Howard Camner’s Scuzz Fink

Any fan of Big Daddy Ed Roth (creator of Rat Fink and amazing show cars) knows that Scuz Fink was a prize to have. When Big Daddy created this guy he couldn’t think of a name for him and there was a national contest to name the creature. The winner was a young girl in New Jersey whose prize was…Big Daddy and his entourage for a weekend. Plus money to “feed” Big Daddy. Her parents were not thrilled. Well, after several attempts I finally got hold of the model. I wasn’t thrilled either for some reason which I can’t figure out. I guess I felt that the anticipation was worth more than the gold. I avoided putting the model together for a long time. It just didn’t call out to me. Then one day I decided that this bizarre alien needed a whole scene. I turned a painting canvass face-up and created a hill out of Styrofoam and plaster of Paris. Scuz comes with a “dingbat” crazy bird on a small moon-like base that he stands on as though he’s flying in on the thing. I didn’t want to use the base or dingbat so I made a small separate model out of that. Besides, if there’s one thing I’ve learned in life it’s that you can’t conquer a planet riding on a dingbat. Who’s going to take you seriously? I painted the hill and the grounds dark green and put the menacing alien on top of the hill with his ray gun at the ready. I got some model railroad trees and stuck them here and there. I figured Scuz didn’t walk to Earth and not wanting dingbat involved, I decided to use a flying saucer that I had lying around. It plugs in and slow moving psychedelic lights creep across the dome, fitting for Scuz Fink’s 1960s arrival. I though I was done until it occurred to me that I was the only one he was attempting to scare and it wasn’t working, so I found some terrified victims (every monster model maker’s dream) and let Scuz Fink deal with them directly.

Howard Camner