STAR TREK USS ENTERPRISE AT WONDERFEST 2012

REPORT BY MAT IRVINE:

Here I continue my review of the 2012 WonderFest science-fiction and fantasy show, held at the end of May in Louisville, Kentucky - and take a close look at the test shot (above) of the huge 1:350 scale USS Enterprise due for release soon.

The large scale means that the bridge of the Enterprise is clearly visible (above). 

Main runners (below) for the kit.

 

Mighty starship

Jamie Hood of Round-2 showed off the upcoming Star Trek USS Enterprise. This is the original version from the first series, and ‘the best’ as Scotty might maintain, “No bloody A, B C, or D…” The kit is made to a massive 1:350 scale, and stretches some 813 mm (32 in) long. Five moulding colours are involved: two shades of grey and three transparent tints. The Enterprise will be sold under the Polar Lights name, and should be available in October.

You even get a tiny Galileo shuttlecraft, seen below next to a business card.

Munsters at home

Frank Winspur and Dave Metzner of Moebius Models had test shots of several of new kits, such as the Bride of Frankenstein, the Cylon from BattleStar Galactica, and an HO (1:87 scale) model of 1313 Mockingbird Lane (below) perhaps better known as the home of The Munsters! 

Dressed-up ladies

Jimmy Flintstone’s kits range from car bodies to human bodies, mostly of the female kind, and the items he bought to WonderFest tended to lean towards the latter. However, some are, shall we say, for the more discerning and open-minded modelmaker. So, because WonderFest was a family show, some of the ladies had to be ‘dressed’ for the occasion. Jimmy is seen (below) peering from under his Rat Fink sign. 

Full-size heads

Some dealers had full-size objects on show, usually just the heads of famous science-fiction, fantasy and horror characters, as full bodies would be a tad impractical. Dale Morton displayed an excellent range of fantasy heads, while the ex-GEOmetric George Stephenson also deals with full-size horror and fantasy heads, these marketed under his BlackHeart company name.

Popular pirates

Pete Vetri and Rick Delfavero of Atlantis Models, part of Mega-Hobbies based in Long Island, NY, were at the show. Atlantis Models has already reissued some classic Aurora kits, both from the original moulds and re-tooling. One new one shown at WonderFest was Blackbeard the Pirate (above). With Sinbad featuring in a new TV series, and Pirates of the Caribbean still being so popular, ‘pirates’ are obviously the new ‘aliens’, ‘dinosaurs’, ‘Star Wars characters’ or whatever you reckon the last popular phase was! 

General view of the main dealer room at WonderFest 2012.

The Round-2 stand, primarily Polar Lights, but also including AMT and MPC.

Moebius Bride of Frankenstein.

Moebius reproduction of the Aurora Forgotten Prisoner at left, Cylon at right.

Part of Jimmy Flintstone’s display showed a mix of science-fiction, fantasy and horror figure busts, and ladies that were mainly busts.

Dale Morton of Dale Morton Studios, sharing the limelight with one of his creations.

George Stephenson’s BlackHeart company stand, with full-size figure heads including Mr Hyde (top left) and Terminator (top right). George himself is at left.

The Atlantis Models reissue of Aurora’s Blackbeard the Pirate.

Unpainted test shot of Blackbeard. Do you think there's a resemblance to another pirate, maybe a certain Captain Jack Sparrow? Well, that answer’s up to you...

Rick and Pete of MegaHobbies/Atlantis, with the Blackbeard (or Jack?) figure.

NEW KITS FROM ATLANTIS - ANIMALS, PIRATES, GLADIATORS AND MORE

From Mat Irvine:

One of the newest of the ‘new companies’ with connections to the original Aurora company is Atlantis, the model-kit arm of Megahobby, an online hobby distributor with the declared aim of bringing plastic modelling: “back to the level of popularity it once enjoyed.”

Atlantis is run by Pete Vetri and Rick Delfavero, who have cemented the Aurora connection by using as consultant long-time Aurora Project Manager, Andy Yanchus.

Left to right, Rick and Pete, with consultant Andy, in the Megahobby warehouse, Long Island.

Atlantis White Stallion kit, box (above) and assembled (below).

Latest from Atlantis

Latest releases both have Aurora connections, but with a slight difference. The 1:12 scale White Stallion kit is one of Aurora’s originals, and has also been issued separately with riders in the form of Zorro and the Lone Ranger. Zorro is another Atlantis issue, and the horse is identical in both kits, except that Zorro’s mount is moulded in black plastic. The simple colour change helps give the two kits a completely different look. The White Stallion kit itself makes a quick but satisfying build, with just 19 components to assemble.

Atlantis Zorro, box (above) and assembled (below).

Recreating Aurora and more

At first glace, the Black Bear and Cubs may also look like a simple reissue of the original 1:12 scale Aurora kit, and from a photograph you’d be hard-pressed to see any difference. But this is a larger, 1:10 scale recreation, and you also get a forest floor base with tree stump, on which to place the mother and her two cubs. Given a bear’s protective nature towards her offspring, don’t go messing them around - and make sure you hang your food stash high out of reach!  

Black Bear and Cubs, old and new boxes.

Aurora Black Bear and Cubs (above), and Atlantis version (below).

Exciting items for 2012

Due in 2012 will be more Aurora-originated models, all figures. To join the American Wildlife series will be the 1:12 scale Big Horn Sheep, and 1:8 scale White-Tailed Deer. And for fans of adventure on the high seas, it isn’t all ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’, as Atlantis are bringing back two original Aurora kits, Blackbeard and Captain Kidd. If you want cinema connections, the original Gladiator and Spartacus figures are also due for reissue, along with the Viking and Crusader. Excellent stuff - it looks as if 2012 will be a vintage year for figure modellers. 

Visit Atlantis here.

Visit Megahobby here.

More Atlantis kits here.

Coming your way in 2012 - the dread pirate Blackbeard.

CONFEDERATE RAIDER - ANOTHER AURORA KIT RECREATED BY MOEBIUS MODELS

Box-art is a near-identical recreation of the original Aurora painting, by Jo Kotula

Mat Irvine reports:

Besides recreating many science-fiction and fantasy models from Aurora’s earlier years - and adding quite a few new ones in a similar style - Moebius has also reproduced many historical figures. One of the most famous, and now highly collectible, was the Confederate Army Cavalry General, otherwise known as the ‘Confederate Raider’. 

Gold Knight background

The kit almost certainly came about because the horse was already in the Aurora catalogue as the mount for the Gold Knight of Nice, first issued in 1957. Consequently the Confederate Raider, issued in 1959, only needed to add the Officer figure. 

Built-up model by Denis Lange.

Retool kit

The kit here has been retooled by retro-engineering a surviving original kit, as have many Moebius Aurora recreations. It's moulded in two colours - orange-brown for the horse, and light grey for the figure, saddle, and reins.

What’s in the box?

The kit has around 60 parts, although the horse itself has a mere dozen - and even that includes four horseshoes. The rest of the components are for the figure and equipment, which total some 25 each.

Scale and height

The kit is reasonably easy to assemble because of its large size. It’s made to 1:8 scale, common to some other Aurora figures. Once assembled, the model stands - to the tip of the drawn sword - around 432 mm (17 in) high. Perhaps oddly, for what was once an Aurora kit, there is no diorama base in this kit: the horse stands on its hoofs alone.

Instructions are a reproduction of the Aurora original.

More horses

The human figure is particular to this kit alone, but the horse was reissued in two more. It became the mount for the Apache Warrior issued in 1960, and was issued ‘by itself’ as Black Fury, first in 1958. Aurora made two other horse kits, with different stances to this one, and made to 1:12, not 1:8 scale. One was the standing Thoroughbred Race Horse, the other the rearing White Stallion. The latter was also used as the mount for kits of Zorro and the Lone Ranger.

Review kit supplied by Moebius Models 

THE WONDER OF WONDER WOMAN - A SUPERHEROINE KIT FROM MOEBIUS MODELS

A Mat Irvine review

Although Wonder Woman is most likely best known from the 1970s TV series starring Lynda Carter, the character existed long before that. In fact, the original Aurora kit of 1965 was based on the comic books that first featured the character in the 1940s. Along with Wonder Woman, Aurora issued others in the same vein, such as Superman, Superboy, Spider-Man, Batman, Robin, and The Penguin. However, amongst all those boys (and a bird), Wonder Woman never seemed to have quite the appeal - must be all that testosterone (and fish) - and the Wonder Woman kit was only available for a couple of years.

Wonder Woman gets lost?

Aurora did reissue its figure kits a few times, and invented the Comic Scenes series in the 1970s. Many of the original figure kits were repackaged under this title, a few parts were changed, there were new boxes, but otherwise they were pretty much the same as the originals. However there was one reissue absentee - Wonder Woman. The story went that the tooling had been sent to an outside company for moulding. This in itself was not unusual as although Aurora had many in-house injection moulding machines, when these were fully occupied, outside companies had to be used occasionally. It is thought that a batch of mouldings for Wonder Woman was one of these, but the tooling never came back and was lost, presumed scrapped.

Retro-engineering from Moebius Models

Consequently, Wonder Woman has become one of the most sought-after of these original superhero figures, and an unbuilt one can command a price approaching $500 USD (£310 GBP). Good for those with a stash of unbuilt kits, not so good for those who want to actually build one, rather than keeping it mint-and-boxed as loft insulation. This is where the 'New Aurora' companies have come into their own, and one of the major ones, Moebius Models, has now retro-engineered the Wonder Woman kit, slightly modifying some parts to improve fit but otherwise producing a near- identical kit to the original. This is true, even down to the style of plans and a virtual clone of the original Aurora box. It is even moulded in the same flesh/tan-coloured styrene.

Inside the box

Like most of these 1:12 scale personalities, the Moebius Wonder Woman is reasonably straightforward to put together, even if you are not accustomed to building figure kits. The actual colour of the plastic is almost irrelevant, as most of the effort will go into the painting and recreating the lady's set of very colourful garments. In the box you get more than a superheroine though, for there's the fearsome-looking octopus trying to wrap its tentacles around her legs. Much like the somewhat surreal quality of art used in the original comic and on the box, the octopus is highly stylized, but none the worse for that, and as you can see from the photo of the Moebius prototype that I took at the iHobby Exop Hobby Show in Chicago, the whole ensemble - WW, octopus, rock and sea - gains immeasurably from a careful paint and airbrush job. An SMN reader has pointed out that the skilled model work here was the work of Amazing Figure Modeler fame David Fisher.

So if you feel that male superheroes shouldn't have it all their own way, you can now add Wonder Woman to the collection - and the price is slightly more modest, at a UK price of around £27 GBP. She is an excellent addition to the growing Moebius Models range, and well worth having if you're into comics.  

See the Wonder Woman kit here.

The pictures show, top to bottom:

1  Wonder Woman tackles yet another pesky octopus. Just think of all that calamari…

2  The box for the Moebius Models Wonder Woman is a virtual clone of the original Aurora kit from 1965

3  The plans also reflect the original Aurora style.

4  Neatly bagged components are moulded in tan plastic.

5  There’s a new-style Wonder Woman being planned (publicity art shown below), who has an altogether more butch look.

Thanks to Andy Yanchus, Project Manager for Aurora for many years, who gently pointed out some errors that crept into the first edition of this review.

Thanks also to Moebius Models for the review kit.

WHAT'S IN A NAME? THE NEW FRANKENSTEIN FROM MOEBIUS

A Mat Irvine review

You had the same situation with the classic Aurora monster kits - all had their own names: Dracula, Wolfman, The Mummy, Creature from the Black Lagoon... except Frankenstein, for it was of course a monster of his own creation, not Dr Frankenstein himself. But over the years the two have ended up as virtually interchangeable names. 

Moebius breeds a new monster in the cellar

Although the original Aurora kit has reigned supreme for nearly half a century, there’s now a new kid on the block, or in this case, monster in the cellar: the new kit of Frankenstein’s Monster from Moebius Models. Some Moebius kits have simply been recreations of Aurora kits, but this kit is brand new. However, it is made in a similar style to those of Aurora, to the same 1:8  scale, and posed in some appropriate scenic setting, but in a completely different location. Also, and although Aurora modelled the actor most associated with the creature - Boris Karloff - pretty closely, this monster bears an uncanny resemblance. It recreates the scene where the creature opens the door to the basement, and in fact the box-art is a still of the same scene from the movie.

Building the Moebius kit

Besides the figure you get a sizable chunk of floor, walls, and cellar door. The overall construction, as is the case with most of this style of kit, is not difficult as the scenery comes in very large chunks of plastic. In fact there are just 32 components in all. Maybe a bit of filler is required on a few of the seams, but in a model like this, these are easy to conceal in folds of the clothing. 

Important paintwork

What is the most important part with this type of kit though, is the paint finish. To this end the plans give a comprehensive breakdown in recreating - in colour - the images in what was, after all, a black and white film. It is also a good opportunity to try out paint ideas for the figure, as if they are slightly wrong, well, you can apply a quick wash-over with basic colours and start again. Here, base colours for the clothing were applied, then lighter shades dry-brushed (a brush with most of the paint already wiped off) over areas such as edges and creases, to highlight them. The same technique was also used on the walls and floor. Actually, the plans themselves should have a special mention, for they are very comprehensive, and show photos of various stages in construction.

All in all, an excellent addition to the growing Moebius range.  

Thanks to Moebius Models for the review kit.

The pictures show, top to bottom:

1  The model, box-top and base. The box image is a still from the 1931 movie, and you can use the stone-patterned box base as a background behind the open door. 

2  The main assemblies cemented together. The stonework comes in four parts, the door in two halves, with separate handles.

3  Colourful plans include plenty of detail to guide you through the construction stages.

4  Dry-brush techniques used on the stonework. Use these on the clothing as well.

5, 6  Frankenstein’s Monster, coming out of the cellar. 

SMN take - a nice kit for any movie-buff, though you’ll have to work a bit to make him a close likeness of the finest Frank of them all, Boris Karloff. Here’s a pic of him as a guide for you monster-makers, not forgetting those bolts in the neck!

SUPERHEROES REIGN IN WOODSTOCK MUSEUM

David Jefferis reports
That’s not the hippie Woodstock, but the handsome town in folksy Olde Englande, on the edge of the beautiful Cotswold Hills. Here the local Oxfordshire Museum has regular displays on all manner of subjects, and at the moment it’s a Superhero show, based on the private collection of Kevin Losonczi.

Robots and Aliens
Kevin has been an avid fan of the Superhero genre since he was a teen, and now has 1000-plus items including many one-offs and rare pieces, including massive 1:1 scale Terminator, Predator and Robocop figures. The pull is a link to Kevin’s childhood in which his dreams were packed with magic that included having the extra powers of Superheroes.

For model fans, science-fiction and Superheroes are well catered for, though it’s fair to say while the choice in ready-made figures and equipment is huge (just cruise the aisles of Toys ‘R’ Us to see what I mean) the number of model kits is not quite so expansive. Still, let’s not complain, as Moebius Models covers a wide range these days - and there isn’t a dud among them.

Moebius Iron Man
Among the newer kits is Iron Man (reviewed by Mat Irvine not long ago) and Iron Man 2 in various versions, and modelled from digital files used for the movie. It’s fair to say that on scale models, chrome usually looks rather gaudy, and some dulling down usually helps in the realism department - and it’s true here, though don’t let that put you off these great little kits. 

Visit Kevin’s collection here.

Visit Moebius Models here.

The pictures show, top to bottom:
1  Iron Man bust.
2  1:4 scale Incredible Hulk.
3  Spider Woman
4  Spiderman and Batman.
5-6  Moebius Iron Man kits.