About Me

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No Fixed Abode, Home Counties, United Kingdom
I’m a 60-year-old Aspergic gardening CAD-Monkey. Sardonic, cynical and with the political leanings of a social reformer, I’m also a toy and model figure collector, particularly interested in the history of plastics and plastic toys. Other interests are history, current affairs, modern art, and architecture, gardening and natural history. I love plain chocolate, fireworks and trees, but I don’t hug them, I do hug kittens. I hate ignorance, when it can be avoided, so I hate the 'educational' establishment and pity the millions they’ve failed with teaching-to-test and rote 'learning' and I hate the short-sighted stupidity of the entire ruling/industrial elite, with their planet destroying fascism and added “buy-one-get-one-free”. Likewise, I also have no time for fools and little time for the false crap we're all supposed to pretend we haven't noticed, or the games we're supposed to play. I will 'bite the hand that feeds', to remind it why it feeds.
Showing posts with label Fundimentions. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Fundimentions. Show all posts

Thursday, January 29, 2026

G is for Gigantics - Giant Monster Insects

Except, it can be argued Spiders and Scorpions are not technically insects, but they meant well! Originally issued by Fundimentions, (Miner Industries/MPC) when General Mills became involved they were re-branded AMT/Ertl, but MPC and Airfix boxes can be found, although these (below) are the common iteration; certainly in the UK.
 
I got mine out and shot the boxes a few years ago, and then scanned them, a while later, I didn't shoot the kits, as they were unmade, but as they are quite simple, I hope to do them as future modelling projects, with posts on them, here, then.
 
There was originally a fourth model, a Giant Wasp, but it was only issued in the early days, and I won't speculate on the reasons for its lack of re-issue, nor will I 'research' it by nicking other people's stuff, one day, hopefully, I'll just get one! 
 

July 2022, and the lawn's looking a little better than in did the previous summer when I shot the board-game .gif's! I think I got two of these from Modellers Loft, one at the old site off the M25 (Coulsdon Road/Brighton Road?), the other at the Croydon Road shop (I believe they're now based in Bournemouth?), with the slightly crushed Scorpion box, being a Car Booty prize!
 
 
The original reason for my interest in them was the HO/OO-gauge-compatible figures, and while the Giant Wasp isn't listed here, it seems to have had the same figure-count/pose distribution as the 17-figure Giant Scorpion set.
 
Each kit contains, in addition to the monster insect, and figures, a few scenic items, in mixed scales, and card 'corner' to make a display for your kit. And - if I work this out right, below this post you'll find three image-dumps, of the scans I took a week or so later, one for each of the three sets.
 
Other people's research;
 
Blog overview;
 
And he did a Wasp video! 'Funland' has never been less fun!
 
Gigantic Wasp on Scalemates;
 
There were also flyers for a magazine included in two of the kits;
 

Giant Tarantula
 

Giant Scorpion

It seems to have been a very short-lived enterprise?

G is for Gigantic Spider

Yeah! . . . The worst nightmare! Not carried by Airfix, but as common as the two below (if I've posted them right!), although it only got a few figures (eight), and not all the poses. I think I did start to make this one at some point, so may already have a complete Tarantula!
 




Box.
 

This is clever, and the other kits would have benefited from something similar, it's a rest made from a copy of a section of the tool, so the body (thorax and abdomen) rests on it while the leg-glue sets, ensuring they are all positioned correctly and are flat to the ground.
 

Instruction sheet.
 
There was an additional French instruction sheet.
 
Printed card backdrop.

G is for Gigantic Mantis

The first of the two carried by Airfix, for a while, and I guess, being cut in half by a giant Prying Mantis would be a quick and relatively painless end, if accompanied by a deal of sheer terror! This kit got a full complement of the vaguely HO-gauge compatible figures, but only one of each. And - apparently, a male, due to the presence of wings.
 




Box
 




Instruction sheet
 
HO figures, N-gauge tunnels, micro-amour buildings . . . Forced perspective!

G is for Gigantic Scorpion

A sting from a scorpion this big would fill you with so much liquid, instantaneously, you would explode like a water balloon, before you felt the burning seer of any poison! Continuing the image dump/Picasa clearance exercise, with the last of the three AMT-Ertl Gigantics, and the other one carried by Airfix immediately prior-to and during the General Mills years.





 
Box.


As far as I know, this kit was the only kit with a waterslide transfer sheet, for the shopfronts of one of the damaged building mouldings, included in the kit.




 
Instruction sheet.
 
 
Card background/backdrop for arranging the other elements in a rudimentary disorama.