GREG MAIOCCO'S

CLASSIC MONSTERS

BORIS KARLOFF AS THE BODY SNATCHER, 1991 Dimensional Design,  1/6 scale (resin). Kit was sculpted by Randy Lambert.  Everything but the original base was used, the kit is mounted on a JC Williams (Monsters on the Shelf) base.  The kit was a basic build with a lot of dry brushing, pastel chalks and dry tempera paints.  The base adds a lot to the kit and gives more variety in posing the figure, lantern and shovel.  The only change I made with the figure was in posing his head.  The box art shows him looking straight; I sanded a bit of resin off the neck which enabled me to have him looking to the right, as if he were looking at someone walking towards him. 

This was a very rough piece for a resin kit.  There were huge seams that needed attention and it seemed the more I sanded flaws in the casting, the more air holes I discovered.  Both lapels on his jacket were non-existent so I had to build them up and try to make them look like the rest of the jacket.  But, it was a challenge and I’m pleased with the result.

I added a lantern made from a keychain I found at a sporting goods store; it’s battery operated.

CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON, manufactured by Retro Resin, 1/12 scale (resin).  A kit that I wanted to build as a desk piece.  It was built as is with no modifications; just a lot of drybrushing.
 

Dracula, manufactured by Janus, 1/6 scale (vinyl), Nocturna Productions resin base. This was one of the more difficult vinyl kits I’ve built; the cape needed extensive putty work to remove it’s seams and the resin head needed a great deal of work before painting. The resin base went together very easily and came out well using a black primer base coat and numerous shades of grey dry brushed for the stone facings. The backdrop is black foam board painted with a full moon and mist; the black cat came from a Halloween store and is a nice added touch.

Frankenstein, manufactured by Horizon, 1/6 scale (vinyl). This is a kit built without modification. The base is from the resin Janus Dracula kit; a wood craft plaque was added to dress it up.

The Hunchback of Notre Dame, 2000 reissue by Polar Lights, 1/8 scale (styrene). A Posthumous Productions replacement resin head and nameplate were used. A great deal of time was spent on removing seams and painting; using dry brushing on the turntable and chalks for skin tones. A wood craft plaque was also used to dress up the base.

September 2010: Greg has updated his Hunchback with the addition of Jim & Judy’s Horror Models castle background kit.  He says, "I like the look of this addition and it took very little time to paint."

The Invisible Man, Moebius Models, 1/8 scale (styrene). I added a foam core back wall and strip wood window with a night scene and a full moon.  I found and downloaded a movie poster from the internet for the nameplate, framed and done as a picture on the wall.  I used decals from Cult TV Man for the book spines and page edges along with bottle labels and table papers.  Other table and book pages came from an Anatomy textbook web site scaled down on Photoshop.  The black cat came from a local Halloween store; everything was mounted to a wood craft base.  I didn't heavily weather the figure, using some light dry-brushing and chalks.  Read an in-depth article about Greg's model by clicking here.

The Mummy, original Aurora issue, 1/8 scale (styrene). This is an early 1960’s (1963 or '64) Aurora original styrene kit that I found built in a bargain bin at a local hobby shop. This was my first effort in stripping paint and re-gluing an older kit; a great learning experience. A great deal of time was spent on removing seams, puttying gaps and painting; dry brushing and chalks were used extensively on this kit as well.

The Monster from Son of Frankenstein (1939), manufactured by Geometric Design, 1/6 scale (vinyl). This was my first vinyl kit. The figure was built as-is, but if I were to do it over his skin would be the darker shade of the Horizon Frankenstein. The base is my design; the tree is a piece of “Sir Harry Lauder’s Walking Stick”, a plant found in my yard that had the right look; the tombstones are carved from florists foam; the rocks are plaster castings from my model railroad supply of rock outcroppings; and various shades of ground foams were used along with vegetation bought at a local craft store; all placed on a square wood base. The nameplate was one of the first Son of Frankenstein plates from Posthumous Productions and the bat is from the Polar Lights Creature accessories kit.

Noseratu from the 1922 German silent film, manufactured by Monarch Models, 1/8 scale (styrene). The Nosferatu kit was built with a few modifications. I used a wood craft base for added support, added an extra skull from the Polar Lights Creature Customizing kit, more realistic "hair" from a cheap paintbrush and used Halloween spider webbing rather than the out of scale kit web. Again, basic seam work, painting and drybrushing/weathering techniques were used on this kit.
 

The Wolf Man, manufactured by Polar Lights, 1/8 scale (styrene). The boulder under the figure’s right foot was built up with foam and putty to alter its stance (mostly to make it a bit different than the other Wolf Man kits). A great deal of time was spent on removing seams, puttying gaps and painting; dry brushing was used a great deal on this kit. A Posthumous Productions nameplate was used along with a wood craft plaque base.