BY BILL ENGAR
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JUST THE TICKET:  SUPERFUZZ RETURNS!  CRAZY MONSTER AND CARICATURE CAR MODEL KIT IS EASY AND FUN TO ASSEMBLE AND PAINT.  BRING YOUR CREATIVITY AND A SMIDGEON OF MODELING PUTTY.  GROOVY, MAN!

ATLANTIS MODELS FRED FLYPOGGER SUPERFUZZ -- #M104 -- 42 STYRENE PLASTIC PARTS -- UNASSEMBLED MODEL KIT RECOMMENDED FOR AGES 14 AND UP -- PAINT AND GLUE REQUIRED FOR ASSEMBLY NOT INCLUDED.

Atlantis Models’ Fred Flypogger as Superfuzz is here!

This model was originally released in 1965.  The design was by Stanley “Mouse” Miller.  Monogram Models released it in response to Revell’s wildly successful Ed Roth monsters and Hawk Weird-Ohs model kits.  Monogram hired Stanley “The Mouse” Miller, who did a handful of designs for Monogram that became model kits.

Atlantis Models' Fred Flypogger as Super Fuzz is a nice tribute to the original release of the kit with similar box art by Stanley "Mouse" Miller.

In our opinion, Monogram’s engineering to produce Super Fuzz went a level beyond most of Revell’s Roth monster kits and was certainly better than that of the Hawk Weird-Ohs.  Both the figure and the car in the box art closely resemble the plastic in the box.  Nice touches such as clear parts and 3D “smoke” base give the model an extra level of detail right out of the box.

"Super Fuzz" has quite a few parts.  They're all pretty authentic to the actual "Mouse" artwork.  It's not a kit for beginners but an individual who can handle a tube or bottle of glue should have no trouble building Super Fuzz.  Assembly will be fun but painting is where the builder will most likely enjoy what this kit has to offer.

Super Fuzz is molded in white plastic which will make painting easier.  No decal sheet is included; Super Fuzz never had decals.  Instructions suggest painting the car in the same color scheme as your local police!  The recommendation for Super Fuzz' skin color is hilariously vague.  The bottom line with painting here is to use your own preferences and creativity.  You could certainly try to duplicate the box art--or not!

The car with engine and tires are rendered as a reasonable representation of the box art in a caricature-style.

A closeup of the small "Mouse" character.  The base has holes for the figure, but you could probably put him wherever you want!

Monogram was loved by modelers young and old for the exceptional engineering of their model kits and Super Fuzz fits that expectation.  Being 1960's vintage, you can expect to need a little putty to fill some gaps and minor sinkholes.  Atlantis Models takes care to clean up molds prior to manufacturing and we've seen a number of their releases where things like mold parting seams and offsets have been improved over previous releases with the original manufacturer.

Atlantis uses a very transparent clear plastic that is actually hard to photograph!  You have Super Fuzz' helmet cherry light, drool, and iris-pupils.

The Super Fuzz figure has a ghastly smile with horrendous teeth and bulging eyes!  You have the choice of where to put his pupils which can tweak his expression.

The first release of the kit used clear-blue plastic for the transparent parts.  This worked OK for the cherry-light, but the drool and his eyes were blue.  We have a couple suggestions on how to proceed with the transparent plastic in the Atlantis release.  Tamiya makes awesome clear-colors and blue or red would work perfect on the cherry-light.  The drool could maybe use the color of your choice to "gross" it up a bit.  For the eyes, paint the iris the opaque color of your choice, as in brown, blue, green, or even red!  We recommend glossy shades when painting any eye parts.  Paint the backside of the eyes black which will give the pupils some creepily lifelike depth.

The instructions are a close reproduction of the vintage 1965 artwork, done in a comic-style and they are, frankly, hilarious and cleverly done.  We're going to leave you in suspense; you'll have to buy the kit to see them.  

Being a classic, vintage model kit, you may need a small amount of modeling putty to fill gaps and seams if you want to build a contest-quality model.  Less-picky modelers likely won't want to bother.  We didn't note a whole lot of flash; actually we were surprised how good the overal quality of the molding was.  Chalk it up to Monogram's attention to details when tooled originally and Atlantis Models' efforts to adjust the tooling to assure a quality execution of this release.

The back of the box has a picture of a built model and a plug for the second of three Stanley Mouse model kits released by Monogram.

Built right out of the box, Super Fuzz will be a fun and awesome addition to your shelf.  We do have a couple of ideas for more advanced modelers.  Like many other such monsters, the simple car models have open backs on the wheels.  It shouldn't be too hard to fill them in with sheet styrene, available at your hobby shop.  We like to use 0.020" or 0.040" thickness for these sorts of projects.  Another crazy suggestion, this for the more advanced modeler, is to swap out the cartoon-engine for a realistic car motor from another kit.  Anybody who has built a few car models likely has a leftover engine as some car models come with more than one.  You'll have to make some adjustments to get it to fit and the more custom goodies it has such as a blower and crazy air intake, the better.

This side of the kit box resembles the original release with a vintage photo of Stan "The Mouse" Miller along with his monstrous-creation.

The other box side contains kit specs and a vintage kit description.  And a reminder that Atlantis' model kits are made right here in the USA!

We were so happy that Atlantis Models had re-released this kit!  It's really an old favorite, among the very best of the crazy monster-car kits released in the 1960's.  It's truly a piece of history from its "Kustom Kar Kulture" roots to its creation by one of the premier pop-culture artists of our time.  Whether you're a builder, collector, or both, you'll really enjoy this model kit!  The 2Modeler guys give this one four enthusiastic thumbs up!  As with many licensed kits and considering this one's history, it will likely become collectible again, so you'd better consider getting one to build and one to collect!

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

BONUS FEATURES

BUILD IT!

Brudder Dick built this Super Fuzz model in 1965 when he was 12 years old.  Atlantis considers this a Skill Level 2 kit, meaning that glue and paint is required to build it and some experience building glue-kits is helpful.  Atlantis recommends it for ages 14 and up.  However, a builder less than 14 could handle this provided they have successfully built a glue-kit or two or have some help from a mechanically-inclined Mom or Dad.

By age 12, Dick had built many models successfully by himself.  A few years earlier, our dad helped Dick build Revell's Haven Hospital Ship, the first time Dick worked on a model.  He enjoyed it and built a few Aurora monsters, Weird Ohs, and others.

Dick hand-brushed Testors enamels.  Note that he painted the door white with black letters and the rest of the car's body and paint were painted with the same flat black he used for the tires.

The blower scoop has "teeth" that he painted white and he used red for the inside so that it represents a gaping mouth ready to take a bite from anything it encounters.

One thing Dick regrets is that he didn't paint the backside of the wheels with black paint.  This is a simple solution to the open wheel-backs or you could get fancy with sheet styrene as mentioned above.

Of course a model kit like this was intended to inspire your own creativity.  Dick added a cocktail umbrella and some additional enhancements (we'll have more photos later).

"Brudder" Dick built this original release of Super Fuzz in 1965 when he was just 12 years old.  He reports that it was a fun and easy build.  He says you'll have fun building it too!

ORIGINAL BOX ART COMPARISON

The original 1965 release of Super Fuzz had this Stanley Mouse artwork.  Note that it more closely resembles what you might expect to see airbrushed on a T-shirt that you'd buy at a custom car meet circa late 1950's or early 1960's!

In the year 2000, Revell re-released Super Fuzz and commissioned a new version of the artwork.  This is what Atlantis is using for the 2023 release of Super Fuzz.  The Mouse's signature and mascot is there, so you know it's authentic!

THE ART OF STANLEY MOUSE

Check out our webpage on the History of Weird-Ohs, Roth Finks, Flypoggers and More to learn about Stanley Mouse's brief career at Monogram Models which resulted in the awesome Super Fuzz crazy figure kit.  The Mouse later created a number of iconic record album covers that will likely be familiar to our visitors.  Visit The Mouse's website, mousestudios.com.

Early in his career, Stanley Mouse created T-shirt art at car shows.  Some have made comparisons to Ed Roth.  But he certainly had his own unique style.

Stanley landed in Berkeley, CA--right across the street from The Grateful Dead.  They commissioned him to create artwork for their very first studio album!  Mouse created the skeletons-and-roses iconography strongly associated with The Grateful Dead.

Stanley "Mouse" Miller collaborated with Alton Kelley to create artwork for The Steve Miller Band's Book of Dreams album cover.   I will severely date myself by admitting I bought the 8-track version of this album in 1977.

Mouse did a number of additional Grateful Dead album covers including American Beauty (1970).

The 1980 album Departure kicked off a huge decade for the rock group Journey.  Artwork by Stanley Mouse.  Journey was one of the iconic stadium bands of the 1980's. 

The Mouse gives NASA's Space Shuttle his trademark psychedelic treatment in this fine art piece (artbrokerage.com)

MONOGRAM'S STANLEY MOUSE MODEL KITS

In 2023, Atlantis re-released Freddy Flypogger as Flip Out the Beachcomber!

Flip Out hasn't been re-released since 1965.  Atlantis features the original artwork.

The third of Stanley "Mouse" Miller's kits for Monogram was Fred Flyhpogger as Speed Shift.  This model hasn't been re-released.  We don't know whether or not Atlantis has the tooling or plans to release this kit.  Visit their website and sign up for their weekly newsletter to stay updated regarding the latest from Atlantis Models!