# 1972 Aurora Wolfman



## spocks beard (Mar 21, 2007)

Hi every one!
This is my 1972 original glow issue Wolfman kit that i purchased from a local collectable shop back around 1995.
When i bought it,It was still unassembled/unpainted & all the pieces were there.
I used all the non glow peices cept for the hands which still glow very nicely.The box is in excellent condition for it's age,But what i don't like about the 1972 issued glow kits is the fact that the boxes were made cheaper without that glossy art work glued to the cardboard,which is also a LOT thinner than the 1969 issues.I built and painted this kit back in 2000 using testors model masters paint in the bottle,& may repaint it in the future.
Any comments welcome!
wolfman album link below.

http://img690.imageshack.us/g/w14bs.jpg/


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## Jimmy B (Apr 19, 2000)

Looks great SB. Good placement of the glow parts. Would have been kool to somehow use the glow head & mask off the teeth and eye-whites. then paint and prime the rest. My guess is that would be maddeningly tedious. Great job!!


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## louspal (Sep 13, 2009)

Very menacing! Base looks great from what I can see. Bravo!


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## IanWilkinson (Apr 23, 2010)

i agree totaly about the 'glow' boxes!... the Bama artwork was ruined!...but your Wolfman kit is superb!..and it's allways a pleaseure to see an original one..


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## DocJam00 (May 18, 2010)

You know, my LHS has a Wolfman Illuminator (Monogram reissue, I think) on the shelf for $30. How much do those things go for on Ebay?

Doc


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## MadCap Romanian (Oct 29, 2005)

I like it, but the glow hands looks like he's wearing white gloves. I wouldn't repaint him. I think he looks excellent as is. 

I wonder if there's a way to paint the hands and still have them glow? Maybe paint them with the brown paint so that it flowed into the low points between the fur and then sand off the tops of the fur so that the glow plastic could still illuminate. Also, leave the palms of the glow hands unpainted so that those glowed at night.

I have a Monogram glow Dracula and I used a thin wash of grey paint on the glow parts. In the daylight, the skin looks depleated of blood, but at night, the light grey paint looks black under the glow and you can pick out the skin details.


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## Cro-Magnon Man (Jun 11, 2001)

MadCap Romanian said:


> I like it, but the glow hands looks like he's wearing white gloves. I wouldn't repaint him. I think he looks excellent as is.
> 
> I wonder if there's a way to paint the hands and still have them glow? Maybe paint them with the brown paint so that it flowed into the low points between the fur and then sand off the tops of the fur so that the glow plastic could still illuminate. Also, leave the palms of the glow hands unpainted so that those glowed at night.


 
I agree with Madcap - great colours all over, but leaving the hands entirely unpainted makes them look like white surgical gloves perhaps. It's perfectly possible with drybrushing or washing to leave the hands looking blended in to the overall kit, whilst still able to glow.


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## Jimmy B (Apr 19, 2000)

DocJam00 said:


> You know, my LHS has a Wolfman Illuminator (Monogram reissue, I think) on the shelf for $30. How much do those things go for on Ebay?
> 
> Doc


There's 2 BIN's one 35.00 and one 40.00. That's pre-shipping. There's also an open but complete one bidding at 15.00 with free shipping but that looks like a snipe waiting to happen. 30.00 off the shelf ain't bad.


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## deadmanincfan (Mar 11, 2008)

I have to go with the consensus...don't repaint him, he's great...but maybe try to do something about the hands. At any rate, nice job!


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## Chinxy (May 23, 2003)

Spock, it looks GREAT! I Love the glow kits! Here's a thought. I airbrushed my Mystery UFO ship transparent green so that it would still glow and it does! But now it has that ghostly effect. So try that if you can get some transparent glow paint. But why didn't you use the other glow parts for the head, skull and rats? I think that would have looked cool!:thumbsup:

Happy Aurora Trails!
Chinxy!:dude:


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## rkoenn (Dec 18, 2007)

Looks nice, would like to see the hands glow in the dark but I doubt the picture would come out too well. You picked almost the same color scheme I used for my Polar Lights model. However your overall build is much better as I did mine before I started learning all the tricks for making it look real. I have another to build to apply my new found skills to though. Again, nice antique kit you have done there.


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## Mark McGovern (Apr 25, 1999)

Spocks,

I'm going to break from the ranks here. You've done such a fine job painting everything else, the glowing hands just don't make any sense to me. I'd paint them to match the rest of the model, the build a glow version if you must have that feature.

That's my take - surely not two cents' worth, but you made the mistake of asking for it.


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## spocks beard (Mar 21, 2007)

Thanks for all the complements!
Well due to all the positive responses to the paint job,I think i'll leave it as is.
As far as the glow hands go,I may just paint the hands to match the rest of the kit.I've tried in the past to detail glow parts,& They are not to my liking.
In the meantime,Wolfie has the cleanest paws in town:tongue:


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## Mark McGovern (Apr 25, 1999)

Lemme get this straight...a werewolf with_* good HYGIENE??!? *_


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## rkoenn (Dec 18, 2007)

Mark McGovern said:


> Spocks,
> 
> I'm going to break from the ranks here. You've done such a fine job painting everything else, the glowing hands just don't make any sense to me. I'd paint them to match the rest of the model, the build a glow version if you must have that feature.
> 
> That's my take - surely not two cents' worth, but you made the mistake of asking for it.


I have agree with Mark, I have never been a fan of glow parts. I like lifelike models, at least if you can say there was ever a lifelike monster, and if I did build a glow kit I would simply paint it over. But there may be one caveat to that. With Monarch's new Ghost of Castle Mare, whenever that may be, if you could paint the ghost in transparent colors and get the glow effect through the paint that might be cool for a ghost. Of course to get the effect you would have to view it in the dark and then the rest of the scene wouldn't be so great. But for me glow kits in general are a turn off.


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## Mark McGovern (Apr 25, 1999)

I wouldn't say I'm *absolutely* against glow parts. They can be painted with washes and look okay on most of the monsters. The main thing is to lighten up the adjoining colors so if you're doing a glow Creature, for example, you'll want to keep its body in tones that are similar to the pale green of the glow parts for its head, hands, etc.

I have the glow edition of Polar Light's reissue of the Mummy's Chariot. I think it will be cool to leave the body and frame of the Chariot in that ghostly translucent plastic, with the trim and everything else painted opaquely. That would look good in room light or darkness.

I suppose I would say that my policy on glow parts is to take them on a model-by-model basis.


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## MadCap Romanian (Oct 29, 2005)

Here's a glow Dracula kit I built using the kit parts and the light grey wash. I'll have to get a better close up picture in the daylight soon.










And in the dark:










I have the six 1980 REMCO Universal Studio's Monster toys that glowed in the dark. For the Wolfman, they only painted his face (The skin parts) with the glow paint. I think that for a "Glow" Wolfman, if only the skin parts of his face, palms of hands and feet were painted with the glow, then it would work out fine. (Look for one on Ebay to use as an example.)

And speaking of Luminators...


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## spocks beard (Mar 21, 2007)

MadCap, Very nice work on your glow Dracula!:thumbsup:
The Wolfman kit is the only monster glow kit i have,but if i ever get any of the others i'll have to try out what you did with Drac.
I see you achieved excellent results.
Those Luminators look cool too,Do you remember when they came out?The 1980's? I almost bought a King Kong Luminator kit years ago,Right before the Polar Lights reissue came out.


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## Chinxy (May 23, 2003)

Spock, the Luminators came out around 1992. I remember that I was stationed at Ft. Myers in Va. at the time. I picked up King Kong in 1993. Got 2 and built one. The other is still cealed in the box. SWEET!!!!:thumbsup:

Chinxy!:dude:


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## Mark McGovern (Apr 25, 1999)

Guys,

Again, I must differ. The Luminators make a very pretty display and if that's all you want, fine. But the translucent, fluorescent plastic robs the models of any artistic merit whatever - the figures become lit up toys. What's worse is, if you are trying to build the models as finished figures, the translucent plastic makes it difficult to see whether the seam have been smoothed properly. Plus, the plastic is soft and leaves a lot of burrs during sanding - very annoying.

The only good thing I have to say about the Luminators plastic is, you can get a cool effect if you glue a bit of aluminum foil behind the eyes and mask them off before you paint the face.


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## MadCap Romanian (Oct 29, 2005)

Mark - All my figure models of these 4 have been Luminator kits. It's a different type of plastic, but they will paint up fine. I use metal files to cut down the seam lines and then finish them off by using liquid glue over them. Just glue them, prime them and then paint over the primer with your colours.


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## spocks beard (Mar 21, 2007)

MadCap Romanian said:


> Mark - All my figure models of these 4 have been Luminator kits. It's a different type of plastic, but they will paint up fine. I use metal files to cut down the seam lines and then finish them off by using liquid glue over them. Just glue them, prime them and then paint over the primer with your colours.[/QUOTE
> 
> I think the Luminators look fine without the paint,I mean that's the novelty of them.
> I'm not a big fan of them any ways,But if a person has the regular issued kits to paint and wants to display these as well,They are definately worth having on the shelves.:thumbsup:I think that was another reason i passed on the luminator Kong,As i knew there would be to much prep work to paint over the neon plastic. But they do look cool.


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## Mark McGovern (Apr 25, 1999)

MadCap Romanian said:


> ...It's a different type of plastic, but they will paint up fine...


Granted, MCR, but my point was that it's more difficult to work with the Luminators editions than those cast in opaque plastic.



spocks beard said:


> I think the Luminators look fine without the paint,I mean that's the novelty of them.


I agree, if you want the novelty. I suppose they make a nifty display but I'm geared toward realism in my modeling, so the Luminators effect is lost on me. For everybody else - to each their own! :thumbsup:


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## Matthew Green (Nov 12, 2000)

How does one do a wash? At the monster cafe I didn´t paint my Dr. Jekyll´s arms because I wanted them to glow and he looks kinda stupid in daylight. How do you do a wash of flesh color?


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## Mark McGovern (Apr 25, 1999)

M.G.,

You make a wash by adding the appropriate thinner to your paint, in a small container - water to an acrylic or mineral spirits to oil-based paint. Keep checking by brushing the mixture up the side of the container or onto a discreet area of your model (such as under the base). You can add more paint or more thinner until you have the opacity you want.

There are several ways to apply your wash. You can apply it all over an area, the way you would stain a piece of wood. If the wash is more transparent, you might leave it be, perhaps adding more coats after the previous ones have dried in order to build up the depth of color. Some modelers apply a very opaque wash, then wipe most of it off with a paint rag; this leaves the wash in the recesses, while the more prominent areas have almost no paint on them.

One advantage with using washes is, the paint itself is weakened because it has been thinned. Therefore you can always wipe a rag moistened with your thinner over an area that you think has been painted too heavily, to remove the excess color. On the other hand, you can add more wash to an area you think looks too light.

Now, what color paint should you use? Let's consider your glow Dr. Jekyll. The bare plastic is a pale greenish white, so that'll be the base color.

Jekyll's arm, the left one clutching his throat - has very little detail to catch and hold the wash, but I would suggest a medium reddish brown. This would give a somewhat normal tint to the glow plastic. If you apply this wash a little more heavily around the fingers and at the join of the arm to the lab coat sleeve (where there would be a bit of shadow as the arm is covered by the coat), you'll be able to suggest Jekyll's more normal flesh color while still not covering the glow plastic. Watch that you don't let the wash accumulate in the seams and end up with unnatural dark lines running along the Doctor's arm.

Hyde's a different story, because he's supposed to be hideous. You could go with anything from the blues to the greens to the blacks, softened perhaps with a bit of brown added for a bit more realism - I assume you don't want Mr. Hyde looking like he came from the planet Mars. You might make this wash a little darker around his eyes, and a little more red at places like his cheeks, the tips of his nose, ears, and fingers, etc. Look at yourself in a mirror - you'll see a whole palette of colors in your face. Then apply your observations to your model.

Hyde's hair and beard are tough because they'll be darker than his face and cover the phosporescent plastic more heavily. In the Frederic March film, Hyde's hair got progressively lighter as the story unfolded. So you might be able to cut down on the contrast between the glow plastic and Hyde's hair by make his hair light brown or gray. In any case, painting the hair with a very lightly thinned paint would be your best bet. The thicker paint will settle into the valleys in the hair texture, and you can wipe the paint off the raised areas to show off the texture.

I've made these suggestions the assumption that your want your model to look as normal as possible in room light, while still glowing in the dark. I hope you'll post photos when you get your next glow model done. Best of luck, Matt!


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## MadCap Romanian (Oct 29, 2005)

Someone should do a You-Tube on "washes". Every time someone says they do a "Wash", everyone asks how it's done. Just throwing that out there! 

@ Mark - yeah, the plastic is a little "Rubbery" compaired to regular polystyrene - when you scrape it with a knife, the blade bounces along the seamline instead of scraping it. I think these kits are more "File and Sandpaper" friendly. It is a different world for building them.


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## Cro-Magnon Man (Jun 11, 2001)

Mark McGovern said:


> ... if you are trying to build the models as finished figures, the translucent plastic makes it difficult to see whether the seam have been smoothed properly. Plus, the plastic is soft and leaves a lot of burrs during sanding - very annoying.


Not to disagree with you, Mark, but I didn't experience those problems with the six Luminators, or certainly not sufficiently to consider them problems. I thought all six were a pressure-free pleasure to build! For detail/surface quality, there are much worse problems to be encountered with many resin and vinyl kits, and indeed even with some styrene kits.

The only thing I thought was wrong with the Luminators was their terrible box art, but ChrisW has explained the reason for that to us!


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## MadCap Romanian (Oct 29, 2005)

Here's my Luminator's Wolfman...all painted up!


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## deadmanincfan (Mar 11, 2008)

MadCap Romanian said:


> Here's my Luminator's Wolfman...all painted up!


Is that the one with the Romanian-inspired pants, Trevor? I really like that one ...


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## MadCap Romanian (Oct 29, 2005)

Yeah...he's got a pair of the "Gipsy Red" pants.










This is my interpretation of Bela, The Gypsy as The Wolf Man. 

The idea for his pants came from a picture on the cover of an old Hungarian Gipsy record that I own. They are red with a black inlay and red 8 pointed stars.


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## deadmanincfan (Mar 11, 2008)

Yep, that's him...I love the pants, and the blues on the base are a great-looking touch!


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## Mark McGovern (Apr 25, 1999)

MadCap Romanian said:


> ...This is my interpretation of Bela, The Gypsy as The Wolf Man.


If that's the case, where's his moustache? :tongue:


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## MadCap Romanian (Oct 29, 2005)

Doesn't it get lost in "transformation"?


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## Mark McGovern (Apr 25, 1999)

Or maybe it just spreads out? :tongue:


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