Moebius Models

"Monster Scenes" Frankenstein

Kit Number: 633

Reviewed by  Keith Pruitt, IPMS# 44770

MSRP: $24.99 Website: www.moebiusmodels.com HISTORY Sometime in 1967, with an oblong box clutched tightly in my hands, I approached my Mom during her shopping. We were in Fambro’s Department Store in beautiful downtown Canton, Georgia. "Mom, it’s only 98 cents," I said, with youthful enthusiasm oozing from every pore, "Can I have it?" She kind of rolled her eyes, and said "OK, you can have it." I had one…I actually had one in my hands…the Aurora Frankenstein kit. It was my very first model kit! When I got home, I tore open the cellophane, opened the box…and then realized that I needed glue…AND paint! This is how I began my lifelong journey deep into the land of styrene dreams. When I saw Moebius Models’ Frankenstein kit on the list of items for review, I naturally jumped at the chance to build it! INSIDE THE BOX Inside the box are four sprues of injection molded Glow-in-the-Dark (yes, it does glow in the dark) plastic that includes 14 parts and one loose piece that is the base for the figure. The parts appear to be well engraved, nicely detailed, with no flash. The single page of instructions has exploded-view drawings, complete with a comic-book-style cartoon of Frankenstein himself explaining the assembly procedure. There are no decals, nor any painting instructions other than the boxart.

CONSTRUCTION This is labeled as a snap-together kit, and construction is straight-forward. I did glue the parts, as I intended to finish this more as a figure than as a toy. For someone who usually doesn’t do figures, this ought to be interesting… I glued the front and back of the lower torso & legs. There is a choice of two right and two left arms. I chose the two arms most similar to the Aurora kit from my youth…reaching out menacingly to grab someone! There are some holes in the inside of the arms, which will require some putty and sanding. I glued the arm fronts and backs together, and then sandwiched them in place when I glued the front and back parts of the upper torso together. I let the torso halves set before I positioned the arms appropriately. Then, the putty and sandpaper came into play…this IS a snap-together kit, and considering how most snap kits tend to fit, the seams will need some work. PAINTING This is where it gets tricky for an airplane guy building a figure. I started by priming the entire figure with a neutral gray primer. Using Model Master enamels throughout, I started by painting a basecoat on the head and hands with a grayish-green tone (actually, RAF Interior Green…re-animated flesh is still sort of dead-looking, right?). When this was dry, I began drybrushing with progressively lighter shades, mixing flat white with the green in higher ratios each time. After each drybrushing session, I dipped a clean brush in thinner and used that to blend the colors more smoothly. The hair was painted flat black, and drybrushed with a mixture of flat black and dark blue to bring out some slight highlights. The metal staples on the brow and the bolts in the neck were painted with steel. For the clothing, I pre-shaded by spraying flat black into the folds. When that was dry, I masked the head and hands, and painted the clothing with thinned RLM 66 Schwartzgrau (can you tell I build aircraft more than anything else?), gradually building up the color. To bring out the highlights in the clothing, I drybrushed, again, using progressively lighter shades of the base color. The boots were painted semigloss black. The base was painted with neutral gray, washed with flat black, and then drybrushed to bring out the rocky highlights. Final assembly was really nothing more than gluing the upper body and lower body together, and then gluing the figure to the base.

OVERALL IMPRESSION While this was truly a trip down memory lane, this is actually a pretty good kit. The "Figure Wizards" could do their magical painting, or maybe add a fur vest, to really make this figure stand out. As a snap kit, it would be an ideal way to introduce a junior to the world of scale modeling. I can recommend this kit to any modeler, of any skill level, that has an interest in figures, monsters, or just plain old "Glow-in-the-Dark" fun! I would like to express my gratitude to Moebius Models and IPMS/USA for this review sample.