Maker

get new hobbyists involved and to form alliances Inspired by books about Bigfoot and the Loch Ness with fellow kit makers. The Shiflett Brothers do Monster, Dave Britton began creating models at age 15, ^{this by maintaining} “^{Sculpting with the Shiflett eventually moving to Hollywood to work as a make-up} artist and lab technician. Most of his models are “full

Brothers,” the largest sculpting online forum of its _size” _{— the Aqualarian head (right) is 23}" _tall.
type. “Our forum attracts pros and amateurs alike,”
says Brandon. “Everyone from 13-year-old newbies
to pro sculptors working on the King Kong film.”

Other modelers like Dan Perez include workshops on their websites that teach sculpting, molding, and casting. And then there’s the collective policing of recasters. While most garage kit creators don’t bother with licensing the subject matter of their kits, they don’t take kindly to those who buy one of their kits, create a second-gen mold, and then cast knock-off kits at a third of the price (called “recasts”).

“We’re a close-knit community,” says Terry Webb. “We look out for each other, and when recasters rip one of us off, it impacts us all.” He adds, “This is an art form, and those of us involved in it take great pride in what we do.”

Gareth Branwyn writes about the intersection of technology and culture and is “cyborg-in-chief” of Streettech.com.

Resources:
Dan Perez Studios Modeling Workshop
danperezstudios.com/workshop.htm
Perez’s workshops take you step-by-step through
beginning sculpting, mold making, casting, and
other skills used in garage kit building. Highly
recommended.

The Clubhouse
theclubhouse1.net/
Popular online watering hole for kit creators and
builders.

Amazing Figure Modeler
amazingmodeler.com, $28/4 issues
Premier magazine for figure modeling, with how-tos
on everything from sculpting your own models to
assembling, painting, and basing garage model kits.

For more resources go to makezine.com/05/ monsters.