THIS WAS THE FEAR THAT WAS . . . AURORA FRANKENSTEIN PLASTIC MODEL KIT

In 1961 Aurora Plastics blew the coffin lid off the monster craze that started with TV's Shock Theater and Warren's FAMOUS MONSTERS OF FILMLAND by releasing the first in their line of Universal monster kits, the Frankenstein monster. The craze quickly caught on and soon the company was cranking out models 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Now, a half century later, Aurora monster models have not lost their mystique as several companies have re-issued the line over the years, re-introducing the magic to youngsters today of "making your own monsters" just like us Monster Kids did!

A now grown-up Monster Kid who goes by the name of Monster Man Dan is selling a 50-year Anniversary Frankenstein model tribute T-shirt at Cafe Press. Click HERE to take a look.

Read More → THIS WAS THE FEAR THAT WAS . . . AURORA FRANKENSTEIN PLASTIC MODEL KIT

AURORA MONSTERS: THE MODEL CRAZE THAT GRIPPED THE WORLD!

Yesterday's post talked about a DVD that featured the history of the original Aurora Plastics monster model kits. This homage to "The Model Craze That Gripped the World" is not to be missed if you're at all interested in model making or this particular line of kits. Introduced and "moderated" by none other than Zacherly, The Cool Ghoul, the film contains historical commentary and tons of interviews with both past and present scultptors, artists, and fans.

Perhaps the highlight of the documentary is a rare interview with James Bama, the artist responsible for painting the box art on the original Aurora kits. It's an amazing walk down memory lane for us Monster Kids, but it is also of value to new fans who seek the origins of one of the most enduring hobbies ever.

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THINGS MADE BY TINY HANDS

In RUE MORGUE's 13th Anniversary issue (#105, October 2010), they discussed a then-recently released DVD that covered the history of the Aurora monster models. Produced by Cortlandt Hull, it soon became evident that this was to be the historical document preserving the memory of the Aurora monster model phenonmenon.

Read More → THINGS MADE BY TINY HANDS

POLAR LIGHTS: KEEPING THE AURORA LEGEND ALIVE

Model kits have nearly always been a niche market, but with the advent of high-tech entertainment such as computer games and toys, the industry found itself in lean times. Aurora figure kits, including our beloved monsters, slowed down to a halt, then disappeared -- including the well-recognized Aurora logo -- for good.

Attempts were few and far between in the ensuing years to keep the monster model kit hobby alive, but it wasn't until a company that went by the name of Polar Lights (an obvious take on the Aurora brand name) that things started really rolling along in Wolfman's Wagon again. To the delight of Monster Kids old and new alike, Polar Lights not only manufactured and marketed monster models, they re-issued some of the original Aurora monster kits!

This article, from the now-defunct MODELER'S RESOURCE (#27, April/May 1999) magazine, describes how it all happened.

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HORRA FROM AURORA: A BRIEF HISTORY

Tom Graham wrote a piece in AMAZING FIGURE MODELER #10 that perfectly encapsulates the exciting history of Aurora Plastics. The model kit industry was -- and still is -- extremely competitive. One less popular kit than a competitor's and a company might be hanging on their sprue for dear life.

Legend has it that the execs at Aurora laughed out loud when they heard the proposal for a line of figure kits showcasing the Universal monsters. Market testing made a laughing stock of them, however, and they decided to take the plunge. It was a gamble that paid off in spades. Before long, they were cranking out kits of Frankenstein's monster, The Wolf Man, The Mummy and others 24/7 just to keep up with the demand.

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'TWAS THE KNIGHT BEFORE MONSTERS

It's hard to describe to someone the exact feeling that I had -- and I'm sure it's a similar feeling that a lot of other Monster Kids had --when I put together my first Aurora monster model. I have shared with you the experience racing to beat the clock to get my first-ever attempt at building a monster model (The Mummy) completed and down to Gilbert's Hobby Shop in Torrance, CA in time to enter the Aurora Monster Model Customizing Contest. Well, I got the model finished, but missed the entry date!


A full-page ad from FAMOUS MONSTERS OF
FILMLAND magazine promoting the
1965 monster model customizing contest.

A more vivid monster model-making memory of mine is not of this adventure, however -- it is during the making of my second model, The Wolf Man. In this recollection I can remember quite clearly the colors I used (light brown for his fur, gray for the rocks on the base, white for the teeth and a little red for blood on them!), how it went together (pretty easily for a 9-year old), and how it looked when it was finished (not bad, as I recall). The models are long gone but the fond memories remain.


A store promotional banner commonly seen in hobby shops across America.



The first model I ever put together on my own was not a monster model, though -- it was another type of Aurora figure kit -- The Red Knight. The knights were Aurora Plastics' first entry into the figure kit model market. As legend has it, Aurora execs weren't at all thrilled about gambling on the extent of the success of the figure kits, and when mention was made of putting famous movie monsters sprue on parts trees into the now-famous James Bama-painted Aurora long boxes, they shuddered. It took a miraculous bit of showmanship and wizardry, but a market test of prototypes shown at model sales conventions revealed that kids were fanatical with the prospect of seeing their favorite Shock Theater TV creatures come to life under their skillful little hands.

And the rest they say, is history. Advertised heavily in FAMOUS MONSTERS OF FILMLAND magazine, monster models were a huge hit. They have even enjoyed a revival by Polar Lights, Revell, and other model makers within the last dozen or so years as well.


A typical ad in FAMOUS MONSTERS OF FILMLAND magazine
selling the Aurora Plastic's line of monster models.


In honor of the 50th Anniversary of the first Aurora monster model -- Frankenstein -- and the resulting onslaught of kits to follow, MONSTER MAGAZINE WORLD is devoting this week to AURORA MONSTER MODELS WEEK. Today's post takes a look at the period just before the monster models were unleashed, when heroic knights in Testor's-painted shining armor walked the landscape of our fevered imagination. The pages are from AMAZING FIGURE MODELER #14.

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AURORA'S FRANKENSTEIN TURNS 50!

MONSTER MAGAZINE WORLD received a note from "Monster Man Dan" requesting to announce that he has got just the right "things" to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the first Aurora monster model kit. If you feel so inclined, take a look at his CAFE PRESS shop for his tribute art for this most auspicious of occasions. I love the sprue logo! Following is, in his own words, Dan's unabashed promo for his labor of love:

"Severed heads-up to every monster model figure kit builder and classic monster lover! Right now, in the midst of this 2011 Halloween season filled with all the ghoulish fun and festivities, I desire to draw your attention to a landmark 50th Anniversary that we monster fans need to recognize and pay homage to. . . the King of All Monster Model Kits -- Aurora Plastic's flagship horror kit that started THE MONSTER MODEL CRAZE OF THE 60's -- FRANKENSTEIN!

Building that kit in 1961 further ignited my enthusiasm for classic monsters with the creation of Aurora Models, reading FAMOUS MONSTERS OF FILMLAND, collecting Castle Films 8mm Monster Digests and tuning in to my favorite weekend TV Horror Host. Entering the graphic-arts field along the way, I only felt it fitting that I should attempt to create some kind of 50th Anniversary tribute design. And now I am proud to offer .... FRANKEN-MODEL 50!

So guys, before you order another styrene or resin kit, mix another gray tone for your diorama tombstone piece, or dip your brush into a cup of blood-red paint, please to swing over the FRANKEN-MODEL 50 MERCHANDISE STORE and get a T-Shirt or Brew Mug to show your excitement and support during this Half-Century-Celebration!!"


P.S. Anyone know the actual date that the kit was sold? Monsterologists --including myself --would like to know!

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THE MODEL KITS THAT SHOULD BE, BUT PROBABLY NEVER WILL BE

Coming is another line of Aurora Fantasy Box art, depicting figures that we all would have like to have seen turned into plastic models for us Monster Kids to assemble on hot summer days.

The boxes are full size 13 X 7 X 2 "reproductions" with artwork by David Herfel. The image is created to appear as though Aurora had made all the kits that we as kids of the 1960's and 70's could have ever imagined.

It is printed on a single sheet that is professionally positioned and adhered to the coffin-style box lid. A box bottom is also included and the entire package is shrink-wrapped for a look that sends you back in time to the shelves of your hobby shop.

The manufacturer warns that these are boxes only! No model kits inside! Priced at: $26.99 USD.

Read More → THE MODEL KITS THAT SHOULD BE, BUT PROBABLY NEVER WILL BE

LET'S MAKE MONSTER MODELS! "MUMMY DEAREST"

It was 1964. President Kennedy had been assassinated just a few months earlier. The U.S. -- as well as the rest of the world – would soon enough be feeling the Cold War getting a little chillier. Viet Nam, on the other hand, was just starting to heat up. Atomic bomb “drop drills” were the order of the day in schools around the nation. The Surgeon General said for the first time that smoking was bad for your health. Cassius Clay beat Sonny Liston in Miami. The first Ford Mustang rolled off a Detroit assembly line. The Beatles’ Love Me Do topped the U.S. charts for a whole week. And, most important of all -- to a certain 9-year old anyway -- the monster craze was just about to explode.

You see, I was hopelessly hooked. Ever since watching Bela Lugosi’s Dracula on late night TV (on a rare occasion that I was allowed to), monsters endlessly thrilled and fascinated me. My parents begrudgingly continued to let me watch “those monster movies” that played during Saturday and Sunday afternoons on network shows like L.A.’s Weird, Weird World, Science Fiction Theatre, and Chiller. My neighbor Jeff seemed to always have enough pocket change to buy the latest Famous Monsters of Filmland magazine or the newest Mad Monsters or Horror Monsters. I wasn’t allowed to buy such “trash”. As a result, I spent a lot of time at Jeff’s house!

In 1964, I was still living in the town of my birth, Torrance, California. For fun on the weekends, I’d take my allowance just down the hill to the Southwood Shopping Center, and spend my hard-earned sheckles at either Southwood Drugs on candy and baseball cards, P.B. Carroll’s Five or Dime on toys, or, best of all, models and HO cars at Gilbert’s Hobby Shop, which was across the street, just a few doors down from the oh-so heavenly Angelo Revels Bakery.
 

Now, one fine weekend day, this tow-headed Monster Kid spotted a banner poster in the window of Gilbert’s that exclaimed something to the effect of “Monster Model Customizing Contest!” I knew from the magazines that monster model kits existed, but I hadn’t summoned the nerve to ask for one yet. As a result, up until then I had only assembled models like the Aurora Knights line. Matter of fact, if I remember right, the very first model I ever put together was Aurora’s Red Knight of Vienna. Anyway, helpfully spurred on by my older sister’s own zeal for the lure of the contest, we were suddenly – and amazingly, through pleading and cajoling with our parents – allowed to spend the 98 cents on our choice of models to build. My sister chose The Wolf Man and I decided on The Mummy. Remember, now, this is the era of the original Aurora kits, and when model glue was still sold off the shelf and not from behind the counter!



Monster Model Contest Official Entry Blank

 Since I had already had a bit of experience building plastic models, the prospect of putting together my very first monster model was not as daunting as it was pure excitement. It’s really hard to describe the feeling. In the later years of the decade, I would have called it a “natural buzz”! Seriously, it was that stimulating. I mean, here I was, actually touching and holding and creating my own monster, just like I’d seen Dr. Frankenstein do on TV!


Image from Amazon.com


 I remembered it was supposed to be a customizing contest, so I racked my fevered brain for something to do with the kit. Finally, it came to me. So, this was an ancient mummy, complete with rotting bandages. Why not bandage the bandages? In other words, put fabric bandages over the plastic ones that were a part of the kit? Fortunately, there were plenty of old, white T-Shirts around to be used for rags, so I grabbed one of those and starting tearing them into small strips. In an attempt to make the bandages look old I tried dipping the strips into the jar that held the dirty mineral spirits and water mix that we used to clean our paint brushes. By the way, in our house, Testor’s was the model paint brand of choice. We avoided Pactra, the other top brand of the time. It seemed to me the only reason for this was that it might have been a nickel more per jar or something like that.
 

Image from Amazon.com

Amazingly, the glued on wrapping ended up looking just great! I also rubbed some of the dirty brush cleaning goop on the Egyptian pillar which was part of the base. A little green paint on the cobra wrapped around Kharis’ leg, some more on his head (what was I thinking, that it would look . . . customized?), and, voila! my Aurora Monsters Mummy Plastic Model Kit was completed in record time on our kitchen table . . .

. . . Only to find that we had missed the contest deadline! What disappointment befell my little Monster Kid heart I cannot completely convey in words here. Suffice to say, neither my sister nor I had been aware of the fact that the model contest deadline had been the weekend before!
 

The "one that got away"


But, hey, like any kid, I got over it in a hurry and was soon on to building my own Wolf Man, Dracula, and Frankenstein kits, forgetting all about lost opportunity and always on the look out for the next sixties pop culture fad that presented itself.

Now, years later, every one of those shops in Southwood Shopping Center that I mentioned have closed, remaining now only as memories to share for times such as this. And, what about my Mummy model and the rest, you ask? Well, I held on to every single one of them all the way through high school. But when we sold our house to travel, everything had to go. My beloved monster models were among the rest of my most prized possessions sold rather unceremoniously in a yard sale.

The rest, they say, is history. Like I told you, I was hooked and I’ve stayed hooked all these years, pretty much more on than off. Now I’ve got a blog, MONSTER MAGAZINE WORLD, where I’m share these glorious times and memories with whoever wants to log on and read about them. In closing, I’d have to say that those few years in the mid-sixties were like lightning in a bottle – dazzling, special, and never to be forgotten.
 

Image from Amazon.com



Read More → LET'S MAKE MONSTER MODELS! "MUMMY DEAREST"