1967 Aurora Penguin model kit

[MIB41]

I can't wait to see your work on this!!! It will be exquisite!!!

[PNGwynne]

All hail Enyawd72 and his acquisition of the Best. Model. Kit. Ever.

Can't wait to see this built.

[PNGwynne]

I don't recast models or make copies. That's a serious no-no in the modeling world and will get you banned from every hobby forum in existence.

Who knew? I'd assumed this was OK for out-of-production vintage kits. Most folks just want to build one, but I guess it's akin to the vintage/repro Mego debate.

I'm amazed this hasn't been reproduced properly by Moebius, etc. I suppose it hinges on original molds not being available.

[ScottA]

Pics from start to finish on this one please.

[Earth 2 Chris]

Any reason this one was never reproduced by Playing Mantis, Mobeius, etc? Are the molds completely lost?

Chris

[PNGwynne]

^That's always been my assumption. Many Aurora kits have been reproduced since the '80s; I'd have thought that during '89 Batmania or since, this kit would have seen rerelease in some format if the molds still existed. After all, it's a sought-after, almost legendary kit.

Honestly--though admittedly I'm much more of a dilettante than Dwayne is--I've never even seen garage kits of it.

[HardyGirl]

Nice score. I have a Robin kit someone gave me for Christmas some years back. I'm not much of a model builder, (and this one has a bajillion pieces!), so it's sitting in the box. I'd love to see yours built though. And as a person who opens NRFB packages all the time, I wouldn't even blink about you setting this model free.

[enyawd72]

The Penguin was never reissued because when Aurora folded in the mid 70's Monogram purchased the molds. They decided which ones they might use in the future, and the rest were sadly scrapped in order to salvage the beryllium steel which could be reused to make new molds.

They kept only the Universal Monsters, Batman, Superman, Godzilla, and few others. Many of the reissues that have come out since were made by creating new tooling from existing kits. Unfortunately that process loses a lot of the fine surface detail present in Aurora's original kits. That's why, even though they're much more expensive, I prefer the originals to retooled repros.

Now, some repros are still made from the original molds which retain all the detail. Molten styrene plastic is so soft it causes no wear whatsoever to the steel molds.
I've closely inspected an original 1963 Aurora Mummy kit with a 2011 Revell reissue and they're identical down to even the tiniest tool marks. It's amazing.

[dr_cyclops]

Thanks dwayne!
Although I defer to your expertise, I heard that a train wreck caused a lot of damage to the original Aurora molds. For this reason Revell/Monogram lost some molds, Wonder Woman, Superboy, etc. I had read in the 90s that Polar Lights was using a technique called reverse molding,(making a mold using a complete unbuilt kit) to bring them back.
Please feel free to correct me on this. Again, this is just what I heard and read back in the 90s.

[enyawd72]

Thanks dwayne!
Although I defer to your expertise, I heard that a train wreck caused a lot of damage to the original Aurora molds. For this reason Revell/Monogram lost some molds, Wonder Woman, Superboy, etc. I had read in the 90s that Polar Lights was using a technique called reverse molding,(making a mold using a complete unbuilt kit) to bring them back.
Please feel free to correct me on this. Again, this is just what I heard and read back in the 90s.

Yeah, there was a train wreck and about 14 molds were damaged, but the majority that were lost was due to Monogram's shortsightedness. It's true some of the Polar Lights kits were reverse engineered. I think the Hunchback was definitely one, because the reissue lacks the detail of the original. Monogram released Superman and Godzilla in 1978 so we know those molds survived along with Dracula, Frankenstein, Wolfman, and Mummy in 1983 so we know those survived also. I think the only major figure mold that was lost in the train wreck was Wonder Woman. That kit was definitely reverse engineered by Moebius in 2010.

[Werewolf]

I'd open it too. Looking forward to seeing the finished model.

[Mikey]

Did the older models use the same plastic they do today ?

Sometimes it seems like the older models were more lighter and brittle compared to newer models ... or it that just from age ?

[enyawd72]

Did the older models use the same plastic they do today ?

Sometimes it seems like the older models were more lighter and brittle compared to newer models ... or it that just from age ?

Yep, same plastic. It's styrene. I've never had any issues with brittle plastic. Styrene is very stable and takes paint very well. It also holds detail very well. I've seen no difference from fresh out of the box kits from 1963 and brand new kits.

[PNGwynne]

^ The only difference I noticed in new kits were the reissued Neon Monsters, which were really impossible to build properly. But I think that was the demands of the tinted plastic.

Was the '90s Phantom reissue reverse-engineered, D?

[Hector]

Very nice Pinguin, can't wait to see it completed...

BTW, garage kit makers should not talk, as the vast majority are not licensed products...they don't hold any rights whatsoever to whatever they produced. If some other dude wants to recast an existing garage unlicensed kit, it's fair game, no ifs or buts about it...these garage kit makers have zero say...unless it's a licensed model, which most are not. I have yet to see a garage kit maker sue someone from "borrowing" his unlicensed model...and actually winning in court.