Harvest Terror and Angel of Death with KitKong
Originally published March 9, 2006, at GJSentinel.com.
Sometimes I look around and think I’m the only guy in Colorado who gives a rat about this kind of stuff. Then I remember James “KitKong” Whitman of Lakewood and remember there are plenty of people who share my model-kit fascination.
I knew James by reputation quite some time before I actually had any contact with him, mostly because he was the person who so often outbid me on these kinds of kits on eBay, and a year or so ago I discovered his online store, KitKong’s Model Mansion. Now, James has started producing garage kits of his own, and they’re the perfect original creations for Halloween lovers like me.
“Harvest Terror” and “Angel of Death” are 1/6 scale porcelain-resin kits, both sculpted by Nick Williams and the first GKs offered by the Model Mansion. Both kits come unbuilt and unpainted; James built and painted the ones on the box art himself. “Harvest Terror” sells for $65 plus shipping; “Angel of Death” is $45 plus shipping.
James’ model-kit collection – large enough to inspire a friend to give him the “KitKong” nickname – now belongs to the Model Mansion, of which he is the owner and sole operator. Here’s some of what he had to say about the background of “Harvest Terror” and “Angel of Death”:
“Both were sculpted by Mr. Nick Williams. The ‘Harvest Terror’ concept was his own, and derived from a concept and idea he had been playing with for years. We agreed to see how it would translate into a kit.
“The ‘Angel of Death’ kit was a collaboration between Mr. Williams and me in trying to come up with an interesting new look for the Grim Reaper. It was not originally intended as a bust, but we found that it seemed to present itself better as a bust than a full figure kit.”
Before I finish up this week, I’ll note that the prices on these two pieces are pretty low for resin garage kits, particularly “Harvest Terror” (1/6 scale GKs that include the base typically sell for $100 and up) and I’ve heard the castings on both are quite good. Anyone interested in checking out whether they’d enjoy building garage kits would probably find these a good way to ease into the hobby without overheating the checking account.