Tony Hardy’s Land Of The Giants Snake

Like a lot of us, I had this kit as a kid. Couldn’t wait to get it either. I clearly remember getting it on Christmas morning and just being absolutely thrilled! I built it that same day, but did not have all of the testors paint colors that I needed. However, mom had some poster paints, so I used those. Well, those looked okay for a few days until the paint started shedding from the kit like an old snake skin. After that, I don’t have any memories of the kit. I’m sure I had it for years before it was……shot up with a BB Gun. Why, oh why are teenagers so flipping stupid?

So, fast forward about 37 years. Now I can build this kit and do it justice, and boy was it fun! I pretty much built the kit straight from the box. The seams on the snake were a pain to putty, and I had to re-engrave some detail in the snake due to all of the sanding, but it worked out okay.

I spent quite a bit of time detailing the figures as I wanted them to look real nice. Also added a real safety pin to the kit and chucked the overly thick plastic one (something that a lot of modelers have done).

I didn’t spend a lot of time trying to make the snake’s coloring accurate to a real rattlesnake, especially since the little people are on another world and the animals would look a little different anyway.

I really, really enjoyed building and painting this kit! So take your time and go build a plastic kit from your youth. It’s the closest feeling to going back home that you’ll probably ever get.

Tony Hardy