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.

Up From The Depths!

GODZILLA by Polar Lights
Built 1/5/2018
Painted 10/16/2019

This was the first of the classic Aurora Monster Models (in this case, a late-90s repop from Polar Lights) I assembled back when I first started getting back into model building, and it's sat on a shelf ever since. But after Gorgo and the T-Rex, I felt a lot more confident about painting giant lizards, so I pulled it down off the shelf and slapped some paint on it.

As this is "Aurora Godzilla" - as opposed to any of the Toho Films Godzillas... or the "Hanna-Barbara Godzilla"... or the "Marvel Comics Godzilla"... you get the idea - I decided to paint him the way this kit has traditionally been painted, i.e. green. I have two other Godzilla kits that are more Toho-accurate, so I'll probably paint those movie charcoal gray when I get to them. 

I didn't do a lot of gradients or anything fancy with this one, but I did give the whole guy a pretty heavy black wash, and then highlighted the fins and forehead with some drybrushed olive green.

Flashback '79: Draconia's Finest

MARAUDER by Monogram
Built 1979

Another spaceship model from my youth, this is probably the best job I ever did on a kit at the time, and, surprisingly, it holds up today! This is the Draconian Marauder (a/k/a the Hatchet Fighter) from the NBC/Universal television series, Buck Rogers In the 25th Century. It's not very accurate to the filming model, but it's an attractive kit, and I'm glad it survived.

The Ghost Who Walks!

THE PHANTOM by Atlantis Models
Built 10/29/2018
Painted 10/2019

It took just under a year from the time I built this Atlantis Models re-issue of the 60's Revell Phantom model kit to when I finally finished it. It took me a while to find just the right purple spray paint for his costume, but once I did, I faced another concern -- the kit came with a lousy, flat piece of plastic for a base. Essentially, it was just something to glue the heroe's boots to so he wouldn't topple over.

This didn't sit right with me (neither did the vaguely racist "Witch Doctor" figure included in the kit), so I put it off while I pondered what I wanted to do.

Ultimately, I decided to create a new, more scenic, diorama base from scratch. I quickly sculpted it from some Super Sculpy, baked it, and painted it. I added some moss, dried leaves and some ferns (made from the fronds of some cheap, toy palm trees), and ended up with something a little more suited to the legendary Ghost Who Walks!

A Devil Of A Dinosaur!

TYRANNOSAURUS REX by Polar Lights
Built 2/2018
Painted 10/6/2019

I've had this kit assembled for a long time, but I didn't get around to painting it, because I didn't really have a clear idea of how I wanted to paint it. But after the Gorgo build went reasonably well, I kind of wanted to paint up another big lizard, so I pulled Rex down from the shelf and hit him with some primer. I ended up basing my paint scheme for this bad boy on Jack Kirby's Devil Dinosaur comic book creation. In real life, the red skin looks a lot darker and redder, but this is the best I could get with the camera I have.

Not a lot to say here - the kit went together easy as pie, and I'm even happy with the paint job! I'm especially proud of the lava!

Flashback '78: The Long Patrol

COLONIAL VIPER by Monogram
Built: 1978

This is the first of several posts where I'll show off some of my few surviving spaceship models from my childhood. This dusty Battlestar Galactica Viper is a vintage Monogram kit, built when I was a sci-fi loving lad of only 15 years-old.

I always had trouble with cement and decals back then (and, in truth, I haven't yet tackled decals with any of my new builds yet, either). When applying the red stripes, the decals tore, so I decided to justify the mistake by making the fighter look extensively battle-damaged.  This was accomplished with some clumsy drybrush and washes, and when I was dissatisfied with those results, I actually took a Bic lighter to it!

You can see a few spots where I held the flame too long against the model, causing the styrene to melt (ah, such fumes!).

I have purchased the more recent and much more accurate Viper kit from Moebius Models, though it remains in its box in my stash until I feel that my skills have improved enough to tackle it. 

Before I take photos of any of my other vintage builds, I'll try and dust them off a bit!

The Kind From Up There!

FLYING SAUCER by Polar Lights
Built 7/21/2019
Painted 7/27/2019

My second flying saucer build in one week! This kit is a repop of a vintage 1950s Lindberg model - the first ever U.F.O. plastic kit - that has been reissued dozens of times over the last sixty years from numerous companies, including Glencoe, Atlantis, and now, Polar Lights, as a tie-in edition with Ed Wood's Plan 9 From Outer Space. Wood used several of the original Lindberg kits in that notorious film, so there is a legitimate connection.

I chose not to build it as it appeared in Plan 9 (minus the rocket motors and a painted-over dome), but as it was originally intended to be built.

Another simple build, with only a few parts, and most of the paint applied with a simple rattle can. I had originally intended for a shinier "chrome" finish, but the paint I bought - labeled as "Chrome" - was actually more of a matte finish than I hoped for, so after it dried, I hit it with a few coats of clear gloss. It's still not what I intended, but I'm satisfied with it.

The little green alien pilot and cockpit details were hand-painted.

The Saucer

THE INVADERS U.F.O. by Atlantis Models
Built & Painted 7/24/2019

"The Invaders: alien beings from a dying planet. Their destination: the Earth. Their purpose: to make it their world. David Vincent has seen them...."

This is my second attempt at building this Atlantis Models repop of the original, Sixties Aurora Invaders UFO model kit. I received one a year or so ago, but some of the pieces were damaged and my attempt at painting it went disastrously wrong!  So I used some birthday money to order a second kit, and tried again, with much better results.

Essentially it was a "one day" build - it came together quickly, mostly because I chose not to construct and paint the interior control room. Aside from not being great at fine detail paint work, I wouldn't display it open anyway. Instead, I built a custom "desert landing" diorama, inspired by the second season episode, "The Saucer."

The saucer was sprayed with a flat coat of Tamiya Aluminum (I didn't want it too shiny) with the
"fusion core" and other details on the underside of the model painted with my usual, cheap craft paints.

I sculpted the base from Super Sculpey, baked it, glued some sand down on it for texture, then primed it and painted it. Tufts of grass were added, and voila -- the foothills around Vasquez Rocks!

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.