Invasion of the Saucer Men

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SAUCER MAN

(from: Invasion of the Saucer Men - 1957)

Manufacturer: Earthbound Studios

Sculptor: Steve West

Material: Resin

Scale: 3/4

COMMISSION

The film industry of the late 50s was chock full of flicks about bad boys, swingin’ chicks, hot rods, and monsters. And AIP’s Invasion of the Saucermen is no exception - has it all. I love AIP movies and I always felt Sam Arkoff tried to make his “teen” movies kinda serious, but this one, to me, was so campy that it is actually one of my least favorite. It does, however, feature Frank Gorshin (TV Batman’s Riddler) as a delinquent teen so I guess it does have some redeeming value. And the little green men are awesome!! Once again Paul Blaisdel created memorable monsters on a shoe string budget.

The Saucer Man is another in Earthbound Studio’s incredible Big Head series of B Movie Monsters. The kit comes in 4 parts: the head, torso, base, and a hand. Steve West does his usual exemplary job of sculpting and Mark Brokaw gives us another flawless casting. It only a few took minutes to sand off some barely visible seam lines and he was ready for a bath. A couple coats of primer and we’re ready to paint.

I built the kit stock, straight out of the box, except for one customization. In the film the visitors attack the hapless teens and kill them by injecting some sort of poison from needles they extend from their finger tips. As the kit did not come with this feature I just had to add it. I carefully drilled out the tips of the fingers and inserted large sewing needles. I added drops of the deadly fluid using 5 minute epoxy.  The hand is a separate piece not attached in any way to the kit. Taking a cue from the Metaluna Big Head kit, I mounted the hand to the base instead of letting it lay about.

Even though the film was black and white, there is actually some good color reference material thanks to Bob Burns. As film historian and archivist he has preserved some of the iconic pieces from the era. Bob obtained the actual masks used in the film and posted them in his book “Bob’s Basement”. Surprisingly, they are orange in color. Now as the artist, I get to choose my own color scheme and I usually try to stay true to the film or reference material. But in this case I just couldn’t bring myself to paint him orange. I mean, c’mon, he’s a little green man from outer space, right!?  He’s just gotta be green!

I used acrylics on our little friend and applied them with airbrush and hand painted the finer detailing. I did the base in a chrome spray paint to give it a high gloss reminiscent of a ‘50s space ship.

This kit was so much fun to do – especially if you are in the mood to just paint. It gives you an opportunity to experiment with whatever color scheme you choose. If you’re a fan of the great “B” movies of the ‘50s and ‘60s, I highly recommend this, or any of the Big Head series of models.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For additional information, please e-mail me.

Copyright © David E. Bennett    All Rights Reserved