The She Creature
(from The She Creature - 1956)
Manufacturer: Earthbound Studios
Sculptor:
Steve West
Material:
Resin
Scale: 3/4
The She Creature
has always been one of my favorite monsters. I saw this film when I
was young and she scared the crap outta me. I never forgot her.
While the movie is not one of the best out there, the creature
design is undoubtedly some of the best work from the mind of
monstermaker Paul Blaisdel.
This is one of Earthbound Studios
“Big Head” series. If you are not familiar with these then go find
them and take a look. They are a must for any fan of the classic “B
Movie” monsters of the ‘50s and ‘60s.
This was a great kit to build
especially if you are in the mood to paint. There is no build-up
time at all. It comes in 10 pieces and stands 20” tall when
completed. A really cool feature of the “Big Head” kits is that the
heads are connected to the base by a ball and socket joint. This
allows the head to be positioned or tilted to give the model that
little extra attitude.
Mark’s casting is perfect. I had to
scrape a couple of faint seams lines that took about 5 minutes. This
kit did need a little putty work. There were a few depressions or
holes that look like they were part of the casting process. They had
to be filled and some of the hair re-sculpted. All in all it was a
very minor job that took about an hour. After that I gave her a
bath, a quick coat of primer and I’m ready to paint.
Color reference
for this figure is easy to find but contradictive. The film was in
black and white. The one sheet and other press material for the film
show the creature as red, like a big lobster. Colorized press
material is not always accurate as it is done by the advertising
departments. The best reference I found was CinemaFantastique’s
issue dedicated to Paul Blaisdel. In it there are good, color,
behind-the-scenes photos of Paul in the creature suit.
I
used the color photos as a basic guide in painting. However,
once I got into it, I did quite a few layers of colors to give more
depth and variation. I obviously went for the authentic color
version but I have seen this built and painted in the red “lobster”
version like in the one sheets. Even red it still looks good.
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