# Basil Gogos Frankenstein Replacement Head



## Mark McGovern (Apr 25, 1999)

Here's a little gem from Cult of Personality: a resin replacement head for the Moebius Frankenstein kit. Sculpted by Jeff Yagher, it's based on a Basil Gogos portrait of Boris Karloff as the Monster. Tom Parker was kind enough to offer me the opportunity to paint one up. Hope you guys enjoy the pics.


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## COPP (Mar 25, 2013)

VERY nice job Mark, I can't wait to see what you do with your personal build-up!
And the privilege was mine, thanks very much for bringing the creature LIFE!!!
Tom


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## deadmanincfan (Mar 11, 2008)

Beauty! You, Sir Mark, are a consummate artist!


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## Dr Wolfenstein (Sep 10, 2013)

Great work Mark,gotta love Gogos and Yagher.


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## RobP. (Jun 21, 2013)

Outstanding painting! Makes me a little leary to tackle mine now!

Rob


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## Kitzillastein58 (Jan 27, 2009)

Now THAT is a Frankenstein's Monster! Beautiful job Mark! :thumbsup:


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## Mark McGovern (Apr 25, 1999)

Thank you all for taking time away from your nocturnal activities :freak: to post your kind words.

I'm happy that you're happy, Tom. As Dr. Wolfenstein suggested, you couldn't miss with a Gogos/Yagher combination! Frankly, until your replacement head came along, I wasn't too jazzed about building the Moebius Frankenstein. The only question now is, which tote did I stash it in...?


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## Spockr (Sep 14, 2009)

Nice job Mark. Great paintwork and the lighted shot really captures Gogos painting. :thumbsup:

Regards,
Matt


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## djnick66 (May 2, 2008)

That is great ! Both the paint job and the sculpting.


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## Night-Owl (Mar 17, 2000)

Outstanding paint job as always Mark!


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## COPP (Mar 25, 2013)

Hey Mark, if you can't find your original "stashed" kit you DO have that glow figure I sent you! 
Tom


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## Mitchellmania (Feb 14, 2002)

Very cool, Mark!!


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## Mark McGovern (Apr 25, 1999)

COPP said:


> Hey Mark, if you can't find your original "stashed" kit you DO have that glow figure I sent you!


 Not that I didn't appreciate your sending it Tom but, actually, I don't have that kit in its entirety anymore. I assembled and primed the hands to paint along with head #2, and found a use for the torso as well. My kit's safely stashed in one of 16 totes, just have to play the shell game until I find the right one.

Spock, deej, Rich, and Mitch,

Thanks for the compliments! I have to admit, the detail of this head is so well sculpted it almost paints itself. I've attached a comparison shot of the kit head and the COPP replacement; both were painted at the same time with the same paints. It shows how much more detail there is in the resin head over the kit part.


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## mcdougall (Oct 28, 2007)

Beautiful work Mark...Those eyes blow me away :thumbsup:
Cheers!
Denis


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## Mark McGovern (Apr 25, 1999)

mcdougall said:


> ...Those eyes blow me away...


Thanks, McDee. For starters, the irises and pupils are very well defined; a black wash finishes 'em both.

Now here's a tip I discovered while painting the eyes (_exclusively_ for those of you who are reading this thread ): I like to tweak the flesh tones with Prang watercolors - the 8-color box. Some soap or alcohol added to the water will make the watercolors sit on oil-based paints nicely. That's not the tip, though; I was using the watercolors to darken the circles under Karloff's eyes, and some of the paint leached onto the eyeballs. They had already been given a protective application of Testors Glosscote, so the watercolor merely gathered into the line between the whites of the eyes where they meet the eyelids.

The thin paint defined the eyes perfectly! That little detail really sets them off, IMHO. And since they're watercolors sitting on clear lacquer, I can mess with them all I want until I get just the right look, without damage to the finished paint job on the eyeballs. I'm thinking this technique could be used for defining the irises and pupils at the same time, adding red for blood vessels in the corners of the eyes, etc. Try it - if your kids will let you borrow their Prangs, that is...


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## MadCap Romanian (Oct 29, 2005)

So...where do I mail the first place trophy to for Build A Monster?


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## Mark McGovern (Apr 25, 1999)

MCR,

Har, har. I did find my Moebius Franky kit, though; opened the box up for the first time in years. Oy, what a lot of work to turn into a decent model! Didn't somebody make a resin trunk to park next to the doorway, or would I have to scratch build one?

I dunno whether I could get this beast done by Halloween. Maybe we could get MonsterModelMan to make the Moebius Frankentein the subject of the 2013 Fall/Winter Community Build? I can't think of a happier way to ring in the new year than by gluing on the COPP replacement head to finish this model.


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## COPP (Mar 25, 2013)

Mark; if you go to my site, the build of the Posthumous "Test Make-up" head figure was started by me and painted (SUPERBLY I might add) by Rick Evans. IIRC all I did to change the figure was 1. Glue the arms/sleeves together w/o trapping the forearms between the halves. Instead, I used a cone shaped grinder in my Dremel to open the ends of the sleeves and CAREFULLY grind the plastic to almost scale thickness from the inside. When attaching the forearms, I pushed them about 1/4" up into the sleeve, which I think gave them a more appropriate length plus they looked like arms inside a sleeve, which of course THEY ARE.. 2. Terry Beatty removed about 1/4 " from the ends of the legs on his build (I don't think I got around to this, maybe Rick remembers.) I'm thinking rather than cutting them, they (the cuffs) could also be ground down so the boots sit inside them, also lowering the height a bit. Boots are not as awful as everyone thinks; the profile is not TOO far off (at least until you approach the ankles) but the rounded edges where the sides meet the top need to be squared off either by sanding or bending some strip styrene into a "u" shape, gluing in place then blending with Aves or even Bondo spot glazing putty. As soon as I get ONE perfect boot, I plan to get it scanned and grown, flip the artwork then grow a symmetric mate for it. BTW, if I actually go to ALL that trouble, you BET I'll mold it/them... :wave:
Tom


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## Mark McGovern (Apr 25, 1999)

Tom,

You bring up a valid but painful point: in many ways the figure doesn't measure up to the standard set by Aurora fifty years ago. Aside from the head, the detail of the figure is rather overstated, from the out of scale thickness of the lapels to the way the arms and feet fit squarely to the body. There's no comparison to the delicacy of the detailing Bill Lemon was able to achieve with Aurora's Frankenstein (somebody in The Clubhouse Model Museum married an Aurora head to the Moebius figure, a vast improvement right there). As you suggested, with careful sanding and putty work, the figure can be given a more realistic appearance.

Yes, the Moebius model does build into an attractive piece out of the box. But this model will require a lot of extra effort to make it look finished from every angle. Although the detailing of the stone walls, floor and door is good as far as it goes, the tops and sides of the pieces are smooth. That means the modeler has to carry the detail to the sides of the base elements - and for some of us, the backs - for a more realistic appearance. And I find the composition of the kit rather unbalanced, with the big section of blank wall to the Monster's right unrelieved by any other feature (hence my inquiry about the trunk). 

I'd have thought that modern casting methods would have precluded some of these issues, but I'm not an engineer. Also, I have heard that there can be many alterations made to the original sculpt by the mold makers in China. And, given the size of the model and the amount of plastic involved, I'm sure there were financial considerations which determined how much model could be packed in the box for a reasonable price.

All of which means this model will be a challenge to build. Now that you and MCR and two other people who PMed me have got me all hotted up to do it, I will. What the heck -  I only have about 2 dozen started projects laying around...


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## COPP (Mar 25, 2013)

Hey Mark, box arrived today with the display pieces you did, and I know it is a cliche, but the pictures DO NOT do justice to your work! OUTSTANDING!!! Of course this DOES present a bit of a problem...At shows, people will CONSTANTLY be asking to BUY my display!  Along those lines, do you take commission work? I would be glad to hand out business cards or send folks your way! I may want to have you do another as a gift for Frank at Moebius to thank him for all the support he has shown me through the years (and PARTICULARLY with this project!) 
Tom


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## Mark McGovern (Apr 25, 1999)

Tom,

I'm glad to hear my work measures up, considering you already have some terrific painters working for you. Yes, I do take commissions - they just don't come steadily enough for me to quit my day job; I'll send you some cards ASAP. And sure, I'd be more than happy to paint a head up for Frank - without him, there wouldn't have been a Frankenstein model kit in the first place!

Thanks for giving me this opportunity, my friend. And oh yeah, thanks for the WWC base parts, too! :wave:


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## COPP (Mar 25, 2013)

Hey Mark to clarify, NO ONE works FOR me, but I'm lucky to have some great guys working WITH ME! :thumbsup:
Tom


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## Mark McGovern (Apr 25, 1999)

I sit corrected. :thumbsup:


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## frankiefreak (Mar 15, 2011)

Nice job Mark. Mine is almost done so I'll post some pics in the next couple days. I love the pic that looks like the painting! Thanks for sharing.

MIchael:thumbsup:


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## Mark McGovern (Apr 25, 1999)

Thanks, ff! I've got a good start on my Franky. I'm getting bogged down with the refinements, so some inspiration from your build will be welcome!


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## KurtKC (Oct 13, 2009)

Getting late into this discussion, but just wondering if there is any way to get a hold of one the terrific replacement heads. The COPP website appears to be under construction or closed. Thanks!


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## Bwain no more (May 18, 2005)

Kurt; email me direct at [email protected] and I will hook you up. :thumbsup:
Tom


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## MartinHatfield (Apr 11, 2004)

Hey folks, I am a bit behind in my building of models. I just want to know if there is any source for this Particular head replacement for the Frankenstein kit?


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## Todd P. (Apr 12, 2007)

Sadly, Martin, all of the Cult of Personality products are indefinitely -- but possibly not permanently -- out of production since Tom Parker's death almost a year ago. At least some of the molds are in the hands of a new owner, but I don't know exactly what he has and when he might do anything with them. Sorry, that's all I can say about that.

It's possible that Posthumous Productions offers a replacement head or heads for the Moebius Frankenstein, but it's difficult to figure out what Posthumous is selling or to get in touch to buy something.

I know that at least two new replacement heads are in the works for this kit. One will come from me, and it won't be a Karloff Monster. The other is from another individual. I'm sure more details will be available before too long.


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## Mark McGovern (Apr 25, 1999)

As I mentioned back in 2013, somebody successfully replaced the Moebius head with one from an Aurora kit. And, since Posthumous Productions makes replacement heads for the Aurora kit, I don't see why one of them couldn't be used to improve the Moebius head as well.

Geez, how I miss Tom... :crying:


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