King Kong

KING KONG
Aurora-sized, cold cast resin / soft metal figures / resin nameplate / wooden stage floor
Sculpted by Ray Harryhausen / Produced by Dark Horse

I was getting ready to sell this kit and I wasn't satisfied with the old paint job. I also had the four optional metal figures that I had never painted,
along with a very cool Aurora-style nameplate that I'd never have a use for, so I finished the kit off before selling it on eBay.
The lights along the bottom are part of my photography light kit and are not part of the dio; I just thought they looked cool as footlights.

These are teeny tiny figures - about 1.5 inches high! I needed to paint the faces with a size 000 brush.

GIANT TERROR GORILLA
Resin,about 1/7 scale for a guy in a gorilla suit
Sculpted by Jeff Yagher / Base by Mike Wallace / Produced by h.t.b
Fay Wray figure from Pestilence Labs

A bit of a "bucket list" purchase for me - I wanted a Kong sculpted by Jeff Yagher, and I was lucky enough to get one on the Clubhouse board.
The kit was produced around 2007, and I found it in 2021. Not bad! I love that Clubhouse gang!

This side shot is how it was advertised in Amazing Figure Modeler.

I love the Fay Wray figure! I accidentally found it through Pestilence Labs and wanted it immediately, even though I wasn't sure what I was going to do with it.
She's really tiny, which makes it difficult for the sculptor. She looks a bit like Laura Dern in David Lynch's "Blue Velvet"...

Nice base! It took a lot of painting to discover what was on it. As you drybrush different tones, you start noticing "Oh, that's a leaf! Oh, that's a stone!"

AURORA BOX ART TRIBUTE - KING KONG
Resin, about 1/7th scale for a guy in a gorilla suit
Sculpted by Jeff Yagher / Produced by Monsters In Motion
nameplate by Nick DiRado / scratch-built backdrop

The box art for the Aurora "Kong" model of the sixties was done by Mort Kunstler instead of James Bama.
Some websites attribute the artwork to Bama, but it's really not done in his style.

This is a full shot of the model. I loved painting the background!

Grrr! I don't know why Kunstler painted his eyes red. Maybe Kong was hung over after a hard night on the town.
Don't look too closely at Fay Wray - the casting was a mess, and it fell apart when I tried to gently sand it a bit.
Her hand fell off because there was an air bubble in the wrist. At that point I stopped messing with her and just painted her as is.

Here's a side shot where you can see the front and rear pieces of foliage which are glued to the base.

The tree doesn't fit in the bottom of its hole, but you can only see the problem from the rear.

Here's a high shot so you can see how the plants on the base are sculpted.

FAY WRAY!
Resin, about 1/7th scale; the hand is the size of a human hand.
Scratch-built wooden base
Sculpted by Joe Laudati / Produced by Sassy's Sattelite

She didn't really look like Fay Wray to me; the figure had a much more "chiseled" face, with high cheekbones.
I tried putting some putty on her cheeks to make them a bit chubbier like Wray's. It came out OK, but in close-ups it looks like she has some skin problems.
Thank God I'm not trying to earn a living as a sculptor....

KONG AND T REX

Polar Lights, Resin
about 1/7 scale (for a guy in a gorilla suit)

Not a bad model for something that's mass-produced. It was also heavily discounted, so I figured why not?
Luckily, it turned out to be fun to do.

I'm planning on putting it in a shadow-box with a jungle shot in front and in back, but that'll be much later....

KONG - LOOK BEHIND YOU!
KONG: 1/6TH SCALE (for a guy in a gorilla suit), RESIN, RESIN REALITIES, SCULPTED BY MARK VANTINE
PTERADACTYL: 1/6TH SCALE, STYRENE, POLAR LIGHTS

Man, oh man - I've always wanted a great Kong model that wouldn't take up half the house, and this is it!

The few Kong vs. T Rex models out there are usually two feet long. After I picked up this Kong model, I took a chance and bought the inexpensive Polar Lights Pteradactyl hoping the scale would fit.
I watched the movie (again), and the scale is almost perfect!