THE MONSTER

(from: The Monster That

Challenged the World - 1957)

Manufacturer: Resin From The Grave

Sculptor: Joe Tomasini

Material: Resin          Scale:  Unknown

I love the big bug and atomic mutant movies of the ‘50s and ‘60s. This little slug falls neatly into that category. The Monster is basically a snail that got zapped by radioactivity, grew huge and terrorized the surrounding area. What more do you need for a fun bug movie?

There are 2 versions of this kit. I obviously have the version of the creature coming out his vat in the laboratory. I liked the this version best because of the dead lab bunnies and it’s more a less a composite scene from the film. The other version is of the creature raising up out of his shell. You really never see this clearly in the film.

This kit is a honker. The creature and the base are all solid cast. That’s a lot of resin and it’s fairly heavy when assembled. It came in 4 parts: the floor, the vat, the creature and his head. The casting on this was pretty good considering it was an old RFTG kit. They are notorious for poor quality casts. Assembly was easy and stands 10” tall when completed. The sculpt is excellent. It has nice detail and proportion.

As with all the big bug movies, it is in black and white so you have free reign to paint this guy up any way you like. I tried to keep with the wormy, snaily, slimy aspect and went with greens and browns. The goo dripping from the mouth is colored epoxy.

Rendering the liquid inside the vat was a bit of a challenge as I find to be the case whenever painting liquid. After completing the liquid I gave it a thick coat of Liquitex clear gel medium. This gives the surface a clear, wet look with the color just below. I then brushed the tips of each gel wave to give it a “breaking” effect.

I painted the entire kit in acrylics using my airbrush, hand painting and washes. This isn’t one of my favorite kits but I had a lot of fun doing it.