# Problem: Revell's Creature of Black Lagoon.



## BKSinAZ (Jun 5, 2009)

Yesterday I went and purchased the Revell version of 'The Creature of the Black Lagoon". I've been wanting to build all the reissues of Aurora models and this was one.

I opened the box, which was nicely packed.
Just for a test, I wanted to see how the parts fit together. So without glue, I attempted to put the head together. The directions are very easy to follow, but the 3 parts do not seem to fit together correctly. I fussed over the head for about 20 minutes and gave up.

Did anyone else notice a problem with the mold of Revell's Creature head? How did you correct this?
Also, with out glue, I attempted to put one leg together. Although it went together, it seemed that both edges of the halves do not exactly line of perfectly. Is there an issue with Revell molds?
Was there another name brand for Aurora reissues I should have purchased instead?


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## Tim Casey (Dec 4, 2004)

I think you've encountered the blasted "ridge" on the top of the Creature's head. It's intentional, and it's been there since the original model was produced in 1963.

Others can chime in, but I'm pretty sure I saw that ridge on the Creature's head in the movie as well, so it may even be accurate.


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## djnick66 (May 2, 2008)

You have to be aware of a few things:

The Revell reissues are made from the original molds, which are now 45+ years old. Nearly five decades of mold wear mean more flash, rougher molding, and poorer fit. Not that the kits fit really well back then. Back then no one really cared...

The Creature's head in the kit does have an exaggerated ridge. At least some of the actual costumes had it, but not to the extent of the kit. I just carved it down on my kit and puttied it over. Not a big deal in the end.

Revell owns the original Aurora molds. Any other reissue will be of the same quality for the most part. 

Other companies have made panographed copies of Aurora monsters where the original molds are no longer available. These tend to fit pretty well since they are in effect all new kits. Polar Lights did a remake of the Hunchback, Witch and Bride of Frankenstein. Moebius sold a copy of the Dr. Jekyll kit.

Revell has molded kits for other companies to rebox, like the 1990s Toys R Us "long box" Aurora reissues, and the late 80s or early 90s Cinemodels/Aurora issues.

Check out my Aurora Zorro WIP thread for some pictures of another old Aurora kit and how that one fits...


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## Xenodyssey (Aug 27, 2008)

I had the same problem. The raised section at the back of the head. In my case I filed it a little and then used putty in front of it to smooth the transition. Lots of putty! 

You'll notice his waist join has large gaps as well.


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## falcondesigns (Oct 30, 2002)

It's one of the thrills of working on such a gem


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## BKSinAZ (Jun 5, 2009)

thanks everyone, but this raise is not only absurd, it is the absurd gaps on the side of the head (both sides of that raise). I looked through our galleries and I dont see a raise this large. Anyone have any pictures of the head area before any filing or puttying?


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## SUNGOD (Jan 20, 2006)

I had the same problem when I first made the kit. I tried at first to fit the parts so the ridge wouldn't be there but after much testing I came to the conclusion that the ridge was supposed to be there, before I found out on the web about it from other people I don't recall having problems with gaps on the side of the head though.


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## Mark McGovern (Apr 25, 1999)

Beek,

Dj has it right: the parts fit of the Aurora models were never the greatest and the years haven't been kind to the models. You will simply have to test fit and trim, sand, etc. until you have the best fit you can get. Then you'll need plenty of putty and some sculpting skills (or make a latex texture stamp) to make a seamless Creature.

There are very few "shake and bake" styrene figure kits out there. Patience is the most important tool a modeler can use on these kits. But you'll be rewarded with a realistic Creature in 1/8 scale; I was.


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## xsavoie (Jun 29, 1999)

Of course,after market resin heads do exist,although this might seem like blasphemy to the pure Aurora kit fan.Cult Tv Man sell a complete resin replacement set for about all Aurora monster kits.


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## djnick66 (May 2, 2008)

BKSinAZ said:


> thanks everyone, but this raise is not only absurd, it is the absurd gaps on the side of the head (both sides of that raise). I looked through our galleries and I dont see a raise this large. Anyone have any pictures of the head area before any filing or puttying?


The reason you dont see the gaps is because people have used putty to smooth it out. Same with the crest on top. As I mentioned, the actual costume, or at least one of them (they used several) had a ridge as in the kit, but not as pronounced. The kit parts exaggerate the ridge, but that is just how it is. it was that way 45 years ago and its that way now. I dont recall gaps on the side. Remember there are gills that insert between the halves of the head.

Here is my kit, built about 10 years ago.










FYI to hide the seams on the arms, body, legs, I used Tamiya liquid surface primer and applied drops of the thicker stuff from the bottom of the jar with a tooth pick, along the seams. You can place little dots up and down the seams and it makes them blend in to the Creature's pebbly texture. Let dry and repeat a couple of times. The liquid surfacer can also be brushed into the gap around his chest and wiped away, leaving a neatly filled seam.


All of these old models require some effort to finish. They aren't snap togehter by any means. 

Again, please refer to my Zorro threat, or my Aurora Lost in Space Cyclops thread. Both of those models required extensive puttying and sanding, but I think the results are worth it.


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## razorwyre1 (Jan 28, 2004)

heres a photo of ricou browning being suited up for the first films location shooting. as you can see the ridge is very prominent. (the ridge is actually larger than this on some of the other masks used in the films.)
by the way, if anyones wondering about the creatures color... here you go!


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## Cajjunwolfman (Nov 15, 2004)

I have to agree with other people. These kits were state of the art years ago. For discriminiating comsumers like us they are just not good quality kits. I'm working on/off again on Revell Wolfman, he's horrible too. Flash, the trouser leg assembly sides don't line up with each other. I have the Godzilla repop in the smaller scale, really horrible. Huge Honking seam right on the belly! PL repop of the POA kits. Spent several years on/off on Zira before completion. I bought 1/2 dozen of the old POA at HL sale for $2.00 each. Thats about what their worth. 

For these reasons thats why I do not mind paying $40 for a new tooled kit (IE, Moebius Frankenstein, Spiderman, Mummy) instead of paying $20 for the old tool.


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## Xenodyssey (Aug 27, 2008)

You can see from this picture how much putty I had to use to slope back to the crest.

Even with all the filling work on the figure I stil ended up with a good result that left me happy I'd gotten it.


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## Tim Casey (Dec 4, 2004)

Cajjunwolfman said:


> For these reasons thats why I do not mind paying $40 for a new tooled kit (IE, Moebius Frankenstein, Spiderman, Mummy) instead of paying $20 for the old tool.


Sorry, I need to disagree - the original Aurora 13 (especially in the Bama longboxes) are family to me, warts and all!


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## Mark McGovern (Apr 25, 1999)

I'm with Tim. The Aurora monsters were the first of their kind and I wouldn't consider my collection of monster models complete without them. That said, I no longer hesitate to modify them as I see fit.




Cajunwolfman said:


> ...the trouser leg assembly sides don't line up with each other.


 Caj',

The seams along the Wolf Man's legs (and those of Frankenstein, Dracula, et. al.) aren't critical, since they occur where the seams of real trousers do. I just "dress" the hard outer edges of the parts edges with some 400-grit sandpaper to make them look like folded cloth. To cement these parts, where I want the seams to remain, I use tube glue applied sparingly to the inner edges of the mating surfaces.


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## Spockr (Sep 14, 2009)

BKSinAZ said:


> Yesterday I went and purchased the Revell version of 'The Creature of the Black Lagoon". I've been wanting to build all the reissues of Aurora models and this was one.
> 
> I opened the box, which was nicely packed.
> Just for a test, I wanted to see how the parts fit together. So without glue, I attempted to put the head together. The directions are very easy to follow, but the 3 parts do not seem to fit together correctly. I fussed over the head for about 20 minutes and gave up.
> ...



I can feel your pain brother since I just ran into the same problem with this kit. I agree with the other posters that this problem has existed with this kit since the Aurora days. Like any of these models its fun and challenging to fix up the issues with these kits.

I took this approach:
- Glue the heck out of the seam. I used Tamiya ultra thin and also Testors tube glue. I wanted a really strong seam.
- Filled in the ridge area with Squadron White putty and let it sit for a few days. (This is before I owned any Aves which is probably better)
-Took a Dremel barrel sander and took the ridge down maybe 1/16 inch.
- Sanded smooth.
-Used rifler files on the head's crown (front to back) to restore the ridge lines
-Primed and painted.

Here are some pics of the WIP:
http://photos.hobbytalk.com/data/509/medium/P1000786.JPG
http://photos.hobbytalk.com/data/509/medium/P1000791.JPG
http://photos.hobbytalk.com/data/509/medium/P10102941.JPG

I just finished building mine and will be posting more in a few days. Keep at it you can make a fine looking piece despite some of the weaknesses these kits have.

Regards,
MattL

PS Remember, If it doesn't kill you it will only make you stronger...

Regards,
Matt


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## rkoenn (Dec 18, 2007)

I built my Creature about 3 months back. It was not the just released issue but one of the Toys 'r Us 4 pack kits. It did have the greatly exaggerated ridge on the top of the head. I used Aves and blended it in to basically end up with a smooth head. I then dropped some CA to simulate the warts or whatever. I do remember vaguely fooling with other gaps and such on the head but ended up with a fairly good one after all the effort. I also recall how the other parts didn't fit too well. On the belly to the sides I kept filling in the joint/gap with liquid Plastruct glue liberally doused in the seam. After 3 or 4 dousings it actually very nicely flowed the gap closed and looked great after. There were some seams on the legs I puttied and then kind of hit with the Dremel to get some contour to afterwards. While the kit was hardly up to present day standards, ultimately it turned out nicely and looks great on the shelf.










Bob K.


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## mrmurph (Nov 21, 2007)

I don't mind the ridge on the head, but the huge gap where the belly meets the legs would really give me fits (if I ever intended to build this kit again). oooooggggghhhhh!


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## djnick66 (May 2, 2008)

The belly gap is filled easy-peasy with Tamiya Liquid Surface Primer using a fine paint brush... It becomes a non-issue.


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## MonsterModelMan (Dec 20, 2000)

This kit really is about building the kit and seeing how well you can make it look. As others have mentioned...the kit mold or tool is over 40+ years old and has its issues that are easily corrected with a little patience and imagination!
AVES works great for this type of thing. Don't let this scare you away from a real classic kit! Its not that hard and you are probably not a kid either without the means to correct this.

I agree with Tim and Mark...a monster model collection would be incomplete without the Aurora classic monsters in your collection! And for $20 bucks today...who could pass this up? Really???

MMM


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## mrmurph (Nov 21, 2007)

I hadn't thought about liquid surface primer. I've never used it, but intend to pick some up for another project. Thanks for the tip.


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## IanWilkinson (Apr 23, 2010)

I also just a few months ago built the Revell Creature kit, yes the head requires some work, but i didn't find it at all dificult - i just sanded the raised area flat to the head top then filled with putty.. most plastic kits need some filling, and the Creature kit is just great!


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## OzyMandias (Dec 29, 2004)

I concur with everyone else regarding parts fit on the Mean 13. They all have their quirks due to their age and more 'relaxed' production values in the 60s. 

I've found some success with actually filing off the locating pins and sliding the parts around to find the best fit before gluing. Clamps and rubber bands are indispensable to make sure that parts mate where you want them while the glue sets.

Aside from that, patience is it's own reward. Take your time and work to your own satisfaction. These kits have their charm out of the box, or modified to your heart's desire.


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