Andy Yanchus

1944-2021

A name that will be familiar to many 1960’s-70s modelers is Andy Yanchus (1944-2021).  Andy was a long-time member of the BPMS, and worked with Aurora Plastics in West Hempstead, NY, beginning in the mid-1960swhere he one of the two Project Managers there. Andy came up with the Monster Scenes idea, a smaller version of Aurora’s classic monster kits, but presented in ‘scenes. 

Andy moved on from Aurora to Marvel and during his 17-year career there, he contributed to several ongoing titles such as UNCANNY X-MEN, ALPHA FLIGHT, and NEW WARRIORS. 

Although Andrew had left his kit modeling career to pursue coloring comics, his passion for the community and his hobby never waned. He later co-wrote a definitive book about Aurora called Aurora Monster Scenes — The Most Controversial Toys of a Generation (2014). He also wrote for Starlog, Fantasy Modeling, and Collecting Scale Models magazines.