Claude Rains

      I'm not really sure how I got my hands on these two “kits” by Ray Santoleri but I suspect it was on Facebook. Anyway, these two very nice sculpts are a little pricey (IHMO) considering they're only ¼ scale which makes them roughly 4” tall. The kit version for each is $70.00 whereas the built up/painted sculpt go for $90.00 each. Eachcomes with a small base and a few parts such as the Phantoms mask which you can place of the bust's face or on the base itself.  

       I chose these two busts primarily because the characters they both were portrayed by Claude Rains in the original Invisible Man (which had ground breaking special effects for the time) and the 1943 remake of the Phantom. I took a little latitude in how I painted the Phantom's ruined face by giving him a dead eye which was used in the make-up for the 1962 version starring Herbert Lom. Painting the Invisible Man's face was a piece of cake simply because he didn't have one aside for his fake nose. Of note is that you don't see Claude Rains until the very end of the film which speaks to his professionalism to the craft.

     Anyway, there isn't much to either kit with most of my time being spent in painting them which gives me a little break from my diorama building while keeping me busy at the same time. 9/18/2023