Praying Mantis by AMT, scale unknown
kit number 8389

By Dennis Ugulano

Having raised Praying Mantises for the past 15 years, the AMT re-release of the old MPC kit was a must have. Between 1975-76, MPC released four kits in their GIGANTICS series that included a Scorpion, a Tarantula and a Wasp. The Scorpion and Tarantula have been released along with the Mantis. I understand that the wings of the Wasp are either missing or damaged and was not released with the others in the series.

The kit correctly depicts the male mantis as only the male flies.

Construction

The kit has only 14 pieces and is completely flash free. The parts glue together is such a way that there are no seams to fill and putty. The exception of the eyes and antenna, the entire model was assembled in about an hour.

The head is two pieces with a huge gap between the two representing the mouth. This area was filled with putty and shaped to look somewhat authentic. I say somewhat because the mantis mouth has about 12 moving parts that do some strange things. I would still be working on it if I tried to duplicate the mouth. Also, the antenna is wrong for the mantis I raise. The kit depicts a fern looking antenna that goes back over the head. Mine have two very thin, straight antenna right out the top of their head. Two pieces of stretched sprue took care of this problem in a couple of minutes. The mantis eye is clear and reflects the color of the mantis, not black as referenced in the kit. And there is the tiniest black spot representing the "pupil."

After assembly, the entire mantis was painted with Pactra Chartreuse as it closest represents the color of my mantis. I then mixed five shades of Chartreuse with GRUMBACHER Hyplar Acrylic paints and spent an hour blending colors as my model sat patiently on my finger. She works for flies and an occasional moth and this is the only live model I will ever get past Tech Support. It is not a typo saying "she" as my model is a female. The male was, how do we say, consumed in the role that he plays. After painting, the tiny dot is placed in the eye and the eye is then painted several times with FUTURE floor wax to get the shine in his eyes.

I then scrapped the cardboard buildings, crushed cars and running people and mounted him on a base with a branch and silk leaves. And there he sits in my case, waiting for his next meal.

Start to finish took about 3 hours and at least an hour of that time was painting. It is a very good model and a pleasure to build. The kit cost about $10 and is still available in stores. But, hurry while supplies last.