Thinking Big
Right now, I am trying to think BIG! I mean this in a lot of ways, but as it pertains to model building, I happen to be heading into a round of really large kits. Two big dinosaurs and a 16 inch tall Nosferatu are waiting in line for me, and I should be finishing up Ultratumba's giant Angry Red Spider soon too. And on top of that, I recently hear about this gigantic 9 foot tall King Ghidorah carved from wood and sent to your door for just under 2 million Yen (about $18,000). (Click here for other pictures).
Anyway, while this is probably not a kit is in the pure sense (even though it comes in pieces), it got me thinking you might want to see some of the biggest kits ever made.
This photo found at
http://www.collectiondx.com/node/2258
As you might expect, the biggest kits are often based on the biggest subjects and no one is bigger than Japan's mighty rubber suited monsters, or kaiju. The largest true monster model kit I know of was a model of the biogoji suit from Godzilla vs. Biolante and was manufactured by Kaiyodo in 1990. It is one meter tall folks. . . and almost two meters long! In fact, it was HO scale. To put that in perspective, HO scale is the most common railroad model scale and box cars are about 6 inches long--approximately 1/3 the length of Godzilla's foot!
It originally went for about $900 retail and a few ended up here in the US. In fact, one of my friends, Bill Jones, actually completed the kit, but I have no idea where he keeps it. I would also guess that the vast majority of these kits were never actually completed and are stored away somewhere in the cartons they came in. I would love to have one, so I have to hope one turns up when I have the money.
Oh, and I will need a new house too.
While it is not nearly as big as the King Ghidorah or Godzilla above, as far as a true model kit, this is the largest Ghidorah kit I know of. It was done by a company called "Kaiju Freaks" and released in 2003. Sculpted by Atsushi Asai, this is a pretty big kit at 2 feet tall and approximately the same length and width. This is a rendering of the 1964 version of Ghidorah, and it actually fits the 1 foot scale (30 cm, btw), Godzillas very well. Ghidorah, Godzilla's number one nemesis, is essentially twice Godzilla's size and interesting enough, he appears as a foe at exactly the point where Godzilla is becoming Japan's defender. It started a trend for Godzilla films where, for the most part, Godzilla is an underdog on the surface . . . but of course, we know better.
Anyway, I have never seen one for sale, but they apparently go for about $500. A big price for a big kit.
Another really big Japanese favorite is Rodan, and once again, Kaiju Freaks, has an incredible (and incredibly large) Rodan kit. Released only a couple years ago, it depicts the giant pterosaur smashing down on the Fukuoka station building. It is a stunning kit. Quite simply one of the best I have ever seen (well, at least, seen in photos . . . I wish I could find one!) The detail is unbelievable and these pictures merely suggest how cool it is. You can see more at the official site here.) The building and the beast are two feet tall when done together, though apparently you can get them separately.
There are a lot of large (and small) kaiju kits and my primary source for this part of the article is www.kaijukits.com. The do not sell these kits, but they are a tremendous library and source of info!
Another great subject for big kits is dinosaurs. Believe it or not, this 1/5 scale T. Rex was actually available as a model about 10 years ago from Menagerie Productions and brilliant sculptor, Tony McVey. The one seen to the right is 8 feet long and resides in the Alberta Museum of Natural History, but if you had $6,000 or so back in the 1990s, you could set yourself up with one tremendous shelf-topper. I have to wonder how many gallons of paint it would take to do this thing!
A much smaller 16 inch version (1/30th scale) was available and I happen to have mine mostly assembled and it is on my list. (Yes, yes, I know . . . I have a long list). The 1/30th "In Pursuit" Rex was part of a pair and I am always on the look out for the second one.
The only thing bigger than a 1/5th scale T-Rex is a 1:1 scale T-rex. Available for about $4300 plus shipping to the US, below is one of several 1:1 scale sculptures that come from Mucklefiguren and Oxmox. I am assuming this is actually a museum piece and comes pre-painted, but you could easily redo it . . . what we like to call a "painter's peice." They also offer a 1:1 scale raptor, seen to the right. There is some assembly required so I guess that one is technically a kit . . . but mostly it is just cool.
Here is another big boy and this one really is a kit. From Jon Rader at www.raderstudios.com comes a monumental kit of the super dino, Supersaurus. I did an interview with Jon recently that can be found at CreatureScape here, where we discuss the process of creating this 5 foot model of the creature at length . . . so to speak. It goes for a very reasonable $450, especially since only 25 will ever be produced.
Jon has also has other massive 1/20th scale dinos including a forth coming Apatosaurus (aka Brontosaurus) that will knock your socks off.
So, back to my list . . . I actually have a very nice pair of large dino kits I am working on--a 1/18th scale Spinosaurus from Cretaceous Creations and a 1/20th scale Acrocanthosaurus from the now defunct Planet Earth models. They are both huge kits befitting the huge predators they represent, each over 3 feet long. I hope to show you the finished products at CreatureScape before the end of the year.
There are also a lot of more traditional horror and sci-fi large scale (1:1) figures around too. Right now, I am working on Dark Carnival's 1:1 Creature From the Black Lagoon bust. It retails for $175 and it is very, very cool. It is hollow cast and therefore ready for some glass eyes for that extra creepy feel. They also carry other 1:1 busts including the Hyde model I showed you in the last installment and the 1:1 "Grrr: bust seen below, which retails for $150.
Earth Bound Studios has been producing 1:1, highly stylized busts for several years now, and they sell out quick. You can contact them by email at earthbound@yahoo.com, but they do not have a website. To the right is one of my favorites, The Mutant which sold for $150 (that $140 was a sale price) and is really, really big at about 18 inches tall. Trust me . . . it seems like it is gargantuan on a shelf. And if you look in the back, you can see some more . . . the She Creature . . . Teenage Frankenstein. Wow.
Okay, I could go on and on, but I have to reign it in for my own piece of mind. After all, I have a big list of kits to get to, right?
By the way, I do kit work on commission, so if you have an unfinished kit you want to see on your shelf professionally completed, just email me at editor@creaturescape.com and I am sure we can work something out.
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