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| Aurora Penguin Kit, circa 1968. A bit dusty, with cigarette and umbrella missing |
Back in the late 1960s, I starting to get interested in model kits, starting first with Airfix Spitfire aircraft and Royal Navy ships, and then progressing to acquiring the TV-series-related models advertised on the back of US comics, following the acquisition of the Stingray kit as previously advertised in TV21.
I remember then getting the Seaview submarine (from Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea), and then my fancy was taken by the adverts for the Aurora kits of DC heroes (Batman, Robin, Superboy, etc) and villains. Throughout this period, my Dad was the one making and painting the kits for me, as I leaned over his shoulder and breathed in the smell of the glue…
I have no clue what happened to most of the kits (probably sold to the guy who ran the Timeslip shop in Fawcett Rd in Southsea in the early 1980s), but as luck would have it, I still have The Penguin kit (plus box and instructions). The kit was purchased from the Fratton Bargain shop in Fratton Rd, Portsmouth around 1968.
Around the mid 1970s my pal Geoff Cousins had a go at repainting the model to more closely approximate the dress of Burgess Meredith as the Penguin, and did a pretty good job (IMHO).
I was very impressed by the quality and detail of the rendering of Burgess Meredith as the Penguin, and was very disappointed by lack of detail and realism of the Batman kit that Aurora re-issued around 1974.
Does anyone have any thoughts on the differences in detail between the Penguin kit and the other Aurora kits? Just compare the facial detail on the Penguin kit with the facial detail on the Batman kit issued at the same time. Like night and day.
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Here’s the box, instructions, a few transfers and the original tube 50+ year old Humbrol 77 model cement. |
As you can see from the photo at the top of the blog, the kit itself is a little bit worse for wear (Penguin cigarette holder missing and umbrella handle missing) and dusty but I’m sure could be restored to prime condition.
