Mutant from Metaluna OOP kit

Box art for this kit.

This kit is based on the 1955 science fiction film “This Island Earth”. Though I am not a big fan of this film it does have very nice special effects and a couple plot elements such as the “intelligence test” used to recruit Earth scientists to help in the Metalunans war effort. The acting is pretty wooden for the most part and doesn't really generate any sympathy for any of the characters as a whole.

Anyway, I picked up this kit from eBay which appears to be an old OOP Aurora kit, a little smaller that their regular line at maybe 1/16 scale. The kit came without a box or instructions so it may have been a reissue from Atlantis Models if my research is correct. This proved to be a bit of a hindrance because the arms are articulated and have to be assembled in a certain order to allow their mobility but I managed to figure out what went where and when after a couple false starts.

I did a bit of research concerning what colors to paint this bad boy and came back with many color schemes in Google images. Some models were blue, bright purple, olive drab, gray and the like. I ended up watching the film to get as authentic a version as possible. This proved to be easier said than done since the total screen time for the mutant was around three minutes TOTAL and of those, 90% was behind a veil of smoke or mist of some kind. I finally got some stills I could use by photographing scenes off my television set while I played my DVD of the film.

Anyway, I mixed up a bluish purple for the base color of the mutant followed by a dark purple to bring out the convulsions on the head. I used a metallic red for the veins on the body and metallic gold for the mouth parts and eyes.

I used a copper color for the base with several black washes to bring out the detail in the base. The base perimeter was done in a hammered aluminum from a rattle can. There was a clap board that came with the kit but the decal with the name of the film was missing so I didn't use it.

I found this kit to be not that interesting on the whole but it filled a gap in my Aurora collection so I went with it though not much of a challenge even without the instructions. 10/9/2022