Moebius Models continues their run of hits with the brand-spanking new Elvira, Mistress of the Dark. For those of you not around for the last 20 years, Elvira is a character played by Cassandra Peterson who is a valley girl-talking, smart-mouthed movie host for those awful yet loveable horror movies. I love her style and panache and when the kit came out, who could not want to review it?

The kit was sculpted by Adam Dougherty. Actually, kit is an understatement, as it is a complete diorama. The kit consists of over 60 parts, including a carpet (with the carpet monster peaking out from underneath the corner), a full sofa, Elvira herself, and her dog Gonk, along with a rat, skull, and skeletal hand. I built the kit in parts and will cover the review the same way.

The sofa is four large pieces and the arms and feet. The big thing that makes your life easy is getting all four of the large parts aligned well. I used a combination of clamps and tape, along with liberal amounts of Tenax, then let the entire thing dry for a day. I added the arms but left the feet off. One other thing to note, there is a seam on the back of the couch from the molding process. A quick sand and it disappears. I sealed the seams with Aves Apoxie Sculpt and sanded and painted the entire couch Tamiya red. I then brush-painted with Reaper Miniatures Walnut. I masked the bottom part of Elvira's dress with silly putty and sprayed it black. A little shading here and there and the couch is set aside to dry.

Prep work for Elvira was needed, as all the parts needed to be glued and the seams sanded. Fit is very good in all cases. One suggestion here is to position the figure on the completed couch to make sure she is sitting properly, as there is some play in the figure’s legs and arms. I left off the hair and hands until all the skin was painted. I did use some Aves to putty under the chin, as that is open on the kit. The skin was based in Kitbuilders Freestyle Natural Flesh. Shadows were done with several shades of darker flesh and brown, but very lightly. Since Elvira is fully made up to look pale, I used Kitbuilders Pale Flesh to highlight the face, breasts and top of the legs. Everything was sealed and the flesh masked with silly putty, and Tamiya Black was used for the clothing with highlights of Floquil Grimy Black. One point here – I glued the hair on, then tried to get rid of the seam with the kit finished. In hindsight, I would glue the hair together off the figure, then cut the mounting pegs off before adding it. It would be a lot easier. I painted her face and highlighted the eyes and cheeks. The eyes were given a heavy dose of black eyeliner. I painted the lips four times – I guess I am not used to applying lipstick!

To finish the parts, we have all the accessories and the carpet. The carpet was finished off to look like an old one in my grandparents’ house – heavily washed and dry-brushed. The carpet monster and skull were painted and added with heavy dry-brushing on the skull. His eyes are staring at Elvira (duh!) so I painted him gawking that direction and down, as one eye is hanging out of the socket. The candelabra has a lot of parts, so take your time and make sure things stay aligned as the glue dries. A nice touch here is that the main support is a solid brass post – very nice. The skeleton hand and rat were painted and dry-brushed. That left Gonk – Elvira's poodle. A poodle with attitude and a pink mohawk. Painting instructions are excellent all the way around for everything, and that includes Gonk.

The last big step is attaching Elvira to the couch. She has three glue spots and I used super glue to get a good fit. It does leave a seam on the back where her back leg is bent. I used black Aves here and feathered it in. In hindsight, it would also make sense to feather the front in also. This was coated black and flat-coated.

Once everything was dulled out and dry, all that left was to glue the skeleton arm to the couch with the spider web. The carpet monster, skull, and rat were glued to the carpet. Gonk was attached to the couch and the entire kit was given several flat coats. I glossed the eyes and lips, as well as the carpet monster skull and rat’s eyes.

What a great kit and at a very good price. This is very, very recommended. My thanks to Frank Winspur and Moebius for their great kits. Go buy at least one or two of these!