than what he had done with GEO. That ruled out 1/4 scale busts, 1/8 scale figures and microMANIA scale figures.

Mike Falcigno's Mummy. Photo from Falcignoart.com.

“Then one day, I was rearranging my collection of wooden masks from Africa. I’ve collected them for years and have them displayed on the wall of my rec room. As I was arranging them on the wall, I thought it would be cool to have some monster masks mixed in with the African masks. I already had a Predator wall plaque and a Pumpkinhead face from the original Stan Winston molds but I wanted a few more monsters mixed in with the African art.

“I searched like crazy for pieces I wanted and came across Mike Falcigno’s 1:1 scale Mummy (which I think is a gorgeous piece, better than any photo I’ve seen of it). I talked him into selling me one with the back of the head flat. I got it, painted it, and had a ball! When I put it up on the wall, it looked so cool. Then it suddenly hit me. Let’s do 1:1 scale resin faces designed to hang on a wall.

“Joe Simon and I had worked together well and often when I owned GEO. So, he dug the idea and was pumped about doing something in 1:1 scale. Brokaw loved the idea, too, and was bummed that he hadn’t thought of it first. He was ready to take on another client and, since I had helped push him into starting Earthbound Studios back in the ’90s, he agreed to do the work for me.

“And so, Black Heart was born.”

The Thing from Another World is coming soon from Black Heart Enterprises. The wall-hanging piece was sculpted by Joe Simon and will be cast by Mark Brokaw's Earthbound Studios. Black Heart's next figure will be "one of the hobby's more popular characters," George says.

SOME QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS ABOUT BLACK HEART

Resin the Barbarian: I have always presumed GEOmetric Design got its name in part because your name is George. Why did you name your new company Black Heart?

The T-800, painted by Steve Parke.

George: Yes, my name was the basis for the name “GEOmetric”. Black Heart? Look at my face; I’m a black man. I wanted the company name to reflect that. More importantly, I thought I could have fun with slogans like “Black Is Beautiful”, “Black by Popular Demand”, and my girlfriend’s favorite, “Once You Go Black…” I gave a lot of thought to a logo and envisioned this freaky, evil-looking heart. So, the name Black Heart just felt right.

RtB: Do you envision Black Heart becoming as big as GEOmetric once was?

George: No, I won’t do another GEOmetric, at least not before I retire from the bench. GEO was never intended to be as big a deal as we became but the market supported that kind of enterprise in the ’90s. The hobby and GK markets won’t support a garage kit company on that scale right now. I like the idea of Black Heart remaining a small company doing limited numbers on high-quality kits. I’m thinking we will do no more than 100 of each kit we do; actually with some we’ll only do 50. When we hit that magic number, the kit will be done.

RtB: Will Joe Simon remain your primary sculptor, or do you plan to eventually work with other sculptors?

George: I have spoken to only one other sculptor about doing a sculpture for Black Heart. But right now, my plan is to have Joe Simon be my guy. I’ve worked with a lot of great sculptors during the last 20 years and have gotten excellent work from them. But working with Joe is so comfortable.

Joe Simon will be Black Heart's primary sculptor.

Joe started with me when I was doing GEOmetric. He interned with us and surprised me with how quickly he improved his sculpting. Today, I’d say Joe Simon is as good as anyone out there. Joe is fun to work with and we have such fun with the projects we do. He sends me progress photos every couple of days, we rap on the phone and by e-mail four or five times each week and he gets the project done on schedule. It is a pleasure working with him.

RtB: Am I correct in understanding that you will do the bulk of Black Heart’s work, with support from the other people mentioned on Black Heart’s home page?

George: That’s right. Joe will likely do all of the sculpting; Brokaw and Earthbound are slated to do the molding and casting. I research and write the profiles; Dave Fisher lays them out for me. I’ll tap guys like Steve Riojas, Steve Parke, David Fisher, Fred DiSanto, Joe Dunaway and John Allred to do buildup work for me and to contribute to our website T&A page.

RtB: Is there any chance you will return to producing vinyl kits?

George: I own all the molds for GEO’s vinyl kits. I don’t have the slush molding equipment needed to produce vinyl kits and don’t have the desire at this time to start that up again. I’m more likely to sell those molds to someone wanting to produce vinyl kits. I think it would be great, and could be profitable if someone did that. But, I do have a small quantity of each vinyl kit we produced. I plan to just sit on them for a while.

A BRIEF LOOK AT THE LIFE OF A GARAGE-KIT PIONEER

George Stephenson is 51 and lives in Maplewood, Minn. He has three children — a son named DJ, 16, and two daughters, Monica, 14, and Leigh, 12. His “significant other” is Claudia. He has served as a judge since 2001, appointed by former Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura.

His childhood hobbies did not include model kits.

“I was really into Aurora but not the model kits; I was VERY into the their HO scale slot cars. I did not build models as a kid. I also spent a lot of time and money on electric football. Electric football were the games with the little plastic football players that ran on a vibrating football set. The guys in my neighborhood were really into that and as a kid, I organized the EFL (Electric Football League) with about six or seven other kids who played each other on Saturdays and Sundays during the NFL season.

Medusa, painted by George Stephenson.

“Most people who remember that game talk about how frustrating it was to play the game with players running all over. But, we were so good at it that we could actually run plays, complete passes and kick field goals. We figured out how to ‘train’ or ‘program’ the players to run specific plays and we knew what we were doing. We also painted the players so their uniforms were more authentic than what would come with the game board.”

He collected comic books and saw the advertisements for Aurora monster models, which he thought looked cool. “I was a huge fan of most serious monster movies; my favorites were the classic monsters.

“But, I was not a fan of building model kits.”

In 1985, George was driving in St. Paul and discovered a hobby shop. He stopped in and saw a display of beautifully painted Aurora monsters.

“I had just finished three and a half years of law school while working full time; I was a single guy who was working as a prosecutor for the city. I had free time for the first time in years and disposable income. I thought it would be cool to build the Aurora Frankenstein kit. The shop owner said they didn’t have any but he pointed me to a couple of guys that he thought might be able to help me out, Terry Webb (now the publisher of Amazing Figure Modeler) and Terry Ingram (now one of the principals of Universal Monster Army). Through them I got connected with folks who sold me a Frankenstein. Had a ball painting it so I got the Mummy, then the Wolf Man and so on. That’s how I got started in this hobby.

“By the way, I still race slot cars and still own my electric football men.”

ANOTHER Q&A ABOUT GEORGE’S EXPERIENCES AS A KIT PRODUCER

RtB: What story or stories would you tell about the people, famous or not, you’ve met over the years thanks to your involvement with the hobby?

George: Woody Allen bought GEOmetric’s vinyl Pumpkinhead kit years ago. He didn’t get the comic book/instruction booklet that came with the kit and we had to send him one. That was pretty cool!

I was actually asked to be in the film “Galaxy Quest” with Tim Allen and Sigourney Weaver. The producers wanted me to set up a GEOmetric Design booth and to be in the sci-fi convention scene in the movie. I passed on that because they wanted me to be out there for a week. I figured they’d cut up that scene anyway and I’d be bummed about spending that time out there and then not even get onscreen. That had happened to me before in a Japanese film. And, I was right; you could hardly make anything out in the convention scenes. But, at a pivotal moment toward the end of the movie, GEOmetric’s models are squarely on screen and recognizable in the bedroom of one of the film’s more hilarious characters. Now that was really cool!!!

RtB: You enjoy painting kits. Do you have a collection of built and unbuilt kits? If so, what are your favorites?

George: I have a bunch of kits. Twenty years and lots of trades for GEOmetric kits allowed me to compile quite a collection. I have lots of Japanese kits of American movie monsters, Billiken, Max Factory, Kaiyodo; I have lots of the popular resin kits from Yagher, Tom Kuntz, Steve West, Mike Parks, Bill Paquet, Mike Hill, kits from Janus Company, and others, too many to name.

I’ve assembled most of them but a lot are not painted and never will be. Not enough time in this life.

I have buildups of most of the GEO kits, and multiple buildups of many of them. My favorite kits to do are the kits GEO produced and the kits Black Heart is doing now. These are characters I dig, and the sculpts (most of them) were done just the way I wanted. So, of course, they are going to be my favorites.

Of the GEO resin kits, I think our Tremors is one of the cooler kits GEO did; I love that kit. Of the vinyl kits we did, I’d have to say our Alien and Predator kits are the coolest because they can each be built in multiple versions with all the accessories and customizing kits we produced for them. But, we also did some pretty cool Trek kits that really didn’t get a whole lot of notice. Our Locutus of Borg and our Ferengi were two that I really enjoyed building and painting.

RtB: What was the last kit you painted?

George: Black Heart’s Mr. Hyde is the last kit I finished. I painted a Medusa and a Mr. Hyde just before WonderFest. I was intimidated by a 1:1 scale model with that kind of detail. It took me a few days to feel comfortable painting Medusa. I started feeling that I was either rusty or the techniques I used on smaller scale stuff did not translate to 1:1 scale. I remember starting to get bummed and eventually panic started to set in.

Then all of a sudden, I stepped back and started to like how she was coming along and before I knew it, I was digging that larger scale and digging how Medusa was looking. After Medusa I did Hyde and that was sheer joy. What a fun buildup that was. Now I feel that 1:1 scale is easier than the smaller-scale stuff, more detail to paint so it is easier to make the model look good. Plus, the larger size allows an old man like me to see where the paint is supposed to go.

AN ISSUE OF GREAT INTEREST IN THE GK HOBBY

Licensing model kits is a subject of particular debate and controversy among people involved with the hobby. Here’s what George had to say about it.

“The original GEOmetric Design produced licensed kits. A few kits we produced were of characters for whom copyrights and/or merchandising rights were not clear. All of our vinyl kits were licensed. But in the summer of ’98, Diamond Comic Distributors, one of GEOmetric’s largest and best distributors at the time, began selling vinyl bootlegs of two of our bestselling vinyl monster kits, Alien and Predator. They sold them all over Europe and wiped out our foreign sales (about 30 percent of our business) at a time when we were struggling like so many other sectors of the hobby market.

“I was contacted by a shop owner in France who had been buying our stuff from our French distributor. He sent me Diamond’s European catalog. But the kits Diamond was offering were vinyl recasts which they were selling for one-fourth of the wholesale price of our originals. Diamond knew they were bootlegs of our kits because they had also been selling our originals. Their catalogue used photos of the original GEO kits, photos from our own packaging.

“They not only wiped out our international sales of those two kits but greatly reduced the international demand for our other kits because, suddenly, folks felt GEOmetric’s originals were too expensive compared to the recasts.

The GEOmetric Design Romulan, painted by Todd Powell and now sitting on a former co-worker's desk. The kit is out of production.

“I contacted the head of 20th Century Fox’s legal department. I told him what was up and said, ‘I have everything you need to stop the recasting,’ photos, catalogues, samples, and so on. But I was naive. When I told the studio guy where the recaster was located (Korea), he immediately said, ‘George, I can’t help you.’ He explained that the motion picture studios had found no protection or support in Korean courts for their copyrights. He said it did not make sense to pursue the recasters because ‘It’s just not cost-effective.’ I was bummed.

“We talked further. I asked what the studio would do about the American distributor selling the recasts all over Europe. I said, ‘They aren’t in Korea. Diamond Comic is in Baltimore.’ His response: ‘George, we aren’t going to go after every little shop that is carrying a couple of recasts of GEOmetric kits. It’s just not cost-effective.’

“I was pissed. I asked, ‘Then why did we pay you X dollars for the license?’

“He was surprised by the question and didn’t know how to answer it. I said, ‘While you are thinking about that, let me ask you another question: Why should I be concerned about you coming after me WHEN I don’t pay you another penny for royalties?’ He had no response to that either. We ended the conversation with no resolution to the problem.

“So, I never paid Fox another penny in royalties although we continued to sell AND ADVERTISE those two kits for nearly five years until I sold the company. I never heard from Fox again. I’m sure they figured coming after GEOmetric was not ‘cost-effective’. I should add that, at about the same time, the same thing happened with our Star Trek kits when they were bootlegged in vinyl by that same Korean company and in resin by a small company in the U.S. The studio did nothing to help us. I learned a valuable lesson: if the copyright holders (studios) don’t feel it is cost-effective to protect their licensees from recasters and distributors of recasts, they must not feel it is cost-effective to go after a small-time, low-profile GK producer.

“The studios know about garage kits. And for the most part they don’t care about the little bit of business we do because it doesn’t impact them. But if we get stupid and make it hard for them to ignore what we do, we are asking for trouble.

“I’ve heard rumors about who might be responsible for the recent wave of cease-and-desist letters from Universal Studios. I have difficulty believing that a handful of guys could get Universal fired up enough to do what they’ve done and chase down a dozen or more GK producers. My experience tells me that someone with a relationship with that studio, a company who is licensed or who is trying to negotiate a license with Universal, is more likely the instigator of that mess.

“I’m not pointing fingers at anyone and I’m not suggesting that anyone is right or wrong to have done so. That’s business. If some studio comes at me for doing an unlicensed kit, that’s my responsibility.

“My plan is to do kits that are in the public domain, or arguably in the public domain, kits whose copyright or merchandising rights are not certain (a lot more of those than most people know and you’d be surprised about what characters fall into that category), and then some that are copyrighted but whose copyright holders are not threatened by what little business we do.

“Whenever possible we’ll tie our kits to genre themes, and/or base them on classical literature, mythology, legends and genre archetypes.”

The Head Merchant, an original sculpture by Kent Kidwell. The kit is still available through Kidwell Concepts.

The Head Merchant. What a name for a character. When he lumbered onto the garage-kit scene a couple years ago, I was struck by both his originality and his familiarity. The character is a cheerful but deadly, axe-toting barbarian on the back of a … whatever that horned creature is, packing a bouncing supply of severed heads. If someone told me this was an image that flowed from the paintbrushes of Frank Frazetta, I would have believed it.

But it’s not Frazetta’s work. It was created by sculptor Kent Kidwell, and for many hobbyists it was a memorable introduction.

Kent Kidwell, 40, lives in Florence, Ariz. He’s married to Linda and has four kids, Chessa, 4, Gabriel, 6, Kaleb, 14, and Samantha, 17. His business is Kidwell Concepts, which offers sculpting, mold-making, casting, design and multimedia. Running his business is a full-time endeavor for Kent; he says it’s all he knows how to do.

“Sadly, almost 20 years of sculpting, mold making and casting has made me unqualified for normal employment,” he said. “I would get fired at Taco Bell, I would get caught making a zombie bust made of beans and that would be it.”

The majority of his clients are private buyers who want unique fine art for home use, some office, but he has done work for larger companies as well.

“Being so young in the resin kit industry, I have just focused on releasing original kits,” he said. He’d like to do familiar characters such as the Hulk or Batman. “For some reason, I haven‘t been pursued for that genre much, not sure why. But I’m pretty sure I will be doing some comic characters soon, I hope.”

Shadow Host General of the Undead, available from Kidwell Concepts.

For now, the garage kits available directly from Kent are the Head Merchant, Pod Creature and Shadow Host General of the Undead.

I always ask the subjects of these interviews to share photos of themselves. Kent declined, but suggested readers envision him as “Quasimodo meets Uncle Fester, with charm.”

Q&A WITH KENT KIDWELL

Resin the Barbarian: You sort of burst onto the garage-kit scene a couple of years ago with your Head Merchant kit. Since then, what have you most enjoyed about being involved in the hobby?

Kent: Before I answer that, Todd, I just wanted to thank you for the chance to meet your readers. This is my first interview based on this hobby so I’m flattered.

To your question, I think there are two parts for me I enjoy. The first is the original kits side of things. I sincerely love the creative process of doing something that is uniquely your own, and being free to expand on that idea in whatever direction your imagination leads you. Freelancing can be creative but is more challenging in that you have to stay within the confines of the person or persons’ vision of what they want. I really enjoy that challenge but have sort of bottled myself in a bit in that I think producers see me as an original kit producer and not a for-hire sculptor, so few come a’knocking. But I stay busy doing whatever comes to mind.

RtB: Does the Head Merchant have a story? Is he a good guy or bad guy?

Head Merchant 2, a work in progress by Kent Kidwell.

Kent: It’s funny you should ask that, I’m in the process of putting together a graphic novel with this character. But I would describe him more as an unhinged and vengeful good guy gone bad. Without getting too far into plot, he was a powerful leader/king that was violently dethroned, his family butchered. He sets himself on a mad course to collect the heads of those that betrayed him and regain his throne. There is a lot more to the idea than this but hopefully it will be an interesting graphic novel.

Heron, top, and eagle by Kent Kidwell.

RtB: I’ve spent some time looking at your online galleries and have been interested in the variety of sculpture you’ve done. A lot of what you show is monsters, warriors and the like that are of interest to garage-kit hobbyists. But you also did a blue heron and bald eagle for a wildlife society, and a wonderful bronze bench. What kind of sculptural work are you called upon most to do? What do you enjoy most?

Kent: Well, I like all forms of art. I really appreciate classic art. If I had to devote my life to one form it would likely be classic monumental figurative work depicting scenes from the Scriptures. I realize that makes me sound like a zealot but really, I love history ,I love figurative work, and I love classic themes that dwell on a higher, more inspirational plane.

It’s difficult to find modern themes to sculpt that have the artistic impact of the classic or historical perspective. An example would be if a modern character was visited by angels — how would I make a baseball cap and blue jeans work in a classic medium like bronze? Also figurative themes are hard to find in today’s society, biblical subjects are always semi-dressed allowing for some nice anatomy details. The modern person is usually dressed to cover their form.

This bronze bench is another of Kent Kidwell's works.

RtB: As mentioned above, you have sculpted animals, original-creation creatures (inspired by artists such as Frank Frazetta) and interpretations of commercial characters such as the Predator and a character from the “Lord of the Rings” movies. Do you have to bring different skills to these different kinds of work? I mean, is there more freedom to play around a bit with pieces such as the Head Merchant, whereas you need to be true to the physical makeup of a heron, or fulfill a Predator fan’s expectations?

Kent Kidwell's 1/6 scale Wolf.

Kent: Yeah, it’s funny, the Pred piece was very challenging in that Pred fans are very exacting. All the way down to the smallest detail. The heron and eagle had to go through three very detailed inspections for accuracy even going so far as to count the primary feathers, that’s frustrating but challenging too.

I would much prefer to just go my own way with things but that would certainly stop my freelance career in its tracks. It’s like in any business, the client comes first.

The Head Merchant was easy piece to sculpt because his character was so outrageous to me and what he was doing made for an interesting scene. Original subjects are half as challenging.

RtB: I’m a father and am interested in the ways our kids view what we do. You say in your online bio that your kids aren’t interested in your work. How much of it do you offer to share with them? Are they always welcome to see what you’ve done, or does some of it strike you as “not for kids”?

Kent: Well, I was exposed to some great artwork at a very young age. My elder brother Rod, five years my elder, was very interested in fantasy art, Frazetta, Boris Vallejo, even more expressive graphic novels like Heavy Metal magazine. Honestly very racy stuff I would never read today. I would never let my kids see something like that. I keep the scary stuff away from them and gore, nudity that stuff was a little too available when I was a kid so I do the filter thing.

My youngest boy, Gabriel, has taken an interest in sculpture and has an affinity for it, he loves monsters.

Kent Kidwell's Pod Creature, available from Kidwell Concepts. The website also includes a tutorial on sculpting the creature. Click the photo to see it.

RtB: You say your wife supports your work. In what ways?

Kent: As a freelancer, you never know where your next check will come from. Having a traditional job, collecting a stable paycheck, is a dream I never get, sometimes I get paid on a 30, 60, 90 net basis (the number of days until the full balance is paid), so she has been able to fill the dead spots with her work.

She is also a talented musician, so we have a mutual respect for each other’s desire to pursue our art. I have seen other spouses really degrade an artist into quitting. Money is often a marriage-defining element. Artists are notoriously broke. Not always, but in today’s economy art is not the highest priority of buyers, its kind of weeded out those that need more practice.

RtB: Of all your works, what is your wife’s favorite?

Kent: I never asked but I believe it would be the Head Merchant.

RtB: Reading through your materials, I get the impression that your church is important to you. True?

Kent: I have done a few faith-based figures and I would do more, but it’s more an issue of time. Sadly, there is also a financial trade off for it as well. I really can’t invest a lot of time in things that don’t pay. Maybe someday I will be independently wealthy and could afford the up-front costs involved in marketing Christian based subjects to the world.

RtB: Are any of your works intended as a celebration of your faith?

Kent: I have only ever done a few LDS pieces. Captain Moroni and the title if liberty, and Lihi and the Liahona. These were done with the intent of selling a product and religious appreciation, I guess.

RtB: How does your faith help shape your perspective as you do your work?

Kent: Well, I would say I’m like any that have a belief system, mine keeps me from road rage and overthrowing our current government.

RtB: Do you think some of them might be viewed as being at odds with your church’s beliefs?

Kent: I think there is a line between porn and beauty. I try and stay away from sexual subjects in my work, this is a very touchy subject for sure, but I will do my best to answer.

I believe all mankind must work within the confines of one’s own conscience. I think without question the female form is the pinnacle of beauty on earth, at least for me. Artists have been trying to capture its beauty for millennia. For me to say that a naked woman isn’t art would be in effect spitting on every great masterpiece that has ever shown a breast or buttock.

I have had to draw a line where my conscience dictates, and here is what I formulated for me. I will never use nudity to express sexual behavior. Any pose or expression I am trying to get across will not in any way degrade women or put them in any light other than powerful, beautiful, mysterious, etc., which to me they are.

I might dabble in sensual or even sexy but never openly sexual. So for me it’s not how much skin is involved but the nature of its use.

I was once offered a sizable commission to do ladies of porn in various sexual poses. It would have been great financially, but in the end I would still have to look at myself in the morning.

"Calling Down Dragons" by Kent Kidwell.

RtB: Obviously, I’m more familiar with your sculptural work than your illustration. Have you had comparable success as an illustrator?

Kent: No, not as an illustrator. Luckily I learned very early on that my skill was sculpture, so I shifted my focus around 18 years old. I use illustration a lot, however, in showing people ideas and concepts without having to sculpt an entire maquette to get my point across. For me it’s a work tool and a fun hobby.

I have dabbled in oil painting. In fact, my first and only real oil painting was on a large board, called “Calling Down Dragons”. It was fun doing but I have no plans to revisit the frustrations of oil painting, at least for now.

Soul Keeper, coming soon from Kent Kidwell.

RtB: Back in April, you posted something at the Clubhouse stating you hadn’t been able to paint one of your own kits yet. Is that still so? What do you think of the build ups of your kits that you’ve seen?

Kent: Yeah, sad but true. It’s mostly a time issue. Right now I have four more kits on the way and production of my other kits. I really struggle to find time.

Luckily, I have had some amazing artists do that for me. I get a lot out of it, especially with original kits. I honestly search the web for anyone doing my work, altering it, just showing their take of it, is very exiting to me. It’s like seeing the subject in a new way every time.

RtB: What are you working on now? Your website mentions carnival classics “Perry Winkle” the clown and “Carni Val” as coming soon. Did I miss those? If not, how are they progressing? How about Head Merchant 2?

Bigfoot by Kent Kidwell.

Kent: The head merch 2 is almost finished. I am doing a commission of a warlike gorilla. The vampire bust (Fallen Bride) and I hope to finish one called Wind Witch. After these I will be doing a few life size pieces and then back to doing kits again.

The two zombie clowns are a month away likely.

RtB: Would you like to add anything else?

Kent: Only thanks again for the chance to meet your readers.

“THE SALTY SEA DOGS”
Sculpted by Andy Bergholtz of AB Sculpture Studio.
Available from Dark Carnival.
1/4 scale, resin.
The first two “Sea Dogs” sell for $75 plus shipping; price on the Captain is $85; the set of all three is $175.
Kits in pictures painted by Phil Sera.

The truth about pirates was ugly. They were thieves and murderers sailing the high seas, and the closest thing they probably got to taking a bath was the occasional saltwater spray from the waves. No fun at all. But the iconic images of pirates built around sources such as the Pirates of the Caribbean and Robert Louis Stevenson’s “Treasure Island” – that’s fun.

Sculptor Andy Bergholtz celebrates those iconic images with his “Salty Sea Dogs,” a trio of buccaneers who are obviously very happy about being very bad. They’ve never had what Andy calls “official” names, but he refers to them as the Captain (the most recently introduced), Deadeye Henry and Frosty Bill.

Andy, 27, lives in St. Louis. He’s married and has kids: Lucy, 3; Andy Jr., 18 months; and a third on the way.

Norm “Kitman” Piatt wrote a terrific interview with Andy in the Spring 2004 issue of the now-defunct Modeler’s Resource. The magazine doesn’t seem to be available through the MR Web site, but it’s worth searching for you if you want a more in-depth piece about Andy. For now, I’ll share what he told me through e-mail.

Q&A WITH ANDY BERGHOLTZ

Resin the Barbarian: Were the Sea Dogs based on some kind of illustration?

Andy: I didn’t use any illustrations as a basis for the designs, they are all original. I was heavily inspired by imagery from the Pirates of the Caribbean Disneyland attraction, which has always been an obsession of mine. Old-school Disneyana is kind of a hobby for me, I’m a huge fan of anything related to the Pirates or Haunted Mansion, etc. These busts are in large part an homage to the old greats like Marc Davis and Blaine Gibson.

RtB: The first two “Salty Sea Dogs” have been around for more than a year; the Captain is new. How long, roughly, did it take from the first, “let’s do this” step when you (and Robb, I resume) decided to do this until now, when all three are ready?

Andy: Well, the first two busts were not planned, they were just clay sketches I had done for my personal collection at the time. They got such great feedback on the forums, etc, and I began to get all kinds of requests to turn them into kits… I’m not much of a kit producer myself, but I knew my buddy Robb (Rotondi of Dark Carnival) was a huge pirate fan, so I pitched it to him and he picked them up to produce.

I had always intended to do a third pirate, which we decided would be the Captain, to finish off the set. That piece took considerably longer to complete, partly because he’s a little more complex than the others but mainly due to scheduling.

RtB: How many hours a day do you sculpt? And WHAT hours of the day?

Andy: I work anywhere from 8 to 12 hours a day on average. I typically begin the work day around 8 or 8:30 am, stop working at 5 p.m. to have dinner with the family and spend time with the kids, etc. Most days I’ll go back to work after the kids go to bed, from about 7:30 until 10 or 11 p.m., but I’m trying to cut back on the “overtime.”

RtB: I would suppose that, as sculptors go, you are doing well. Would you say sculpting pays well, or do you have to worry a lot about where the next job is coming from?

Andy: I’m blessed to be in a situation currently where I don’t worry about where the next job is coming from, although it wasn’t always that way.

Like most artists I spent my fair share of time struggling with work and living off beans and Kool-Aid. The industry has been good to me over the years, though, and I’m constantly surprised and humbled by my level of success.

It’s hard to answer the question “does sculpting pay well,” simply because the sculpting industry is so broad, the answer is vastly different for every artist. My income is currently healthier than it’s ever been, but the money I make is directly related to how much work I can get done. God knows I’ve seen my share of overdrawn bank accounts over the years of freelancing, though, so I think it all balances out.

RtB: You sculpt many well-known characters, including comic-book heroes, movie monsters, etc. Do you consider yourself in a sort of good-spirited competition with other sculptors to “top” each other’s work? Do you ever look at “Mr. X’s” newest version of the Frankenstein Monster and try to “beat” that?

Andy: One thing I love about this line of work is the great amount of respect the artists have for each other. It really is a small industry, almost everyone knows each other in some capacity. There’s a great level of camaraderie, which in my personal experience has always outweighed the sense of “competition.”

That’s not to say there aren’t many sculptors out there who aren’t competitive … Some of them can be downright cutthroat when it comes to competing for work. But the sculptors I’m closest with (whose work spans the entire industry), it’s all very positive and kind-spirited.

I wouldn’t say that I consciously try to “top” other sculptors’ work, but I’m always amazed when artists create a piece that raises the bar of expectation, and it definitely inspires me to do my best with each new piece.

RtB: What can fans expect from you as 2006 progresses? Do you have any in-progress works you can tell me about, maybe share a photo or 20?

Andy: Unfortunately I can’t be too specific due to the nature of the licensed work … But I can say there will be a bit more variety in my portfolio in the coming months.

I recently entered the freelance market again and am no longer exclusive with Sideshow Collectibles, which has opened up many opportunities to expand the types of work I do. I’m still working on a great deal of Star Wars and Lord of the Rings pieces for Sideshow, but I’ve also got some projects for DC Comics in the works, and even Disney.

One piece I can share is the 1/4 scale Incredible Hulk that was recently announced by Sideshow. The sculpture is a couple years old, but I’m still fairly fond of it.

MORE PICTURES FROM ANDY

Additional photos from Andy.

“PIRATE CAPTAIN”
Sculpted by Jim Maddox.
Produced by H2Creative, info@h2creative.com.
1/6th scale resin bust in six parts.
$75 plus shipping.

Something about Disney’s “Pirates of the Caribbean” connected with me right from the start – and I don’t mean the movies, I mean the characters from the rides at Disneyland and Disney World, which I discovered when Johnny Depp was probably a year or two ahead of me in grade school. I’m pretty sure it’s because I was fascinated with the idea of “living” skeletons sailing the seas.

Like so many of the entertainment things I’ve loved in my life, I was introduced to the Pirates through model kits. Specifically, a series of kits from the company MPC, heavily advertised in comics in the early to mid-’70s. I remember staring at displays of those kits every time Mom took us to Kmart.

I’m not positive, but I think I did end up getting one of those kits – one of the skeleton ones, I’m not sure which – and made such a discouraging mess of putting it together that I quit bugging my parents to buy me more. Now I’m hoping someone will repop the kits for today’s kids (and grown-ups) the way Polar Lights did for the classic Aurora monsters, because I’m not willing to pay eBay prices for 30-year-old boxes of plastic.

For the moment, however, corporate America doesn’t seem interested in the relatively small but thriving community dedicated to figure model kits, even though the financial success of the first “Pirates of the Caribbean” movie and even greater financial success of its current sequel (which recently became Disney’s all-time-biggest money maker) would seem to indicate that repopping the old kits would make a little money for someone. Oh, well. Fortunately, hobbyists such as myself can turn to garage-kit producers for some wonderful stuff, particularly the “Pirate Captain” recently introduced by H2Creative. Inspired by the character of Davy Jones in “Dead Man’s Chest,” this pirate has been shivering the timbers of many a GK fan recently.

Family man Lonnie Hale, 38, of Atlanta is the man behind H2Creative. He has mostly worked at producing resin model kits – “literally dozens” – for other people’s companies and he also produces “a lot of movie prop stuff for people.” One of the biggest things he produces is a line of 1/6 scale “Hero Heads” and he sells once a month on eBay under the member name “TK570.”

“I really specialize in very small run stuff and/or prototypes and specialty materials,” Lonnie told me in an e-mail. ” I do a lot of stuff that requires glow in the dark colors, clear or translucent material, rubber, soft and hard foam cast product or simulated special effects in mold like tortoise shell, ivory, jade, etc.”

Q&A WITH LONNIE HALE

Resin the Barbarian: I know you recently had surgery, although I’m not sure why. You feeling OK?

Lonnie: I had surgery recently on a muscle in my upper thigh. Fine now, thanks.

RtB: The second “Pirates of the Caribbean” has only been in theaters a few weeks. When did you and/or Jim start working on this bust? Whose idea was it to create this sculpture?

Lonnie: As a big fan of the first POC film, I had created a custom figure of Captain Jack several years ago complete with a custom head of Depp, etc. This was very popular with people, so I knew there would be some renewed interest in the subject matter when the second film was to come out.

As pre-production on DMC got under way, some pictures from the art department got out and showed the character of Davy Jones. I read the script to determine his level of appearance in the film and decided he would be a great project.

Planning started on him around the first of the year and figure studies for pose were developed by early February. Some other projects got in the way for a while, but then it got back on track and was finalized by May.

RtB: What’s your history of working with Jim Maddox?

Lonnie: I have been working with Jim for about six years now on a wide variety of projects that cover everything from heads and busts both large and small to props and toys. It really is a good partnership on a lot of things.

Jim is such a remarkable talent. His ability to create a likeness is truly unrivaled even by those scan capture technologies.

RtB: I’ve never done resin casting, but I know enough about it to look at this kit and see it has a thousand small details that could be lost without extra care. What particular challenges did casting this sculpture present?

Lonnie: This project presents some challenges in both molding and casting. I have never shied away from a project due to a challenge of detail and I often encourage Jim in pieces that “I’ll find a way to do that” when it gets to the casting end.

Jim and I usually talk the details out with respect to how a piece will be cut or designed for casting. This helps for the work later if you plan it well before any sculpting is done. Planning where sprues or vents are to be placed, how to hide a seam or even if there is to be one, etc.

In the specific case of the “Captain,” there were a ton of mold locks created by his tentacles and several small and delicate coral protrusions on his surface. This was all going to be unavoidable so I knew going into the molding that it had to be right the first time since the master would get destroyed in removing it from the mold.

I usually don’t tell how I mold things or my casting techniques, but I will say that he does take six molds
for his six parts and with the exception of the hat, all of the molds are one-piece molds and they are pressure molded silicone.

The creation of the torso cast is the tricky one as I opted for a two-stage pressure-casting process instead of adding a ton of vents to his front. The piece has to be slush filled on the front and then pressurized, followed by the addition of the remaining volume and additional pressure for completion.

The other parts are cast pretty much as you see them in one piece molds and the hat is a two-part mold with traditional venting.

RtB: Do you do your resin castings in your own home? If so, is it hard to clear out the smell?

Lonnie: I work with very high-quality resins and there is no smell in them. A lot of people use resin that has that hideous smell and the pieces turn a dark amber color with a little age. I never liked getting kits made in that stuff because the smell never went away. Knowing that, I decided to never offer anything but premium stuff. It costs more, but it’s so worth it to me.

I vent all sprays, release agents, and chemicals when I use them.

RtB: Do you have any further new kits coming soon?

Lonnie: I usually stick to producing kits for other people, but if the “Captain” kit does well and is popular with people then I think you could see more kits directly from me in the near future.