The Busts and Model Kits of B-Movie Creature Features (Part 2 of 3): Dinosaurs and Monsters




In this second post of my three-part series devoted to B-movie creature feature busts and model kits, we'll be taking a look at items based on dinosaur and monster movies.

I'm not well-versed in the history of fan-made busts and model kits within the horror and sci-fi fandom. I suspect that it probably has much to do with the "monster kid" culture fostered by Forrest J. Ackerman and his Famous Monsters of Filmland magazine, as well as Aurora's model kits from the '60s and '70s that were based on popular monsters such as Dracula, the Mummy, and Frankenstein's Monster; as such, what fascinates me the most about the kits is the wide selection of films they cover. The creature features depicted by these items range from classics to cult classics to the very obscure, and almost all points in between. (For example, I even found a kit based on a TV movie from 1972 named Gargoyles.) Some of them represent instances of practical effects at their finest, such as kits based on the works of Willis O'Brien and Ray Harryhausen, while others represent instances where describing the effects as amateurish is a compliment. Much like the box cover art of the VHS rental heyday, some of these kits display a much greater sense of artistry and skill than the movies they represent.

Regardless of their source materials, these kits are labors of love by model makers of all ages, and I hope that this tradition of capturing the wonder of creature features in busts and model kits continues within the fandom for many generations to come. Click below to see a selection of B-movie dinosaur and monster busts and model kits.


Dinosaurs:













Monsters:































Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Art of Tron: Uprising (Part 1 of 4): Characters

Image
This month marks the one year anniversary of the cancellation of Tron: Uprising , which aired on Disney XD for 19 episodes. Set between the events of Tron and Tron: Legacy , Uprising chronicled the events shortly after Clu’s rise to power within the stand-alone Grid created by Kevin Flynn. Personally, I think that Tron: Uprising got a raw deal from Disney. It’s a fantastic addition to the Tron saga that went on to win both Emmy and Annie Awards , yet Disney clearly had other priorities and was willing to toss Uprising aside without so much as an official cancellation notice. Even to this day, Uprising has yet to be released on DVD or Blu-ray and I’m wondering if it ever will. In honor of this amazing animated series that was cut down in its prime, I have decided to do something that Disney won’t. Since there will never be an official Tron: Uprising art book, I have searched across the Internet to find a selection of art from Uprising that I can share here on my blog with
Read more

The Thing 2: A Sequel Frozen in the Lost Video Game Wasteland

Image
Since I added The Thing prequel to my Blu-ray collection (read my review here ), I've been on a bit of a Thing kick lately. I watched John Carpenter's 1982 movie again, and I've been looking through various Thing fan sites to see if I can learn anything new about this sporadically active franchise. While the poor box office performance of 2011's The Thing precludes another Thing movie any time soon, I was surprised to discover that there was yet another Thing project in the works even before anyone considered a prequel on the silver screen. The project was called The Thing 2 , and it was designed by Computer Artworks as a sequel to their 2002 The Thing video game. From what I've been able to piece together, development of The Thing 2 was discontinued after Computer Artworks shut down in 2004. I've found some conceptual artwork for this game online, which you can see in the picture gallery I've assembled below. Read on....
Read more

The Art of Tron: Uprising (Part 2 of 4): Vehicles and Equipment

Image
In this second of four posts devoted to the art of Tron: Uprising , we'll be taking a look at the vehicles and equipment used by the characters in Uprising . The original Tron movie revealed a selection of vehicles and equipment that became closely associated with the franchise. The Light Cycles, Recognizers, Light Tanks, and Identity Discs of Tron were also featured prominently in the movie's tie-in arcade games and would reappear later with updated designs in Tron 2.0 and Tron: Legacy . Uprising featured these same items as well, along with new vehicles and equipment that are analogous to things in the real world: boats, helicopters, rail transportation, and hand-held tools. Of particular significance is the Recoder tool used by Beck, which gave fans a look at how programs assemble, disassemble and repair the virtual machinery within the Grid. Click below to see the portfolio of vehicles and equipment from Tron: Uprising .
Read more