Big Frankie

Manufacturer: Aurora, 1964

Sculptor:  Marvin Glass (designer)

Material:  Styrene Plastic

Scale: N/A

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Most styrene kit builders know the story of Big Frankie but here’s a short version just in case you don’t. Originally designed to be a toy, Aurora scrapped the idea and released it as just another model kit. The sculpt of the Universal monster was more of a caricature so many kids did not take it as seriously as the other Aurora monster kits. It also carried a price 5 times higher than the regular kits. All this added up to be the kiss of death for Frankie. Sales were poor and he was dropped from the shelves after a short run. This makes him a very valuable and highly sought after kit to collectors.

  

This poor guy needed a complete  restoration. I totally disassembled the kit. It had been glued and re-glued, rather carelessly, several times causing damage to some areas to the plastic. I stripped off all the old paint down to the bare gray and black plastic. It had 4 layers of old, gloss, enamel paint with skin tones ranging from shades of gray, to blue, to green.  I then reassembled it, puttied all the seams and sanded them down. This took a couple of rounds in some cases. I sprayed him with a good base primer and he was ready to paint.

 

I used acrylic paints to bring new life to Frankie. I airbrushed him and hand painted all details. When completed, I sealed it with multiple layers of clear sealer to protect the paint.  Standing right at 19” tall, he makes a nice centerpiece to any collection.

 

 

 

 

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