Moebius Models

"Monster Scenes" The Pendulum Snap-Together

Kit Number: 636

Reviewed by  Keith Pruitt, IPMS# 44770

MSRP: $29.99 Website: www.moebiusmodels.com INSIDE THE BOX Inside the box are four sprues of injection molded plastic that includes 22 parts. The parts are nicely engraved, with no flash but a few ejector pin marks. The plastic seems a little softer than the usual styrene. The single page of instructions have exploded-view drawings, complete with a comic-book-style cartoon of a skeleton explaining the assembly procedure. There are no decals, nor any painting instructions other than the box art. It is designed to be a snap-together kit, with no glue needed to assemble the model. CONSTRUCTION Construction of the kit is fairly straight-forward. I did glue the parts, as I intended to finish this as a display piece rather than as a toy. I glued the four parts of the base, and the top pieces of the frame together. I did use putty on the corners of the base, and sanded to eliminate the majority of the seams. PAINTING I started by priming with a neutral gray primer, adding more putty and sanding as needed. Using Model Master enamels throughout, I started by painting a basecoat of Dark Tan on all of the wood and block portions. I sprayed the "concrete" part of the base and the slab in neutral gray, then misted light grey to replicate a faded concrete finish. I brushpainted the concrete joints between the blocks (I didn't try to be overly neat, thinking that most of the mortar joints I've seen done by amateurs are a bit sloppy), and drybrushed the blocks with the lightened base color. For the wood, I tried something new. I've never used oil paints, although I am aware that they are excellent for creating a wood finish. I happened to have a can of water-based MinWax Polycrylic, in a Mahogany color, on hand. So, I brushed some of this over the base color on the wooden sections. Other than being a bit too glossy, it dried without affecting the underlying enamels. After the stain dried, I did a wash over the stained sections with a Raw Umber acrylic to deepen the shadows. Then, I sprayed the whole thing with a clear flat coat. I'm fairly pleased with the results, and I think it looks pretty close to the wood finish that I wanted. I painted the metal sections flat black, and then drybrushed them with steel. I used Alclad Dark Aluminum, applied by the manufacturer directions, for the swinging blade. I painted the skull "ornament" flat white, and washed it with a dark brown acrylic.

Final assembly involved gluing the subassemblies together, and rigging the "rope" for the winch and block-and-tackle. OVERALL IMPRESSION This is not a complicated kit to build and finish, but a little extra work definitely adds dimension to the display. This could be a stand-alone display piece, or worked into a diorama, if the modeler is so inclined (combined with the rest of the Monster Scenes- ed.). Personally, I think I would have mixed feelings about recommending this kit for a very young modeler…considering that it IS a model of a torture device. I can easily recommend the kit for the older adolescent and adult modelers, of any skill level. It was a fun kit to build, and it provided a challenge for me to try something new in finishing the model. I would like to express my gratitude to Moebius Models and IPMS for this review sample.