Hello fellow Planeteers:

I am hoping there is someone among the PF group who has amazing recall,
and can remember names of figure companies from the past, who may be
or may not be, still in business. It seems Chris Mrosko has a good memory
for that kind of thing. I will include the image of the figure in it's setting that
I finished a number of years ago; probably around the year 2000. I believe it
is a 1:16th scale or 120mm size. The company who made this resin figure
also released a figure of Victor Hugo's famous bell ringer of Notre Dame, and
I purchased that figure at the same time. With all the moving in the years
hence, I no longer have the labeled name of the company attached to those
clear vinyl packages, both figures came in. I believe it was
Gyro-teck or something like that. Not one of the major companies such as
Andrea or Pegaso, you understand.

And the reason I need this information is that I've been spending some time
writing an article entitled: "Why Colour Harmony and Composition are
important in Model Building" to submit to the IPMS/USA Journal, and hope
that they will publish it. I will have pictures of the figures I write about.
One good feature of the Journal is that they list the companies who
manufacture the models mentioned, as well as others in the hobby industry;
i.e. I used Hornet 1:35th scale heads and Noch terrain grasses and blossoms
along with Winsor Newton artists tube oil paints; series 7 brushes, etc. etc.

So I am hoping someone can post here the name of that company from back
in the late 1990s. Chris, are you out there???

The Miami Jayhawker

For those who are not members of IPMS/USA and will not be seeing the
publication, if I am fortunate enough to get my article in the magazine, the
idea of these photos as examples of colour harmony, is to write in the text
that I painted the light green "T-shirt" (ah. . . been there, done that and
bought the T-shirt) the blue grey jacket and the brown pants and then
used that same paint scheme to paint the masonry and the terrain.

Jaybird

This, along with "The Hunchback", were part of Geometric Designs' "Micromania" series. Both pieces were sculpted by T. Holtner Bruckner. They were marketed as 1/25th scale (75mm), though they were actually closer to 90mm.

Hope this helps,

Augie
Augie Me Fecit

What took you so long!!!

Hello Mr. Rodriguez in Hotlanta, Georgia:

Wow, Augie, that was fast! Couldn't even have been one half hour, to get
the answer. It was so kind of you, Sir to send me all the appropriate
information. And I do so appreciate it.

The ladies and gentlemen on this site, as I've said so many time, are just
"outa' sight". . .

Thanks again,

rick brownlee

My pleasure, Rick!

I'm something of an ol' Geometric fan, so the info was at hand. I did quite a bit of background research on the Micromania series earlier this year as I am reworking their Nosferatu offering. As a sidebar note, if memory serves, all of Bruckner's Micromania renditions (he did the first six) were released in 1998-99.

BTW, I was remiss in not commenting on your rendition of The Monster. GREAT composition! You get a definite feel for the anxiety of the lumbering creature.

Glad to have been of some help!

Augie
Augie Me Fecit

Oh Augie:

Thank you for your kind remarks about my rendition of the Mary Shelley's
Famous Bad Boy; ah 1818 I believe she wrote that novel. . . and the rest is
history, as they say.

Also, thanks for the further information about Bruckner. I have a figure in
small scale of Nosferatu. But have been waiting for just the right moment
to do a very small Gothic Graveyard scene. Maybe a Gargoyle or two in the
mix. But right now it is just an idea. . . So many ideas, and alas, the time is
passing by too too fast.

Thanks again, Augie, have a super day,

rick

Hey Rick, nice job. I have this figure though I have never painted it. The old universal monsters have become my favorite subject matter when it comes to miniatures. Frankenstein in particular is my favorite monster. I see you went with clothing colors that are pretty close to what universal studios says Karloff wore for the movie. But we all know Dr. Frankenstein dressed his monster tastfully in basic black. Great job all around.

New Yawkas no Basic Black is Smart.

Roger that, Bob. Basic Black is hard to beat. Ms. Shelly's Tortured terror
dude would definitely be in fashion walkin' down the streets of Manhattan in
Basic Black. In the big Apple, everyone that is anyone STILL wears black
from head to toe! My daughter lived there for over 6 years, and I visited
several times. Fasinating City.

Got a kick out of your reply. . . Cute,

And thanks Bob,

rick

Hey Carl, my friend:

So good of you to chime in, mate. I do appreciate it. I've been rather truant
on the PF site it seems, and I appologize for not keeping up with your
projects. Jussssss too much going on with all the knee rehab, and writing
the article.

Thanks again for your comments, Carl. I love your latest animated avatar,
ah. . . eh. . . it reminds me of why I'm no longer married.

ricardo Jaybird

Rick, great painting and groundwork . I was also going to mention the excellent use of colour harmony and composition but as you said it first , I won't bother.
Good luck with getting the article published.

Cheers Ken

Well i know absolutely nothing abut the kit rick but i do like the way you went about painting the figure and the groud work, i particularly like the way you have rendered the stone work on the arch and the other stone structure.

Look forward to seeing the article when it is ready amigo,

Take care mate

Stevo

Hey Ken, how's ya doin' ???

Good to hear from you Ken. But wow, that kid is still too young to smoke.
Appreciate your kind words about the project, and hopefully, it will be a good
example of how to explain Colour Harmony. Of course, since this article will
run in an American Yankeeville publication, I will spell Colour as "color" in-
stead, naturally.

Thanks again, mate for your kind words,

Kansas Kid

Roger that, Stevie . . . and thanks

Hi Steve, my friend:

I do appreciate you taking time to post your comments here, Steve. And
about the masonry and the arch in ruin, I hope to go into some detail in that
Journal article (hoping it actually gets accepted, of course) about how the
arch was fabricated using Aves Studios "Clayshay". I believe I've mentioned
that brown papier maché powder you mix with water before on PF. I mixed it
rather thick so it would be like modeling clay and then formed the arch
portion around a section of a plastic cottage cheese container, that I'd taped
to the platform. I used wax paper but I think smearing Vasoline or some
kind of petroleum jelly on the cottage cheese container, for easy removal
when the Clayshay cures, would be of benefit. Clayshay starts to cure in a
little less than an hour.

Thanks again, Steve for your comments. I will be sure and get you the text
and photos when the final draft is completed.

rickster

Hi Rick!
Time no see my friend, how are you?
Stunning work Rick, the monster are great and the groundwork are really well done.

Hi Pedro, my friend:

Good to hear from you, and thanks for the kind words. That knee surgery
kind of slowed me down quite a bit and changed my routine.

Take care,

rick

Haha I knew which firm immediately after the mentioning of "Notre Dame". I have the Notre Dame figure and Nosferatu from this series. There have been so many "Frankies" rendered by so many capable minds I no longer can tell with a Frankie alone...

Geometric Design has had its fair share of blowing the minds of Sci-fi fans with accomplished larger-scaled works such as James Cameron's alien, that bitchy man-eater from Species, and that generally boring PumpkinHead. I wouldn't mind collecting their whole Micro... series as they are all quality. The Black Lagoon creature are absolutely the highlight of this series. The intricate details such as the scales were so well done it really makes for a sumptious viewing at this scale (amazing base too).

Your Frankie is beautifully done and what an impressive groundwork. Go coolect them all if you can, Rick! You will do them justice.

Nice one Rick -- funny that I have the self same kit, received it in just a open plastic bag and didn't have a cooking clue who manufactured it -- until today, many thanks and your effort looks very good indeed well done !!

Michael from the Moon. . .

Hi Michael: And thanks for the kind words and also for the background on
the Geometric Design list of offerings. I did not know any of those facts,
except for the figure I got at the same time as Mary Shelley's
Bolt Head, and of course the other would be the bent over
boy from Paris whose face definitely rang a bell. . .
well actually quite a few bells. Sheeeeeesh I'm stuck in this aliterative mode.

But enough of my foolishness. I did not know about Ms Weaver's Alien
figure or the Black Lagoon aquatic actor, either. I've been attracted
to that Black Lagoon figure a number of times, but never sprang
for it because of the base, how the base looked and how the
figure was attached.

Thanks again for the reply, Michael. Have a super day.

Jaybird

Yo Rob. . .

Hi Rob:

Thanks for taking time to reply. So you have the same kit. As I mentioned in
the first note, I worked on it so many years ago, it is kind of hard for me to
remember some of the details, other than the clear plastic bag, with a fold
over orange paper label stapled to the bag. And I think there were
some white metal parts that came with it.

Appreciate your kind words about my rendering of Franky as well.

Cheers,

The Miami Jayhawk