What are your favourite Aurora monster model kits?

[Asanath]

Here are my five...all in glorious black and white, since the films are black and white

1. The Mummy


2. The Creature From The Black Lagoon in 3D...get out your glasses for this one!



3. Phantom of the Opera



4. King Kong



5. The Hunchback



These are my favorite kits, not necessarily my favorite monster films.

[Mord]

That's the best representations yet!

[McDougals House of Horror]

My favorite was Frankenstein, simply because it was the first one (sort of like remembering your first kiss, or is that as warped as a piece of glue-drenched plastic?)

[The Batman]

My favorite was Frankenstein, simply because it was the first one (sort of like remembering your first kiss, or is that as warped as a piece of glue-drenched plastic?)

Thank you kindly for posting this. It takes me back to my first kit. Indeed it's true it was the first monster kit for so many of us, and so it will always remain special. 'Makes me want to hunt it down all over again & add even more paint detail. cheers.

[The Batman]

Here are my five...all in glorious black and white, since the films are black and white

1. The Mummy


2. The Creature From The Black Lagoon in 3D...get out your glasses for this one!



3. Phantom of the Opera



4. King Kong



5. The Hunchback



These are my favorite kits, not necessarily my favorite monster films.

Thanks for posting your 3D Creature, fun to SEE it again!

 

[Hepcat]

The fabulous James Bama box art that the Aurora monster model kits featured was one of the reasons behind their phenomenal success in the mid-sixties. Another was the great ads Aurora took out on the back covers of DC comics to zero in squarely on the target market:

October 1963



February 1964



October 1964



August 1965

[Mord]

Those ads got me hooked back then.

[BRICK]

My favorite Aurora model would have to be The Bride of Frankenstein. I first saw an ad for the kit in an old back issue of Famous Monsters, its rarity and illusiveness gave it an almost mythical quality in my mind. Had it been released in the glow series and I had just never come across it? And while the kit isn't without its flaws (it's the wrong scale compared to the other models, the horizontal pose is a bear to display, and it's so fragile that pieces seems to fall off by just looking at it); there is still something special about it that makes it unique among the lineup. For instance, it was the last Universal monster and the only female movie monster of the series, it was also most elaborate and had the best sculpting of the later models. All modesty aside, I really like the way my custom version turned out. I was lucky and got one of the rare Frightening Lightning variants, and while I couldn't bear to paint over it, I did want to accent it in such a way that would bring out the details of the glow plastic. When it comes to painting models, I believe that less is more, so I did a simple rub off technique with metallic green paint. Next, I repositioned and angled the operating table and finally, for the finishing touch, I added gold chains to replace the regular plastic ones. Now Frankenstein's Bride looks equally good in the daytime, at night, or under black light, as you can see below.

[Mord]

Love that beautiful and elaborate kit!

[Hepcat]

I agree with some of the other posts here that expressed disappointment with the wolfman sculpt compared to the Bama box art, which led me to build it up like this...(warning...this is my very first attempt at a buildup and I am no Yeager, but I hope to improve with time...)

Good stuff! I like your modifications.

[Frankenmarx]

Some of those photos of finished models are amazing.  This is one time when the Creature is near the top of my list of monsters.

[Hepcat]

So the Witch is finally making her move up the leaderboard! With 110 votes cast:

Frankenstein 67
Creature 62
Mummy 49
Phantom of the Opera 44
Bride of Frankenstein 39
Forgotten Prisoner of Castel-Maré 39
Dracula 35
Wolf Man 34
Godzilla 19
Witch 17

Here's a build-up by Ravenloft:

[Hepcat]

My favorite Aurora model would have to be The Bride of Frankenstein.... it was also most elaborate and had the best sculpting of the later models.

I agree on both counts! And I love your build-up!

...its rarity and illusiveness gave it an almost mythical quality in my mind.

The Bride of Frankenstein kit has been fabled in collectors' circles since the eighties anyway. I recall the exact words of a seller with whom I was negotiating a price some fifteen years ago "But this is the Bride man!"

[BRICK]

Thanks. It really is a great model. I just wish that when Polar Lights re-released it they had brought it up to the full 1/8 scale, the way Spider-man and the Hulk were re-released a few years later.

[Hepcat]

Here's a video hosted by Elvira that might help those still sitting on the fence to decide among these kits:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KIlX-bIbYng