The Precious Blood!

NOSFERATU by Monarch Models
Built 11/18/2018
Painted 10/21/2019

With this, I have now completed all four kits produced by the much-missed Monarch Models. In fact, I searched a long time for this elusive kit, until my friend Terry Beatty (an esteemed modeller in his own right), traded this to me. As with their other kits, this was beautifully engineered, and went together smooth as silk.

This was the "Frightening Lightning" edition, which came with some parts duplicated in glow-in-the-dark plastic. I chose not to use those parts, with the exception of the spare rats (more on this below). I also chose not to use the provided nameplate.

For the base, Monarch provided a bunch of creepy-crawlies, including spiders and centipedes, but, when I think of Nosferatu, I think of rats. I used the all of the rats in the kit (two regular plastic and two glow) and then scavenged a couple more, smaller rats from another kit (Dark Shadows' Barnabas Collins), to provide Count Orlok with a small army of rodents.

As usual, this was painted with cheap, acrylic craft paints.

Mean Green Mother

GORGO by Monarch Models
Built 1/7/2018
Painted 7/19/2019

"One of London's oldest landmarks smashed like matchwood! Nothing has stopped this beast so far, nothing!"

This one's been sitting on the shelf waiting for me to finish it for a long time! Another excellent kit from the deeply-missed Monarch Models, Gorgo - from the 1961 film of the same name - went together fairly easily, though I screwed up and had to use some putty to fill a gap on her head. I also did a little putty work on her neck/chest as the model had an indent there that looked odd to me.

Very basic paint job - just a flat dark green base, with various shades of lighter greens dry-brushed over that. Finally, a dark wash to bring out some of the surface details. After I was done, it occurred to me to check the movie on Blu-ray and it turned out that Mama Gorgo - like Godzilla - is actually a charcoal gray in color, not green. Oh well... let's just say that I painted her like the Charlton Comics version!

The Golden Voyager

SINBAD by Monarch Models
Built 1/18/2018
Painted 7/2019

"Trust in Allah, but tie up your camel!"

 One of my all-time favorite figures from fiction is the Arabian Nights' Sinbad the Sailor. This terrific and exquisitely-designed kit from the late, lamented Monarch Models - clearly "inspired" by John Phillip Law's portrayal of the character in The Golden Voyage of Sinbad - was a joy to build. Like all Monarch kits, it went together easily and smoothly. I put off painting it for a long time as I was, quite frankly, concerned that I'd mess it up.

As it turned out, it's not exactly how I wanted it to look, but, being only my second "human" figure kit, it's not terrible. I definitely used the wrong paint on his shirt, though; it was too glossy, and trying to mute it with a gray wash didn't work so well.

I put an awful lot of extra work into the diorama base. The "ferns" didn't come with the kit; I bought some cheap little plastic palm trees, stripped off the leaves, and added them to the base. I feel it gives a little more life to the scene.

The kit came with several details I chose not to use, such as a tropical lizard on a branch, a severed monster arm, and a tarantula. I intended to use the spider, but after my other modifications, it was unnecessary... and a bit excessive. Instead of the monster arm, I took a leftover skull from another kit, had my sculptress wife add horns and fangs to it, and used it to dress up the base instead.

The Spirit Is Wailing

THE GHOST OF CASTEL-MARE by Monarch Models
Built 10/28/2018  
Painted 11/3/2018

"The Ghost of Castel-Mare" is one of a handful of terrific original kits released by Monarch Models during its few years of existence, intended as a companion kit to the classic Aurora "Prisoner of Castel-Mare." I'm a big fan of Monarch's line, so when I got the opportunity to pick this one up at a reasonable price, I couldn't resist.

The paint job is a little rough - as usual, I rushed it - but it turned out okay. It's not exactly how I had it pictured in my head (I wanted the Ghost to look more spectral), but I'm pretty pleased with the painted "glow" and lighting effects on the wall, which was all done with layer after layer of dry-brushing and washes with cheap craft paints from Michael's. No glow-in-the-dark paint was used - it's all just simulated.