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Originally published May 4, 2006, at GJSentinel.com.

This week’s subject is a big model kit, so it’s appropriate that it would require a little extra space. In the last Resin the Barbarian entry, I talked about the specifics of Forbidden Zone’s upcoming Power Loader garage kit and spoke with Gabriel Marquez, sculptor of the Ripley figure on the kit.

Tom Seiler is the man behind the machine on the Power Loader. Like Gabriel, Tom lives in the Houston area, about an hour away from Gabriel’s home.

“I don’t call what I do ‘sculpting,'” Tom wrote in an e-mail. “Don’t put me in the same category as someone like Gabriel, as I’m not worthy! I will answer to ‘fabricator’ or ‘scratchbuilder,’ though, as I assemble bits of sheet styrene, plastic tubing, plumber’s epoxy and lots of putty and primer into master parts.

“I break a project into subassemblies and then make a model of each bit. The closest I come to sculpting is creating a transition or fillet here and there. I like to break objects down to their basic shapes, like the Loader foot is a rectangular solid with a half-cylinder on top of it.”

Read on for more of Tom’s description of assembling the Loader.

TOM SEILER ON MAKING THE POWER LOADER

Resin the Barbarian: Would you like to say anything about creating the Power Loader? I know that project was quite some time from conception to completion, so I’m sure you spent many hours working on it and I can’t imagine how much you focused on details.

Tom: I did spend many an hour on it, many a month, many a year. We were really lucky to get some great help from folks with invaluable Loader reference photos. Frame grabs from the DVD were helpful, too.

I’m also very lucky to live in Houston because of the great scratchbuilding resource we have here. G&G Model Shop near Rice University keeps nearly the entire Plastruct and Evergreen plastic inventory in stock for the models built by students of engineering and architecture. There is nothing like being able to pop into their shop and pick up anything you need in sheet, strip, rod, domed, tube or textured plastic!

For my starting point, I used the Halcyon kit, since the folks that made it had good references, at least as far as the scaling and proportions. I took one of their parts, laid it in my scanner, blew it up 150 percent, and PC-drafted plans of that, adding details Halcyon omitted, and correcting much of it.

I made very detailed plans for each part initially, loosening up as I went, until toward the end of the project I spent my time making parts rather than drawing them.

Like I said, I made a model of the Loader foot, a model of the forearm, of the claw, etc. I made all of it posable, knowing full well the kit would not be. Having working joints and pistons allowed Mike, Gabriel, and myself the ability to meet and lock in the final pose before the Ripley was started.

Like I said, I’m no sculptor, and we needed a consensus between the three of us on what worked, both dramatically and mechanically.

Before anyone asks, if the kit had had all separate movable parts (and a Gumby-style flexible Ripley), no one could have afforded it!

Once the pose was final, Gabriel took over and sculpted a fantastic Ripley! In the meantime, Mike has created a great base featuring the grids and a bit of the airlock of the Sulacco deck and is making some great decals, again much more thorough than what the Halcyon kit had.

Our Loader has a dynamic fighting stance, unlike the Halcyon kit. And Gabriel’s Ripley likeness is spot on. It really makes it all work! I can’t wait to see the first castings!

Originally published May 4, 2006, at GJSentinel.com.

• “RIPLEY & POWER LOADER”
• Produced by Forbidden Zone
• Created by Tom Seiler (machinery), Gabriel Marquez (Ellen Ripley) and Mike Allen (base, decals and instructions).
• Casting by Mark Brokaw of Earthbound Studios.
• Scale: 1/8, roughly 16 inches tall.
• Material: Mostly resin, but it will include rubber tubing for the hydraulic hoses, metal mesh for the roll cage over the figure’s head, styrene rod for some details on the Loader. It will also have a clear, vacu-formed dome for the emergency beacon on the top.
• Number of parts: “I think it’s around 30,” Mike says, “but that may change once it’s molded.”
• Price: TBD, probably in the $250-$275 range.
• Date of availability: TBD, sometime in 2007. Contact Mike Allen through the Forbidden Zone Web site if you’re interested in an update.

“Get away from her, you B!#tiny_mce_markeramp;!”

Man, that’s one of the best uses of a naughty word in a movie and I wish I could let it rip here, in text, even half as effectively as Sigourney Weaver delivered it before the climactic battle in Jim Cameron’s 1986 movie “Aliens.” You’ve seen the movie, haven’t you? You know about the big fight between Ripley in the Power Loader and the nasty Alien Queen, right?

If you’re one of the few who managed to miss that one, it’s time to put it on your “must-see” list. Heck, you could probably pick up a cheap secondhand VHS copy on eBay for less than the price of a rental.

Forbidden Zone’s Mike Allen of Halfmoon, N.Y., is plainly a fan of the movie, and sometime back he helped set in motion a project that’s got model-kit lovers interested: a remarkably detailed kit of Ripley in the Power Loader, created by some extremely talented people.

One of the fun things about doing these weekly GK entries is that I don’t have to be ashamed of getting in touch with some of these talented people and ask all kinds of stupid fanboy questions. Gabriel Marquez has been impressing hobbyists for about a decade, and he’s the person who generously let me pester him this week with a Q&A (below).

Lifelong Houston resident Gabriel is a sculptor, 37 years old, married to Terri. He started off working semi-professionally as a sculptor 10 years ago and earned enough respect for his work that he was able to become a full-time professional in 1998. In his Web-site biography, he says his interest in art stems from an early love for fantasy and horror movies such as “King Kong,” “Frankenstein” and “Jaws.” He’s also a fan of the stop-motion animation of Ray Harryhausen (and who isn’t?).

To be honest, I don’t think I’m up to adequately describing what’s so impressive about his work, which is why I’m glad I can include pictures with my entries. If these photos aren’t proof enough for you, then check out the gallery on the Gwin Sculpture Works Web site.

I asked Mike for his thoughts on working with Gabriel.

“Well, the story goes that, when Tom and I first started talking about the Loader, we knew Ripley had to be part of the kit,” Mike wrote in an e-mail. “Gabriel was my first and only choice. He had sculpted Ripley before, from the first film … so I knew he was familiar with her likeness.

“I have worked with Gabriel several times before, and he’s always been professional and inspirational. Plus, Gabriel is just an infinitely talented guy. He knows what will work in terms of pose and attitude. All I have to do is tell him what I’m thinking … and he delivers on the vision!

“He faced a lot of challenges with this project, in terms of trying to meld a human form into some complex machinery (which Tom did a beautiful job on). Gabriel did a wonderful job, and delivered in record time!”

Q&A WITH GABRIEL MARQUEZ

Resin the Barbarian: Why is your company called Gwin Sculpture Works?

Gabriel: It was named after my late father-in-law. I wanted my sculpture company’s name to have more of an open feel instead of being a vehicle driven solely by me. Almost like Gwin, it is its own entity. When I delve into more fine art projects, I use just my name.

I also share my name with world-renowned author Gabriel Garcia Marquez, sans the Garcia, and I thought Gwin sounded cooler.

RtB: As I understand it, you are the sculptor of the Ripley figure in Forbidden Zone’s new Power Loader kit; Tom Seiler did the machine itself. How did that work? Did you have a completed Loader sculpture in front of you while you were sculpting the figure, or was there some other process?

Gabriel: Once Tom finished the Loader master in a “fixed pose,” it came to me. First I had had to decide whether to sculpt it in sculptor’s wax or polymer clay. I decided to go with Super Sculpey 3.

I created an armature out of copper and galvanized wire of different gauges. I had to cover the Loader in plastic sheet to protect it from the oil and solvent in the polymer clay. I then sculpted the figure “rough” right into the master.

Once I had Mike’s approval of the “rough,” I removed the figure from the Loader and detailed everything out but the feet and arms. Once I had the figure 80 percent done, I moved it back to the Loader master to get the proper alignment of her arms and completed it.

RtB: What reference material to you use as you work to so faithfully re-create the look of a character? Did you watch “Aliens” on DVD and freeze the picture? Do you have pictures?

Gabriel: This project was done entirely by studying screen captures from the DVD and actually freezing the screen as I sculpted from it.

This project was especially difficult because Sigourney Weaver is one of the hardest likenesses I have ever attempted to sculpt. She’s got a lot of character to her face, so you would figure it would make it easier. It didn’t!

RtB: Do you have to buy your reference material, borrow it, or is it provided by the person commissioning the sculpture?

Gabriel: All of the above. Most of the time the client will supply reference but nowadays it’s not too hard to find picture reference of anything online. Google Image Search is a resource I use a lot.

RtB: What do you do when you realize a sculpture isn’t shaping up the way you want? Or, do you often step back and decide a sculpture is not at all what you intended it to be and have to back up?

Gabriel: When a project isn’t going how I would like sometimes just stepping back and not looking it for a few hours helps. Another simple thing that helps me is to look at my sculpts in a mirror or upside-down. This process usually keeps things going smooth.

RtB: I presume your sculptures become the property of the people who commission them. Is it ever particularly difficult to let go of one?

Gabriel: Projects usually take from four to six weeks to complete, so most of the time I’m glad to see a sculpture go so I can move on and the client can do what he needs to do.

RtB: Do you sculpt anything strictly for yourself, disregarding whether the subject is marketable? If so, would you mind telling me what you sculpt?

Gabriel: I am a huge fan of H.G. Wells’ “War of the Worlds” and last year’s release of the Steven Spielberg movie re-ignited my passion for the literary version.

I decided to create a literal version of the Martians and their Fighting Machines. All I used was Wells’ descriptions of how they looked and moved my imagination. Reviews have been mixed from the sculpting/modeling and fan community. I still really dig it!

I’m not sure if I will offer the Fighting Machine or Martian as kits but I am working on an new resin garage kit of my design called “Lilith” right now and will be ready to show it early this summer.

Originally published April 27, 2006, at GJSentinel.com.

• “MOLE MAN BIG HEAD”
• Produced by Earthbound Studios.
• Designed and sculpted by Mike Falcigno.
• Scale according to Mike: Technically the Big Head line is 2/3 scale, basically very close to 1/1 scale but people sometimes think they are 1/1 because if you take a 7-foot monster’s head and make it 2/3 scale it is still the size of an average human head, hence the confusion.
• Material: Resin.
• Price: $150 plus shipping.
• Kit pictured painted by Steve Parke.

Occasionally, some garage-kit fan will visit one of the various Internet forums available and ask the assorted members: What’s the appeal of a bust? This question inevitably leads to a bunch of sophomoric jokes about women and bosoms; I don’t have the stats to prove it, but I suspect at least 75 percent of the people who build these kinds of kits are male, and like most guys we’ll take any opportunity to discuss female anatomy with a level of sophistication that rivals Beavis and Butt-Head.

Then genuine explanations get thrown around. Busts are distinct from the full-figure kits and have their own unique appeal. Since busts generally don’t go much beyond head and shoulders, the scale is larger and the facial expressions more interesting. Busts are more “artsy”. They use up less space on the shelf. The smaller ones don’t take long to complete. And so on.

However, I think most of us get the appeal of the Big Head busts from Earthbound Studios. First, the sculptures are simply fantastic. Second, they’re big, and that’s important to guys. You don’t appreciate just how big until you actually see one right in front of you. Third, the subject matter (most of them are B-movie monsters). Fourth, they’re offered by Mark Brokaw’s Earthbound Studios, which means you’ll get a first-rate kit for a fair price. The sculptor of this week’s Mole Man, Mike Falcigno (pronounced “fal-cig-no”), said $150 for the Big Head busts is an “incredible value” for their size and quality, and he’s right.

I traded e-mails with Mike recently to find out a little more about him and his work. He’s a 31-year-old resident of Milford, Conn., produces garage kits under the name TerrorForm Design, and has been with his girlfriend, Erin, for five years. Mike is talented enough to make his living as a full-time 3D/2D artist and he writes a weekly home video column called “Digital Creep” for the Fairfield County Weekly.

In addition to the Mole Man bust, Mike’s 3D work includes another Big Head, “The Fiend Without a Face”; a piano-key deluxe base for Forbidden Zone’s “Phantom of the Paradise” and an upcoming 1/4 scale bust of Peter Lorre for Forbidden Zone.
Mike’s works for TerrorForm include a popular 1/3 scale “Abominable Doctor Phibes” bust (picture below), a “Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell” bust, a life-sized “Invader from Mars” Martian wall plaque under his Creature Cranium series and a bust of infamous dead punk rock icon G.G Allin.

Mike creates life-sized monster figures through commission. “I am currently finishing a life-sized Karloff Mummy for a client that had me do all the Universal classic monsters,” he said. He also takes on the occasional film effects job.

The “2D” part of Mike’s career is “a lot of ink and paint work. Mostly character design, graphic work, tattoo design and commissioned illustrations.”

A Q&A WITH MIKE FALCIGNO

Resin the Barbarian: What is the original Mole Man sculpture made of? I assume Super Sculpey, but I’m not a sculptor and so my assumptions count for nothing.

Mike: Actually the Mole Person was sculpted entirely with the Aves Apoxie line of products. A hard foam
understructure was used as a base and worked up to its finished stage with Apoxie Sculpt and a few areas in Apoxie Clay. The claw was sculpted in the same manner.

For the sand areas of the base I used Aves ClayShay over a hard foam understructure and used more Apoxie Sculpt to render the rocky terrain and mushrooms.

It’s really incredible stuff, the detail you can push into the material is astounding and the fact that it cures without baking makes for a “crack”-free project. I did find it very strange at first because of the working time involved, but with a little messing around I worked out a method for sculpting with it in no time.

RtB: How long did it take you to sculpt this?

Mike: Well, if I kept a time sheet next to all my sculpts I would probably slip into a depression because of how long some take compared to the pay rate, but for the Mole Person I would roughly guess over 100 hours from start to finish, this includes the base.

RtB: From what I’ve seen of your articles in Amazing Figure Modeler, you do a lot of sculpting to enhance the kits you build and paint. Have you always done this with your model kits, or it something you started doing after time?

Mike: I was into sculpting before model kits so it’s just a natural tendency of mine to want something that’s more a one- of-a-kind piece. Granted, when someone paints a kit it’s the only one like it, but adding or augmenting an existing design makes the finished piece even more personal.

RtB: How long have you been involved with model kits in general and garage kits in particular?

Mike: Building models goes back to my preteen years, probably 6 or 7 years old. I used to build them too at my grandmother’s house every Sunday (in between making monsters with Play-Doh). Various family members could be swayed into buying me kits if I promised to finish them.

My earliest figure models included AMT’s Bigfoot, Aurora monsters, Monogram’s Allosaurus and ankylosaurus and anything else that would have appealed to a my warped little-kid sensibilities.

I got into garage kits when I came across an issue of Model and Toy Collector when I was about 13 and from that point I would save months of paper route money just to blow it on a garage kit, then start the process all over again. Billiken’s Creature, Horizon’s Mole Man, Tsukuda’s Metaluna Mutant, Screamin’s Freddy and some Lunar/Dimensional Design kits were my first garage-kit figures.

RtB: What model kits drew you to the hobby as a sculptor?

Mike: I ended up pursuing special effects makeup for many years (through and after college), which caused me to devote far less time to figure kits.

A few years ago I came across some of William Paquet’s stuff online (“Plague of the Zombies,” etc). I was blown away by the quality of his work and tracked down his phone number. After a few lengthy phone calls, we ended up having a lot in common and started hanging out in person.

William is an immensely talented and giving person, I would have to cite him as the catalyst for me getting back into the hobby as a sculptor. The days spent in William’s studio inspired me to start sculpting smaller-scale pieces and I eventually had my first work produced by Mark Brokaw of Earthbound Studios.

RtB: What do you buy and build these days? And do you build as much as you buy, or do the kits accumulate faster than you can build them?

Mike: Amid my personal workload, I don’t have time to paint much in the way of kits. Writing for AFM and AVM (Amazing Vehicular Modeler) enables me to paint a piece every few months which is nice.

Recently, I started collecting the built-up work of artists who I feel are the industry’s best painters in hopes of building a diverse cross-section of museum-quality statues. I am always running out of space so I only buy sculptures that I truly love.

RtB: Who are your sculpting “heroes”?

Mike: This is a very tough question because I’ll never be able to name them all. I am heavily inspired by various types of artists. From the brush paintings of Basil Gogos, James Bama, Jack Davis, Ghastly Graham Ingles, Frank Frazetta , Rainer Engel and a slew of others to musicians, writers and kit painters.

As far as sculptors go, William Paquet, Andy Bergholtz, Barsom, Mark Newman, Tony Cipriano, Takeya, Oniki, Jeff Yagher, Stuart Jackson, Jordu Schnell, John Pinkerton, Mike Elizade, David Grant, Thomas Kuntz, Dave Grasso, Miles Teves,Tony McVey, Ray Harryhausen, Mark VanTine, Thomas Keubler, Rick Baker, Mike Hill, Mitch Devane, Gabe Perna, Casey Love, Mike Petryzack and Gabriel Marquez all immediately come to mind.

There are plenty of names that escape me and some I’m not yet aware of but all the people listed above have created some truly beautiful works of art.

At the risk of putting readers to sleep, I should move onto the next question.

RtB: Is anyone else in your family involved with the hobby?

Mike: My younger brother Mark is a hardcore Hot Rod/Lead Sled builder. He works on real cars along with scale car models, which in itself is an artform.

RtB: As a home-video columnist, what would you say about the 1956 movie “The Mole People” (upon which this bust is based) to persuade someone like me, who’s never seen it, to put it in his Netflix queue?

Mike: “The Mole People” is a textbook example of great ’50s-era entertainment rising from a pool of cinematic cheese! You’ve got hilarious opening exposition presented by a melodramatic “scientist”, a bunch of square-jawed adventurers (one of whom is actually Ward Cleaver from “Leave it to Beaver” fame!!) delving into the bowels of the Earth, a beautiful girl in peril, a race of subterranean albinos who enslave bizarre mutant beings that eventually run amok, putting the humans in a perpetual state of terror.

Did I leave out the ear-screeching musical score, cardboard props and hammy acting? Oh yeah, and the Mole People can’t stand sunlight and live off giant mushrooms!! Oh, the simpler times … before morons like Stephen Sommers had to ruin everything great about monster movies!

Unfortunately, the film isn’t available on DVD so you’ll have to seek out a bootleg or old crappy VHS copy.

RtB: What are your favorite movies?

Mike: Again with the impossible questions!! Here’s a partial list:

The silent horror films all monster fans like (“Nosferatu,” “Häxan,” “Caligari,” etc), the classic Universal stuff, anything with Peter Cushing, Chistopher Lee, and the rest of the wonderful Hammer Horror players.

I love “Big Trouble in Little China,” “American Werewolf in London,” the Romero “Dead” films, the “Blind Dead” series, good Fulci flicks, Argento films, crazy Asian horror and weird s— like “The Calamari Wrestler.”

“Creepshow” No. 1 is awesome, I like my kaiju served with lots of rubble and beginning with the letter G Godzilla, Gamera, Gargantuans, etc.), I can watch B-monster flicks till my eyes dry out (“Fiend Without a Face,” “Black Scorpion,” “I Married a Monster from Outer Space,” etc).

Have you seen “OldBoy?” That movie is friggin’ amazing!!! “Hellboy,” “Devil’s Backbone,” “Blade 2,” “Mimic” and anything else Del Toro makes in the future is fine by me.

“Ichi the Killer” – you’ll feel dirty watching that one.

“Fearless Vampire Killers,” “Fright Night” and lest I forget the granddaddy of in yo’ face balls-out horror – Tobe Hooper’s “Texas Chain Saw Massacre.”

If I’m in the mood for brain eating it’s “Return of the Living Dead.” “Alien,” “Fight Club” and “Halloween” also rule!!

VINCENT PRICE films are … well … Pricelessly good fun.

As for remakes. “The Thing” and “The Blob” rock and if I want to feel sick I’ll throw in anything directed by German auteur Jörg Buttgereit (“Nekromantik,” etc).

So you see, Todd, I’m a movie geek. I love the stuff. All the pictures I rattled off don’t come close to all my favorites (here’s another one I just though of – “Blade Runner”! And another – “Time Bandits,” which then leads me to “Brazil” and “Fear and Loathing.” This is madness!!). Besides, yer only reading a horror film chain of thought.

I also really enjoy comedies, animation (NOT MANGA except “Akira” and “Blood”), ’70s grindhouse sleazoid pictures, crime thrillers, and s— – even a few dramas. Let’s move on to the next question.

But first I must recommend John Carpenter’s segment of the “Masters of Horror” series: “Cigarette Burns.” It stars Udo Kier and it’s sweet!

RtB: What media and snacks do you have on hand while you’re working? Do you watch DVDs, perhaps, or drink caffeinated beverages? What’s the environment like? Where is your workroom?

Mike: I like to drink strong iced coffee by the quart and smoke Camel Lights by the carton. The latter I really should quit but I’m a weak little slave to the nasty things and I lack the willpower to stop at this point in time.

The studio environment is wall-to-wall stuff. All the things I love surrounding me in one studio, which is set in a basement location, kinda like a modern-day dungeon but minus a cauldron of boiling oil and any real corpses.

I can’t watch movies while working and prefer music, mostly soundtracks to films or bands that I like.

RtB: You recently became a moderator for the AFM Forum, in part I think because David Fisher couldn’t monitor it closely enough and things sometimes got out of hand. Do you get aggravated by the politics and occasionally strange behavior you encounter among others involved with the hobby? Do you have any problem keeping yourself separate from the battles that arise?

Mike: Wow, that’s a touchy question. I’ll answer it but expect vague generalities because I don’t care enough to argue with any of the paranoid people that repeatedly assume the worst with no valid reason.

Fisher is an artistic genius. The guy single-handedly lays out an entire magazine, his work ethic is inspiring to say the least. David and Terry Webb have managed to build the only figure magazine still in existence owned by the same people there from its inception. Therefore, the dedication to producing the highest-quality magazine possible keeps both of them from moderating the forum full time.

For the record, the AFM Forum was never intended to branch so far out into the hobby but as a place for readers to share tips and ask questions about things pertaining to AFM and kits in general. Where everyone connected to the forum was happy to see it take off without any heavy promotion, the unfortunate reality of the Internet is that select diabolical idiots troll all the forums online with trouble stirring on their minds.

Terry is too busy with the business side of AFM and David is always up to his ears with art duties, so I joined as a moderator in an effort to take up some of the slack.

As for the politics and strange behavior of some kit guys, it’s like any other business. Basically, —holes exist in all walks of life. These “bottom feeders” are annoying but they do serve a purpose, namely, they make all the good people look even better in comparison.

You’ll find that most people in the hobby that are artistically talented (sculptors, painters, mold makers and promoters) or have a TRUE love for the subject and the art form. Producers, dealers and writers are for the most part great people.

Every so often an egomaniac/ bitter human being/deranged lunatic decides to lash out against someone they perceive to be an enemy and arguments inevitably insue. I (like most) don’t have time for this and would rather be doing something constructive but at times it’s unavoidable.

The important thing to remember is that these weak little goons won’t last very long. Everyone has the ability to change for the better and ignore those that have nothing positive to offer.

RtB: How long have you been writing for AFM?

Mike: My first article was for issue 28 (The “Denizens of the Deep” issue). I may have written some kit reviews prior to No. 28 but I’m not sure. It’s all a blur at this point!

RtB: What do you think was more important to Terry Webb and David Fisher when you got involved with the magazine, your ability as a model-builder or your talent as a writer?

Mike: I’d have to say that both factors played equal importance. AFM is an incredible publication to write for.

David and Terry are both genuinely nice guys and the magazine has always had an open-door policy. I had talked with Terry in the past and when we met in person and hit it off, he asked if I would be interested in writing for them.

The AFM staff are, for the most part, working professionals outside the hobby so the work we do with kits is fueled by a desire to take great sculptures and created finished works of art. I have always had the feeling that if any of our writers needed a hand with a project they could call a fellow staff member and find it.

Thanks for taking an interest in my work, Todd, it’s really been a pleasure talking with you.

Originally published April 20, 2006, at GJSentinel.com.

TYRANNOSAURUS “CENTENNIAL” REX
Produced by Cliff Green Studio of Price, Utah
Sculpted by Cliff Green, who also does his own painting
6 inches tall, 12 inches long. It’s 1/35 scale, representing a 38-foot-long dinosaur with a 5-foot-long skull
$50 for an unpainted kit (two parts, dino and base), $140 for a painted resin statue, $1,000 for a bronze statue

My interest in model kits was sparked somewhere around age 7; my interest in dinosaurs predates that by at least a couple of years. These two fascinations have risen and fallen with me over the years, but neither has ever faded completely away. So, when I found out recently about Cliff Green, a sculptor whose works include small dinosaur sculptures he sells as kits, working practically in the neighborhood, I had to get in touch to find out more.

Cliff loves prehistoric animals and for the last seven years has made a living as a professional sculptor specializing in prehistoric fauna. He recently worked on a full-sized Dilophosaurus wetherilli bronze monument for the St. George Dinosaur Discovery Site at Johnson Farm and hopes to start a full-sized Brontotherium hatcheri bronze monument for Badlands National Park in South Dakota soon.

For “self-therapy”, Cliff also sculpts, casts and sells 1/35th scale prehistoric animals, including the T-rex pictured above. I was glad Cliff suggested focusing on this in my blog, because the T-rex has long been the dino that most fascinated me (probably because I thought he was the toughest). Cliff describes this sculpture as being rendered under the direction of some of the top Tyrannosaur experts of the 21st century, during the June 2005 “100 years of T-Rex Symposium” in Hill City, S.D. The anatomy, pose and skin are based on the experts’ critiques.

Cliff works out of the garage and front room at his home but hopes to buy a studio when the Brontotherium commission in South Dakota comes in, “hopefully very soon.” In the meantime, he says people are welcome to visit him at his address but need to call at least a day ahead of time “so I can hide the bodies.” If you’re interested, give him a ring at (435) 636-0887 or send him an e-mail at dinonaut@emerytelcom.net; I’ll leave it to him to share the actual address. He can also send you a price list if you contact him through e-mail.

For fellow garage-kit enthusiasts, it’s also worth mentioning that Cliff’s brother, John, ran John Green Models for 25 years. That operation closed up shop within the last couple of years and is remembered fondly by longtime hobbyists.

Cliff let me ask him a few questions through e-mail; I kept it light, partially in an effort to avoid exposing my ignorance on the subject of dinosaurs since the last book I read in-depth about the subject was heavily illustrated and written (for little kids) around the time Raquel Welch donned a fuzzy bikini for “One Million Years B.C.”

Me: Can you point to anything as inspiring your interest in prehistoric animals?

Cliff: I have been interested in animals, prehistoric and otherwise, for as long as I can remember. Some of my earliest childhood memories are of looking at my grandparents’ old encyclopedia, and marveling at the photos of Charles R. Knight’s Chicago Field Museum murals. My older brother and I would recreate the murals in clay and display them, sometimes for months.

Of course, I loved the old Aurora Prehistoric Scenes model kits. I was one of those kids that was absolutely obsessed with dinosaurs. Unlike most children, I never outgrew that passion.

Me: What sustains this interest for you now?

Cliff: Sculpting prehistoric animals for museums, parks, and occasionally the film industry is extremely rewarding to me. I am far from wealthy, but I have been able to support my family as a full-time professional sculptor for seven years now. There is nothing better than being your own boss and making a living doing something you love.

The downside is that sometimes the commissions dry up, or clients are slow to pay, or have financial boondoggles. It is always a feast-or-famine lifestyle.

Me: Which came first for you, an interest in dinosaurs or living in Utah?

Cliff: Definitely prehistoric animals are my primary interest. I am not originally from Utah. I was born and raised in Southern California, and most of my family still lives there.

I moved up to Utah in the early ’90s, looking for work, after I graduated from college in Phoenix. I met my wife 10 years ago in northern Utah, while working construction of all things. We have been married 10 years now, and moved here to Price five years ago.

Price has a lot of bang for the buck, when it comes to paleontology, affordable homes, and a less hectic lifestyle. Having grown up in giant overcrowded cities, this town is a nice change of pace. I don’t know if we are putting permanent roots down here, but Price works for us right now.

Me: Do you have a favorite dinosaur?

Cliff: Horned dinosaurs are my favorite dinosaurs as a group, but if I had to pick one favorite dinosaur specifically, it would have to be the Utah state fossil, Allosaurus fragilis. It is a really cool-looking carnivorous dinosaur.

Originally published April 13, 2006, at GJSentinel.com.

“THE ULTIMATE SOLDIER”
Produced by Mad Dog Resin
Sculpted by Alterton
1/6 scale, resin kit, comes in 10 unassembled, unpainted pieces
$135 plus shipping
Kit in pictures painted by Norm “Kitman” Piatt
It’s amazing the people around the world a hobby can put you in contact with, thanks largely to the Internet. Before getting re-interested in model kits in late 2001, it would never have occurred to me that one day I would encounter Alterton, a former dentist who now works as a freelance sculptor. And if these facts alone don’t strike you as at least slightly off the beaten path, consider how Alterton describes his home to this geographically unsophisticated fellow:

“I am in a small city called Trelew in Chubut province, to the south in Argentina in a beautiful region called Patagonia. I was born here and turned back at the end of 2005 with my lady after 11 years living in Buenos Aires.”

This fellow from Argentina is a comic book fan, and he’s the creative force behind the sculpture of the red, white and blue hero in the pictures. A few weeks ago, I spoke with Norm Piatt of Paradoxx Resin and John Allred about an Alterton piece called “Aldrhiel The Forgotten One”; this week, I’m pleased to say Alterton fought past the flu and a bad Net connection to tell me a little more through e-mail about himself, “The Ultimate Soldier” and his work in general.

Me: How did a person from your part of the world get involved in sculpting a character who is so distinctly United States-oriented?

Alterton: Thing is, I have always loved fantasy-related stories. My grandfather and then my father were fans of an Argentinean editorial called Columba, with great fantasy characters and stories, those were the days Argentina had a great production of fantasy comics with magazines like Nippur de Lagash, El Tony, D’Artagnan, Scorpio, etc etc etc.

We had great storytellers and 2D artists working for national publications and international comics, especially from Europe (France, Italy, Spain, Germany). As for the American comics; Mexican, Spanish and Argentinean editorials (VID, Abril, Novaro, etc) were reproducing Marvel and DC characters.

By the time I was a child and living at the a** of the world (yeah, Trelew is 932 miles south from Buenos Aires), it was really difficult to get those American publications, so I had to wait until summer holidays to go to Buenos Aires to spend Christmas with the rest of my family to get them. Then we had the “SuperFriends” TV show to watch and the ol’ Marvel cartoons. I was also a great fan of “Master of the Universe” toons and my parents got me all the toys.

When I started school, I also started to take drawing lessons and by my 17s I was studying with a great advertising guy. Nowadays don’t ask me to draw cause I am not able to do a smiley face!

Me: What sparked your interest in sculpting garage kits?

Alterton: It wasn’t garage kits; hey, I didn’t know there was a collectible business!!!!! I thought everything was death after the action figures!!! Everything changed when I moved to Buenos Aires at my 18s to start dentistry at the university. I was taking a walk and suddenly I found The Comic Club, a comic store, the first one I saw in my life.

I was amazed, everything comic-related in one place! And the first thing I saw was Bowen’s Hulk vs Thing bookend! Bum, I dropped dead!!! I loved it… I asked the salesman how much that beauty cost and he told me something like 300 bucks each one…he was out of his mind. So on my way home I thought, “How hard could it be to sculpt those pieces by myself?” (how naïve was I?), so I bought some regular clay and I started to sculpt. The Internet showed me the rest.

There was a whole world behind that statue, and there were a lot of them and there were people behind them, sculptors and they had names and styles, so I started to scroll the Net for all the info. I discovered a new world I didn’t know it was there.

After two years I stopped sculpting to finish my career until thanks to the Clubhouse back in 2000-2001 I met Norm “Kitman” and then Martin Canale, they were the ones who pushed me to go back and grab some epoxy to start again, and two years later Jayco was producing the “Iron Dictator,” I was amazed! People were buying a sculpt I did and they were assembling it and painting it and customizing it!!! It was a shock!!!!

The GK world is fantastic because of two things: first, it allows to wannabe sculptors to show their stuff, to practice, to create their own style until the big call; and second, it helps the pros to do what they can’t do with big companies, like their own versions of established characters or to release their own creations in small runs. Besides, it is beautiful to see how modelers give their personal touch to the sculpts!!!! It is an awesome underworld I will always love!

Me: What is your favorite of your own works so far, and what can fans of your work expect to see next?

Alterton: So far, my best piece is my first original design sculpture, the “Portal of the Gods,” don’t ask me why cause when I see it I see a lot of faults and imperfections, and I mean a lot, but that winged wolf is like all my dreams together captured in 3d form. How sick is that?

And what is next? Well, I am really excited about “The Forgotten Ones” series Paradoxx Resin is releasing. Norm is doing such a terrific job with it and it is really an honor to be able to work with one of the most important persons in my sculpting career.

Besides, seeing the paint job Allred is doing is killing me! I almost died when I saw “the Forgotten One” painted, those bastards never told me what they were doing, and believe me when I said it was a great surprise.

I never pictured the sculpt painted and when I first saw the pics, wow!!!!! I was speechless!!!!! It was really beautiful!! Can’t wait to see how the next pieces will look.

The next figures to be released will be “For Hire” and “Ahead We Must Go.” And we are talking to Norm to see what is next … so expect more news from us!!!!!