# A possible teaser from Round 2?



## DinoMike (Jan 1, 1970)

Posted on Round 2's Facebook page: "With the days getting longer, the shadows get darker..."


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## Richard Baker (Aug 8, 2006)

I wonder what marketing school told them that cute little crypic word games were a way to build interest?

Wake me when they actually have something to say...

.


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## Todd P. (Apr 12, 2007)

Feeling pretty good right now that I never laid out $300 for a Barnabas Collins kit.

Do you have a link to the page? It'd take a while to whittle down the results I got when I searched Facebook.


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## spocks beard (Mar 21, 2007)

I have been hearing rumors that Polar Lights is thinking of reissuing the Dark Shadows kits possibly in 2011?
I hope this is true,& It's very good to know that they have found the old molds & They in fact still exist.Hopefully they are all still intact!
The Johny Depp remake of Dark Shadows may have something to do with the release of these classic kits.
Lets all hope the demand is high enough for them to release these kits,I know i would love to see all three of them reissued!!


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## djnick66 (May 2, 2008)

I thought there were two Dark Shadows kits... Barnabas and the Werewolf. Well there was the Barnabas Collins Van but that has been reissued already as the Vampire Van.


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## Mitchellmania (Feb 14, 2002)

I wish they would do the Haunted Mansion kits- just take Disney out and call them Haunted series or something!


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## pugknows (May 28, 2002)

On Round 2's Questionnaire they have this question...
"Which vintage subject would you like to see Round 2 bring back next? (check only one)
Dark Shadows figures
Haunted Mansion and Pirates of the Caribean
Marvel Superheroes- Spider-man, Hulk, Captain America
Strange Change Vampire, Mummy & Time Machine"

I take it to mean they are planning or hoping to do all these if possible. Maybe dreams can come true.
Rob


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## dreamer 2.0 (May 11, 2007)

I'd personally love to have the POTC and HM kits. 

Never seen the Dark Shadows kits before...the prospects for the new movie aren't looking too hot. There's no script that's been found acceptable, and not a hint of casting for a film that's supposedly slated to film soon. Nil movement. It's looking like a project about to be shelved, maybe never to be lensed.


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## spocks beard (Mar 21, 2007)

djnick66 said:


> I thought there were two Dark Shadows kits... Barnabas and the Werewolf. Well there was the Barnabas Collins Van but that has been reissued already as the Vampire Van.


Yep,There were only two figure kits released.
I was including the Vamp Van as the third.
I never new the van had been reissued


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## djnick66 (May 2, 2008)

Sadly the Dark Shadows figure kits are pretty poor. Even as a kid I thought the Werewolf was bad. He looks sort of like the Michael Landon Teenage Werewolf in a suit. The arms were molded in rubber and had springs inside, which never made sense. Nothing would glue the parts and they wouldn't move anyway. I would buy them for old times sake, but they are not good models. Molding them in regular plastic would help.


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## djnick66 (May 2, 2008)

spocks beard said:


> Yep,There were only two figure kits released.
> I was including the Vamp Van as the third.
> I never new the van had been reissued


AMT had it out a while back (4-5 years ago). It was called the Vampire Van, but is otherwise the same. It has the trailer, etc. with it. Amazing Figure Modeling had a vehicle issue with a cool conversion called the "Van Helsing"


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## spocks beard (Mar 21, 2007)

dreamer 2.0 said:


> I'd personally love to have the POTC and HM kits.
> 
> Never seen the Dark Shadows kits before...the prospects for the new movie aren't looking too hot. There's no script that's been found acceptable, and not a hint of casting for a film that's supposedly slated to film soon. Nil movement. It's looking like a project about to be shelved, maybe never to be lensed.


That's too bad.
If the movie ends up being shelved,probably the kits will also never be released.
They were probably hoping to tie the models in with other merchandise released to coincide with the Depp movie.I have seen the Barnabus kit,And it did somewhat resemble Jonathan Frid.


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## getter weevil (May 20, 2010)

I know there are alot of folks out there that like the Dark Shadows show and these figure kits in particular.

I have to ask really R2?

How many of these kits is R2 really going to sell? 

The Big Foot kit makes me wonder what is R2 thinking in the same way when I hear about Dark Shadows kit reissues.

I wonder what the market research was on Dark Shadows kits...how did a bean counter determine this would be profitable aside from the fact there was no tooling cost.

And yet the 1/350th TOS E lingers in the development abyss. The TOS E as over done as it is in kit form is an "evergreen" kit. Some form of that kit has sold for over 40 some years. Yet a 1/350th TOS version is considered a risk. Most likely it is a short term risk but very long term it will be worth the short term fallout.

Generally I like R2 doing reissues getting an old Aurora Batmobile is a great thing, or other older Trek kits that have not been around for over 30 years, there is money to be made in reissues for sure, but some kits are too obscure and the Dark Shadows and Big Foot kits fit seem like a drain of resources in my opinion. Resources which could be directed to new kit development or issuing other kits that would generate more funds which increase the resources to develop new kits.

In my opinion model company's need to build a "library" of kits and reissuing is a part of that, but making the new kits each year should be a major component as well.

Sorry for the ranting, but the situation is irritating to me.


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## Matthew Green (Nov 12, 2000)

What about the reissues of Six Million Dollar man kits?


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## SUNGOD (Jan 20, 2006)

getter weevil said:


> I know there are alot of folks out there that like the Dark Shadows show and these figure kits in particular.
> 
> I have to ask really R2?
> 
> ...






Because Bigfoot is already tooled up so it won't cost them anywhere near as much to reissue it and there *are *those of us who want it.


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## DinoMike (Jan 1, 1970)

Todd.. here ya go: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/Round2Models


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## Moonman27 (Aug 26, 2008)

Gotta disagree to everything getter weevil said. I would definately buy both DS kits(already have the Vampire Van)as long as they had that cool original boxart,and used regular plastic for those damn rubber arms. Glow parts too!!! Those bases were pretty lame tho'. I always loved DS,Barnabas scared the crap out of me back then.:thumbsup:


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## djnick66 (May 2, 2008)

Well, if Round 2 thinks there is a big enough audience for the MPC glow heads and Bigfoot... then the Dark Shadows kits are not out of the question. IMHO they would outsell Bigfoot or the glow heads easily.


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## DocJam00 (May 18, 2010)

While I have little interest in Dark Shadows (my memory of it was it was kind of cheesy and badly lit -- and it was a soap opera, despite all the gothic trappings), a Bigfoot model might be kind of cool. Who originally released it?

Doc


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## djnick66 (May 2, 2008)

The bigfoot model was done by AMT. I'm not a huge Dark Shadows Fan, the kits at least have some interest to me. While I love bigfoot/sasquatch stuff, the AMT kit looks like Captain Caveman. i would not buy one. Even as a kid I thought it sucked. Its one of the few snap together large figuers.


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## Jimmy B (Apr 19, 2000)

Weren't those arms like a vinal? I agree they weren't the best of kits especially the 
Werewolf. There was no base detal, the body was thin and lanky and the head was way too large for the body. My first experiment with gluing vinal (or what ever that was) with Testers glue was a bad one. I recall the glue not working and even melting the edges of the parts. But all that said, if they reissued the kits, would I buy them? Yes I would.


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## HabuHunter32 (Aug 22, 2009)

I guess my opinion differs from most. I think of the two the Werewolf is the better of the two. It actually looks the the Tom Jennings Werewolf from the show. The Barnabas figure does not at all look like Johnathan Frid IMO. 

I have originals of both that I got back in the early 70's. The only way I would buy another Barnabas is if someone from the aftermarket will do a replacement head. Tony Cipriano would be my choice! :wave:


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## Todd P. (Apr 12, 2007)

DinoMike said:


> Todd.. here ya go: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/Round2Models



Thanks!


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## Night-Owl (Mar 17, 2000)

> Those bases were pretty lame tho'


Sounds like a job for your friendly neighborhood Night-Owl! :lol: It'd be cool to see any of the kits on their list re-poped. Never had the DS kits back in the day so I'd definitely pick them up if they surface again.


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## Bruce Bishop (Jan 17, 1999)

I have resin copies of the two Dark Shadows kits and think they look pretty good. I'm not sure if the bases are the same as what originally came with the kits, however.


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## MickeyD (Oct 24, 2008)

Thanks for posting the photos. I've never seen the kits before and this was enlightening. They do seem to need some major work done to them.


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## otto (Jan 1, 1970)

The ones on the list I'd be most interested in are The Haunted Mansion and Pirates of the Carribean. I loved Dark Shadows as a kid, and might be interested in those kits to, but mainly for nostalgias sake. As the kits were just not that great.


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## Hunch (Apr 6, 2003)

Somehow as a kid I was able to glue those rubber/vinil pcs together with testors- the result was a couple of glue bombs, but it worked. Still have Barnabus and all the extra glow parts for both. Luckily the glow parts were styrene at least.


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## MadCap Romanian (Oct 29, 2005)

The DS Werewolf is cute! sort of like he's being busted for theft or something. Barabus Jones looks like he should be a wedding cake topper!


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## Moonman27 (Aug 26, 2008)

I would buy all the kits on Round 2's list except the superheroes. I am a monster guy,but already have an Aurora Superman,Batman, Superboy and Space Ghost,the only superheros I care for. I would like to see the old Revell Flash Gordon and the martian kit,beautiful boxart on that one.


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## xsavoie (Jun 29, 1999)

A new sculpt of Barnabas would be the way to go.If the Dark Shadows soap opera of the 60's was so and so,the story itself is good.The characters are colorful and interesting.The heads of these kits seem to be the weak spot.Not good looking and oversized.Would new head sculpts be sufficient?Barnabas standing in a cemetary diorama would be perfect.


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## derric1968 (Jun 13, 2003)

dreamer 2.0 said:


> the prospects for the new movie aren't looking too hot. There's no script that's been found acceptable, and not a hint of casting for a film that's supposedly slated to film soon. Nil movement. It's looking like a project about to be shelved, maybe never to be lensed.


I think you are being a bit too pessimistic here. The reason there hasn't been any noticeable movement lately is because of Depp. He has a rather busy schedule this year. He just finished The Tourist and is about to start Pirates 4. He hopes to go straight from Pirates 4 to Dark Shadows, which would mean a start date of around September/October. However, there is always the possibility of there being delays while filming Pirates, which could push Dark Shadows production back to a 2011 start.

However, Depp is a huge DS fan and really wants the movie to happen. It looks like the project is still in active pre-production, and the studio is already planning for it to be one of their big releases, including an IMAX release.

I'm not a fan of the original, but with Depp on board as Barnabas and Tim Burton on board as director, I'm VERY interested in this movie!


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## mcdougall (Oct 28, 2007)

derric1968 said:


> However, Depp is a huge DS fan and really wants the movie to happen. It looks like the project is still in active pre-production, and the studio is already planning for it to be one of their big releases, including an IMAX release.
> 
> I'm not a fan of the original, but with Depp on board as Barnabas and Tim Burton on board as director, I'm VERY interested in this movie!


Me Too !...but these kits would have to reflect Depp as Barnabas and the Werewolf as...er...well, a Werewolf and not something I'd expect to get with a Mc Happy Meal...
Mcdee


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## spocks beard (Mar 21, 2007)

Bruce Bishop said:


> I have resin copies of the two Dark Shadows kits and think they look pretty good. I'm not sure if the bases are the same as what originally came with the kits, however.


Thanks for the pics!
I haven't gone back and watched the werewolf episodes of DS in a long time,But from what i can remember The werewolf's head was a bit over sized on the show in comparison to the actors body.They probably didn't have the budget to give the actor some padding to ware under his clothing.
I think those are the original bases you have there on the resin kits.
as far as the arms? Hopefully Round2 would realise this flaw & issue the kits with movable styrene arms like the monster scenes kits:thumbsup:


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## DocJam00 (May 18, 2010)

There was an Aurora Space Ghost?!

I second the motion for Flash Gordon 

Doc


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## DinoMike (Jan 1, 1970)

DocJam00 said:


> There was an Aurora Space Ghost?!


 Nope, but I did see a resin conversion kit designed to modify the old Aurora Superman into Space Ghost.


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## dreamer 2.0 (May 11, 2007)

derric1968 said:


> I think you are being a bit too pessimistic...
> It looks like the project is still in active pre-production, and the studio is already planning for it to be one of their big releases, including an IMAX release.


I certainly hope this is the case! It worries me that, this close to filming, the only talk is of what _isn't_ happening with the project. 

DS was never part of my childhood, but I've recently begun checking it out from my local library. Still watching the "Beginning" box sets, haven't reached Barnabas' introduction yet...I'm enjoying it quite a bit!


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## spocks beard (Mar 21, 2007)

dreamer 2.0 said:


> I certainly hope this is the case! It worries me that, this close to filming, the only talk is of what _isn't_ happening with the project.
> 
> DS was never part of my childhood, but I've recently begun checking it out from my local library. Still watching the "Beginning" box sets, haven't reached Barnabas' introduction yet...I'm enjoying it quite a bit!


I hope you enjoy those very early episodes!
I'm just old enough to remember the last year Dark Shadows was originally on the air,& Didn't really like it at the time.In the later part of the seventies,When i was about 11, One of the local stations brought it back in syndication for about a year,And only then watching the old black and white episodes did i start to appreciate it.Until then,I didn't know that Barnabas was originally evil in those very early episodes.It still is a bit creepy when Willy Loomis opens that casket for the first time.:devil:


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## JimPV (Apr 26, 2009)

Moonman27 said:


> I would definitely buy both DS kits as long as they had that cool original box art,and used regular plastic for those damn rubber arms.


Me, too! :thumbsup:

Funny though: I remember having both of these as a kid, but don't remember the werewolf's "rubber arms". Did they ever issue it with regular styrene arms?


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## HabuHunter32 (Aug 22, 2009)

A little off topic but in the early 60's I lived about 5 miles from the "old House" aka Spratt House in Tarrytown New York next to the Lyndhurst estate. I was but a young lad but I remember it creeping me out. The house had abandoned for some time and looked eerie as hell! Later on when my mom started watching Dark Shadows I said hey...thats the old house by the castle! To me as a youngster Lyndhurst looked like a castle! Lol! Sadly the old house burned down in the late 60's or early 70's I believe. When I got out of the Navy I was visiting relatives in Tarrytown and was thinking about looking at the old house again and was told it burned to the ground! It still makes me sad to think about it. To this day I am a huge Haunted House and Dark shadows fan! 

I hope the new film stays somewhat true to the original. I know it will change somewhat but hopefully not that much. Less melodramatic than the soap opera of course! Lol ! I like the idea of Depp as Barnabas. Depp is a natural in any period piece. I hope Tim Burton will do as good on this one as he did on Sleepy Hollow. One of my favorite films of the past 20 or so years!


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## Moonman27 (Aug 26, 2008)

I agree Habu, DS should be a dark and atmospheric like Sleepy Hollow. I understand Depp is a big DS fan like us. He could pull it off,but I want to see some fangs! I remember when I had the MPC Barnabas kit,it had glow plastic with a BLUE glow,not the greenish color of regular glow plastic. It was a weak glow,but cool. I would hope Round 2 would reissue them in glow plastic with original boxart. I would LOVE to have a new Barnabas sculpt of him in the mausoleum with his coffin,the one in the basement of the old house. I am thinking of doing a painting in the old Bama boxart style of this scene.


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## HabuHunter32 (Aug 22, 2009)

Moonman27 said:


> I agree Habu, DS should be a dark and atmospheric like Sleepy Hollow. I understand Depp is a big DS fan like us. He could pull it off,but I want to see some fangs! I remember when I had the MPC Barnabas kit,it had glow plastic with a BLUE glow,not the greenish color of regular glow plastic. It was a weak glow,but cool. I would hope Round 2 would reissue them in glow plastic with original boxart. I would LOVE to have a new Barnabas sculpt of him in the mausoleum with his coffin,the one in the basement of the old house. I am thinking of doing a painting in the old Bama boxart style of this scene.


Hey Moonman, If you do a painting I'd love to see it!

I wish Moebius would do a kit of the Dark Shadows "Old House"! 

1313 Mockingbird lane in plastic would be nice too! 

It doesn't hurt to dream!


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## Scary Terry (Jul 8, 2009)

Here's my repaint of a vintage build up of the original Barnabas kit. The face sculpt clearly isn't a perfect likeness, but with a careful paint job, it CAN look reasonably like J. Frid....


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## Hunch (Apr 6, 2003)

Wow! Very nice work.


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## spocks beard (Mar 21, 2007)

Very nice work on the Barnabas Collins kit Scary Terry:thumbsup:
With the right positioning of the arms and a great paint job,It really looks to be a cool model after all.
I agree now after looking at the kit ,That no it doesn't capture Jonathan Frid's likeness dead on,(no pun intended.)
But any Dark Shadows fan would know exactly who this guy is supposed to be.
I think they captured the famous Barnabas jagged hairline & wolfs head cane to a T!


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## Scary Terry (Jul 8, 2009)

Thanks, guys!


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## Moonman27 (Aug 26, 2008)

I'm with you Habu, I would love to see a model of the OLD HOUSE,but I know that won't happen. A Munster's house would be awesome too. To scale with the Addam's Family house,and Psycho house. How about one of Collinwood too,while were at it. I liked that room in the cellar/basement under the old house,it had some cool arches/stonework,and Barnabas' coffin with him standing beside it with his fangs glaring and waving his cane in the air at a off-stage Willie Loomis. Barnabas often caned him. That would be a great pose for a kit,as long as the sculptor nailed the likeness of Jonathan Frid. :thumbsup:


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## Todd P. (Apr 12, 2007)

Wow, Terry, that's wonderful work. I was already interested in seeing the kit repopped, now I'm fairly excited.


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## rkoenn (Dec 18, 2007)

Bruce Bishop said:


> I have resin copies of the two Dark Shadows kits and think they look pretty good. I'm not sure if the bases are the same as what originally came with the kits, however.


I never saw th kits back in the day but that Wolfman looks like he could compete for the big head award! I'd probably buy them and am now interested in maybe picking up the DVDs to watch the shows. I was in my teens when it was on and recall seeing a few episodes but too busy running around outdoors after school at 4 PM to stay glued to the set to watch it. If it had been on a night maybe I would have. I remember always watching Wild, Wild West, Mannix, Mission Impossible, Star Trek, Batman, The Prisoner, The Avengers, Outer Limits, Twilight Zone, Night Gallery, et. al., but those were during the evenings.


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## rkoenn (Dec 18, 2007)

Terry, that is a very nice job on Barnabas. I would definitely buy one based on your kit. And his head looks to scale with the rest of the kit, not like the Wolfman's. The base definitely does nothing more than provide something to glue the figure to. If they redo this I hope they develop a better base, a coffin integrated into it would be neat, and change everything to styrene.


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## razorwyre1 (Jan 28, 2004)

terry, thats a FANTASTIC job on barnabas... if R2 is going to re-pop these kits, they should hire you to do the publicity samples. (your paint job actually reminds me how most people would be surprised to know how radically you can completely "reshape" a face with paint, using the principals of stage makeup.)

by the way, the werewolf's head is a little large, but would seem more more in scale with the rest if it were lowered until the beard and hair touched the chest and shoulders.


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## Scary Terry (Jul 8, 2009)

Thanks again everybody. Actually if you saw the kit in person, it's a little rough around the edges -- but I did put a lot of care into the face. Basically I tried to treat the kit head like a canvas on which I was painting a portrait of the character, using photo reference of Frid -- trying to push the likeness closer. 

I'd gladly take a paycheck for painting sample kits for any model kit company...!


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## Moonman27 (Aug 26, 2008)

Great paint job Terry, I have been working on an old Barnabas built up as well,and am putting him on an old Aurora Dracula kit base. I made some tombstones,but have not finished the lettering on the tombstones yet. He looks really good on that base,as would the werewolf. This is a great time to be a monster modeler!:thumbsup:


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## pugknows (May 28, 2002)

Great Job Terry, I had both these kits and sold them a couple years back, I don't miss the werewolf but am looking forward to getting a Barnabas with plastic and not rubber arms.
Rob


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## buzzconroy (Jun 28, 2002)

Nice job Terry, the likeness is pretty good also.

Randy


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## Mitchellmania (Feb 14, 2002)

I think I built the Barnabas kit when I was a kid, but the weren't the arms made of vinyl and you had to put wires in them then glue them so they could bend? The glue wouldn't hold. I still prefer Haunted Mansion series over ALL choices.


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## spocks beard (Mar 21, 2007)

Scary Terry said:


> Here's my repaint of a vintage build up of the original Barnabas kit. The face sculpt clearly isn't a perfect likeness, but with a careful paint job, it CAN look reasonably like J. Frid....


Sorry,But when i originally complimented you on the Barnabas kit, I forgot to ask you if the arms are in fact vinyl & If they were easy to glue to the rest of his body? Thanks!


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## Scary Terry (Jul 8, 2009)

My kit is a re-painted build-up. The arms were already attached. If they are vinyl, they've hardened over the years -- I really can't tell much difference between them and the rest of the kit....


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