Here’s a few photos of my completed MPC Maximilian kit, all painted up, and ready for some evil robot shenanigans
Maximilian is, of course, the malevolent robot henchman built by Dr Hans Reinhardt, the archetypal mad scientist, as seen in the film, The Black Hole.
The MPC kit which was produced in 1979, to coincide with the film's release, is a fairly simple build, comprising of basically six components. Once pre-assembled, the head, and the arms are slotted into the two halves of the main body. Finally, both the legs are then added.
As the Maximilian prop has an illuminated red ‘eye’, I added a light which was fitted inside the head, although not actually attached to it, so the head can turn independently without twisting up the wiring.
The wires come out of the back of the body and intertwine down the curved metal rod which leads to the model’s stand.
The plastic is moulded in a similar colour to what we see on screen, which is perfect if you’re a youngster who isn’t too fussy and just wants to get the kit glued together asap, and get on with the job of playing with it; I suspect there might even be a few oldies out there who would find this appealing!
For the more serious modeller, painting is a must!
Most of the joint lines don’t really need any filler, so once the ’eye’ is masked off, it’s just a case of priming, painting and sealing.
For the body colour I chose a mix of Tamiya metallic red and mica red, coupled with some subtle dark weathering, all finished off with a semi gloss sealer.
One final note; the model comes with optional open or closed blade attachments, and, to be honest I haven’t quite decided yet which I’ll chose for the final look.
In part 2, some more photos showing Max aboard the Cygnus.
My own baby boomer horse was more likely to have a Life Guard on its back. I would have given my entire gobstopper collection for one carrying this Lancers soldier I saw recently on the SAS sales site.
For Marvel fans like me a new flick on Disney + is exciting.
Last night I watched Guardians of the Galaxy III. Previously I'd really enjoyed the first two films, especially the first, with its bold use of the great American song book and the refreshing motley of Guardians.
The second film was great but the pre-occupation with a CGI Kurt Russell took away one star. Still a fab flick through.
So [spoiler alert!], the difficult third film is essentially Rocket's origin story. I liked it, I did, but it lacked something the first two had, that light-hearted joule de vivre that always carried the friends along.
Yes, number three is still about friends for sure but there's so much more shouting going on. Angry, hacked-off guardians throwing tizzies. Even Nebula [ex-Dr.Who] the patchwork android shouts and balls - at everyone. Gamora looks fed-up most of the time and Quill appears to have just fallen out of bed. Only Groot, Mantis and Drax seem themselves, with Rocket out for the count on an operating table this time round. Mantis remained my favourite Guardian, I could watch her all day.
Oddly enough it was the new stuff I liked the most though. The engineered animals were the most interesting sections by far, dare I say the most human; strangely sweet, sad and heartening like Watership Down was. Another newcomer was Adam Warlock, a conflicted super-being, who looked just like Rick Astley painted gold.
Even the songs seemed out of kilter. This is the Day by The The? What happened to the bright and breezy mix-tape? Maybe this was indeed the day.
I've since read that the old Guardians will not return to the big screen. Ten years is a long time listening to soft rock and wearing green greasepaint. I for one will miss them as a team. I hope individual characters re-appear in the Marvel Universe, if not the actors themselves. Warlock will certainly be one to watch.
Goodbye Guardians. come and get your love.*
* in case you haven't seen the first film, this is the title of the 1973 song by US rockers Redbone, made famous again by the movie's superb opening scene, where Peter Quill dances to his mix tape and headphones. I loved Redbone as a kid in 1970, their Witch Queen of New Orleans a personal favourite, appearing on one of my K-Tel LP 20 Dynamic Hits. Remember it?
With a new round of dust allergy driving me insane since I got back to Blighty I was distinctly out of sorts at this morning's car boot sale. Consequently I didn't buy a solitary thing.
Two things I passed on I simply cannot find online anywhere. This could be the search terms I'm using but I'll describe them.
One was a large boxed modern playset by Adventure Force called Dragon Castle of Knights V Dragons or similar. There were two plastic dragons, a few knights and a small castle inside a very large flat rectangular box. I've since discovered that Adventure Force is a Walmart toy brand and covers just about everything from sharks to blasters. I cannot find the dragons and knights playset anywhere.
Second was a loose black action soldier doll in a green uniform. It had a relatively large roundish head and appeared to be at least 18 inches tall. It may have flocked hair. It was lying on top of some 1990's Action Men and was much bigger than those. Again, I cannot find this online anywhere.
I should have been in a better mood then maybe I may have even bought them!
Do you have a dust allergy, hay fever or asthma readers?
