It was a sad day to get the news that Ben Chapman, who had portrayed The Creature From The Black Lagoon, passed away last week. I was fortunate enough to actually meet Ben and have extended conversations with him. He was a kind and generous man, and was he proud of his film legacy! There were two men who played the Creature. Ricou Browning performed all the swimming scenes of the movie, but Ben played the gillman on all land scenes. He was a gentle giant, and had so many stories to tell. The last few years Ben and Julia Adams and Ricou could be found at shows together. Hanging on my wall is a movie poster signed by Ben and Julia. When I asked Ben to sign this poster, he dismissed my pen and produced a paint pen that would be more suitable. He was right, and I will never take it down. Ben, Aloha, and we will never Forget you.

AND THEN THERE WERE TWO. AFTER ALL THE RESIN DUST HAS SETTLED, THERE ARE TWO MAJOR MAGAZINES WAITING FOR YOUR MODELING DOLLARS. AMAZING FIGURE MODELER, WITH TERRY WEBB AND DAVID FISHER LEADING THE WAY. A STRONG LINEUP LED BY STEVE RIOJAS AND MIKE FALCINGO, HAVE BEEN THE STANDARD FOR THE HOBBY. THE REVAMPED KITBUILDERS, RE-TOOLED BY DAN AND BARBARA JORGENSEN, HAS GREAT ARTICLES AND COLOR GALORE TO ATTRACT ANY MODELER'S ATTENTION. I SAY, WHY NOT BOTH? I LIKE TO GATHER ALL INFORMATION AND RESEARCH AS POSSIBLE TO EXPAND MY MODEL BUILDING SKILL. BUT I AM AWARE THAT SOME MUST CHOOSE BECAUSE OF BUDGET.

WE WOULD LIKE TO APOLOGIZE TO ALL THOSE WHO WERE SINCERE IN THEIR ATTEMPTS TO JOIN THIS SITE. AN INCREDIBLE AMOUNT OF SPAM HAVE CORRUPTED THE MESSAGE BOARD, AND WE ARE JUST NOW ABLE TO CLEAR A PATH FOR REAL USERS. THIS SITE WAS INTENDED FOR MODEL BUILDRES TO HAVE A PLACE TO GO FOR IDEA EXCHANGES AND INFO. DESPITE THE SETBACK, IT WILL REMAIN OPEN FOR THIS PURPOSE. WE WELCOME ALL TRUE MODELERS OR FANS OF MODELS TO JOIN.
THANK YOU

UPDATE! THE INTENT OF THIS SITE WAS TO ENCOURAGE COMMENTS AND FEEDBACK. BECAUSE OF A SPAM PROBLEM, IT WAS NOT POSSIBLE FOR ANYONE TO WRITE. THAT HAS BEEN SOLVED, AND ALL THOSE WILLING TO REGISTER ARE FREE TO COMMENT AS THEY PLEASE. SORRY FOR ANY INCONVENIENCE, AND THANKS FOR YOUR PATIENCE. THANKS AGAIN FOR LOOKING, I HOPE YOU ENJOY YOUR VISIT.

My report starts not with the marvels I saw at the show, but the horror of getting there! Living in the San Francisco Bay Area, the first thing you find is that Louisville, KY is not an airline hub. So that means transfer points. Sometimes lots of transfer points. My WonderFest trips have consisted of a simple stop at Cincinnatti, or St. Louis, or even Houston. But this time around I flew to Phoenix, to Philedelphia, then Louisville. But because of the wonders of airtravel, I left Oakland, Ca at 8:00 a.m. Thursday and arrived in Louisville at 1:00 a.m. Friday! My luggage was safely locked up in the baggage claim office for the night(I could see them through the window), and I could only pray that my room reservation was okay. It was, and air conditioning and a shower helped me feel human again.

Sometime after the death of the model company AURORA, there was a void in the model building hobby of figure kits. In the early 1980's, from the Land of the Rising Sun, some very talented artists grew tired of this lack of monster kits and sculpted their own. Based on the creations of Ray Harryhausen, these figures were sculpted, molded, and cast in resin literally in the garages of these kit "manufacturers". Copies were made, distributed to friends, and MERMAID MODELS was born. And the term "garage kit" was created. These early kits are some of the most sought after in the garage kit world.
Next up was the classic monsters from BILIKIN, a doll and toy company.

YOU CAN'T WIN IF YOU DON'T ENTER!

How many times have you heard that about the Lottery? Well, it applies to model contests too. Between the Mad Model Party, WonderFest, and Imagination Expo, I had entered so many contests that I won't even try to count. What I will say is that except for the "Honorable Mention" consolation, I never took home a prize. While making preperations for the second Imagination Expo in Las Vegas, I took a different approach. Being a fan of Vampirella, I had to add the kit "Curves" sculpted by William Paquet to my collection. But instead of stashing it away for the future, I started to build her right away. Yes, I was trying to enter a model in the Female category, one of the most competitive arenas in a model contest. After falling short with monsters and creatures, I was tackling flesh-tones, the most difficult paint finish to bring off. After working on my "Girl" for a few weeks, she was done! Since I was driving to Vegas, I didn't worry about tranpotation for my entry. It had become a tradition that I would drive my friend Danny's(Dimensional Designs) stock to the shows in the west. I would simply secure Vampy with the kits for Dimensional.

As modelers, we all have them. Our favorite monster. Whether it is Frankenstein's Monster, Dracula, The Wolfman, The Mummy, or the Predator, we all have that one character in particular that we love to bulid. When I was very young, my parents would take my two older brothers and me shopping, and our treats were a model kit for each. It started with the PYRO dinosaurs, and then a company called AURORA caught our attention with The Universal Studios monster line. My oldest brother picked Frankenstein, my second eldest chose the Wolfman, and I grabbed The Creature From The Black Lagoon. I remember the smell of the plastic, and all those dark green parts waitng inside the box. With the help of my two bros, I learned how to apply glue and assemble my Creature to look like the photo on the instruction sheet. It was something we all did together, and was one of the few times they weren't beating me up! I can't remember how many Creatures I went through, but at $.98 it was not a big deal. But I do remember when AURORA went out of business, that was a big deal. The sudden evaporation of the monster model line was a shocking experience. We all learned to move along, but they were sorely missed.

If you are a fan of the MODEL MANIA video series by David Fisher, you will love volume 5. For the first time on DVD, it also includes volume IV as well. With the clarity of digital, and no more danger of the tape eaten by hungry VCRs, MODEL MANIA V is a treat through and through. With all the excellent demos by David, and the sharpest look at "The Beauty Shots" to date, you can't help coming away from this DVD a better model builder. And there is more good news, volumes I-III are being released together on DVD very soon.