Moebius Models

1/13 Giant Insect

Kit Number: 643

Reviewed by  Jim Pearsall, IPMS# 2209

MSRP: $29.99 Website: www.moebiusmodels.com The Insect In the 1950s everyone "knew" that the radiation from atomic bombs, and also those new nuclear power plants would cause wholesale mutations in various kinds of wildlife. The horror movies took these ideas and made money. With the advent of a new generation of mad scientists, we'd soon see 3-headed frogs, the return of wooly mammoths, and insects the size of a Cadillac. Here's that insect. The Model Moebius has taken over where the old Aurora molds left off and reissued many of the movie monsters of the 30s through the 60s. This kit is a snap-together, but not necessarily something simple for the beginner. You get two large bags of green parts, plus large clear wings and clear compound eyes. The instructions are very clear about which parts go where, and give a good methodical order of assembly. There are no painting instructions as such, leaving the colors to the imagination of the modeler. No decals are provided, which is fine. Painting and Assembly I started out by assembling the tail, following the instructions. I decided to go with a fairly conservative color scheme, with a green body with lighter green spots, a darker green line down the back, and a medium/light brown under the abdomen. I painted the tail and thorax first, because I wasn't sure how easy it would be to get a paintbrush in there after assembly was complete. With the wings in the way, the painting job would have been much more difficult, and the painting of the wings would have been close to impossible. I put a dark brown acrylic wash on the lower legs, which look very much like a tarantula's. The upper legs are where the assembly job requires some experience and skill. The mold is not a 21st Century product, and the connection between the sprues and the parts is pretty heavy. Added to this is that these connections come into the upper legs right on top, where any casual observer can see them. It took a seam scraper, a hobby knife, a fine file, a Flexi-File ® and a coating of Future to get rid of the uneven spots and the discoloration of the plastic. For those large clear wings, I went out and bought a bottle of pearly blue enamel from a car model paint display at the local hobby shop. An airbrushed application of this to the bottom of the wings gave a nice touch to the wings without requiring a lot of fine brush work doing panels and veins. The light application of paint gives a shiny appearance, but they're translucent. I had my hands full doing the final assembly. Keeping the wings, mandibles, and tail in place while snapping the upper and lower thorax together required some fairly complex parts wrangling. Since this is a snap-kit, I tried not to use any glue. I figure that if it's well-engineered, it shouldn't need the extra help. Well, it's pretty good. I did have a couple of the legs which wanted to split apart, and a little dab of liquid cement kept the seams to an acceptable level of non-visibility. The knees on the legs are nicely tight, and this allows the feet to be placed on any surface, even an uneven dungeon floor. And if you move it, the legs can be reposed. The mandibles and the tail can be moved to change pose, but don't just slide around. I've had two of the legs fall out of the holes in the thorax, but that's part of the charm of being able to repose the model. I cheated a little with the eyes. They're clear with a simulation of the compound eyes you see on insects or arachnids. Rather than paint them, I took shiny gold metallic candy wrappers and molded them to the inside of the eyes. A couple of small lines of craft glue at the edges holds them in place, and gives them a different look. Overall Assessment Recommended. This thing could be the centerpiece of a 50s sci-fi movie diorama; something along the lines of "The Creature that Ate Sheboygan", with Sherman tanks, or Pattons, and lots of small-scale soldiers and fleeing civilians. This thing is scary looking. It's big. I've had dealings with a couple of scorpions here in the Desert Southwest, and the biggest wasn't a tenth the size of this thing. I think if I found one of these in a back yard, it'd still be there a while after I left, if it didn't try to chase me down. Assembly is good, parts fit is fully acceptable, considering that this is an older kit. The finicky part of trapping the wings, mandibles and tail probably requires some modeling skill, but is doable with patience. Many thanks to Moebius models for the review kit, and IPMS/USA for the chance to build it.