Monkee Business

The drum set was made from plastic rod, the cymbals from .005 plastic sheet from Evergreen Plastics.  It is about the thickness of a sheet of copy paper.

The snare drum, tom toms, floor tom tom are stacks of fake lego pins cut off the bricks from a previous project.  Save everything!  The bass drum is thin sheet plastic over a bit of plastic tubing.  It's all mounted on a bit of sheet plastic.  The drummer sits on three fake lego pins as his seat.  The drum sticks are brush bristles inserted into holes drilled into the hands of the figure and held in with super glue.

Originally the cymbals were glued onto the plastic rod with regular model glue but it took so long to dry they kept falling off.  So eventually I used some E6000 glue which is very sticky to help hold them on.

The edge and back of the guitars was painted Gunze Sangyo Tan 27 paint to simulate wood.

I think the guitars turned out really well and were almost free, since I used scrap plastic and printed about 20 guitars on one sheet of photo paper.

I did the Monkees in both on stage performing and just standing around versions.  Mike got a head swap with a Matchbox WWII British Commando to give him his signature wool cap.  The Micky figure got his cane cut away and his stomach trimmed down.  Davy got a head swap to a figure with longer hair.

The car came from eBay, it arrived in perfect condition in the package.  I opened it up immediately after taking photos.
 

Batman 66 & Monkees

I decided to make a number of bands, large and small that are related to several projects.  USO shows in WWII, Korea, and Vietnam often had popular musicians on tour.

Part of what I am building for my American Cities project is hotels and a movie studio.  Music is popular in those venues.

The figures are generic bulk plastic figures from Amazon, mostly unpainted when I got them.

The Monkees often wore matching outfits which was common for bands until the 1970s.  I selected red over blue because that seemed a common look for them; and the red shirts go well with the car and the logo.

To make the guitars I printed out a bunch of guitar photos and drawings and kept resizing them until they seemed to be about the right size for the 1/72nd scale figures.  I think that a Batman 66 & Monkees would have been a great crossover show or comic book.

Then I printed them on photo paper, cut them out and glued them on 1mm sheet plastic by Evergreen.  I used Gorilla Super Glue Brush and Nozzle glue to affix the guitars to the plastic backing.  Then I cut the plastic into the shape of the guitar.

The Monkees were on at the same time as the Batman TV show but on a different network.  The Monkees did several call outs to Batman with Burgess Meredith wearing a similar outfit to the Penguin, they had Julie Newmar as a guest star (Catwoman on Batman), and there was talk of a Batman 66 / Monkees comic book that sadly, never happened.
 

Monkees Car and Stage

The Monkeemobile was configured as a drag racer with a parachute on the rear.

This Johnny Lighting car has a nice underside.

The engine is well detailed, the canvas top is not removable.

This The Monkees logo, often done as a gold decal on the door sides.  Johnny Lightning makes both versions.

Mike, Peter, Micky, and Davy.

This car came with this card which was taken from the end credits of the show.  There was a different one for each of the four cast members.

I use the logo as a backdrop.  The base here is a thick piece of plastic cut into a mod stage.  Note the Monkees logo on the drum.  It does not always appear on their drum.
 

Monkee Mobile

In 1966 there was a TV show called "The Monkees."

It was about a rock and roll band of four guys who lived together on a beach house.

They were always broke and always getting into mischief. 

But naturally, since it was 1966 they had a custom automobile, the Monkeemobile.

It started as a Pontiac GTO and was modified by removing the trunk, extending the interior with a third seat.

They made two cars for the TV show.

Over the years several more were made including one for the 45th anniversary special that is essentially identical to the original.

The car often has a stylized logo of the words The Monkees in the shape of a guitar.

It is also often just plain like this version.