One of the earliest examples of great Special Effects in a Science Fiction film, RKO's KING KONG remains as popular today as it did when it first came out in 1933! And of all the monster movies of our youth, this character remains my all time favorite!! So let's turn the Spotlight On our favorite Ape and see what kits have been made to tame the savage beast... First on the scene, once again, was our favorite AURORA company! Scale wise, this kit is a nightmare! Measure Fay Wray against those palm trees and you suddenly have your own '50 foot Woman'!! But besides the perspective errors, this was a great kit! The glow and Luminator versions came next. POLAR LIGHTS' came out with a reissued version of the AURORA kit in October 2000! In Jan. 2021, Atlantis found the molds, having purchased all the Revell USA molds last year. Later in the year reissued in glow version:

Chuck Morrow walked into a shop, and there sitting on a shelf was this KING KONG made entirely of brass!!! Overall, it's a great piece and wouldn't mind owning this myself!

MEGO issued a kit based on the 1976 remake of KING KONG. Like the Aurora kit, this too suffered from some obvious scale relationships! This was a SNAP-TIGHT kit. Ironically, since 9/11 this kit has shot up in value. MEGO had a 2nd kit in the works. Unfortunately, it never saw the light of day.

Revell repackaged their 'Endangered Gorilla' kit.

GEOmetric	SFR's Base	Mike Hill	Mad Labs	Mike Hill

Nagle Works	Kong vs Pteradactyl	Resin From The Grave	5th Sense	Dark Horse

...and if you ever run across a kit on eBay entitled,   "Going Ape In N.Y.C.", it's actually a recasted      version of the Dark Horse kit on the left!

Mike Hill	Tsukuda	Mick Wood	Jeff Taylor	Joe Laudati	Lu Vazquez	Izumi

Billiken	Billiken	Classic Sculpture	Unknown

Joe Laudati & Mark Van Tine's	Resin From The Grave	Murakami	Murakami	Murakami	Dimensional Design	Tony Mcvey	Eichi Mogi	Tony Cipriano

	Jim	Davidson

Kobiyashi Kits/ Alternative Images	LUNAR Models	Kobiyashi Kits 'Rock Throw'	Twin Flame Design	Bill's Kitchen	Japanese Kit

Kong Lamp seen on eBay	AFM's Xacto Knife Holder	Alternative Images'	Burroughs Model Works	Bowen Designs

Shawn Nagle (KONG) Mike Manit (T-REX)	Amazing Figure Modeler	Scott Richard

Amazing Figure Modeler	Mick Wood	Kobioshi Kits' 'The Unveiling'	Needful Things' 'King & I'	Jim Kroes	Fantamation Studios

Python Kits	Alternative Images	TimeSlip Creations	MouldArt	Murakami	Killer Kits	Tony McVey	Tony McVey	Jay Harless

Murakami	Murakami	Murakami	Tadao Inoue (46cm)	MIM (3.5 in version)	Paradise	Inoue Arts	Taylor Designs	Akira Ibaraki

Unknown	Gorilla Skull	Monkey Business	Jeff Yagher & Mike Wallace	Fontegris Miniatures	Studio Oxmox	Resin Realities	Posthumous Prods	Panmak

				Murakami		Daimos	Monsters In Motion	X-Plus

Inoue Arts	Daimos	GEOMetric	Six String Prods	Model Mansion	Unknown	Jim Davidson	Joe Laudati

Tony Cipriano	Killer Kits	Moohead Models	Daimos	Mike Wallace	Chlouis	Molemento Pete	Tony Zang	Terry Norton	Casey Love

			Mad Labs

Daimos	Alternative Images	Ultratumba Prods	Tower of London	Mark VanTine (WIP)	CoP	Unknown	Nagle Works	Marcel Delgado

Terry Prince	Jim Peavy	Alternative Images	Resin In Motion	Bucketfoot Al's kit bash	Stuart Land	Demonic

Gillman Prods

Tony Cipriano	dio of Tony's By Victor Mascaro	Tony Cipriano	Tony Cipriano	Airshow Corp Hong Kong

Izumi Takabe	Gillman Prods	Gillman Prods version 2		Mick Wood		Frank Mollica

XO Facto	Atomic Misfits	Polar Lights	Frank Mollica	Andrea Miniatures	Ken VRex	Killer Kits	Barsom	Alternative Images	Action Hobbies

Tim Bruckner	Tony Cipriano	Burroughs Model Works	ARH Studios	Roto Kaiju	Roto Kaiju

Kobioshi Kits	Dimensional Design	Mike Swisstack	Tony Cipriano	Tomek Radziewicz	Resin Realities	Maven Collectibles	William Wieger	Kester Duran	Koma Design

CultTVman	CultTVman	custom piece by Rich Di Iorio			Unknowns		Resin Realities

Milosh	Black Heart	KitKong	Murakami	Killer Kits (Joe Bailey)	Kaha Miniatures	Mario Soucy	Eight Art Studio	Monsterpoppa

Daimos	Bruce Yee	Hiroto Tsubouchi	Bruce Yee (WIP)	Cipriano Sculpture	Nimajneb	Andy Cope

		Alternative Images			Alternative Images

Antoni Maslyk & Andre Vasilchin	McDevitt Studio	Tony McVey	Onyx Digital Studios	Michael Jaynes	Fatty Bones	Stuart Good	Hiro Hamada

Blackheart	Mark Seng Yang	Diaz Printables	Paul Fay	Murakami	Cipriano Sculpture	Unknown	Kaha Miniatures

Roto Kaiju	Jim Van Dijk	Monarch Models	Tomek Radziewicz	TioTar (cgtrader)	Nikko Mendoza (WIP)	Nikko Industries	Nick DiRado

Tanya Owens	Tomek Radziewicz	Beninside Studio	Redda Az-zahra	Adam Chai	Filemon Mateus

Borrelli Massimo	Edythe Cross	Emiliano Calderon (WIP)	Elisabetta Visentini	Leandro Hewitt	Toymakr 3D	Alternative Images	Duran Kes

Pestilence Labs	Borrelli Massimo	Rick Evans	Goodfellas Resin	Evgeny Artifex	Roto Kaiju	Resin Realities	Larsons Design (WIP)	Michael Berglund

Star Ace	James Groman	Adil Merabet	Emanuel Skorepa	Mick Wood (WIP)	Mick Wood	Unknown	Titans	Cipriano Sculpture

Gianmarco Fontana	Titans	Thunderdeep 3D	Fates Forge 4-6 inches	MINGDA	Beninside Studios	Burroughs Model Works

Unknown	Cipriano Sculpture	Killer Kits	Nagle Works	X-Plus	Double Casket Toys	Mark Van Tine	Unknown (seen at WF 2023)

Unknown (seen at WF 2023)	Unknown	Nguyen Hung Os	FE Studios	Dragon Trappers Lodge	Taichi Yamada	Titans	Inoui Arts	Alessio Busanca

Spatz	Tony Cipriano (WIP)	Nacho CG	Scott Johansen	Titans	Dragon Miniatures	Robert DiPietrantonio 2 1/2 feet	Tony Cipriano	Kaha Miniatures

Silvia Tampi	Stann Arts	Prime 1 Studios	Hiya Toys	Adriano Sculptures 1:4	Unknown	Art In Action 3D	Darren Kent	Unknown

Spatz	Artuy Design	Doug McCartney kitbash	Berserker FX

Talk about life size! Hollywood Wax Museum in Branson, Missouri!

A scratch built dio by Shawn Caldwell using the Dark Horse Kong.

A scratch built dio by Andrew Stanicek using the Aurora Kong & a Kothoga.

Scratch Built by Antonio Leveque

A diorama by Jon LeGrand

A nice diorama seen at WF'18

diorama R.G. Henning	diorama Wayne Riley	Exhibit in the Universal Studios Hollywood	Joseph Bergman	Dave Whitelaw's 'KongZilla'!	Mezco Toyz	DWoodart Studio (wood carving)	Prime 1 Studio

neat kitbash by Conrado De Pietro	nice b/u of the Aurora kit by Dean Wade	shadow box by Paul Garnett	Hiya (figure)	Major Cineplex, Thailand	great diorama by David Medhurst

Art Spirits			Star Ace (pre-paints)

X-Plus		Bruce Horton dioramas	(Geo Kong)

   
These are commissioned, one-of-a-kind sculpts
that Jim Davidson finished up!

Jeff Yagher's work based off the measurements of the Bob Burns armature.

Slightly out of the ordinary... if you like your AURORA Kong wrapped in metal foil!

Randy Stiefer took this photo at a model show in Texas. The diorama was done by Bill Jones!

   

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Came across this one on eBay. The description said: "Made for the Dino De Laurentis 1976 film, this model was made from the original molds used for the preliminary presentation to sell the film. The models were given to distributors and other important people in the industry. Very few were made, and they seldom come on the market. The model is 20" high and the base is 3" high." LAPCO bought SM Clark's KONG sculpture and last I heard, Clark recently bought it back, so I'm hoping we'll see it produced one day! When I asked him why he sculpted this figure, since it was very close to the DARK HORSE version, he replied that he wasn't even AWARE that second DH version existed or he would never have sculpted his own 'Kong Busts Loose' piece!! He notes that he did fix the fact that it was Kong's right hand which breaks the chains first and not the left!

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Kaiyodo, out of Japan, came out with these bottle cap
figures, based on the Peter Jackson Kong!

Spot Light On...