BY "BRUDDERS" DICK AND BILL ENGAR

(THIS PAGE IS A WORK IN PROGRESS.  CHECK BACK PERIODICALLY FOR NEW MATERIAL AS WE COMPLETE IT)

"BIG DADDY" ED ROTH'S FAMOUS RAT FINK CHARACTER FIGURE MODEL KIT RETURNS!  ATLANTIS # H1305.  MSRP IS A CRAZY-LOW $19.99!  HE WAS FORMERLY A REVELL KIT.  RAT FINK IS EASY TO BUILD WITH JUST 8 PARTS!  YOU'LL NEED TO PROVIDE GLUE AND PAINT TO ASSEMBLE RAT FINK.  AGES 14 AND UP RECOMMENDED!  MADE IN USA

Ed Roth was an American artist credited as a founder of Kustom Kar Kulture.  He was also influential in transforming the T-shirt from a mere undergarment to a casual wardrobe essential.  We'll explore his phenomenon in the bonus features accompanying this article.

Roth became famous for monster figures that he airbrushed onto plain T-shirts at car shows.  Rat Fink was the most popular and became symbolic of Roth and his artwork.  Rat Fink first appeared in 1963 and was also released as a Revell model kit that same year.  The kit has been released every few years or so since.  In 2018, Atlantis Models purchased Revell's legacy tooling and has been selling various Ed Roth model kits since 2019.  Rat Fink joins Mr. Gasser, Angel Fink, SurFink, Drag Nut, and Boss Fink in a growing line of popular Ed Roth model kits.

For the first time in many years, Rat Fink reappears with the same vintage artwork from 1963!

Rat Fink is a simple kit with just 8 parts.  Atlantis recommends that builders should be 14 years old to build the kit, but younger modelers should be able to handle this one just fine if they're comfortable handling model cement and paints safely. It's always a good idea for Mom and/or Dad or Parent/Guardian to supervise youngsters using paint, glue and sharp hobby knives used to separate parts from sprues and also to clean up parts.

Rat Fink is about the size of a large Idaho potato (but don't try to eat him).  He comes in two halves with a rat-tail, two feet, a small, round nose, beady clear eyes and a kidney-shaped base.  We actually counted nine parts--just think, you get nine for the price of eight!

You can put the figure together before doing any painting.  Fastidious contest modelers will want to fill the seam between the two halves. There might be some minor gaps between these parts.  Atlantis molded the beady-eye parts in clear plastic giving you some great painting options.  We'd recommend painting the backside of these parts!  Paint the very center (pupil) with a dot of black paint and use your color of choice for the iris.  The original kit used red plastic but we prefer the clear parts as done by Atlantis.  If you want to replicate the clear-look of the original part, get some transparent-red paint like Tamiya's Clear Red acrylic paint (X-27) and paint front and back of the clear part.

A closer look at the front half of Rat Fink.  But don't get too close (he has teeth).

Sculpting on those hands was really well done!  Psychologists suggest that the hands-behind-back pose denotes smug confidence.  But it could also mean that mischievous Rat Fink is hiding something!

Instructions are printed on a high-grade clay-coated paper.  Atlantis didn't have to do this, but this is a historic kit!  Brudder Dick built the model in the photo!  We'd keep the instruction sheet as a collectible even if it wasn't our model on it.

The sell-sheet was for retailers.  Atlantis includes it on the backside of the 8-1/2X11" (approximately A4) sheet.

The bottom of the base shows the original 1964 copyright stamp.  Yes, the kit is old enough to claim Social Security benefits.

Brudder Dick built the Rat Fink model featured on the back of the box and in the instructions.

We were pleasantly surprised and impressed with Atlantis Models' execution of Rat Fink.  Atlantis has stated that Rat Fink kits are good sellers since he is popular with young and old!

We remember Ed Roth as a unique character and he intended Rat Fink to represent rugged individuality.  You can  use your own creativity in how you decide to build and paint your Rat Fink!

Brudders Dick and Bill give Atlantis Models' Rat Fink four enthusiastic thumbs up and highly recommend this kit!  It's fun to collect and build!

Atlantis always protects parts to its kits in polybags.

Rat Fink in his bag reminds us of this monster from a cheesy 1970's horror movie.

SPECIAL THANKS TO ATLANTIS MODELS FOR PROVIDING THIS KIT FOR US TO REVIEW AND ENJOY!