enthusiast can buy kits of characters from David for sport (think: DIY Predator). Besides playing off
Lynch films, low-budget horror flicks, underground the idea of intergalactic trophy hunters, there’s a
comic books, and spaceships from just about every practical purpose to the design of the line. “I heard
cult sci-fi classic. And then there are the crazed, many people say they were running out of shelf
whimsical kits, models of aliens, monsters, pinup space for their model collections, so I figured, how
babes, and mad machines, rendered directly from about making heads that hang on the wall?” For his
the fevered imaginations of their sculptors. designs, Britton riffs off of creature forms found
Terry J. Webb, editor of Amazing Figure Modeler here on Earth, even incorporating organic materials,
( amazingmodeler.com), one of the premier garage such as animal bones, into his original sculptures.
kit magazines, is also the author of three books that His latest series is of the alien hunters themselves.
chronicle the development of the do-it-yourself kit Dubbed “Boneheads,” the first bust, Admiral Enob,
scene, from its beginning in Japan in the 1980s to is built around part of a bird skeleton, a fish jaw, and
the present. With titles like The Garage Kit That Ate a crab shell. While this is a sophisticated sculpt, it’s
My Wallet, Son of the Garage Kit That Ate My Wallet, also a good example of how found objects can be
and Revenge of the
^{Garage Kit That Ate My} Wallet, these books say “A model enthusiast can buy kits of
^{a lot about the humor} that underlies much characters from low-budget hor-
^{of this movement, the} keen interest in B-movie ror flicks and underground comic
^{subject matter, and the} xpense of these small- books, and spaceships from just
^{run resin- and vinyl-cast} kits, which can cost about every cult sci-fi classic.”
from $60 to several
hundred dollars. “A lot of what drives this hobby,” assembled and amended with sculpting materials
says Webb, “is a love of sci-fi and fantasy movies to create impressive-looking models, even if you
and television. Many people get into kit making don’t have Britton’s sculpting chops.
because they love a movie or show so much, they The Shiflett Brothers ( shiflettbrothers.com),
want to create a little 3D monument to it that other Brandon and Jarrod, are another example of kit
people can enjoy.” makers who are also involved in the entertainment
Many of the model makers behind garage kits business. These Texas brothers got their start doing
are involved in the movie business, often special sculpture work for the video game series Oddworld.
F/X techs, make-up artists, and prop masters. It They’ve also just teamed up to work with Nimba
is through these creative professions that they Creations, a U.K. F/X company that, among other
get their sculpting talent and their familiarity with things, worked on Peter Jackson’s King Kong. To
molding and casting techniques. Dave Britton of satisfy their kit-creator jones, the brothers have
Headhunters Studio ( headhuntersstudio.com) is produced a line of resin kits, including the very
cut from this mold. He worked at several Hollywood Tank Girl-esque model Chloe: Aviator for Hire. While
F/X shops in the 90s, but soon found himself in many sculptors in the hobby do everything: sculpt-
Portland, Ore., where he started to make and sell ing, molding, casting, and sales, the Shifletts (and
latex monster masks. It was through his mask others) do only the sculpting and then sub out the
business that he discovered the kit-making scene molding and casting to other hobbyists or small-
and soon began producing figure-modeling kits. scale commercial casting operations. “Casting is
Unlike many sculptors and casters who make an art in itself,” says Brandon, “and for us, find-
direct copies of movie, TV, or sci-fi characters, ing the right person to mold and cast our work is
Britton has developed a line of mounted alien extremely important.”
heads cast in resin, creating a whole sci-fi backstory Most people involved in the garage kit community
about the hunted aliens and those who hunt them want to give something back, often in an effort to