Surf’s Up

Feeling nostalgic for a few 60s Good Vibrations? I decided to make a retro kit from my model stash. It’s a re-release of a 1964 Hawk Classics “Silly Surfer.” He’s titled “Hodad Makin’ the Scene with a Six Pack.” For you non-surfers – myself included- “hodad” is a pejorative term for a guy who pretends to be a surfer. He dresses like one, hangs out at the beach, and generally puts on a front, but is really just a wanna-be poser. He silently screams, “Come on, I’m tryin’ really hard, man!” This would be surfer dude comes complete with a six pack of drinks (you can choose what to make them,) a few empties laying around, a clam, a pelican, and a few other characters to round out the scene.

As I already said, it’s a kit that was first released in 1964 (that’s even before I was first released!) It came into being as a part of the “Wierd-Ohs”, “Nutty Mads” and Ed “Big Daddy” Roth’s creations. His exaggerated expressions and borderline grotesque features make him fit right in with those other wacky caricatures. The molds are original, so the fit of the pieces is a little loosey goosey, and the gaps are really obvious. The white plastic is also pretty low quality, and very brittle. I did some work at cleaning up the gaps, filling with sprue goo (left over plastic sprues, dissolved in model glue to a goopy putty-like consistency.) I even resorted to some Green Stuff for the worst offenders. In the end, I decided to just lean into the vintage vibe, and not worry too much about perfection. Some seams still show, but (in my entirely biased opinion,) that doesn’t really detract from the charm of this guy.

I did up the 6 pack carrier and cans with some photo-shopped Hamms beer labels. Might as well go full retro, and use a vintage (now extinct) brand. (Other contenders included Schlitz, Olympia, and Falstaff.) I’ve seen some completed versions of this kit with the stogie painted white to look like a marijuana joint, but chose to stick to the box art for that particular feature.

I decided not to attempt a flowery shirt – went instead with a pale sea foam green. I thought it looked relaxed with his red, fading to pink shorts. His sandals have rubber soles and a green strap. I gave a little medium brown wash on his teeth – he doesn’t look like the bright white type, with that Havana knock-off he’s chomping on (He’s a wanna-be. His smoke probably should be, too!)

I really like this kit. It’s a cool break from the precision-focused real world military models, and the science fiction / fantasy figures that consume the majority of my hobby space.

As I’ve stated in other entries, I love the retro vibe – especially this era. It was already a little past its heyday when I was a kid, but I fondly remember the style on older cousins’ shelves and hand-me-down toys. I got it at a flea market table while on vacation (it was such a good deal, I picked up all 9 different Hawk kits they had!) Even without a bargain table bonanza, they can readily be found on Ebay for under $20. This damn hobby needs to be sustainable, right?

So slather on some Coppertone SPF 1 and grab your Wayfarers. Hang with the cool kids down at the beach.   Dude.

-Toph

 

The Monster Kids

In the 1950’s, there began a renewed interest in horror entertainment. The Universal Studios monster classics (beginning with 1931’s Dracula and Frankenstein) came back from the dead (bad joke, right?) Local and regional TV stations began hosting “Creature Feature” or “Chiller Theater” type movie shows on Friday or Saturday nights- usually beginning at midnight, and often presented by a local character in a campy themed costume. In addition to the aforementioned Universal classics of the 30s and 40s, were lower budget “B” sci-fi movies featuring giant bugs, experiments gone wrong, or alien invaders of some sort or other. Among these were many of the Hammer Horror films from the late 50s.

By the 60s, monsters were even bigger than ever. The Adams Family and The Munsters were big hits on TV. Warren magazines published horror comics CreepyEerie, and Vampirella to add to their already popular Famous Monsters of Filmland. These often sported illustrated cover art by one of the most celebrated fantasy illustrators of all time – Frank Frazetta. And Aurora Plastic Corporation had begun transitioning their scale figure kit focus to monsters as well. The rights to the Universal Studios vault gave them an entry into the horror movie craze that had been ramping up, and 1961’s Frankenstein set the tone for the next 20 years (even after Aurora had sold off its molds and rights to its rival kit company Monogram.)

The monster line-up eventually included Frankenstein, Dracula, The Mummy, The Creature, Wolfman, The Phantom of the Opera, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, The Witch, The Forgotten Prisoner, The Hunchback, King Kong, and Godzilla. The Bride of Frankenstein, along with several kits in the “Torture Chamber” series (believe me, parents LOVED that theme!) didn’t stay in production very long, but most of the others were repurposed into horror/ racing car mashups (Frankenstein’s Flivver, et. al.) They also had multiple re-releases, with changes like glow in the dark “Frightening Lightning” or neon “Luminator” versions. Over the years, those same kits have been re-packaged under new brand names many times. Some used Aurora molds, but others had to be re-tooled, as the originals had become worn out, damaged, or lost over time.

This brings us to today. A walk through your local hobby store likely has many of those re-released and re-branded monster characters. Additionally, there have been a bunch of kits that were obviously inspired and heavily influenced by Aurora. Companies like Moebius, Monarch, X-Plus and Atlantis are making styrene plastic model kits of subjects that look and feel A LOT like Aurora originals, right down to the stylized company logos on the box covers. At retail prices up to $50 (sometimes considerably more,) they may seem a little scary when compared to the $2.00 I remember paying for ones in the early 1970s. It’s a good thing we monster kids can scrape together a little more allowance these days.

-Toph

 

 

A few re-releases available today

 

Re-release of the 1962 Aurora Wolfman kit, built by a grown monster kid.