Bugs!


Insects are very fascinating to me! The Preying Mantis, Tarantula and Scorpion are interesting creatures at the very least. The Mantis is an insect, but the others are called "Arachnids" because they have eight legs and no antennae. These models are actually about double the size of the real thing and were made from kits that portrayed them as gigantic monsters terrorizing cities as in old horror films. The dioramas, mainly printed cardboard cutouts with a few plastic accessories, were generally uninteresting, but the insect models themselves are quite accurate and a lot of fun to build and paint! My favourite is the Mantis. I've not managed to find the fourth kit that was once available, the Wasp, although I'd had it once as a child.


 
 


I understand some people keep Tarantulas as pets! They can have 'em! Spiders, especially big hairy ones with fangs like this one, still scare the daylights out of me!

 
 


Real Mantises are surprizingly docile and easy to handle despite their fearsome appearance. I've only seen them once myself. In 1988 (if I remember right) during the six years I was living in Oshawa, Ontario, they were literally all over the place for part of that one summer. For that short period you couldn't go anywhere without seeing them! It must have been some kind of freak season for them because I'd never seen a single one in my entire life before that time, nor have I ever seen any since, as of this writing. That's too bad, because I found them extremely fascinating to study!

 
 

I don't think I'd try to handle a real live one of these! Ouch!
 
 
 

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