The Mummy Machine: WIP

[David G.]

  On 8/1/2022 at 2:35 PM, BIGTRUCK said:

This is probably the first time I've seen someone build this kit, they have a bunch of different kits with heads,helmets,hard hats and crowns. I love show rod builds..

Expand  

Though I've probably owned one or two of these over the years, this will be the first one I will have completed. I think it's also one of the better ones in the set. The only other one of these that I'm interested in building is the Red Baron. The others are just... meh.

David G.

[stavanzer]

 The Red Baron is a Great Kit! I have built it. When you build it, remember that the Model kit was designed first, and the 1/1 car was copied from the kit. So if there are differences, the kit came first.

The Red Baron is a Tom Daniels design, for Monogram Models.  Other than being a Showrod, it has little in Common with the MPC Kit.

The Mummy is one of three in a series by MPC. They were apparently built to get more life out of old hot rot tooling and compete against the more popular Tom Daniels  series of Showrods from Monogram.

http://www.showrods.com/showrod_pages/mummy_machine.html

Wolfman.

http://www.showrods.com/showrod_pages/night_crawler.html

Skull.

http://www.showrods.com/showrod_pages/creepyt.html

For a look at almost all the Showrods ever kitted, try the Showrod Rally's "Master List"

http://www.showrods.com/home_page_links/alpha_list.html

The Rally is a great place to learn more about Showrods.

 

 

[David G.]

  On 8/2/2022 at 1:28 PM, stavanzer said:

 The Red Baron is a Great Kit! I have built it. When you build it, remember that the Model kit was designed first, and the 1/1 car was copied from the kit. So if there are differences, the kit came first.

The Red Baron is a Tom Daniels design, for Monogram Models.  Other than being a Showrod, it has little in Common with the MPC Kit.

The Mummy is one of three in a series by MPC. They were apparently built to get more life out of old hot rot tooling and compete against the more popular Tom Daniels  series of Showrods from Monogram.

http://www.showrods.com/showrod_pages/mummy_machine.html

Wolfman.

http://www.showrods.com/showrod_pages/night_crawler.html

Skull.

http://www.showrods.com/showrod_pages/creepyt.html

For a look at almost all the Showrods ever kitted, try the Showrod Rally's "Master List"

http://www.showrods.com/home_page_links/alpha_list.html

The Rally is a great place to learn more about Showrods.

 

 

Expand  

Cool, thanks for the history lesson Alan.

The Mummy Machine version you linked to is the one I had as a kid, I remember the box art well.

I'd still like to get a copy of the Red Baron kit.

Thanks again for the information.

David G.

[David G.]

Hello Everybody!

Now it's on to the Mummy Hat. I've stripped the chrome and done some preliminary cleanup and glued it together. There is a bit of the opening that comes up short and needs to be built up. I've glued on a small strip of styrene to take care of that.

 

Here we are all cleaned up, smoothed out, primed and ready and ready for chroming. I ran out of the DupliColor chrome I've been using recently and the only replacement I could find was Rustoleum's version. I've read good things about it online, we'll see.

 

The Rustoleum chrome came out pretty good. Maybe even better than the DupliColor.

 

As always, thanks for stopping by for a look, please feel free to post a comment.

David G

[mustang1989]

Keeps getting better Dave!! 

[peteski]

Good to see one of those kits in a WIP thread (and learning the kit's history).

Back in the day I built the Creepy-T. It was molded in a glow-in-the-dark plastic which glows blue.  Very unusual.  That model is long gone, but I bought a more recent reissue. That one is molded in plastic that glows green.  I wonder if the Mummy Machine kit is also molded in glow-in-the-dark plastic?

You are doing a really good job of making this kit look more realistic.  I like it!

[David G.]

  On 8/3/2022 at 2:54 PM, mustang1989 said:

Keeps getting better Dave!! 

Expand  

Thank you Joe. It's good to know that my efforts are worth while.

  On 8/4/2022 at 2:50 AM, peteski said:

Good to see one of those kits in a WIP thread (and learning the kit's history).

Back in the day I built the Creepy-T. It was molded in a glow-in-the-dark plastic which glows blue.  Very unusual.  That model is long gone, but I bought a more recent reissue. That one is molded in plastic that glows green.  I wonder if the Mummy Machine kit is also molded in glow-in-the-dark plastic?

You are doing a really good job of making this kit look more realistic.  I like it!

Expand  

Thank you Peter. I had a couple of these as a youngster. The Mummy Machine I remember for certain as I can recall the box art specific to the release that I had.

Probably around 1974.

 

I did have another one around that same time that was a glow in the dark kit but I don't recall which one it was. I do remember that it glowed purple and the rear racing slicks were huge and cast in styrene. As I recall the slicks were cast in two parts, with a main tire and a sidewall insert. It may not have even been a monster kit. But that's all I remember about it.

Thanks again for your comment and kind words.

David G.

 

[David G.]

Hello Everybody!

Progress on this build is moving along at a satisfying pace. Even with a week's vacation in the midst.

I wanted the mummy on the hat done in gold. I decided to try using gold leaf to achieve this. Not too bad for a first attempt. It looks like it's going to need a black wash though.

 

The black wash certainly helped to define the relief.

 

 Of course, we have to do a test fit on the engine. I want to paint the inside of the hat red before it's permanently installed. Some other minor adjustments will also be necessary.

 

As always, thanks for taking a look and please feel to comment.

David G.

 

[peteski]

  On 8/4/2022 at 11:31 AM, David G. said:

I did have another one around that same time that was a glow in the dark kit but I don't recall which one it was. I do remember that it glowed purple and the rear racing slicks were huge and cast in styrene. As I recall the slicks were cast in two parts, with a main tire and a sidewall insert. It may not have even been a monster kit. But that's all I remember about it.

Expand  

Ok, so those kits seem to have shared some parts.  That makes sense. The Creepy-T (first and later releases) also uses 2-piece polystyrene rear slicks molded from the same plastic as the rest of the kit. All the styrene parts (including the slicks) glow in the dark either blue/purple and recent ones green).  The name molded in the slicks' sidewall was "THUMBSTONE".

What I am interested in is whether the recent Mummy Machine release (your kit) still uses glow-in-the-dark styrene for its parts?  Also in your kit are the rear slicks the same as in the older releases or are those now soft vinyl tires?

[David G.]

  On 8/4/2022 at 4:01 PM, peteski said:

Ok, so those kits seem to have shared some parts.  That makes sense. The Creepy-T (first and later releases) also uses 2-piece polystyrene rear slicks molded from the same plastic as the rest of the kit. All the styrene parts (including the slicks) glow in the dark either blue/purple and recent ones green).  The name molded in the slicks' sidewall was "THUMBSTONE".

What I am interested in is whether the recent Mummy Machine release (your kit) still uses glow-in-the-dark styrene for its parts?  Also in your kit are the rear slicks the same as in the older releases or are those now soft vinyl tires?

Expand  

There were glow in the dark versions of this kit released. They were probably released around 2002, when the kit I'm building was released. My kit has vinyl tires so I assume that those do too.

Both versions can still be found on eBay for around $30.

David G. 

[mustang1989]

Shuweeeeeet!!! Wow man. This is gonna be so frickin' COOL!!! 

[David G.]

Hello Everybody!

It's time for The Mummy to start getting his head together. This is obviously the most important part of the build and pretty much defines the entire character of the model.

There's some good looking detail and relief here. Which is surprising given the age of the molds.

 

Getting those seams blended without losing all that nice bandage detail is going to be tricky.

 

Blending the seams while maintaining the engraved detail will take a bit of work. Especially in this area... the great expanse as I've come to think of it.

 

That's all for now. As always, thanks for taking the time to look and please feel free to comment.

David G.

[David G.]

  On 8/5/2022 at 11:59 AM, mustang1989 said:

Shuweeeeeet!!! Wow man. This is gonna be so frickin' COOL!!! 

Expand  

Thanks Joe, I'm gonna try to make the most of it without going overboard.

David G.

[mustang1989]

Yikes!!!! Those mold lines are right in the middle of all the detail alright. One has to wonder why they had to put them right smack dab in the middle of where all the details are. Looking forward to seeing you work your magic on that part Dave.

[peteski]

Thanks for the info David.

[David G.]

  On 8/5/2022 at 12:05 PM, mustang1989 said:

Yikes!!!! Those mold lines are right in the middle of all the detail alright. One has to wonder why they had to put them right smack dab in the middle of where all the details are. Looking forward to seeing you work your magic on that part Dave.

Expand  

Hello Joe, thanks for your comment. I don't think that the seam is badly positioned, I think it's just a rough seam. It may have been a little better- a little smoother when the molds were new but probably not much. I'm glad it's not right down the center of the mummy's face.  

The only real trick is going to be keeping or recreating the engraving after blending the seam, I have a plan for that.

  On 8/5/2022 at 1:30 PM, peteski said:

Thanks for the info David.

Expand  

You're welcome Peter.

David G.

[showrods]

This is great!  Please keep posting with your current level of detail...

[David G.]

Hello Everybody!

Here's the seam I have the most concern over. The one on the "great expanse" as I've come to think of it. Filing and sanding the seam to even it out has, of course removed some of the engraved detail. I've tried to recreate it here by applying spot putty and sculpting it with a palette knife.

 

After the putty dried, I sprayed the head with some Tamiya TS-46 Light Sand gloss paint. Not only will this work as a base color but the shine will help to show the areas that require a little more attention. I can see several areas where the putty needs to be feathered in a little more.

 

This side came came out quite nicely.

 

As always, thanks for taking the time to look and please feel free to share a comment.

David G.

[David G.]

  On 8/6/2022 at 11:58 AM, showrods said:

This is great!  Please keep posting with your current level of detail...

Expand  

Thank you Peter, will do. I'm always concerned that I'm posting too much detail and for some people I probably am. But it's nice to know when I get it right.

Thanks for your feedback, I appreciate it.

David G.

[slusher]

Nice work on your seam David, that’s some really great work!

[David G.]

  On 8/6/2022 at 1:58 PM, slusher said:

Nice work on your seam David, that’s some really great work!

Expand  

Thank you Carl!

David G.

[David G.]

Hello Everybody!

Here's the final take on the seam of the great expanse. It's still visible if one looks for it, but I'm happy with the result.

 

This side started out better and therefore ended up better. Again, I'm happy with the result.

 

Using Silly Putty, I masked the face in preparation for the final coat of flat clear. It almost looks more scary this way.

 

That's it for this round. As always, thanks for taking the time to look and please feel free to comment.

David G.

 

 

[OldNYJim]

I think the repair work you did on that seam is outstanding - nice job hiding it and reconstructing the texture!

I thought about working through one of these skulls and laying in pieces of medical tape and airbrushing over THAT, but your way worked way better than I imagined it could.

Nice shading with the paint too!

[bisc63]

Looking SO cool!

[FLHCAHZ]

Really Cool!  Fantastic work on the seam. I'm looking forward to more updates.