Monogram 1/8 Scale "The Mummy" By Tim Cromartie

The Kit

I’ve wanted to do a kit for Halloween for a couple of years now. This year it happened.

I chose the Mummy since Boris Karloff was always one of my favorite movie monsters, and his portrayal in the 1930’s movie was very convincing. The Monogram kit I chose was released in 1983 – Aurora produced a bunch of monster kits in the 1960’s, but I don’t know whether this was originally an Aurora kit.

Construction

This is a straightforward kit, 31 pieces in all with very good detail in 1/8 scale, with optional pieces for glow-in-the-dark head, hands, feet and serpent. Interesting, but I opted not to use them. Construction was quick and easy. The fit on this kit was virtually flawless with minimal sanding required. A minor peculiarity I noted was that the entire surface of the contact points for glue throughout the kit all had an extremely smooth sheen on them, much like a resin kit. But the box and instructions both identify it as a plastic kit. I used Squadron green putty to fill slight gaps where necessary.

The bulk of the work was done at this stage. I used gray primer on everything, then masked the Mummy’s exposed head and head, and spray-painted it Testors Flat White. When that dried, I began the process of aging the bandages by starting with a thinned acrylic wash of Model Master British Gulf Armor Light Stone – this was perfect for simulating desert dust, and had a good staining effect against the plain white. The second wash was oil-based, using Model Master Flat Interior Tan, a few shades darker than the first wash and good for bringing out detail in the bandages and beginning the shading process. Next, I used this same enamel, not in a wash but as regular paint, to strengthen the shading effect. At the last stage, I touched up certain upper surfaces of the bandages with flat white again. The Mummy’s hand, head and hair are Polly S Yellow Gray, a color from their Fantasy series that looked about right to depict dead flesh. I gave the head and hand a wash of Raw Umber to bring out the detail and age the flesh. I left the hair alone.

The base is British Gulf Armor Light Stone treated with a wash of Raw Umber. The steps are Testors Brown, which comes out looking like a very light shade of rust. The artifacts are Testors Afrika Mustard in the spray can, lightened with Flat Interior Tan in the broken places. For the details on the hieroglyphics such as the birds, I mixed Gold with Blue Angel Blue, both Testors colors. Some of the scribe marks were treated with Burnt Sienna. The serpent is painted in Floquil British Dark Slate Grey, a great dark olive color for a snake, with a zinc chromate underside. The sign, like the steps, is Testors Brown with gold letters.

Conclusion

This is a great kit, lots of fun and easy to build with the real challenge at the painting stage – highly recommended for your next Halloween or horror project.