KRONOS
From the 1957 movie "Kronos"
My choice of subjects for projects sometimes skews toward more unusual or lesser-known sci-fi and horror films. "Kronos" is a favorite of mine, even though no one else I know had ever heard it. Since 2017 was the 60th anniversary of its release, I decided to do a large display model in recognition.
Although the special effects were fairly well-done for its time and budget, Kronos' physical appearance varies throughout the film. Perhaps due to the very short production schedule of just over two weeks or because of Kronos being represented by different models and even an animated version for the walking sequences!
The shape of the body and head vary sometimes from shot-to-shot, and even the poster art for the film is completely inaccurate to how Kronos appears in the film! I ultimately designed something that is, basically, a hybrid of all of the film's versions. I wasn't worried about making it in a particular scale since, in the context of the film, Kronos actually grows as it absorbs energy. So I just decided on a finished size for the piece and got to work.
My Original Resin Model Kit
Several years ago I used to produce a small resin model kit of Kronos, so I was already pretty familiar with the design. But since I was going to make this one larger, I re-watched the film several times to refresh my memory and gather more reference.
Planning and Fabrication
Engineering the model into separate components and parts while drawing the CAD files for laser-cutting took me about 20 hours. I primarily used 1/8" MDF for it since it is smooth and easily painted to look metallic. For the neck and extractor tube through which Kronos siphons energy, I used acrylic tubes.
Construction
The antennae were made using aluminum tubing with laser-cut acrylic details. The dome on top of the head was auto body filler cast from a Christmas ornament half. I used solid acrylic rods for the legs. After assembling the pieces, I applied primer and metallic paint for the finish.
The Base
I designed the display base to be like a snapshot of a scene from the film. The landscape plate has a "shattered" look to show the robot's destructive effect. After laser-etching the landscape plate, I spent several hours sculpting scaled-down rocks from resin scraps and re-shaping small lava rocks for added texture and realism.
Finishing Touches
To reproduce (or at least approximate) the effect of Kronos draining energy up from the earth, I installed a commercial lighting kit into the display base with an inverted special effects LED bulb. For the final touch I created a small movie clapboard with the film's title and date.
The Finished Piece
*Click Photo for a Rough Video*
Overall, Kronos took me a total of around 160 hours to design, engineer, assemble and paint.
I'm very pleased with the final result.