Hey my manic monkey minions !
Were off to a great start in this new year, with a Holiday addition to the Bongo household,
The Mighty Kogar !
That's right, another gorilla in my midst, in the form of a fantastic 1/12th scale model kit from Moebius models !
The beauty of the kit ( other than the fact that it's my buddy Bob Burns) is that it's actually 3 kits in one !
the kit comes with the basic Kogar body, Bob Burns happy smiling face, Kogar, and all time fan favorite...Tracy the gorilla !The sculpting is top notch and perfectly captures all the likeness's.
The level of detail is incredible, and even more so when it's on a kit little more than 6 inches tall !
Kogar is perfectly to scale with the vintage Aurora "Monsters of the Movies" kits, and the
great "Monster Scenes" kits.
Mobius has re-issued both of these classic lines of kits, and brought them to a new generation of fans.
But back to the fun !
The kit is a very simple build, in a snap together format.
It builds up quite quickly, and for a snap together, it has nice tight seam lines.
You can of course glue and finish it to your hearts content.
I chose to leave it unglued , for like his predecessors, Kogar comes with interchangeable parts,
the three heads AND an extra lower left arm, for straight and bent arm poses.
Also not gluing preserved a certain nostalgic feel I had from building "Monster Scenes" kits as a kid.
I choose to build old Kogar as he would have appeared in the early 70's when Bob was playing Tracy the gorilla, in the classic Saturday morning television series, "Ghost Busters".
Tracy was a highpoint for Bob, and he has many fond memories of working with co-stars Forrest
"Kong"Tucker , and Larry"Spenser" Storch.
Using photos of Bob from the filming,I settled on a shot that perfectly captures the true heart of a Hollywood Gorilla Man.
Bob sitting serenely in a chair, covered from head to toe in sweat, black eye make-up smudged, and Tracy's fur suit at his feet.
Having been in the same position many times, this photo struck a special chord with me, and I knew instantly that this would be the face of my Mighty Kogar model !
I later added an acrylic sculpting gel to mini-Bobs hair to give him the messed up hair from the photo.
I'm quite happy with the way it turned out, and Bob was quite amused and pleased by the photos of it I sent him.
I want to extend a special thanks to Frank Winspur of Moebius models and Steve Iverson from Cult TV man.
Without the efforts of these gentlemen, and a shared fandom of Bob and Kathy Burns, these great kits would not have been possible.
You can get this great kit for yourself here !
http://www.culttvmanshop.com/The-Mighty-Kogar--Monsters-of-the-Movies-from-Moeibus-Models-_p_2401.html
tell 'em Bongo sent you !
