# Recent acquisition: Aurora's "The Vampire"



## ChrisW (Jan 1, 1970)

This just came in the mail today. 
I remember reading Bil Bruegman's Aurora guide and being slack-jaw amazed that there was an Aurora model kit named "The Vampire" that I had never seen, nor even heard of! I imagined it being a dramatic representation of a vampire that would compliment the Universal monster line. When I finally did see it I was a little disappointed, but the character, detail and box art kept growing on me. I'm happy to say it is now part of my collection, and it may well be the rarest Aurora I own.

When I bought it I was sure I was going to strip it down and repaint it. Once I saw it in person I have to admit that the paint is better thanI thought it would be. We'll see...


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## BobbysMonsterModels (Mar 8, 2014)

This is a very cool find. Congrats! I find it interesting though that she doesn't really have "fangs". Maybe if you do decide to re-do her you can add them on?


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## ChrisW (Jan 1, 1970)

BobbysMonsterModels said:


> This is a very cool find. Congrats! I find it interesting though that she doesn't really have "fangs". Maybe if you do decide to re-do her you can add them on?


Not a bad idea, 2 slivers of sprue...and while the paint is "pretty good", I don't care for the flat green skin tone.

There are 2 pieces missing; a flat side of the dressing table and a perfume bottle on top of the table, both very easy to replace.

I am curious about the rat...there is a crown on his head, and he is even called "king rat" in the instructions!


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## pem1 (Aug 29, 2013)

This is a kit, along with The Frog, that in the day retailers couldn't get rid of.

I remember the Aurora Wishing Well at Pascal hardware store here in Ottawa, Ontario back in the 1960s. I call it the Wishing Well because the display was shaped like a well.

The Wishing Well was a sizeable store display covered in corrugated cardboard with the Aurora log printed on it. It featured two kits factory wrapped together with a special Aurora wrapping at two for one prices. There were dozens of these two kit specials in the wishing well.

The two kits wrapped together featured a good seller (for example a monster) and a poor seller. I remember the Lost in Space 419 being wrapped with the Frog. The Vampire might have been there as well but I can't remember for sure - the Frog I definately remember though.

The late Buzz Conroy told me a that he saw the same display at his Pascal hardware store in Montreal but that some of the poor selling kits in those tandems included the Mad Professionals - Mad Doctor; Mad Dentist; and Mad Barber (Canadian only releases). 

The Mad Professionals were not amongst the kits offered at the Ottawa Pascal store which leads me to believe that they may have been regionally distributed in Canada.


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## Lloyd Collins (Sep 25, 2004)

Chris, Congrats! I don't remember seeing this as a kid...so long ago...so it is nice to see a rare one. The green color of her face matches her look, and it is an odd look.
I prefer the box art color, white suites her.


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## Jimmy B (Apr 19, 2000)

Great Score Chris and in really good condition. Not a bad paint job on it at all, but you know you can do it way better justice.


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## djnick66 (May 2, 2008)

Honestly for a vintage build, that one looks pretty good. I'd be tempted to leave it as is, at least for now/a while.


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## BobbysMonsterModels (Mar 8, 2014)

There is an antique store not too far from where I live that has an Aurora Frankenstein and Phantom that were obviously built and painted by kids back in the 1960's-1970's. I saw them there lastweek…checked the bottoms and they have the Aurora logos on them. They wanted $85 a piece for them. So glad PL repopped them!!! This same store also had an old Aurora Hunchback in the square box…a chain was missing…at least it said on the label…must have meant shackle or rope, I guess?? They wanted $65 for this one (sold by a different seller booth). It's nice running into vintage kits, but at this point I have no interest in acquiring them if I already have them in some form, and I have the PL's of the above kits, so I passed on them.


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## Marko (Jul 11, 2002)

I would pass on them too. Price is way too high. You can get mint in the box re-issues for less. Plastic is plastic.


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## ChrisW (Jan 1, 1970)

pem1 said:


> This is a kit, along with The Frog, that in the day retailers couldn't get rid of.
> 
> I remember the Aurora Wishing Well at Pascal hardware store here in Ottawa, Ontario back in the 1960s. I call it the Wishing Well because the display was shaped like a well.
> 
> ...


I remember you posting this a while back. Funny how the least desirable kits become so popular...thanks in no small part because of their scarcity. The Nutty Nose Nipper languished on the shelf of our local Woolworths for years, and I had zero inclination to buy it. Boy howdy, if I found one (at a reasonable price) now, though...
Of course there are kits like the Whoozis line that never really became popular over time.


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## TomHering (Jul 24, 2011)

ChrisW said:


> ... being slack-jaw amazed that there was an Aurora model kit named "The Vampire" that I had never seen, nor even heard of!


Aurora's _The Frog_ and _The Vampire_ were based on two greeting cards from a whole line of Buzza/Cardoza cards that were branded with the name of the horror film producer, William Castle, i.e., "William Castle Horror Greeting Cards." I remember seeing those cards on a spinner rack at Woolworth's in the 1960s. Each card featured a photo image of a creature sculpt, and Aurora's line of models might have been more successful if they had started, instead, with something like the grave robber, below (pic by "Monolith," originally posted at Universal Monster Army):


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## pem1 (Aug 29, 2013)

ChrisW said:


> I remember you posting this a while back. Funny how the least desirable kits become so popular...thanks in no small part because of their scarcity. The Nutty Nose Nipper languished on the shelf of our local Woolworths for years, and I had zero inclination to buy it. Boy howdy, if I found one (at a reasonable price) now, though...
> Of course there are kits like the Whoozis line that never really became popular over time.


You'll have to forgive me. At my age I tend to sometimes repeat myself - both intentionally and unintentionally :lol:


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## ChrisW (Jan 1, 1970)

Tom, I've looked everywhere in flea markets and collectible shops for those Castle greeting cards. I still imagine coming across one in a stack of paper.


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## Mark McGovern (Apr 25, 1999)

CeeDub,

Congratulations! You're right, it is a comment on human nature that the kits we spurned back in the day have become "Holy Grail" models now. I didn't learn about Aurora's Vampire until the Polizzi and Graham books came out, I doubt I'd have purchased back one in the day. Certainly not now, unless it was a reasonably-priced repop.

Knowing your talents, I do not hesitate to suggest you repaint the model!


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## TomHering (Jul 24, 2011)

ChrisW said:


> Tom, I've looked everywhere in flea markets and collectible shops for those Castle greeting cards. I still imagine coming across one in a stack of paper.


You never know. For a long time I wanted the set of four posters that NBC put out to promote their 1966-67 season. I had them on my bedroom wall as a kid. They were for the shows _Bonanza, Get Smart, I Spy,_ and _The Man From U.N.C.L.E._ The whole set was originally offered by NBC through an ad in TV Guide, and the cost was just $1.00. Each poster now sells for $75.00 to $175.00 at auction. Then one day, a couple of years ago, I walked into a consignment shop - and there they all were! Mounted, matted, and framed for $18.00 each. (I'd guess most of us have an "incredible find" story of some sort.)


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## ChrisW (Jan 1, 1970)

TomHering said:


> You never know. For a long time I wanted the set of four posters that NBC put out to promote their 1966-67 season. I had them on my bedroom wall as a kid. They were for the shows _Bonanza, Get Smart, I Spy,_ and _The Man From U.N.C.L.E._ The whole set was originally offered by NBC through an ad in TV Guide, and the cost was just $1.00. Each poster now sells for $75.00 to $175.00 at auction. Then one day, a couple of years ago, I walked into a consignment shop - and there they all were! Mounted, matted, and framed for $18.00 each. (I'd guess most of us have an "incredible find" story of some sort.)


Great story! I have had finds, but not of something I was actively looking for. My best find was the Ideal King Zor dinosaur toy. It was my favorite toy as a kid, long gone. Back in the mid 80s my wife and I were walking through a flea market and there was King Zor for the princely sum of $5.00! I flipped and carried on, talking all about it. The seller was so taken by my demonstration of love for the King that she offered it to me for ...$1.00! I happily refused and paid the full five bucks, knowing I was getting an incredible deal. He sits proudly on a shelf here in my studio.


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