Godzilla (BatoGoji) - Prepwork II

The limbs have been permanently assembled. 

The body and tail will not be permanently assembled until all ancillary work has been completed. Once they have been assembled, I will then complete assembly by attaching the limbs.

Movin' right along. . .

“When the cost of a hobby exceeds the fun and doesn't attract new people, the game is over.” -
Oscar Koveleski, August 2003

Godzilla (BatoGoji) - Prepwork

By way of preface, snap-together kits are something of an acquired taste - so long as the fit is at least acceptable. In most instances, it is preferable to remove the connecting pegs, dress the contact surfaces, and simply glue the kit together. On a kit like this, however, it is a welcome op- tion. You can dry-fit to your heart's content without resorting to rubber bands, clamps, or tempo- rary cyanoacrylate spot welds. Thus, my BatoGoji is now fully, albeit tentatively, 'assembled', save for the mouth/mandible and the dorsal dermal plates.

A quick note about the plates. Every review I've read mentions the importance of keeping the plates on their sprues so that one can then simply follow the assembly instructions and correctly attach the plates. This is certainly true, BUT. . . what no review has mentioned is that each plate is individually numbered as well! As long as the modeler does not lose the instructions, it doesn't matter how many of the 34(!) plates have come off their sprues. Kudos to Lindberg!!

Most of the work in the prep phase will be focused on the mouth and the texturing of the dorsal plates. The teeth as a whole are poorly cast, and there will be extensive dental reconstruction required. Needless to say, good photographic references are a must! Insofar as the plates are concerned, the granular texture is virtually absent.

To date, I have permanently attached the center row of plates: all finishing work will be done in situ. . .

More to follow. . .

“When the cost of a hobby exceeds the fun and doesn't attract new people, the game is over.” -
Oscar Koveleski, August 2003

Kaiju-dom, Gojira. . . and a Project--pt. 2

Godzilla has taken many forms over the years in both Japanese and American cinema. And the corpus of literature addressing the ultimate embodiment of a daikaijū is almost as large as its subject!

I am by no means an ardent kaiju fan. I saw Godzilla, King of the Monsters (1956; this was the "Americanized" re-release of the 1954 original) and King Kong vs. Godzilla (1962; 1963[US]) in the theatre. Most of the Showa-series features were standard fare on weekend TV for me through the 60s. After that, I frankly lost interest, though the Ultra Series was a mainstay of mine through the early 70s.

In 1964, Aurora released models of both King Kong and Godzilla--I am reasonably certain that this was not a coincidence. Both releases were favourites of mine, especially the latter: fuchsia-coloured, non-brittle plastic; a rather involved scenic urban groundwork/base. . . and having my mother help me create what was in retrospect a rather Gogos-esque interpretation of the boxart. In spite of that, it still didn't ring quite true to the Godzilla to which I had been exposed--though it was quite dinosaur-ish, which at the time was a definite plus!

Half a century later, I am rediscovering the appeal of the daikaijū. Fortunately, I am neither com- pelled to hunt down an Aurora/Monogram/Polar lights 1964 Godzilla, or make my way through the myriad of Japanese vinyl kits out there: in 1995, Lindberg released Godzilla, King of the Monsters.

Think or say what you will of Lindberg, this is an exceptional(!) kit!! It scales out to approximately 1/450 scale, which makes it quite a sizeable offering. My sample is VG- overall: some detail is on the "soft" side of things, and fit is somewhat less than precise (hardly surprising given that it is marketed as featuring "snap-fit" assembly), but nothing that I would consider insurmountable for someone beyond the advanced beginner level willing to expend a modicum of effort.

This kit is representative of a Heisei-series Godzilla, that flourished from 1989-1997. Given that the respective differences are more subtle and less dramatic than their Showa predecessors, and the fact that suits and portions thereof were used throughout the film series, determining the pre- cise suit style is made more difficult. Having said that, I believe the BatoGoji suit (1992) is the inspiration for this model, and I will be using it as my design baseline.

Stay tuned!!!  

“When the cost of a hobby exceeds the fun and doesn't attract new people, the game is over.” -
Oscar Koveleski, August 2003