DEDHAM POND DESIGNS: “THE TIME HAS COME TO TELL THE TALE”

Water runs over the tub’s edge and onto the tile, but the man doesn’t care. He wants an answer from the woman lying face-down on the bed. A minute before, he had asked, “Who are you?” But when he put a hand on her back, felt the chill of her flesh, his question changed.

“What are you?”

She allows him to roll her over to face him, showing him what she is. Moments later, he’s hundreds of feet away, dead and wet and cold.

She is Alma Mobley, and thanks to movie makeup and effects pioneer Dick Smith, she’s the kind of woman who stops the heart … forever. Many of us who first saw her on the big screen when “Ghost Story” was released in 1981 recall how Alma, and Eva Galli as well, made our hearts race.

Sculptor William Paquet was one of those people. After seeing it, “I was actually afraid to go into my folks’ dark house, having to go in the back door amid the shadows and loneliness of their cavernous backyard,” he wrote in an e-mail.

“This film, is wonderful. The cast, among the most impressive lineup of heavyweights in their golden years ever seen. The flashbacks are rich in atmosphere and nostalgia, and fully flesh out the characters as young, handsome and ambitious men-about-town. To try and compare this to the book is actually silly; it must be measured on its own scale.”

William is a longtime fan of Dick Smith, famous for his work on movies such as “Amadeus”, “The Godfather” and, of course, “The Exorcist”. Smith did some of his best, scariest effects for “Ghost Story”, creating visions of Alma and Eva that have remained in William’s imagination. He had long intended to translate his own image of Alma to clay.

AN UNEXPECTED OPPORTUNITY

Almost 30 years after “Ghost Story” debuted, William happened to browse the Clubhouse modeling community’s sculptors’ forum and saw I was considering my second garage-kit production. My first was a bust of Ben from “Night of the Living Dead”, sculpted in 2006 by a wonderful young artist named Chris Wooten. I wanted to do a more professional job of it this time around and was asking for advice about finding someone to work with.

William suggested the possibility of working with me, an unexpected and, yes, thrilling prospect. I’m a fan, have been a fan since becoming involved in the hobby in 2001.

Have you ever been grateful to someone for lighting a fire under your sorry rear end to get you moving on something you say you want to do, but don’t really know if you mean it? I’m grateful to William Paquet for that. Within minutes of getting his first message, I knew I was going to be a garage-kit producer again.

We started discussing possible projects. I said in an e-mail that I enjoy the  over-the-top ghosts I’ve seen in some movies and attached a few photos, including a collage of Smith’s work on “Ghost Story”. William, a very busy guy, read my message and replied quickly, before looking at the photos.

“Ghosts … funny you mentioned them because one of the things I have always wanted to sculpt and one of the things than came to mind for you was a bust of Alma Mobley/Eva Galli from ‘Ghost Story’. The half-rotten stunning work by Dick Smith. Very creepy, and the kind of thing that’s fun to paint.”

Attached to the e-mail was the exact same collage of Smith’s work. Oh yeah, this project had to happen.

So, green light on what we were doing. William put Alma on his “to do” list, I started checking into molding and casting. My intention was to hire out those chores this time around because I wanted to make sure it was done correctly. Still, I did hope to eventually do the work, so I put up another posting at the Clubhouse asking for advice.

William read that, too, and offered to help me do the job properly myself. He took photos of the mold he made of Alma, spoke with me on the phone about the process, and even ended up selling me the mold he’d made. In doing so, he once again lit that fire under me, and once again I’m grateful for it.

I’d only had a handful of contacts with William Paquet before the last several months, and so I can’t adequately express my surprise and thanks for all he’s done to help me out. And he did it with a fascinating combination of courtesy, intelligence and humor unlike anything I’ve ever encountered.

WHO SHOULD PAINT THE FIRST ONE?

My new GK company is called Dedham Pond Designs in honor of the body of water where the movie’s Chowder Society unwittingly submerges a still-living Eva Galli.

Given that Alma was shaped by a sculptor whose work has long amazed me, I figured she deserved the best possible introduction to my fellow hobbyists. Phil Sera’s skill as a painter simply floors me, so I asked him if he’d paint the bust of Alma I would use for the box art and any other publicity. He agreed, and did a spectacular job in a short time. He also provided high-quality photos, which I used for the box art.

Phil’s contribution puts it over the top for me, making Alma the best time I’ve had with this hobby in years.

— Todd Powell

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.

George Lindsey, right, was very surprised when Bobby Horne gave him a customized "Goober" Mego.

For a lot of us, the concept of setting aside childish things just because we’ve grown up is alien. We want that child inside us to be there forever. For others, those “childish things” are naturally woven into the adults we become. I think Bobby Horne is one of those guys.

Bobby is almost 43 years old, all grown up and lives in mid-Tennessee. He has been married for 21 years to the “beautiful and understanding” Jennifer. Their three kids are Kirstie, 17, William, 12, and Endora, 6.

Bobby Horne, center, gives Bob Burns, left, a customized Mego while Dr. Gangrene watches.

He works as a graphic designer, “anything from sign work, computer graphics to woodworking. Years ago, I worked in a cabinet shop and never got the sawdust outta my blood.” Sort of like resin model kits, he said. “Once you start, you never really stop.”

Bobby is about two years younger than I, so I think we grew up enjoying some of the same stuff: G.I. Joe, Big Jim, that kind of thing. Maybe he read some of the same comics I did, and was just as thrilled when the Mego figures of comic characters (both Marvel and DC!) were introduced.

Today, through his Academy Art & Design, Bobby offers customized Megos, decals and plenty more. E-mail him at aadesign@nctc.com.

Q&A WITH BOBBY HORNE

Resin the Barbarian: What’s your own personal “toy story”? Megos seem to be your particular interest. Do you remember when you became a fan, and what figure first got your attention?

Bobby: My toy story goes as this: I can remember back when I was 5 years old and getting my first Mego figure. It was a removable mask Batman. This was the greatest thing I had ever saw. This ended up being a truly loved toy. It didn’t survive over the years; only parts of it.

Here’s a link for people that don’t know what Megos are: www.Megomuseum.com/

RtB: How did your interest in Megos, Big Jims, etc., translate from childhood into adulthood? Do you still have the toys you collected way back when, or did you go in search of it all again?

Bobby: A lot of my toys (Megos, Big Jim, Micronauts and comics) remain in my collection to this day. I guess I never really grew up. But when I discovered eBay in the ’90s, like many others, I began to add to my collection.

I always looked at the custom Mego stuff. These were the figures that Mego never made. Back then, there were only a few really good customizers that could get big money. I noticed a lot of extremely poor customs sold really well. I thought to myself ” I know I can do better”.

So, I started building a few custom Megos and they sold pretty good. But I wanted to add something more to my custom work. At this point in time, I had just got out of college and entered the sign business with a Fast Signs in Nashville, Tenn. I wanted to combine my work with my hobby. So, I started producing small decal sets. These were cut in vinyl. Instead of a waterslide or paper decal, now I could offer to the public something a little better.

The vinyl I use is six-year exterior grade. So, I knew this would hold up for hobbyists like me. I spent about three years perfecting my custom work. Everything including the artwork, box designs, molding and casting heads/parts, the right kinds of paper and glues.

There was some information on the net at that time, but a lot of trial and error was done. But that’s how you learn a craft or trade. It takes time. Fast-forward about 10 years or so. I noticed A LOT of people building and selling custom Megos. So, I  decided to branch out into other toy lines. Like Big Jim, G.I. Joe, Six Million Dollar Man, Evel Knievel and few others. This allowed me to reach thousands of other toy collectors. They ALL needed replacement decals for their collections. I was happy to help them out.

RtB: Have you figured out how to keep Megos together? Every one I ever owned fell apart within a few weeks. String holding on the arms and legs? Silly. My dad always did his best to put them back together with rubber bands or wire, but they never moved as well as they should have.

Bobby: Megos are pretty easy to restring. Of course, I say that AFTER I’ve restrung several hundred. When I was a kid, I didn’t have a clue either. Check the above link and browse around.

RtB: When did you start doing decals? What was your inspiration, what came first?

Bobby: I started in the mid-’90s. My first set was 1/25 Batmobile decals and some  Mego custom sets. They both came about the same time.

RtB: What tools do you use to create the decals? I’m curious about specific information here. What software do you use to do the decals? Are they scans or illustrations or what? Do you print them all at home or have them done elsewhere? Do you do the cards? Wrap them up in plastic yourself? Are they done on demand, or do you have a supply on hand?

Bobby: I design everything in the computer with CorelDraw. It’s the only program I use. I have different printers that I use. Mostly higher end, wide format.  I use these for the better print quality and the fact that when I print a box, it’s in one piece. I don’t use an off-the-shelf, cheap printer that only prints 8.5 inches wide. Those are OK, but you have to cut and paste the box parts together by hand. That takes time and the quality is lower, IMHO.

I have two plotters that I use. A small one to do one-color cuts. Like cutting the star for Captain America in white. The other one is a big VersaCam. These print with UV inks and die-cut the vinyl. Machines like this start at 10 grand and go up from there.

I use these types of plotters and printers to provide the very best product that I can. I want people to get quality for their hard-earned cash. But also I keep my pricing pretty low. I’ve been doing this for so long now, I know how to price accordingly.

I do keep a supply of decals cut, ready to ship. That’s because it’s cheaper to run a couple sets that to run one set.

RtB: What decals do you now have available, and how much do they cost?

Bobby: I have the following: custom Mego/superheroes, Big Jim, G.I. Joe/Action Man, Six Million Dollar Man, Evel Knievel, Polar Lights Batboat/Batcycle and a few others. Ninety percent of my sets start at $7. I don’t have a website, but anyone can e-mail me for details.

RtB: How about the customized Megos, such as the ones your pictures show of Dr. Gangrene and Bob Burns? Do you do all that work yourself?

I’m pretty ignorant here. Do you sculpt new heads for the figures or customize existing ones? What are they made of? Do you sew costumes, build the boxes, all that? Molding and casting?

Bobby: I do a lot of the work with my custom Megos. I do all of the box art, printing and building. The outfits are usually purchased from Doc Mego and

I rework them as needed. This could include a simple restich to tighten the suits or just using a lab coat to dress a figure. I’m not the greatest sculptor, so I find a head that’s pretty close to what I’m shooting for and rework it. The Dr. Gangrene head started out as a resin cast of the Mego Dr. McCoy.

Bobby Horne's custom Megos of Bob Burns and Tracy the Gorilla, the character Burns portrayed in the 1975 Saturday morning children's show "The Ghost Busters".

Now the Bob Burns and Tracy figures were a little different. I reworked some parts to make Bob. But Tracy is a 100 percent build. I sculpted the head, made a resin cast and built the body and suit. Bob was very pleased and that’s reward enough for me.

RtB: Do you have a particular interest in any specific Mego character or line of characters, or do you view them all as potential customizing material?

Bobby: I’ve always thought it was “open season” on all of the Mego characters. Several years ago, a customer asked me to build him some Spider-Man villains and secondary characters. When it was all said and done I sold him over 75 different customs with boxes. I also built him several Spider-Man villain resin kits. He was a VERY good customer.

RtB: You shared pictures of banners and signs made for CultTVMan and Resin Realities. Is that something you do a lot?

Bobby: Yeah, I still do a lot of sign work. Whatever the customer wants, I try to take care of him.

Steve/CultTVMan has been a real good customer over the years. Bless him. John/Resin Realites is like a brother. I’ve made A LOT of good friends over the years in the garage kit world. Some of the best people I’ve ever met and 99 percent of the time we only get to see each other once a year at WonderFest.

People like Dave Fisher, Terry Webb, Paul Schiola (another brother), John Tucky, Saul Alvarez, The Brothers in Resin, George Stephenson, Jesse/ResinPimps, Scott & Jane, Bob Burns, Tom Parker, the list goes on and on. If I’ve left anyone out, please don’t hate me.

RtB: I was at WonderFest in 2005 and saw part of your presentation to Bob Burns. Do you do that kind of thing often? Can you tell me more about what happened that day, and any other such events?

Bobby: I was contacted by Dr. Gangrene to see if I could produce something for Bob’s birthday. I had been working with Dr. Gangrene, producing his Mego figures, for a while. That got the ball rolling.

If I can do this sort of thing, I will. It’s a lot of work, but when I see the shock in someone’s eyes and hear the grateful tone of their “thank yous”, it’s more than worth it to me. I have to thank Dr. Gangrene for allowing me to be part of his act. It allowed me to get a little closer to Bob Burns, whom I’ve admired for a long time.

I produced a custom figure of George Lindsey as Goober from “The Andy Griffth Show”. I gave it to him at a small show a couple years ago. He stated,” Oh my God. Where did you buy this?” After I told him that I produce these type of figures and it was a gift to him as a sorta thank you for all of the years of enjoyment he had given my family, he just about broke down. In the pic, he let me wear his hat. Just too cool! George is a class act.

RtB: Have you seen Dr. Gangrene’s video with the Mego you gave him?

Bobby: Yeah, he sent me a link a while back. Fun STUFF. The Doc and his Nurse are good people. I love them both. His show at WonderFest really captures the “feel” of the old-time horror hosts. It’s really the same as when we were kids, except we’re all grown-up and have money to spend.

RtB: You produced a neat resin blank kit. Is that still available? Also, have you produced other model kits? I see a Den kit on eBay right now produced by Academy Art & Design, looks like your logo on the box.

Bobby: I still produce the MR. Blank kit. It was sculpted by Mikey B. A true master of of the male form. The Den kit is mine too. I sculpted the base, loincloth and added a MR. Blank kit. Pretty simple, but it works.

It’s not a model kit, but I did produce a bust add-on for female Mego bodies. It was sculpted by Chris Elizardo/ScultorForHire. He did a great job for me.

RtB: What are you working on now?

Bob Horne produces this MR. Blank resin model, sculpted by Mikey B.

Bobby: Wow. I have so many things that I want to produce. I’ve been working on a new resin-cast Mego body. Something that is a step above the standard body. A LOT more heroic looking. This is something that I will sell to other customizers.

I’m currently doing a lot of G.I. Joe/Action Man decals. I hope to add a CNC router to my shop the first of the year. My plan is to offer custom wood working to home builders. Something different, unique and affordable.

RtB: Anything else you’d like to add?

Bobby: It’s strange when I read back over everything. I’ve produced a lot of stuff over the years. It’s mostly been to help pay my bills. But I can look back at a few items that I worked on just for myself or close friends. Some of my custom Megos in my personal collection are based on Golden Age comics.

One year for Christmas I built the GEOmetric Mummy bust for my wife. The Universal Mummy is her favorite monster. I’ve built several custom Megos/kits for one of my best friends. But in the end, it’s about your family and friends. It don’t get any better than that.

A little unknown fact about me: I do most of the cooking and baking around the house. I can whip up a mean supper any night of the week. But my wife makes the best pies in the world.

The WWI iron cross Fritz Frising is wearing in this 2005 photo belonged to the husband of his "adopt-a-grandma". He was a Danish soldier in the German Army in 1916. "We took this old lady on as family — she had no relatives in the U.S.A."

The impression I get is that Fritz Frising, “The Headless Hearseman”, could happily start his day watching his 4-year-old son, Andi, put Band-Aids on his monster models’ ouchies, move on to a comfortable tea-time chat with a WWII veteran’s 88-year-old widow, then finish up late discussing deathrock icons in the heart of a group most men in their early 40s would go out of their way to avoid.

A blend of past and present, courtesy and peril, elegance and roughness, plus a healthy dose of talent, that’s how Fritz strikes me … much like Monstrology Models, which Fritz has resurrected.

Monstrology originally rose in the 1990s under founder Jon Wang. “I was a huge horror movie fan and Aurora monster model builder since I was a little kid,” Jon said in an e-mail interview. “At the Fangoria and Chiller shows of the late ’80s and early ’90s I saw incredible sculptures by guys like John Dennett, Thomas Kuntz, Yagher and Bowen and of course the Billiken stuff — and was inspired to start sculpting.

“I hadn’t really planned on starting a company, but things just spiraled and eventually Monstrology was born — the idea being the ‘study’ of these horror characters through sculpture.”

The company produced more than its share of early garage-kit classics, particularly a handful of figures sculpted by William Paquet, “who did what I consider to be some of his best work for Monstrology,” Fritz said via e-mail.

Monstrology Models' Edison Frankenstein Monster, painted by Charlie Coleman. The figure was sculpted by William Paquet.

Those figures include a John Barrymore Mr. Hyde, based on the 1920 movie “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde”; Vincent Price as Nicholas Medina in 1961’s “The Pit and the Pendulum”; and Charles Ogle as the Monster from Edison Studios’s 1910 production of “Frankenstein”. Jon also sculpted his share of great figures, including the ape man from a lost 1927 film called “The Wizard” and Glenn Strange as Petro from 1942’s “The Mad Monster”.

Miss Shock, sculpted by Jon Wang and painted by Rainer Engel.

“It was satisfying to bring a project from something in one’s imagination to something 3D and all that went along with that as far as marketing and advertising — box art, instructions, etc.,” Jon said. “And it was fun to work with all the people involved in creating those projects — people like mold maker MP Stehlik, of course master sculptor William Paquet and graphic artist Rich Hilliard — who were most involved at least early on. Of course Fritz as well, who was initially a great supporter of Monstrology and then by way of our friendship and similar artistic visions became a collaborator — he’s also a huge Lugosi fan and that’s a passion we both share.”

Many of the characters were monsters — rough, slouching beasts of demented or evil intent — yet they were so artistically created that they helped set the high standard against which all so-called “garage” kits would be measured from then on.

Monstrology shut down about a decade ago, and Jon, a medical doctor, kept very busy. The kits grew ever more collectible, commanding big prices on the rare occasions they were available.

“I had fallen out of touch with the hobby and sadly most of my friends involved with it,” Jon said. “By way of the Internet and AFM my interests were rekindled and I suppose you could say I was bitten by the garage kit bug again. I ended up getting back in touch with Fritz and we basically picked up where we left off — since he was still involved in the hobby we decided to bring some of the Monstrology line back to life and Fritz has just released Paquet’s legendary Edison Frankenstein kit. This never would have happened without Fritz’s hard work and dedication to the hobby.”

So now, Fritz said, “I am at the helm of Monstrology. Call me nostalgic. Call me proud. I want to give something back to Monstrology, to Jon Wang, for the good memories, the great sculptures; the enjoyment of sitting with a wonderful casting of Glenn Strange, John Barrymore, Charles Ogle, or Wilfred Walter. Of making a monster and saying ‘life is good!’ ”

EDISON’S FRANKENSTEIN THE FIRST TO RISE AGAIN

Dr. Frankenstein’s creation was brought to life on film in the early 20th century, in a silent movie written and directed by J. Searle Dawley and starring Charles Ogle as the Monster. Never seen it? It’s not quite 13 minutes long and you can watch it free online, check it out if you have a few minutes.

Thomas Edison’s “Frankenstein” can seem ridiculous to the modern eye, jaded by bloody excesses of modern horror, but viewers with some imagination will find much about it to appreciate. The scenes in which the Monster is brought to life in a smoking vat while the mad doctor watches is a wonderful early special effects sequence. It’s so easy to figure out how it was accomplished: Dawley — who reportedly directed 149 films between 1907 and 1926 — set a mannequin on fire and filmed it while its “flesh” burned off, revealing a skeleton underneath. Then he reversed the film for the movie. A skeletal arm was yanked up and down with a wire, adding to the effect.

Again, yes, if you watch that scene with the intent of scoffing at it, it’s funny. But consider that it was done a century ago, before anyone had attempted anything like it, and you’ll appreciate it more.

Bill Harrison of Monsterscene magazine painted this Monstrology Frankenstein Monster.

William Paquet’s Edison Frankenstein model kit, one of the more collectible Monstrology figures, was the first Fritz Frising reintroduced to the market.

“It’s always nice to see interest in older projects,” Paquet wrote in an e-mail. “I’m often surprised at the degree of interest in my older work, because for me once the work is done it’s in the past. It’s cool, though, to see the legacy of what I have done and see people still appreciate some of it.”

Charles Ogle's Frankenstein Monster was the first celluloid version of the creature. Monstrology kit painted by Bill Harrison.

William’s Monster, like so many of his works, is striking. The figure’s hair is wild, eyebrows painted on, his expression so over-the-top, and the clothing … let’s be honest, the creature’s costume is ridiculous! Or, it should be, anyway. I mean, he’s wearing what looks like a ragged shirt that hangs about as long as a miniskirt, with a rope wrapped around his shoulder and waist. Bandages wound up his legs look like nylons. The bandage on his head. It shouldn’t work.

But it does. It really, really does. Why? Is it the character’s posture? The way he’s holding his hands? The pathos showing through that crazy expression? Probably all that and more.

I asked William how he thinks his Monstrology sculptures compare with his more recent works.

“It’s impossible to be objective about this,” he said. “I can say truthfully that were I to sculpt these figures today, that the work would be a lot better, but that’s because more than a decade has passed since I sculpted them, and they were done very early in my career. However, even though I can look at them now and see where there are things I would do differently, they hold up better than I would expect them to after all this time.”

I first interviewed William for Resin the Barbarian in summer 2006, shortly after his Nosferatu bust became available from Tower of London. Another silent-era classic. Is he still interested in similar subject matter?

“Yes. The problem with any of this stuff is time. I would love to tackle much more from the era than I have, but I also have other subjects I like and other things to do. As well, Thomas Kuntz has done such a stellar job on the pieces he has rendered that it would be hard to top his efforts. I would like to tackle ‘The Man Who Laughs’ someday, but the bar is so high with Tom’s that it’s almost pointless.”

John Barrymore as Mr. Hyde, a highly prized, newly reissued Monstrology kit sculpted by William Paquet. This is Rainer Engel's buildup.

MORE MONSTROLOGY FIGURES ON THE WAY, PLUS A NEW BASE

Black Cat Resin's door base was sculpted by John Comito. It measures about 20 inches tall, 14 inches wide, 8 inches deep.

Now that the Edison Frankenstein is reaching hobbyists, Fritz is rolling out the ape man from “The Wizard” and taking preorders for the Barrymore Hyde, with a new door base by Fritz’s “Brooklyn buddy” John Comito.

What comes next? Will Fritz be able to reissue the entire Monstrology series?

“Three of the old kits were sold to Vin Bordagna,” he said. “Zacherley, Prince Randian and Paquet’s zombie rising from the grave. These remain property of Vin’s company, Resin Crypt. I am speaking to Vin about getting Zacherley back into the fold. To me it is important that all Jon Wang’s classic horror sculptures are part of Monstrology.

“There were a few ideas that never saw fruition, and only time will tell if a 1:6 scale bust by Wang, or a full figure of one of our beloved iconic characters, will be added to the line.

“As far as a timeline, there is none. Those kits that have molds can be made available fairly easily. I am using the sales of these kits to fund the molds on the reissues.”

Fritz isn’t working on this alone; he has help from an old friend.

“I am involved with the hobby in a minor support role for Fritz in helping to bring back some of the Monstrology line,” said Jon, Monstrology’s founder. ‘I have started sculpting again, which has been satisfying, but have no firm plans to
release anything at the moment — time will tell.”

Fritz Frising "bronzed" this casting of The Wizard himself. The Monstrology kit, sculpted by Jon Wang, is available again.

LET’S RECAP A FEW POINTS

Writing about the Monstrology kits is easy. All I had to do to focus myself was scribble a few bullet points. Why do I like the kits?

The Ape Man, sculpted by Jon Wang and painted by Rainer Engel.

— They’re extremely well sculpted, with terrific likenesses of people I know little about, and wonderfully posed.

— While I’m not always familiar with the specific subjects, I’m very familiar with many of the characters. It’s not Boris Karloff or Fredric March, but the images of Charles Ogle’s Monster and John Barrymore’s Jekyll/Hyde have been reflected in countless movies since.

— Until recently, the Monstrology kits have been scarce. And given that few garage kits ever reach really large runs, they’ll someday be scarce again.

— My favorite Monstrology kits speak of a simpler, purer form of creativity. There’s no CGI in these films, most aren’t even in color. The silent-movie characters in particular reflect an art form that existed for only a few years, and then was gone. Kind of like many garage kits.

Yep, it’s easy for a hobbyist like me to write about Monstrology. But Fritz Frising … he’s a challenge. Why? Because he’s much too interesting, and so it’s impossible to encapsulate all the interesting points in a hurry.

Fritz and his son, Andi, in October 2006. "I had no idea just how much joy he would bring into my life," Fritz says. "He has a great wit, charm, and he’s polite!"

FRITZ FRISING, A.K.A. ‘THE HEADLESS HEARSEMAN’

Fritz is a 42-year-old resident of Suffolk County, Long Island. He’s divorced and has a 4-year-old son. In addition to “The Headless Hearseman”, he’s also known as “Boiling Mad” (one of the “Mad Geppettos”), “Fritz die Spinne” (mostly in music collecting circles) and some may still recall his earliest incarnation, “Vampir Unlimited”.

His day job is with S.E.T., distributing silicone, epoxies, resin and related items to electronics, artists, prototyping and modeling industries.

“Because of the hobby I secured a part-time job with my resin distributor a few years back,” he said. “It turned full time and has been a great learning experience. I’ve learned a lot from my customers, and have been able to turn a lot of that back into the hobby. I enjoy what I do there, and often get to see artwork, molds, castings, and an array of materials in use when I deliver to various studios.”

In real life, it's unlikely you'd find an armadillo wandering a Transylvanian vampire's castle.

The Monstrology revival is his latest effort at producing garage kits, but it isn’t his first. He has, in fact, made quite a few things over the years and more is in the works. Check out his website for information about those. I get a particular kick out of a 1/6 scale armadillo he offers as a Dracula kit add-on, a nod to the armadillos seen lurking in the Lugosi Dracula’s castle in Tod Browning’s 1931 film.

Fritz's Janus Dracula was pictured on the cover of the Fall 1999 issue of Kitbuilders.

Fritz is a big fan of Bela Lugosi, as evidenced by his article about Lugosi figures in the Fall 1999, No. 32, issue of Kitbuilders Magazine. Fritz’s buildup of Janus’s deluxe Dracula kit also graces that magazine’s cover, and he wrote an additional article about the history of Janus for that issue.

The Headless Hearseman has a great reputation for his name plates to fit a range of subjects. Anyone interested in a plate to fit a classic horror kit, or just about any other fantasy kit, should check Fritz’s site to see if he has one already. If he doesn’t, he might be willing to make one.

There’s so much more about him to know, so I’m going to try to let Fritz tell some of it himself:

Resin the Barbarian: Would you please summarize your experience as a kit hobbyist, then as a kit producer?

Fritz: Where to start? I guess I am an Aurora kid who got started on kits at age 5 with my older sister and my dad. The classic horror films such as “Dracula” and “Frankenstein” impressed my dad in their initial run in 1931; we watched all manner of classic films on rainy days when I was a lad.

By age 12, collecting WWI and WWII memorabilia from family and friends had helped lay monsters to rest, somewhat, and I am a music-obsessed punk rocker through most of my mid- to late teens, which diversified my interests somewhat.

Faces of Fritz: These are some photos of himself that Fritz shares on his MySpace page. Fritz enjoys MySpace, he says, because he can share his love of music there.

In 1992 I am reintroduced to model kits after seeing them displayed by a friend’s brother, a former Hollywood SFX artist. I watch German silent horror and Universal films in this period, in part because many of these images are used by gothic bands like Bauhaus and The Screaming Tribesmen. The move into the monster hobby and model kits is a natural move because of this. I tend to think of myself as the first true goth at the Chiller shows, before the mid-’90s flood of goth into mainstream youth culture.

Fritz's Goth Fink, a self-portrait.

My love of the silent horror and gothic themes, the early Janus Co., Resin from the Grave, Jeff Yagher, Necronomi, Artomic and other kits of the time paved my way for friendships with people like John Ulakovic, John Dennett, and Thomas Kuntz (I have No. 13 of some of his most notable horror figures like Vampira, Man Who Laughs, and others). I’ll presume most people can pair up a few kits to these names, or even their respective company names, so I won’t babble further.

I also became friends with a fellow who was producing garage kits of subjects that fit right in with Chiller Expo and the Artomic Creations kits I own. Jon Wang is a medical doctor with a passion for the classic actors, and his releases under the banner Monstrology Models really spoke to me. Jon was sculpting figures of really cool-looking horror characters I’d never heard about. He made me want to dig deeper into the unknown and ofttimes unnoticed characters from “Poverty Row” films. At this time even a VHS tape of many of these films is a hard-to-find commodity.

Around 1993 the Monstrology connection starts to unfold.

Early on I started painting for other collectors, and even companies like Janus. Sometimes I’d do a custom base if the kit did not come with one. I have some paint-ups in the Ron Chaney home; Sara Karloff and Bela Lugosi Jr. also have kits I painted. Some big collectors (I won’t bother with more name dropping) have anywhere from one to a dozen kits I’ve painted. A Hollywood writer and collector has dozens of Chaney and Karloff kits that I have built for him, as well as the early Artomic models and, once again, Monstrology.

When Jon did the Human Monster kit, he asked me to sculpt one of my custom bases to help give a setting for the blind henchman, Jake. That was my first involvement in doing something for a garage kit that would be produced and sold.

Soon after, I was making some bases for another friend’s company, Supporting Castings. Simple but effective renderings of floors, steps and the like. I guess I have tweaked a few of the sculptures produced by SC, which was a rigid fan-driven endeavor by collector Bob Wallets. This was all circa 1997-2000, commingling with some projects of my own.

RtB: You were not active as a kit producer for a while, perhaps a few years, although I don’t think you ever stopped making nameplates. Recently you’ve revived some of your old kits and have started working on some new originals, plus you’re reviving the beloved Monstrology line. What made you decide to jump back into production with such gusto?

Fritz: Well, first off I dabbled under what I now consider to be a poorly chosen name that first served me as a kit painter — Vampir Unlimited — with a set of Dracula diorama accessories (bats, an armadillo and name plate) and a couple of 1:4 scale busts circa 1998-1999.

By the early 2000s I had a scale doorway base reproduced in resin for 120mm figures. And I started doing some assorted nameplates just because I needed them for some stuff I had, and my local Brooklyn buddy John Comito would get me fired up to do a plate for his latest diorama. Eventually I just started offering more and more of these to model collectors. Plates sort of became “my thing” since 2004 or so… They were something I could design, have etched, and easily mold up.

I think the nameplates are great because they give folks a chance to tell more of a story if they wish. Make their model appear like a lobby card or poster. And best of all I get to contribute to some amazing work by my favorite sculptors just because a collector decides one of my nameplates would finish off a figure display that they make.

For Zacherley's 90th birthday in 2008, "Mad Geppettos" Scott Whipple ("Mad One") and Fritz Frising ("Boiling Mad") presented Zach with a Mad Geppetto Creation. The figure was very well received, with Zach saying it is "the best figure" he has seen done of himself. He quite liked the coat and pants, complete with grave dirt. He looked forward to dressing in character and walking up and down his street with the figure, claiming it was his child. Photo from madgeppetto.com.

RtB: Your creative endeavors have apparently put you in contact with many interesting people over the years. I found a photo of you with Zacherley on the Mad Geppetto site. Can you name some others?

Fritz: I could list guests of Chiller and other shows, amazing musicians few would know or care about. Perhaps the most influential there would be Deathrock icon Rozz Williams. But to me the most interesting people come from the hobby.

A short, favorite story involves one of my best friends — Nightmares In Plastic’s Rainer Engel. This is at a Chiller Expo with several of his traveling countrymen in the early 2000s. I was speaking with him in the lobby on Saturday night, surrounded by the likes of Robb Rotondi, David Grant, Mike and Danya Parks, Sean Nagle, Danny Sirocco, John Diaz — you get the idea. Rainer turns to his friends and me with some awe in his voice, says “Look at this — Ve are in the presence of American Garage Kit Royalty!” naming the names, and even including me in his praise.

The fact that I take all these folks for friends and my association for granted (in a good way) is what matters. Despite distance and lengthy silence at times, I count Thomas Kuntz a great friend, and John Dennett, who has been MIA in the hobby for some years. There are many others, but I feel the more I mention the more I will leave out…

Fritz in the Old Dutch Church Burying Ground. Sleepy Hollow, October 2004. Photo by Jörg Buttgereit, German filmmaker.

RtB: What about places you’ve visited? The photo you seem to use most often was taken in Sleepy Hollow?

Fritz: Ah, my favorite area is along the Hudson River heading up higher into New York. One day I hope to live up that way, and maybe open a shop.

I guess I’ve lived and traveled a lot of Long Island up to about age 33, and spent almost six years living in Brooklyn. I’m back on Long Island after an unsuccessful relocation to Virginia that lasted 11 months, but am glad to put that chapter of my life behind me.

As a history buff, I find almost anyplace interesting. My job takes me around a lot of Brooklyn and Queens to art studios. As a 12- and 14-year-old my mom took me on a few trips to Europe, seeing parts of Hungary where her family hails from, as well as Romania, what was then Yugoslavia, Germany, Austria, and the Netherlands.

RtB: The character color guide from your old Vampir Unlimited site has been cited again and again as a valuable resource for painters trying to interpret black-and-white subjects in color. How long did it take you to put that together? What sources did you use?

Fritz: So much of my original notes on that are gone — I wish I’d kept them. Basically a few assorted fact-finding missions starting around 1993 when I got my Billiken Dracula and knew I’d seen his eye color in a questionnaire in an old Famous Monsters of Filmland magazine. Made sense I should go the same route doing eyes on other characters, and much of what I have on my web page is just expanded upon five or six years of collected data.

Fritz produced this Elephant Man statue on behalf of a friend. The intention is to market it prepainted, but it is currently sold as a kit.

I did get to talk to people who knew some of the actors, had color photos, or had seen some costumes. Actor bios and knowledge of costume helped flesh out more. There you have it.

RtB: From what I can tell through various sources, in addition to classic fantasy and horror, you are interested in WWI and WWII insignia, patches, movies in general and “Night of the Hunter” in particular, and of course music. I’m not sure if you’re a big reader, but I see that “Dracula” and “All Quiet on the Western Front” are your favorite books. Which of these interests would say occupies you most?

Dracula's Daughter, a bust produced by The Headless Hearseman.

Fritz: Among my best friends are twins and their older brother — we are family. Our military collection was a common bond, and when I had to move into a small flat I merged my sizable collection with theirs. Like all friendships, diverse interests broadened horizons. To varying degrees among us we shared Rat Finks, vintage cars, movies, superhero kit conversions, home repair, new wave clubbing, record collecting, and all manner of fun that just played a big part in all our lives.

I haven’t the time to read what I’d like, but I have a sizable collection of bios and books about horror actors and films. I might not think to read much on WWII anymore, but if I see a book on Pete’s shelf and he says I’d like it, I’ll read it. If Tim and his wife are enjoying surf music, I’ll hunker down with some new sounds, and find some new surf music for them. And when I go by the family homestead, Charlie Sr. and Marjorie — my second parents — are yet another pair of grandparents to my son.

Boy, did that not answer your question! I guess I’m as interested in Rat Rods these days as I once loved to read about U.S. paratroops. Or a bio on silent film star Gloria Swanson as opposed to the latest “sequel” written to “Dracula”.

I guess at different times I have reread “Dracula” every year or two, and “All Quiet on the Western Front” has caught me four to five times since age 12. I have first German and American editions of it, and have been an avid book collector for years. I must have 60 editions of “Dracula”, mostly pre-1950 hardcovers, and some foreign editions. Oh yeah — I love horror photoplays and have nearly all the major Universal horror film book editions, “King Kong”, “Faust”, assorted Lugosi film tie-ins, and then some.

I don’t think I focus more on one hobby or collection than the next. Though I guess music is always a constant — it can be played almost anywhere and any time I want, and I am always learning about a great band that I missed 20 years ago! I have a few hundred LPs left at this point, and well over 4,000 CDs.

Fritz's son, Andi, 4, was concerned about the wound on a Frankenstein Monster model's forehead. While Andi ran for the Band-Aids, Fritz grabbed his camera.

RtB: You have a 4-year-old son who is plainly very important to you. How do you share your interests with him? What interests has he shared with you?

Fritz: My Andi is amazing! I had no idea just how much joy he would bring into my life. He has a great wit, charm, and he’s polite!

“Please Plesiosaurus” he asks when he wants something — an avid dinosaur fan for over a year now. Here was my chance to introduce him to kits, which he loves. Reissues of the same kits I built with my dad. He even took a liking to a Frankenstein kit — he learned the main monster characters in a matter of days after asking just once looking at my autographs on the walls. He now points them out when he sees a similar kit or photo elsewhere.

I’ve put some of his drawings of Transformers and volcanoes over the scarier characters on my walls, but he seems more afraid of some “normal” stuff that he has seen on TV — including kid shows like “Dora”.

I won’t push my interest on him, but I’ll show him the way if he expresses interest. I’m just thrilled to be a father, and the fact that my son wants to do things that I did with my dad makes me endlessly happy.