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This is another rare find I came across on Ebay. It’s 1/6 Hellboy sculpted by Shawn Nagle. I saw this kit in a magazine and have wanted one for a long time. It was nowhere available however until the time I saw it on Ebay. It’s been built and painted I believe by Shawn himself with his signature on the bottom. He was selling the piece through a friend on Ebay. I remembered at the time the Ebay seller was very particular about the buyer to whom he was to sell the kit. Fortunately, I had several referrals which was convincing enough that I was truly a collector. The kit came out long before the movie and it’s the comics version which has been skillfully sculpted by Shawn. Shawn did a fantastic job in capturing the features of this character created by Mike Mignola for Dark Horse Comics. It’s a good example of a well sculpted kit with a dynamic posture. Fine details on the base itself also deserve some time and a much closer look to truly appreciate them.
This 1/6 kit was acquired on Ebay. This is from the earlier TV version starring Lou Ferrigno as Hulk. Likeness is amazing. It also has a dynamic posture in anger. My painter did a fantastic job. The green color he used has a metallic finishing look to it. I remembered when I first saw it I asked him why it subtly shines and he said he had mixed some metallic ink to it. It doesn’t take more words to describe the kit. Rather, it takes time and patience to closely look at the kit from multiple angles to appreciate it.
This is a 1/6 kit purchased from Amok Time Toys at Wonderfest. It’s not the Bowen version although the two look extremely similar in terms of their postures. Both kits are skillfully sculpted. Bowen’s version is easy in the sense that it’s readily displayable while Amok Time’s version isn’t. It takes a huge amount of effort to make it ‘stand.’ First of all, it’s big and heavy and is in an intrinsically off-balanced posture. To make it displayable, I need a base not only big enough but also with a support at the knee. Otherwise, the kit wouldn’t display right. The base I use now is actually a scaled up version of part of another base for Classic Plastic’s Terminator kit by Randy Bowen. I wanted the display set to look right for this character in a charging posture. The base looks right for that. However, I needed to upsize it. Therefore, I asked a skillful craftsman to upsize the base with a pantograph machine. The piece on the base itself serves just perfect as a support at the knee for the entire body. This kind of kit is tricky, if not difficult, to display right. My painter did a fantastic job in showing all details this kit has to offer.
This 1/6 Bruce Willis kit was purchased from Amok Time Toys at Wonderfest. Facial details are incredible. This is the only kit for this character that I know of that is available in the market. This kit comes with two displayable versions, namely, one with just Willis’ head and another with the hood over the head. I like to display with just the head because of the incredible facial details and the paint job done to it. This kit had been professionally built with details of the cloak highlighted. To complement this kit, I found a base with a ruined wall in the background.
This is a 1/6 vinyl kit by Horizon. It’s very detailed. Most of my collection are resin kits. Resin kits are normally more ‘substantial’ and capture more pronounced details. Although this is a vinyl kit, it’s been well sculpted and is rich with details. My professional modeler filled up the legs with plaster to increase the weight of the kit. He also did a fantastic job at painting the kit too. Although this kit is not very dynamic in the way that it stands straight, I like this kit having one badly damaged arm and one holding up his thumb. This posture reminds me of the last scene in the second Terminator movie directed by James Cameron right before when Arnold as T-800 had to terminate himself in order to destroy the last Terminator chip in his head. This kit is being put on a special base. It’s a vacuum formed base that has been filled up with foam. So the base is extremely light. Nick NeAngelo helped build up the base. The kit and the base complement one another very well.
This 1/5 Bladerunner kit was acquired on Ebay. The incredible paint job was done by Steve Parke, one of my favorite artists who writes for Amazing Figure Modeler magazine. The great sculpt work deserves the hands of a great artist who can bring life to it. Parke had done a fantastic job in that respect. He even painted the tie to the same way it looks in the movie. What is even more amazing about this display set is that this kit didn’t come with the base it has now. I came across this base again not knowing at the time how to make use of it. This Bladerunner in the run is extremely tricky in terms of finding a suitable base for it. This angled wall base with an opening in between serves just absolutely perfect for Ford in the run. A part of the jacket even rests on part of the brick wall forming a support to this intrinsically off-balanced kit.
This 1/6 kit was acquired on Ebay. It was already painted when I got it. It was fairly well painted when I got it. To enhance the look, I asked another professional to touch up over it. Essentially, shadows were added to the well-featured face of this kit. The end result is the fantastic way it looks now. The base was separately added, just like many of my collection. This base was purchased at Wonderfest. It’s a versatile base suitable for a wide range of kits, and I have seen it being used with many other kits before from hobby magazines. You need to be creative in terms of matching kits with bases. With Daredevil, this is probably the only one display set there is. I think they fit one another wonderfully!
This incredibly detailed 1/6 DC’s Superhero was purchased from Amok Time Toys at Wonderfest. This kit possesses the style of work by Alex Ross. Details on this kit is amazing. In addition to the coolness on his face, I also like the details of his bodily features, his posture and proportions as well as his accentuated veins. This kit unfortunately didn’t come with a base. I hate to display my kits without proper bases. Kits just don’t look right otherwise. So, I had to find one for this kit. On many occasions, the search for proper bases can be very challenging, if at all possible. Ironically, it is also this kind of particularity that drives passion. Although a simple one, this base does serve the purpose well enough because it’s like the surface of another planet. This base was also purchased at Wonderfest.
This 1/6 resin kit was purchased on Ebay. It possesses the style of work by Alex Ross. Although not fully certain, I believe it’s the work by Shawn Nagle. Shawn is one of my favorite American sculptors. I have several of his works. Facial features are astounding. This kit had been painted professionally. I also like his posture with his fists at both sides of his waist as an authoritative figure in command would. Proportions of this kit are incredible too. Unfortunately, this kit didn’t come with a base. I am very particular about my displays in that I would like all my kits to have proper bases. I found this base at Wonderfest on one occasion. This base serves well for this Superman kit because it’s like the surface of another planet.
This 1/8 Concrete resin kit from Dark Horse Comics was sculpted by Randy Bowen. Unlike many of my collection, I was unfamiliar with the character when I bought the kit in a garage kits shop in Las Vegas many years ago. I was simply attracted to the beauty of the kit itself. Simplicity, rather ironically, is what I think the true beauty of this kit. It is not very dynamic in the way I would describe some of my other kits. I remembered one of my sisters, who had no knowledge of this Comics character like myself, commented that it was simply a cool looking kit. As the saying goes, ‘Logic leads to conclusion; emotion leads to action.’ It was one such occasion where I had impulsively followed my emotion and bought this kit. This kit had been professionally built and painted. Due to its simplicity, I think the paint job itself is even more demanding because the painter had not much of other means such as rich details to rely on to bring out the character than with just the skill of painting itself.
This 1/6 Batman kit is one of the best I have ever seen. Likeness is amazing. It’s like the style of work by Alex Ross, one of my favorite American illustrators. I like the coolness on his face as well as the way he stands with the cloak naturally falling or dropping down. I acquired this kit on Ebay some time ago, and I am not sure who the sculptor is. I asked a professional modeler to paint it the way he looks in the older days, in contrast to the new style from Batman’s recent movies starring Christian Bale. I am happy to put it on this beautiful City Wall base by Jean-Louis Crinon. My words alone are not enough to describe the incredible features and details this base possesses. It takes in my opinion small close-up snapshots at multiple angles to gain only a better appreciation for this incredibly sculpted base alone. Jean had done many incredibly beautiful and detailed bases, and this is definitely one of them. This Batman kit and the city wall base are perfect complements to one another.
This is a 1/6 Marvel’s Incredible Hulk from Ang Lee’s movie. This nicely sculpted kit had been built and painted when I bought it on Ebay some time ago. I like statues that are more dynamic in contrast to being ‘still’ or in a more passive posture. This kit illustrates what I mean by dynamic with HULK in anger holding both hands in fists with accentuated veins all over the body. To complement this kit, I was lucky to have separately found this broken brick wall base which I recently acquired on Ebay. Ebay has been resourceful for me in terms of finding a lot of long out-of-production goodies. In this display set, angry Hulk appears to be forcing his way out from behind the broken walls.
Alien created by my favorite Austrian artist HR Giger has been one of my favorite movie characters. This 1/8 Alien kit from Japan by Oyama has been built and painted professionally. The sculpt quality and details are amazing. However, in my opinion, the most special part about this display set however is the inclusion of this Alien Corner base, or I prefer to call it the Aliens Hideout, which did not come with the kit. Both the Alien kit and the Alien Corner base are equally rare to find. The base was purchased separately from a garage kit shop called Starwars Emporium in England many years ago. Amazingly, it’s in scale with the Alien kit. Please note that the Alien Corner base came with an Alien head surfaced partially and creepily from the base just like the way the character would in the movie. It also came with a human face on the other side of the base. A great base can be very harmonizing when being put with the right kit, and this kind of match is extremely rare. I am proud to have come across them and to put them together in perfect harmony with one another. They both not only complement one another, but also dramatically enhance the value for one another as well.
This is a 1/6 kit of unknown origin already built and painted when I acquired it on Ebay a few years ago. It was a well sculpted kit with close resemblance to Hugh Jackman from the X-Men movie but poorly painted when I first bought it. The sculpt work itself has been in my experience the most important part, just like the intrinsic or inborn features of the kit itself. Under the right hands, repainting it can easily bring it back to life. In addition to finding the right artist to revive the kit through repainting it, I also added some more values to it. The claws were originally made out of resin which in my opinion can never mimic real steel or metal. Therefore, I asked a machinist to machine out the claws for me. So my Logan has real stainless steel claws. Also, this kit didn’t come with a decent base. Bases are very tricky and challenging to find on many occasions. I was lucky enough to come across this one when I went to Wonderfest in Louisville on one occasion. I found this base from a seller there who had a batch of bases literally on the floor. I didn’t know at the time which kit will the base be good for. But in the right time, I found a good use of it. A great part of the fun is to make your kit unique. Therefore, even sometimes when kits come with bases I would still find better replacements for them, just to make them all the more special. The more effort you put in, the more enjoyment and satisfaction you usually get at the end. This Logan is one such good example from my private collection.
This is another rare find I came across on Ebay. It’s 1/6 Hellboy sculpted by Shawn Nagle. I saw this kit in a magazine and have wanted one for a long time. It was nowhere available however until the time I saw it on Ebay. It’s been built and painted I believe by Shawn himself with his signature on the bottom. He was selling the piece through a friend on Ebay. I remembered at the time the Ebay seller was very particular about the buyer to whom he was to sell the kit. Fortunately, I had several referrals which was convincing enough that I was truly a collector. The kit came out long before the movie and it’s the comics version which has been skillfully sculpted by Shawn. Shawn did a fantastic job in capturing the features of this character created by Mike Mignola for Dark Horse Comics. It’s a good example of a well sculpted kit with a dynamic posture. Fine details on the base itself also deserve some time and a much closer look to truly appreciate them. 
