BUILDING A BETTER MUMMY

The first Mummy model that I ever built was the original Aurora version back in 1964. I had aims on entering it into our local hobby shop's Aurora Customizing Monsters Contest. My idea for customization was to dip small strips from an old white t-shirt into dirty paint brush water and use them as wrappings on the figure. I remember being thrilled about it at time, but over the passing years I don't have a clear image of what it turned out looking like. I was late entering my masterpiece by one day, so I never found out if it measured up to the other kids in the neighborhood.

Fast forward a handful of decades and I gave Kharis another shot. This time I used the Revell re-issue from 2009 and which I believe they used the original molds. I have read about other modelers having trouble with joining parts, but outside of a little cleanup and putty I found it to be one of the easier of the several Aurora re-issues I've built so far.

I used a combination of paints from Freak Flex, Tamiya and Vallejo and hand brushed all of it. There are many layers that build up Kharis' color and likewise for the base. Lastly, I dispensed with adding the cobra accessory as I thought it was a little hokey and detracted from the figure.

Since I can't compare it from the first one I built, I nevertheless am sure this one came out a lot better and I had just as much fun building it!

The images below are the kit during various stages. Included is the box art (a far cry from Bama!) and cheap-ass instruction sheet that can't hold a cup of tana tea to the original, which I posted here yesterday. 

VINTAGE AURORA MUMMY 'RELICS'

I never know what I'll find next in the dusty bowels of the Mysterious Mansion. For instance, just the other day I came across an over-sized, crumbling-with-age manila envelope crammed with monster memorabilia such as lobby cards, folded movie posters, etc.

Among the trove was a stack of the original boxes of Aurora monster models and their instruction sheets. Back in the 1960's collecting stuff like this with the understanding that it would actually be worth something was pretty much unheard of. Nevertheless, I thought the box art was so cool I just couldn't bear to toss them in the trash. So, I cut off the side panels and kept the box top with the cool art, never knowing at the time that the artist that did these was the same person who was painting the covers to the Doc Savage books I was reading! In retrospect, it would have been better to cut the corners and lay the whole box top open, but golly, I was just a young Monster Kid!

I did, however, value my models and magazines and such as priceless and I hung on to my models until I was forced to sell them at a yard sale because we sold our house to go on a long road trip in a travel trailer right after I graduated high school. In the meantime, at least I've got these few items as mementos.

NOTE: The following scans are from my collection and are unretouched.

FEMME FATALES VOL. 5 NO. 11 (PART 2)