RED NOSE DAY GREETINGS

Red Nose Day is the International Charity Drive organized by Comic Relief, for ‘A just world free from poverty’ - and it’s been something of a phenomenon, operating in 76 countries all year round. In the 26 years since it started, more than £650 million ($1050 million USD) has been raised.

Superheroes, don your noses

So here’s our small contribution, with The Hulk and Iron Man joining in the fun. In fact of course, these are scale replicas of the movie heroes, and were featured in a recentish Superheroes display not so far from SMN Towers. You can reread the original story here.

Meantime, have a great day today and give a little for charity if you can. And do pop back to SMN later on for some weekend scale model stuff.

There’s more info on Red Nose Day here.

Superhero pix taken in the Oxfordshire Museum, Woodstock, UK.

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.

IRON MAN MARK III 1:6 SCALE SUPERHERO FIGURE FROM HOT TOYS

This promo video from Hong Kong-based Hot Toys shows off the latest in the Iron Man saga - a Mark III figure, equipped with a variety of weapons for attack and defence. There's no audio on the video btw, so don't bother cranking up your speakers for a dynamic soundtrack...

‘Hot’ or not, the Mark III is certainly more of a model than a toy, and has detailed features that include an expandable wrist gauntlet, shoulder-mounted micro-munitions pod, and a countermeasures system that pops out of the hip zone.

Iron Man Mark II has a host of other goodies that the video doesn’t show, such as moveable flaps and airbrakes, a forearm rocket, interchangeable chest plates and hands that are fitted with illuminated repulsor-beams. The Mark III even has different heads, one of which looks (somewhat) like Tony Stark, as played by Robert Downey Jr. There’s also a standard helmet with a pair of glowing eyes.

The 305 mm (12 in) tall Iron Man Mark III figure is released this month by Hot Toys. Like many collectibles like this, you can display it as manufactured for a terrific-looking shelf-top item, or - and SMN’s up for this - spray some subtle weathering and shade effects to bring out the detail and reduce the factory-fresh shininess a little.

Oh, how we’d like a suit like this - a pity it exists only in the realms of fantasy and Hollywood!

Thanks to Topless Robot for the heads-up on this one. Visit TR here.

There’s a feast of Iron Man stuff for superhero fans to drool over here.

IRON MAN'S ATTRACTIVE INSTRUCTIONS

Just thought we'd mention the neatly produced instruction sheet for the Moebius Iron Man model, pictured above. It's clean, clear, and heaps better than some of the opposition's offerings.

Note that the parts are pictured in a cream shade. The actual kit has ruby red parts, so the ones used for the instructions could have been early early test shots, before the final injection shade was decided.

IRON MAN - BUILDING THE MOEBIUS MODEL

A MAT IRVINE REVIEW
The movie Iron Man turned out much better that I was expecting. Frankly, having gone off a lot of superhero movies because, well, those superheroes can seemingly get away with anything, Iron Man initially seemed to be of the same genre, but of course it isn’t. Tony Stark is an ordinary man (OK, a very rich ‘ordinary man’) who builds a power suit to help him defeat the bad guys, but it does not empower him with ‘superpowers’ as such - we are not talking the missing sibling of the Fantastic Four here. The screenplay was much assisted by Robert Downey Jr in the role, and the humorous elements mean that he doesn’t get it right all the time.

Iron Man never had the honour of being represented in plastic by the originator of the ‘super figures’ kit, Aurora. Instead, it’s been one of the companies that has taken on the mantle of ‘new Aurora’, Moebius Models. MM has reproduced the Iron Man figure in 1:8 scale (part of the instruction sheet is shown, top picture above) and made it in a style that is certainly reminiscent of what Aurora might have done. (And there is a long list of what Aurora could - or should - have done.)

The kit is moulded in the rich rub red of the Iron Man suit, so you could get away with just painting the gold section of the armour. However, for a more authentic finish, paint the whole figure gold. Wait until it’s thoroughly dry, mask off the areas that will remain gold, then spray on a transparent red. This will then match the original finish very closely. Finally add painting details to the base.

There’s one other kit you could add to this display. Although not specifically made as an Iron Man movie model, the recent Revell 1:24 scale kit of the Audi R8 could be added, as it is one of the cars featured in the movie. (Audi seems keen on such product placements). Finish the car in silver and metallic black - oddly it does not appear in the movie in matching Iron Man colours - then add California ‘STARK 4’ licence plates.

Incidentally, Robert Downey Jr (playing Tony Stark) had a cameo role in the most recent 2008 The Incredible Hulk movie; Iron Man 2 is in the works, for first screening on April 30, 2010.

Visit Moebius Models here.

And for absolutely everything you ever wanted to know about Audi R8s in movies and TV - and a lot more besides - visit the Internet Cars Movie Database here.

IRON MAN KITS FROM MOEBIUS MODELS

There are quite a few collectibles around for Iron Man, of Marvel comic and recent movie renown, but kits are not so common. However, Moebius Models has a nice pair of Iron Man figures to build.

The first Iron Man kit (top picture) is available now and stands some 230 mm (9 in) tall, on a rather tasty steampunk-style cogs-n-bits circular base. The Iron Man Mk II has a plated finish, and includes decals for the rivets. According to Moebius Models, the moulds for the kit are, “...engineered and cut directly from digital animation data used to make the Iron Man movie”, which sounds good to me.

If you haven’t seen it already, the movie is well worth seeing. I viewed it again recently on DVD and it’s a tightly-edited production, deserving of the near-$100 million USD taken on its premier box office weekend. The drop-dead gorgeous suit itself sums up many of my wish-fulfillment fantasies; ho hum, what a shame it’s not for real. Scriptwise, I reckon the movie (starring Robert Downey Jr, Gwyneth Paltrow and Jeff Bridges) is somewhat deeper than the bangs ’n’ bullets trailer (above) indicates - or maybe that’s just me.

You can buy the DVD from Amazon here, view the Moebius kit at the Forbidden Planet store here, or directly at Moebius Models here.