SCALE MODEL NEWS

MAT IRVINE REPORTS Strange how some things happen. The SMN team is spreading out and working on producing a range of ebooks, and the first title will focus on my own modelling activities. It’s called Mat’s Marvellous Model Museum , and to this end I’ve not only been scribbling away furiously, but also doing some research on the vast stack of models in the collection.  Oil Treatment Special During this, some things I’d forgotten about were unearthed, one of which was this old MPC kit of the ‘STP Indy Turbine Car No. 40’, which debuted in the 1967 Indianapolis 500 race. I actually spotted the kit because the box was somewhat dented, damage that can often be straightened out with careful ironing. (Honest - maybe this is an item for a future piece?!) However, I then remembered that although I started to build the kit - which must have been more than 35 years ago - I never quite finished it! Plenty of internal detail reveals the gas-turbine engine's unusual position. It's beside the...

TINY VIEW BY MAT IRVINE You may have noticed some of Round 2’s AMT and MPC kit releases that also include a miniature version of the kit's own 'big box.' A new idea? Not exactly, as AMT/MPC’s previous owner, RC-2, had produced a range of small diecast cars in its Johnny Lightning ‘Classic Plastic’ series. Unique mini-models These mini-models were probably unique in the annals of diecasts, as they were miniature versions of what were already miniatures - plus you got a mini-reproduction of the kit box as well. The only difference is that the Classic Plastic mini-boxes came ready-assembled, the recent versions come flat, and you have to cut them out and make them up yourself.  Anniversary Corvette There were several Classic Plastic series, and I keep an eye out for the odd ones I’m missing. Although I have only a passing interest in anything ‘ready-built’, the interest is of course to get all the ones I have kits of - or alternatively, to find the kits for the ones already...

A MAT IRVINE EVENTER As you might have surmised from Part 1 of my Wonderfest 2012 review, there was a lot to see at the show. So here’s Part 2, and this time, think back to my October 2010 review of a DVD entitled The Aurora Monsters - The Model Craze That Gripped The World . One of the DVD’s producers was Cortlandt Hull, with featured characters that included Gorgo the Gargoyle, his keeper being Bill Diamond. Well, all three of them were at Wonderfest 2012. The Witch’s Dungeon Cortlandt Hull also created the amazing Witch’s Dungeon Classic Movie Museum in 1966. The Witch’s Dungeon celebrates the Golden Age of Hollywood chillers, featuring famed movie stars such as Bela Lugosi, Boris Karloff, Vincent Price and others.  Silver Screen Movie Museum Cortlandt still runs the Witch’s Dungeon, and is now hard at work expanding the whole idea to become The Silver Screen Movie Museum and Archive. However, despite its Hollywood connections, the Silver Screen is not based in Tinseltown, but ...

SMN EVENTER BY MAT IRVINE Each year sees the Crown Plaza Hotel in Louisville, Kentucky, transformed into WonderFest - an event that presents all that’s wonderful in science-fiction, fantasy and horror model-making. WonderFest 2013 was held a couple of months ago, over the weekend of May 25-27, and your occasional SMN writer attended the show as a first-time guest.  CultTVMan invite All this was down to an old friend, Steve Iverson ( on his stand above ) who runs the CultTVMan website, who had been suggesting for a few years that I should, “Come over for the event”, and this year decided to sponsor me - so there was no argument! Mat Irvine (above) preparing one of his talks during the SciFi University session (below). SciFi University I’ve attended many UK science-fiction conventions and also a number of model shows in both the UK and US, but WonderFest is a unique mix of both convention and model show. I arrived for the Friday session, which featured the SciFi University ( above )...

The smallspace show displayed UK science-fiction models at their best. And for nostalgic fans of the Gerry Anderson Supermarionation TV shows, the puppets of Duncan Willis took some beating. Early TV shows Duncan is seen above, with three of his replicas, Steve Zodiac, Lady Penelope, and the chauffeur Parker. In Duncan’s words: “I am a lifelong fan of Gerry Anderson's Supermarionation shows, with my first proper memory being of watching Fireball XL5 on TV, although I can just about remember watching Torchy, a Torchy annual being one of my most-read bedtime books.” Early Anderson inspiration Torchy the Battery Boy was the second TV series produced by Gerry Anderson. Fifty-two 13-minute episodes were made, for airing in 1958-1959. Predating Torchy were the Adventures of Twizzle, the very first Anderson series.    Recycled materials Duncan adds: “I have been making puppet replicas for around six years, and like to make scratch-built props for them to sit on/in. The pr...