Kenneth Kwilinski

Born Kenneth Robert Kwilinski on November 28, 1951 in Chicago, Illinois. Grew up in the Bridgeport neighborhood. Ken at a young age was already making figures out of whatever was available. Whether it was Play-Doo®, clay, bars of soap, soap flakes, or paper-måché, Ken loved to make his creations that he usually played with. His favorites were his dinosaurs. But anything else was fair game. Always ready for a challenge. His older brother worked at a Hobby Shop, and started bringing home a model for Ken each week. First were the Pyro Dinosaur models. Ken loved building them. He did a fine job building them. Pretty remarkable for a five year old. When Ken started going to grammar school, he would usually win at the art contests. When the Aurora model company released the Universal Movie Monsters as models, Ken built every one of them. When Aurora no longer made figure models, Ken started creating his own. Ken to this day continues building model kits and making his own model creations. His work has been on displayed at model hobbyist convention Wonderfest, hobby stores, and libraries. He writes for the IPMS Will-Cook newsletter. He is still very active in the model hobby and a advocate for having the "model hobby" recognized in movies and television. Besides being a model builder, Ken collects comic books. His collection has been recognized as a pedigree collection. He has bought comics since the mid fifties and many of them have been stored away for protection from the elements. Aside from model building and collecting comics, Ken has, over the years, provided needed information pertaining to movies and television. He is a bit of a historian. Ken has provided needed information to many web sites, magazines, and authors. He is a wealth of information when it comes to old movies and television shows. He also knows a lot about his old Bridgeport neighborhood. When asked, he can always surprise you with some little known fact. Ken loves to put the little guy in the limelight. He always can give insight to just about any of the little known people involved in the entertainment industry. All of this is a hobby, according to Ken. His real paying job was as a Chief Inspector. Ken retired in 2014. He worked for Joslyn, Danaher, MacLean Electrical company for forty-five years. During those years he has written inspection procedures and test procedures that are still followed today. Under his recommendations, ASTM Standards for testing have been changed or corrected. Over the years Ken has written about models, movies, television shows, theatre, actors, and other celebrities . Articles that have been published on web sites and in magazines, such as "Model and Toy", "Amazing Figure Modeler", "Scary Monster Magazine", to name a few. Sometimes Ken writes under the pen name Ken Kwil. His little inside joke. (pen - quill) Ken married Dorine Szczepaniak on August 25, 1979. They have two children, Ann and Kenny. Ken had triple-bypass surgery in August 2022. Hopes to get back to his normal self.