Monarch’s new 1/35 scale Konga plastic model kit replicates the giant gorilla from the 1961 cult movie of the same name. Specifically, the model re-creates a scene from the end of the movie when Konga goes on its final rampage, having grown enormous. The kit builds quickly and has lots of fun details to paint.
In case you’ve never seen Konga, in it, Dr. Charles Decker, a botanist, returns to England after surviving a plane crash and spending a year lost in the African jungle. He brings back with him a baby chimpanzee named Konga and a secret serum derived from carnivorous plants that can rapidly enlarge living things. Yes, you can see where this is headed. Megalomania and personal grudges drive Decker to inject the formula into Konga. Oh, my! Now, Konga is a full-grown chimp. A second dose, the poor animal becomes a man-sized, gorilla-like beast Decker uses to kill off rivals. A third dose, and Konga is now the size of a building, and no one can stop him from rampaging through the streets of London except the British army.
It’s the sort of campy sci-fi/horror movie license that lends itself to interesting, if niche, models.
Containing 28 parts, the kit builds quickly. Seven parts create the diorama base. The brick walls come molded in red styrene, and the large base is molded in green plastic. The fit is good on all the parts, and I didn’t need any filler for the walls. However, I filed the corners slightly to better hide the seam where the wall pieces join.
Konga himself is molded in fifteen bright orange parts. Here, I also found the parts fit together well, but I had to use a small amount of filler along the join where Konga’s front and rear halves meet. Some putty in the figure’s armpits eased the transition from the arms to the torso.
Konga’s head is the most detailed part of the model, constructed from a main head with face, upper teeth, jaw, and lower teeth. The head sculpt looks great and matches Konga on the movie poster well. It doesn’t, however, match his look in the film. Frankly, the poster illustration is a better rendition than what appeared on screen. On the other hand, if you were looking for a screen-accurate head, you won’t find it in this kit.
The human figures are all molded as single parts, except for the woman who is screaming (Sandra in the movie) — her arms are molded separately from her body. The figures are molded in a light yellow color and exhibit fairly good detail overall, but the faces are on the soft side.
Painting went quickly with the help of the detail on the base and on Konga. I mainly used Monument Hobbies Pro Acryl. They are great for brush painting and thin and airbrush well, too. I airbrushed the base coat for the walls and Konga, and then dry-brushed with lighter colors to quickly pop details. I then went back and picked out single bricks one by one. Objects like the tree, windows, and door were all painted by hand after.
The grass, bushes, and tree detail all appear crisp. But if you wanted bump it up, static grass and individual leaves would add a lot to the scene, should you want to go there.
All in all, I had a lot of fun building and painting the Monarch Models Konga. It’s a wonderful option for any modeler at any skill level looking to add a monster to their collection. I spent about 30 hours completing the scene.