I know that the Gigantics giant insect kits have already appeared several times on Moonbase Central, but I thought Moonbasers might like a little more detail on the history of these kits.
Unlike most firms who made giant insect kits, which heavily emphasised the educational value of their models, Fundimensions promoted the fun aspects of giant insects on the rampage: trampling people, crushing cars, and generally causing havoc.
All were given a diorama setting, showing a giant creature on the rampage in a city!
The US firm Fundimensions made four of these models in total. All carry the copyright date 1975.
Two were re-issued by Airfix, and three by AMT/Ertl. To be strictly accurate, only two of the kits were of insects (six legs), the other two were of arachnids (eight legs).
Despite the fantastic nature of the settings, the actual insect models were accurate enough to be displayed on their own, according to an ad for the kits on the bottom of the box.
There is a small block of text to the side of the box-top pictures, which says 'Look For All Four Gigantics Model Kits - Collect and build all four "Gigantics" ! Display them in scenes or display them alone as scientific and detailed insect replicas !'.
One side of the box proclaims 'All the parts are included to build a wild "Gigantics" Science Fiction scene !', along with photographs of the diorama under construction. The other side shows the insect or arachnid model on its own, and emphasises its detailed and accurate nature.
I never had any of these sets, although I do remember seeing the Airfix versions in the catalogue. They were not really the sort of thing I would have been interested in at the time.
These dioramas were clearly inspired by the giant-bug-on-the-rampage science fiction movies of the 1950s - the box tops carry a mock newspaper headline describing the events in the diorama. However, the cars look too modern for the 1950s.
Given that the kits date from the mid-1970s, the cars are probably from the same period. Each kit included the central insect or arachnid; a selection of moulded three-dimensional buildings, cars, people and other props; and a printed cardboard base and backscene, which was in full colour.
The boxes boasted It's A Gigantic Entire Scene Model Kit. For Ages 8 to Adult.
No scale appears to be given, and none are listed by Scalemates. There are actually two scales here. The scale of the model compared to the real creatures, and the scale of the giant bugs compared to the people and cars they are crushing!
Scalemates listing for Fundimensions
MPC 1975 Catalogue, from the Box Art Den
Airfix Catalogue, 13th Edition, from the Box Art Den
Fundimensions was a US company that made a few kits in the 1970s, mostly TV related models such as The Six Million Dollar Man and Space:1999. The boxes say Fundimensions, Division of General Mills Fun Group, Mount Clemens, Michigan.
Some boxes have An MPC Product of Fundimensions Division of General Mills Fun Group. Fundimensions kits were included in the MPC kit catalogue. There are only a few MPC catalogues on the Box Art Den site, and the Gigantics are included in the 1975 edition, but not in the 1977 issue, so they were not around for long.
Airfix re-issued the Mantis and Scorpion, which were only included in the 13th and 14th Edition catalogues (1976 and 1977). Airfix re-used the Fundimensions box art, with the addition of the Airfix logo, and a few other changes. Both kits were in Series 5.
In the 1990s AMT/Ertl re-issued most of the kits - the Tarantula, Mantis, and Scorpion - but not the Wasp. All the kits had new box art, and the 'headline' for the Scorpion was also changed. Copyright date 1996.
Ad on box bottom
From Plaid Stallions
This is already getting a bit long, so I will leave a closer look at each of the kits themselves for the rest of the week.
Paul Adams from New Zealand
Saw these kits in the 70s, but didn't get them (doh !)
ReplyDeleteTruth is I wanted them, but my teenage cash led me to trendy platform shoes, rather than kits.
Sad, I know.
Love these articles though.
ReplyDeleteSo professionally informative.
Thank you. It is nice to know they are being enjoyed. I never had any of these kits either.
ReplyDeleteGreat articles Paul and great research. I never had any of these kits although I have bought in and sold a couple of later re-issues. I suspect the whole idea of gigantic insects stems from Godzilla and the paranoia around nuclear tests in the 50's. I wonder of these giant insect monsters can be classed as Kaiju? Thanks again fo sharing your efforts with us.
ReplyDelete