Beginnings...

As with most people into this kind of thing the trip begins in the early to mid 1960's with the monster craze consisting of Horror Host TV, Big Daddy Ed Roth, Weird-oh's, Ugly Stickers, the Munsters, Famous Monsters of Filmland magazine, too many toys to count or remember, and number one on my hit parade, the Aurora monster model kits. The Auroras were my introduction into building and painting model kits and once bitten, I had to have them all, or at least all I could with my weekly allowance money. Aurora monsters quickly gave way to Weird-ohs, which beget Big Daddy which beget Tom Daniel's custom hot rods, etc,..it was very cool how monsters, hot rods and surf music really were part of the same scene. Even now, when I hear classic surf music, besides Polynesian babes, monsters and cars aren't far out of the picture.

Here are some examples of these classic model kits starting with Aurora's Witch. This was originally seen in Amazing Figure Modeler magazine.

Another favorite is the Bride of Frankenstein. First up is a photo of the original kit followed by my customized version with a diorama style base.

Keeping with the Aurora vibe, for another article on AFM, I was asked to make a life size version of an Aurora model kit, The Forgotten Prisoner of Castle Mare. I was given a full size resin skeleton my wife and I went from there, second hand clothing, carved insulation foam castle wall, and Halloween rubber rats came together well to recreate a 1/1 version of a classic model kit.

Winding up this blast from the past, a few Weird-oh's. I still plan to build all my Aurora and Weird-ohs so knock on wood, it won't be too long before I post more photos.