Guillotine 1964

Yeah, I know, been a while.  That being said, here I am back to show more of my Aurora kits in the order of release.  In what was a planned release of kits based on Madame Tussaud's Chamber of Horrors, from the Wax Museum, the first release was the Guillotine.  Other kits planned were The Rack, Gallows, Hanging Tree and The Electric Chair.  Parents protested this one and none of the others were ever released.  Concerned parent protests would later cause changes in G.I. Joe (from military to Adventure Team) and again with Aurora in 1971 when the Monster Scenes were discontinued in the United States.  

To the best of my knowledge, the box below was designed for the Hanging Tree, which is a kit I would have loved to have.

Here is a photo of the proposed kit.  I am unclear on whether it was a prototype or a custom build based on the prototype.  Either way, it is cool.

Here below is the original box from 1964.  This kit was re-issued once, by Polar Lights around 2000.  

I built this one several years ago.  This one caused more than a little bit of controversy.  I don't think it compared to the controversy caused by the Monster Scenes, but I understand it was an issue at the time.  Moms apparently did not want their kids building model kits which then chopped the heads off the figures included in the kit.  I have no idea why,but some apparently thought it was a bad thing.  

You build the model of the guillotine then the blade actually moves up and down and you don't glue the head on the poor Frenchman who is on the slab.  Blade comes down, head falls in basket, show is over.

It was an enjoyable build, but I really didn't like it as much as I thought I would.  It lacks the detailed base I love like most of the Aurora kits.  Nice item. If it were a little bit larger (this kit is 1/15 scale) it would have fit in well with Monster Scenes (they were 1/12 - 1/13 scale) a few years later.

My Guillotine kit:

Current Goings on

I am currently spending a lot of time painting miniatures for gaming.  I fell in love with the Zombies!!! game and painted almost 200 figures for it so far and here is a shot of some of them.  Added a few "adventurers" to the collection to go with the painted "shotgun guys" who come with the game.  Ape-X is in the background.