July 11th, 2009
Originally published May 18, 2006, at GJSentinel.com.
• 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.
Some of those monsters represent the unique visions of their creators. That can…
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July 10th, 2009
Originally published May 11, 2006, at GJSentinel.com.
“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
First 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.
Affordability 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…
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July 10th, 2009
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?
In 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…
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July 10th, 2009
Originally published May 4, 2006, at GJSentinel.com.
This week’s subject is a big model kit, so it’s appropriate that it would require a little extra space. In the last Resin the Barbarian entry, I talked about the specifics of
Forbidden Zone’s upcoming Power Loader garage kit and spoke with Gabriel Marquez, sculptor of the Ripley figure on the kit.
Tom Seiler is the man behind the machine on the Power Loader. Like Gabriel, Tom lives in the Houston area, about an hour away from Gabriel’s home.
“I don’t call what I do ‘sculpting,’” Tom wrote in an e-mail. “Don’t put me in the same category as someone like Gabriel, as I’m not worthy! I will answer to ‘fabricator’ or ‘scratchbuilder,’ though, as I assemble bits of sheet styrene, plastic tubing, plumber’s epoxy and lots of putty and primer into master parts.
“I break a project into subassemblies and then make a model of each bit. The closest I come to sculpting is creating a transition or fillet here and there. I like to break objects down to their basic shapes, like the Loader foot is a rectangular solid with a half-cylinder on top of it.”
Read on for more of Tom’s description of assembling the Loader.
TOM SEILER ON MAKING THE POWER LOADER
Resin the Barbarian: Would you like to say anything about creating the Power Loader? I know that project was quite some time from conception to completion, so I’m sure you spent many hours working…
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July 10th, 2009
Originally published May 4, 2006, at GJSentinel.com.
• “RIPLEY & POWER LOADER”
• Produced by
Forbidden Zone
• Created by Tom Seiler (machinery),
Gabriel Marquez (Ellen Ripley) and Mike Allen (base, decals and instructions).
• Casting by Mark Brokaw of Earthbound Studios.
• Scale: 1/8, roughly 16 inches tall.
• Material: Mostly resin, but it will include rubber tubing for the hydraulic hoses, metal mesh for the roll cage over the figure’s head, styrene rod for some details on the Loader. It will also have a clear, vacu-formed dome for the emergency beacon on the top.
• Number of parts: “I think it’s around 30,” Mike says, “but that may change once it’s molded.”
• Price: TBD, probably in the $250-$275 range.
• Date of availability: TBD, sometime in 2007. Contact Mike Allen through the Forbidden Zone Web site if you’re interested in an update.
“Get away from her, you bitch!”
Man, that’s one of the best uses of a naughty word in a movie and I wish I could let it rip here, in text, even half as effectively as Sigourney Weaver delivered it before the climactic battle in Jim Cameron’s 1986 movie
“Aliens.” You’ve seen the movie, haven’t you? You know about the big fight between Ripley in the Power Loader and the nasty Alien Queen, right?
If you’re one of the few who managed to miss that one, it’s time to put it on your “must-see” list.…
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