Monarch’s ad for the upcoming Sinbad kit. Says Scott McKillop of Monarch: “I was hoping to achieve the DC comics look that the Aurora ads had back in the Silver age.”
Monarch’s ad for the upcoming Sinbad kit. Says Scott McKillop of Monarch: “I was hoping to achieve the DC comics look that the Aurora ads had back in the Silver age.”
Garage kits have been a fascination for me since 2001. In 2006, I made my first attempt at producing a kit of my own, a bust of Ben from “Night of the Living Dead”, sculpted by Chris Wooten. It was a fun project and I’m glad I did it, but I had a lot to learn and not enough time to learn it.
Lots of things have changed in the last four years. With my wife’s encouragement, I decided to take another, more professional shot at producing a kit. To my great surprise and joy, I got an opportunity to work with William Paquet, one of the very best. The result is Alma, inspired by the work of Dick Smith. Phil Sera was the first to put paint on the bust.
I hope this is the first of many kits from Dedham Pond.
Pasted below is a message from Cortlandt Hull and Dennis Vincent, whose interview with James Bama was the subject of Resin the Barbarian’s October entry.
Our new documentary, “LEGENDS OF FILM & FANTASY”, will now be a multi-part series, this we just decided less than a month ago. Our very first volume will be “THE AURORA MONSTERS – THE MODEL CRAZE THAT GRIPPED THE WORLD!” (co written & co-directed by Dennis Vincent & Cortlandt Hull). The DVD should be ready this spring. It will make it’s official premiere at “Wonderfest” in Louisville, KY., on May 15 to 16, in 2010.
We re-thought our documentary, originally it was planned to be a four-hour, two-disc film, covering way too much material. Plus, we have almost 50 interviews, it seemed a shame to waste it, as the raw footage of each interview ran well over an hour for each guest. So, we are planning to produce two themed documentaries a year, but shorter – between 60 to 90 min. and about $10.00 each. The series will all be under the banner of “Legends Of Film & Fantasy”. This way, we can use more of the material we have shot. Mainly, this new format allows us to concentrate on each subject, rather than just a brief over-view. Dennis & I are very excited about our new series. We just put a write up on the “Home” page of our website – www.preservehollywood.org
(Pictured here) is our mock-up for the DVD cover. Zacherley is also doing some new wrap-arounds for us, since it was the horror hosts that originally made the classic horror movies “kid friendly” on “Shock Theatre”, across the country. This led the way to “Famous Monsters” and eventually the Aurora Monster Kits, which have inspired many makeup artists, illustrators, actors & film makers. Among the guests – Aurora cover artist, James Bama, actor & model sculptor Jeff Yagher, illustrator & model maker, Daniel Horne, from “Sideshow Collectibles” – Tom Gilliland, with Mat Falls, giving a wax sculpture demo, the artists of “Mad Geppetto”, Frank Winspur president of “Moebius Models”, master model builder & painter Mike Rutherford, and a lot more. We will include some rare photos from Thomas Graham, the author of “The Aurora Models Kits” (book by Schiffer), plus shots of Bob Burns as “Kogar” promoting the 1960′s Aurora Monster Kit Contest.
Still in production, no exact release date, except for the premiere at “Wonderfest”. Not confirmed yet, but the music score may be done by Broadway violinist & conductor, Kurt Coble.
Early preview trailer, which now is an overview of this new series, “LEGENDS OF FILM & FANTASY” -
All good wishes – Cortlandt & Dennis
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.
Scott 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.
It has been my privilege to write a handful of articles for Amazing Figure Modeler, although my last two were published more than a year ago. I’m going to scan all the pages of my work and post it here, although not large enough that you can actually read it. Back issues are still available through the AFM website.
First up, the Shiflett Brothers from issue 42. I confess that I cheated here, because I swiped the scan from the Shifletts’ site.
One big advantage of my family’s move to the Colorado Springs area is that we’re close to Compleat Games and Hobbies. It’s a fantastic hobby store, filled from floor to ceiling with neat stuff. Not as many garage kits as it used to have, but lots of great plastic kits.
