Aurora Box Art Tribute Creature
1/6th scale, cold-cast resin
Sculpted by Jeff Yagher / Produced by Pestilence Labs
/ Scratch-built rear panel



A great representation of a classic oil painting from James Bama - and it looks just like it did when I was a kid!
You should see it in person!

The pose isn't exactly right, but it certainly is close enough for jazz!
I had to build up the rock under his left foot to make him stand more erect.
I didn't paint the shadows; the model is lit that way for the photographs.
However, I did highlight the brightly lit areas a bit more than the others,
and I didn't use any of the highlight color on the shins.



The background is painted plexiglass, supported by two horizontal 1 X 1 pieces of fir across the bottom.



The background paint is Liquitex Cadmium-Free Red Medium Gouache
and Liquitex Prism Violet Soft Body Acrylic. They were the most vivid paints I could find for those two colors,
far more saturated than anything I had in my craft paints rack.



Love that lizard!



Man, this looks like the oil painting to me....

You can (or maybe you can't) see where I built up the rock under his left foot.

Here's a 3D picture of it:

 

 

The Creature Walks Among Us
1/8th scale, resin
Sculpted by Ray Santoleri
produced by Posthumous Productions

 


I was eyeing this kit for years and finally bought one - luckily it was still available.
It's a gorgeous little kit, about the size of an Aurora plastic kit from the sixties.



 



I positioned him a bit differently than shown on the box; I wanted everyone to easily see the really cool electrical panel.

 

 



 



I watched the movie again (naturally) before starting the model, and I was pleasantly surprised - it was better than I remembered.
Being the worst of the three films, I never thought highly of it - and the way they treat the Creature is downright tragic.

 



In order to get him to balance, I made a brick for his right foot to rest on. I added two more half-bricks to the right of his foot just for the heck of it.
I also trashed the electrical panel decals trying to put them on; luckily I had scanned them first (I always do that with printed materials).
I printed out a new set on regular paper and just glued it down.

 

 

1/6th scale, Horizon Creature, Julie Adams figure produced by Lunar Models and sculpted by Bruce Turner
scratch-built base, Photoshopped jungle background




The guy I bought these two figures from had an idea of putting them on the boat instead of the beach.
That idea was about the only good thing to come of that deal. It took months for him to acknowledge that I had even paid him,
and then it took him forever to ship them. Luckily, I've forgotten his name forever......


 

1/4th scale (HUGE), resin, Kit Kong, sculpted by Jeff Yagher
Vallero Water Effects added to the base




I had passed on this when it first came out. When Kit Kong re-released it, I had to jump on it.
This is one of the most beautiful models in my collection. It's HUGE - about a foot and a half tall.
And the detail on it is staggering.


It was tough figuring out a color scheme for something this realistic. Anything that would look fine on a smaller piece looks cartoony on a large model.
There's a mix of dark jungle green base, leaf green drybrush (VERY bright, light green), straw yellow highlights on the edges,
and then a dark wash of burnt umber over the whole thing. I think it came out nice.




The eyes were weird - kind of vertical slits. I had a hard time making them look right, so I watched the movie again (any excuse will do),
and when I saw the eyes were circular, I decided to dremel out the eyes and re-putty new ones. And I didn't screw it up!



The base is a beaut, and it's from inside the Creature's cave. I tried covering it with Vallero Water Effects, which are very, very cool.
However, this much of it takes forever to clear up. I've been waiting a month so far. I figure by 2018 it may be transparent.




1/6th scale, vinyl, Horizon, scratch-built base
Yeow!

 

 

A bit of sand, seaweed and reeds from Old Cape Cod!
I painted the blue and white water on the base and then covered it with clear caulking.

 

1/8th scale, vinyl, resin and metal, Geometric

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I spent forever trying to glue his hand to the rock to hold him up.
DUH! As a physics teacher, I should have known the torque would be too much.
Then, after trying every adhesive I could get my hands on,
I realized all I had to do was to bend the metal leaves into position
and let him rest on those.

 

Old faithful. Many a firecracker went into the mouths of his siblings back in the sixties!

 



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