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Archive for the ‘Producers’ Category

Godzilla Ghost with T’s Facto

July 11th, 2009

Originally published May 25, 2006, at GJSentinel.com.

Thanks to “kiryu” and “raydrz” for the suggested questions.

Godzilla\'s Ghost by T\'s Facto

Godzilla's Ghost by T's Facto“GODZILLA GHOST”
Inspired by the original, 1954 movie “Godzilla”
• Produced by T’s Facto
• Sculpted by Takashi Yamawaki, popularly known as “T”, who also painted the piece pictured
• About 15.75 inches tall
• 51 parts (see below for a breakdown)
• Made of resin
• Price: 29,000 yen (about $260 U.S.)
• Shipping to the United States would cost about $37
• Scheduled for release in June

Frankly, the giant-monster (kaiju) movies from Japan are often pretty cheesy stuff. People dressed in rubber costumes stomp on neat scale-model buildings and fight each other. The best I’ve seen of them are fun and have some wonderful moments; only the very worst are so bad you can’t enjoy them at least a little.

Godzilla's Ghost by T's FactoFew are what I would define as truly “great” movies, although I do get a chill from post-attack scenes in the first Godzilla movie, made when the nuclear bombings in Japan were a recent memory.

Model kits based on this material are often some of the most dazzling you’ll see, and this week’s subject – “Godzilla Ghost” from T’s Facto – is the latest to floor me, coming from a sculptor whose works often make me wonder just how much I want to overheat my credit card on my hobby.

Full-time Godzilla's Ghost by T's Factosculptor and kit seller “T” (Takashi Yamawaki) is 38 years old, unmarried, and lives inSaitama prefecture, just next to Tokyo. His mastery of written English is wonderful, judging by our e-mail exchange, which is great because I couldn’t have written this entry based on my nonexistent skill with the Japanese language. For the record, I had to do some minor editing in the Q&A exchange below, but not as much as I’ve had to do with some native English speakers in more than 15 years of newspaper experience.

“T” says he worked at International Hotel as a bartender in Singapore from the ages of 20 to 35 and learned English from his Chinese girlfriend. He moved on to sculpting three years ago.

Godzilla\'s Ghost by T\'s Facto

Q&A WITH TAKASHI YAMAWAKI, A.K.A. “T”

Resin the Barbarian: This kit represents Godzilla at the end of the first movie, when he is destroyed underwater. As I recall, the skeleton is not clearly seen in the film. What did you use as reference material?

T“T”: There was a movie in 2002, “Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla.” “The Monsters Inc.,” which is a sculpting team, made the skeleton model for this movie.… Read the rest

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Frankenstein’s Monster by Mark Newman

July 11th, 2009

Originally published May 18, 2006, at GJSentinel.com.

Mark Newman\'s Frankenstein Monster

Mark Newman\'s Frankenstein Monster• Produced by Mark Newman Sculpture Inc.
• Sculpted by Mark Newman, who also painted the kit in the photos
• Scale: About 1/5; the figure is 15 1/4 inches tall
• Material: Solid resin
• Number of parts: Five, including the base
• Price: $150 plus $12 shipping in the United States

Fans of monster models could fill whole shelves with the Frankenstein Monster. I should know, I’ve done it.
The Monster, first pieced together in the pages of Mary Shelley’s novel and reborn time and time again on both the big and small screen, is arguably the most popular subject for fans of figure models. This is particularly true of the Universal Studios Monster, first embodied in 1931 by Boris Karloff. A flat-headed, neck-bolted Universal Monster was the first monster model released by Aurora in 1961, and the kit was so popular that the company followed it up with more monsters that were released and re-released over the years.

Horizon Original made a great Universal Monster kit, as did Billiken, GEOmetric Design and more. MANY more.

However, the Universal Studios version of the Monster isn’t the only one to win fans. Plenty of other visions of the creature have also kept kitbuilders busy over the years. Click on the “popular subject” link above for a good sampling.

Mark Newman\'s Frankenstein MonsterSome of those monsters represent the unique visions of their creators. That can be said of this week’s subject: “Frankenstein’s Monster” by Mark Newman, 43, of Oakland, Calif.

I’ve known Mark’s name for a while now, having heard time and again from hobbyists with a longer garage-kit background than my own 4 1/2 years, who considered him one of the best sculptors in the field. They usually spoke of him in terms of someone who had moved on from GKs to other works, and on the rare occasions they came up on eBay, his kits were at the center of bidding wars.

Then, a few months ago, Mark sort of reappeared on some Internet forums, and not too long after that he started asking people about the Frankenstein sculpture he was working on. “Would you consider buying this if it were a kit?” he asked.

Of course, the answer was a loud “Bring it on!”

As one of the Frankenstein Monster’s many longtime fans, I figured I just had to e-mail the mad doctor behind this latest version.

Q&A WITH MARK NEWMAN

Resin the Barbarian: How… Read the rest

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Ultratumba’s Angry Red Spider

July 10th, 2009

Originally published May 11, 2006, at GJSentinel.com.

Angry Red Spider by Ultratumba Productions

Angry Red Planet“ANGRY RED SPIDER”
• Produced by Ultratumba Productions
• Sculpted by Paul Schiola of Eastlake, Colo.
• Size: 9 inches tall, 19.5 inches wide
• Material: Solid pink resin
• Number of parts: 15, including the base
• Price: $99 plus $18 domestic shipping
• Limited to 150 kits

Ultratumba\'s Angry Red SpiderFirst time I saw a picture of this new Ultratumba Productions kit, I thought, neat! I’ve never seen the movie this beastie comes from, “The Angry Red Planet,”but the model is so interesting and fun that it makes me want to.

That, I think, is a pretty common reaction to garage kits based on movies. People like me see a model kit they like, they buy it, then they go out and rent or purchase the movie that inspired it, not only because they’re curious about the film but also because they an idea of how they want to paint the kit.

But looking at this piece, I also figured I couldn’t afford it. I mean, it’s so big and so detailed, I thought it just had to be expensive. Then I found out the price is in the neighborhood of $100 – pretty cheap for a kit like this – and was even more impressed.

Angry Red PlanetAffordability is an important concern for Paul Schiola of Ultratumba, which means that in addition to being worth considering because they’re neat, they’re also a good option for people on a budget or who are just starting out in the hobby.

I’ve been watching for a chance to get in touch with Paul not only because I like his work, but also because he’s a fellow Coloradan. The introduction of this spider gave me the perfect excuse to e-mail him.

Paul Schiola and Bob Burns

Q&A WITH PAUL SCHIOLA

Resin the Barbarian: What can you tell me about the Angry Red Spider? Are you a fan of the movie “Angry Red Planet” or did you discover the creature another way?

Paul: I was a young boy around the age of 8 when we drove to Chicago to see some relatives. I had already been bitten by the monster bug thanks to my oldest brother, Frank, who found several issues of Famous Monsters under his desk while in his last class on a Friday afternoon. He brought them home with the intention to bring them back to the student he thought left them on Monday morning. So I spent the weekend drooling over these… Read the rest

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Ripley & Power Loader, Part III: Mike Allen

July 10th, 2009

Power Loader base

Originally posted May 4, 2006, at GJSentinel.com.

Some people at The Clubhouse said I ought to make the Forbidden Zone Ripley & Power Loader into a three-part entry by asking Mike Allen to share a little more about the base and decals he made for the kit. Mike was game, so why not?

Mike AllenIn addition to impressing me as the guy behind Forbidden Zone, which is putting out some of the best garage kits around, Mike got on my good side by agreeing to help me launch “Resin the Barbarian” Feb. 1. He answered a few questions about his Young Frankenstein bust without having much of an idea of what I hoped to do with his answers, and helped make it easier for me to approach everyone I’ve written about in the weeks since.

So, what follows is what Mike told me via e-mail about making a base to go along with the Ripley figure by Gabriel Marquez (part I) and the Power Loader by Tom Seiler (part II).

Q&A WITH MIKE ALLEN

Resin the Barbarian: As the person who runs Forbidden Zone, you are basically the guy in charge of the collaborative process that led to the Power Loader kit. Do you ever find it intimidating or uncomfortable giving direction/advice to people like Gabriel Marquez and Tom Seiler, who are so enviably talented?

Mike: No, not really. First of all, Tom and Gabriel are so down to earth and easy to get along with. They are very talented, but they’re open to all kinds of ideas. I mean … the machinery is what it is … Sigorney looked a certain way … it’s committed to film, so you pretty much know what you have to create.

I have to hand it to Tom; he studied screen grabs and photographs to pull all sorts of little details into it. I’ll tell you this much, I have had two individuals e-mail me that are connected to folks who created the full-size and miniature Loader for the film. They thought enough of the work on the kit to contact us and compliment it.

Now, the way I see it, the place where you have some freedom and creativity is the pose and composition of the piece. That’s where I think I can bring something to the table. I get to work with these talented guys and collectively create something we can all be proud of.

It sounds cheesy, but it’s true. I can talk to Gabriel and say something like “I want her arm as high as she can… Read the rest

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Cliff Green’s T-rex

July 10th, 2009

Originally published April 20, 2006, at GJSentinel.com.

Cliff Green

TYRANNOSAURUS “CENTENNIAL” REX
Produced by Cliff Green Studio of Price, Utah
Sculpted by Cliff Green, who also does his own painting
6 inches tall, 12 inches long. It’s 1/35 scale, representing a 38-foot-long dinosaur with a 5-foot-long skull
$50 for an unpainted kit (two parts, dino and base), $140 for a painted resin statue, $1,000 for a bronze statue

My interest in model kits was sparked somewhere around age 7; my interest in dinosaurs predates that by at least a couple of years. These two fascinations have risen and fallen with me over the years, but neither has ever faded completely away. So, when I found out recently about Cliff Green, a sculptor whose works include small dinosaur sculptures he sells as kits, working practically in the neighborhood, I had to get in touch to find out more.

Cliff loves prehistoric animals and for the last seven years has made a living as a professional sculptor specializing in prehistoric fauna. He recently worked on a full-sized Dilophosaurus wetherilli bronze monument for the St. George Dinosaur Discovery Site at Johnson Farm and hopes to start a full-sized Brontotherium hatcheri bronze monument for Badlands National Park in South Dakota soon.

For “self-therapy”, Cliff also sculpts, casts and sells 1/35th scale prehistoric animals, including the T-rex pictured above. I was glad Cliff suggested focusing on this in my blog, because the T-rex has long been the dino that most fascinated me (probably because I thought he was the toughest). Cliff describes this sculpture as being rendered under the direction of some of the top Tyrannosaur experts of the 21st century, during the June 2005“100 years of T-Rex Symposium” in Hill City, S.D. The anatomy, pose and skin are based on the experts’ critiques.

Cliff works out of the garage and front room at his home but hopes to buy a studio when the Brontotherium commission in South Dakota comes in, “hopefully very soon.” In the meantime, he says people are welcome to visit him at his address but need to call at least a day ahead of time “so I can hide the bodies.” If you’re interested, give him a ring at (435) 636-0887 or send him an e-mail at dinonaut@emerytelcom.net; I’ll leave it to him to share the actual address. He can also send you a price list if you contact him through e-mail.

For fellow garage-kit enthusiasts, it’s also worth mentioning that Cliff’s brother, John, ran John Green Models for 25 years. That operation closed up shop… Read the rest

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Gabe Perna’s visions of villains

July 10th, 2009

First published April 6, 2006, at GJSentinel.com.

Question: Whose idea was it for you to sculpt your own visions of these comic villains?

Gabe Perna, sculptor: It was one of those things where I just kinda started one and saw that I was having some fun. I wanted to make a sculpt that was sort of “museum bust”-like, with the sides and back truncated, in a larger scale than some of the stuff I had been doing at that point. No sooner than I finished the first one, I had started the second. They were quick and a real blast to sculpt. I showed ‘em to Randy of Killing Time Kits and that was that!

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If you’re looking to kill a little time by building a model, Killing Time Kits has three killers worth considering. They’re the unique visions of DC Comics villains by the sculptor Gabe Perna, dubbed “some of Gabe’s best work” by Randy at Killing Time, which is saying something.

Darkseid by Perna

“THE MONARCH”

Inspired by DARKSEID, ruler of the planet Apokolips

Painted by Dan Cope

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Bizarro by Perna

“ME AM #1″

Inspired by BIZARRO #1, an imperfect duplicate of Superman

Painted by Dan Cope

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Killer Croc by Perna

“CROCODILE JONES”

Inspired by Batman enemy KILLER CROC

Painted by Joe Dunaway

All three museum-style resin busts are about 10.5 inches tall, a little larger than 1/4 scale, and sell for $60 plus shipping. They all come in two parts and are unpainted.

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Gabe and Randy are two more guys I encountered through the Clubhouse Internet modeling community. Randy started out like me, a fan of garage kits (although he’s more talented), then he branched into kit production after a couple years or so. Gabe came along a bit later and quickly drew a lot of attention because of his striking style of sculpting. For some reason, both of these jokers struck me as guys a person could get along with, and I found out for sure that was true when I met them last year at WonderFest in Louisville, Ky.

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Here’s more of my e-mail Q&A with Gabe:

Me: What hours of the day do you sculpt, and do you have any kind of snack or drink on hand while you’re working?

Gabe: I keep the worst sort of hours (in a traditional sense). I generally stay up hammering the clay until about 5:30 am and rise… Read the rest

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Bubba the Redneck Werewolf and John Diaz

July 10th, 2009

Originally published March 30, 2006, at GJSentinel.com.

Doesn’t this look like a happy fella?

Bubba the Redneck Werewolf

Meet “Bubba the Redneck Werewolf”, a 1/6 scale resin kit from the wonderful folks at Resin Realities and Wolf’s Den. The kit’s sculptor is Mark VanTine and it comes unbuilt in four resin parts; the one in the pictures was painted by Saul Alvarez. Bubba – who is also the star of his own comic and soon a movie – will be available in kit form for only a limited time; the price is $65 unbuilt or $75 for an assembled “bronzed” edition, plus shipping.

Sculpting Bubba “was a fairly straightforward job, which I both designed and executed,” MVT told me in an e-mail. “When finished, I sent it to John to do his thing.

“I’ve been working with John for over 10 years now, and over the years we’ve both learned to trust each other enough to allow the other to do their job. That’s the best way to work, if you ask me.”

The “John” he’s referring to is John Diaz, president of Resin Realities, a person known and admired by garage-kit fans around the world. I’ve known John for a few years, mostly because we’re both members of the Clubhouse modeling community, and I’ve also done a few transactions with him. I finally got to meet him face to face in the dealer room last year atWonderFest in Louisville, Ky. It was amazing; I approached John’s table with a bit of trepidation, wondering if I should bother to introduce myself; before I could decide, and while I was still several steps away, he picked out the name in small type on the tag I was wearing, gave me a big smile and started a conversation. Being able to make people so comfortable, so quickly, is a rare gift.

Bubba the Redneck Werewolf

Here’s what John had to say about Bubba in particular and producing garage kits in general recently through e-mail:

Me – What can you tell me about the character Bubba the Redneck Werewolf? (I wasn’t even aware of the comic until last week or so.)

John – Bubba was a character created by a friend of mine, Mitch Hymen. The story goes that he was a dogcatcher who was bitten by a dog that had been infected due to cosmetic testing in a lab and escaped.

Bubba likes to drink beer, drive a 4×4, has a hot girlfriend named Bobby Joe and is extremely jealous of anyone around her. He is more of an antihero as he really… Read the rest

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