Finkin!

Last year I bought the Atlantis re-issue of the old Revell Angel Fink kit, from 1964.

This was one of a series of kits that Revell put out in the 1960s, all by custom car designer Ed 'Big Daddy' Roth. Angel Fink is a very simple kit, with just 19 parts, of which 12 make up the actual figure, plus the base, a pot for brewing up a batch of Nitrous Oxide, and a snake. She stands around 6 inches tall.

The model is fairly easy to assemble, but there are a number of major gaps that need to be filled and sanded down. The plastic is rather thin, so be careful when sanding. The model is also rather top heavy, and not too stable unless it is glued to the base. The hands are fixed to the arms by small pins, which are a tight fit - I managed to break both of them, so the hands are now held by simple butt joins.

Rather than build the model as intended, as a Monster, I built mine as the Old Gypsy from the song Love Potion No.9. She is described as having a gold tooth, and the Love Potion as looking like Indian Ink and smelling like turpentine.

I did not use the snake that is included, and instead added a glass bottle for the Potion. This was made from a round plastic rubbish bin found in a modern 1/35th scale accessory set, with the top of a map pin for the neck and cap. Two paper labels were printed out for the pot and the bottle.

Other than that, the model is simply built straight from the box, and painted. A red cloak, black shoes, Humbrol Dark Flesh for the face and hands, and dark brown for the warts. Angel Fink only has two teeth, one of which is painted gold. I was trying to decide what colour to paint the eyes when I found a bottle of Tamiya Metallic Blue. This gives the eyes a slight sheen, and stands out well against the otherwise matt finish.

This was my first ever Monster kit, and great fun!

Paul Adams from New Zealand