Sort of Back on it!

[Blackdanter]

Well here's a turn for the books.

I see some familiar faces are still here which is good.

Some of you may remember me from some years back. I think I was last posting back in 2014! At that time, I drew a line under my collecting as it was getting out of hand. The house was literally filling up with plastic figures and I was neglecting other interest and projects that badly needed my attention. I decided to level the field. A lot of stuff was boxed up and relegated to the loft and a lot of 'regular' stuff simply went out in boxes to local schools. I also cut the trading dead and ceased employing a couple of chaps in China who were monitoring the clearance warehouses for me in search of wonderful curiosities and end of line figures (I sourced a fair few fascinating things for folks here!). Anyhow, I estimate that there are still a couple of thousand figures in the loft, things that I just can't be parting with. For the past few years I have been mainly concentrating on my over life projects, the aircraft restoration stuff. Full attention really does get things done and I've moved on from boxes of bits to near complete projects. I've also been involved in some art projects along the way. Finishing things that were well overdue.

Dinosaurs haven't left my life in the interim. That became clear last month when I had a studio clear out and discovered figures all over the place. There were a handful of things that never got consigned to the loft as 'I liked having them around' and I have continued to pick things up as and when if I liked the look of them. The reality is that I'm still a collector just at a comfortable and relaxed pace. I will continue that, intentionally avoiding the hysteria of new releases, lines and fads. I'm vintage, I love vintage and I like what I like. I like personality in things by and large.

I have noticed the rise in PNSO figures. Whilst I love big vinyl figures, I have enough and I love the ones I have. I won't be climbing on board that train as I see the dangers for me all too clearly. That said, I'm really pleased to see that Chinese figure makers are finally getting a fair return for their efforts and not being treated as a cheap commodity by western toy companies. Go PNSO!


Anyway, to start things off, here's some images of the figures I found whilst having a tidy up:

A small herd of Ceratopsians. You can see here that I've still been picking things up every now and then.



Parade of Rex's.



Sinclair. I have a good collection of Sinclair figures but most are asleep in the loft. I found these in a drawer in my studio.



Procon Pachyrhinosaurus next to his steroidal Hobby & Work Publishing cousin. Ah, the fuss when I brought Hobby & Work Publishing figures into the light.



Schleich unpainted Pentaceratops. Schleich didn't much like me bringing these unpainted initial mold runs out of China but they sure were beautiful things. They found their way out of the factory and into clearance houses for domestic sale as did end of run and test moldings by other manufacturers.



Unpainted Safari Camarasaurus. Did you know that these were smuggling mules? The small piece is the separate belly insert.




I'll add more bits as and when I get new stuff or dig stuff out of boxes. 

[Blackdanter]

I'm not seeing my images this end (same old issues then?). I'm hosting from FB and the privacy settings seem fine. I'll leave if for a while to see if it resolves itself. If not, back to sleep ........................... I forgot what a proverbial pain in the bum adding images was here.

[ceratopsian]

I can't see images either.  Hosting from Facebook is not such a good idea anyway long term, as the codes to the images change and so the images here disappear.

[Blackdanter]

I can't see images either.  Hosting from Facebook is not such a good idea anyway long term, as the codes to the images change and so the images here disappear.

Thanks Ceratopsian. I'm not one for adding stress where none is needed so I'll pop back to the other place instead ..................   

[Blackdanter]

Gave it a last try using Google photo hosting. No joy with that either. Meh, can't be fannying around with that any longer.

[DinoToyForum]

Hi @Blackdanter, great to see you back!

The reason your images are not showing up is because you're linking to web pages instead of image files. On Googleimages you have to click the image, click the share icon (top right), then 'Create link'. For example, the first image link is: https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/pw/AM-JKLWjhiTUJ_6uMcXFtGKXzjA7mHXuxi4emmFIoqASgBslC2U8GoAnymYUZcteoFKzdfAdsZqDvbLhJlQKW3kha7kf-ziuUKFR7L7mMo4PQ-Ro1m-wmRkiRkWz6jVCdIydTkKuuxWocFCgkZ-jhTUrwKOj=w1437-h479-no?authuser=0

and it shows up in image tags like so:


Good luck and let me know if you need any assistance. 

[Blackdanter]

Hi @Blackdanter, great to see you back!

The reason your images are not showing up is because you're linking to web pages instead of image files. On Googleimages you have to click the image, click the share icon (top right), then 'Create link'. For example, the first image link is: https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/pw/AM-JKLWjhiTUJ_6uMcXFtGKXzjA7mHXuxi4emmFIoqASgBslC2U8GoAnymYUZcteoFKzdfAdsZqDvbLhJlQKW3kha7kf-ziuUKFR7L7mMo4PQ-Ro1m-wmRkiRkWz6jVCdIydTkKuuxWocFCgkZ-jhTUrwKOj=w1437-h479-no?authuser=0

and it shows up in image tags like so:


Good luck and let me know if you need any assistance. 

Thanks Dinotoyforum,

Thanks for the help/hint. Hope you are well.

I tinkered with it and managed to get working links in the end. For some reason it won't generate auto compact links so I have to use the big long massive version. What a kerfuffle! I think I'll keep images down to the bare minimum.

John

 

[postsaurischian]

 Hi John. Good to have you back .
 Like me you were using Photobucket to show your pics back in the days (I remember your classic Kaiyodo thread).
 I'm using postimages.org now (similar handling). Maybe you'd like to use it as well.

[Blackdanter]

Hi John. Good to have you back .
 Like me you were using Photobucket to show your pics back in the days (I remember your classic Kaiyodo thread).
 I'm using postimages.org now (similar handling). Maybe you'd like to use it as well.

Hi Postsaurischian. Hope you're well. It's good to see some old faces around here. Yes, the Photobucket disaster. I looked around at free hosting sites but couldn't find anything I liked the look of. I'll certainly take a look at  postimages.org (thanks for the recommendation).

That Kaiyodo thread! Those images turned up all over the place. I've lost count of how many times my catalogue has been passed around but I'm glad it's helped folks bottom things out.

[UK]

Welcome back John.

Hope all's well in sunny Hastings. Will look forward to all the rarities being displayed and having your knowledge back on the forum.

[Libraraptor]

Good to know you are back, @Blackdanter! I like your newfound, rather relaxed attitude.

[Blackdanter]

Welcome back John.

Hope all's well in sunny Hastings. Will look forward to all the rarities being displayed and having your knowledge back on the forum.

Thanks. Sunny Hastings remains the seaside battle ground it always has been. How's things with you? You still hunting down rare things?

[Blackdanter]

Good to know you are back, @Blackdanter! I like your newfound, rather relaxed attitude.

Thanks Libra. Hope you're doing well. I see you have the best taste in vintage figures as ever.

[Blackdanter]

More items from the bottom of a drawer.

Shout out to the Aussies. Melbourne Museum Australian Dinosaurs Collection.



Porcelain Feves - Prehistoric set. I remember getting this set free with another I purchased. I wanted the other specific set as it included a tiny porcelain Charles Darwin!



Tiny Colorata Mini Figures - The tiniest figures I own and said to originate as a premium from one of the Japan Dino Expo's. Did anyone ever bottom these out?

[UK]

Welcome back John.

Hope all's well in sunny Hastings. Will look forward to all the rarities being displayed and having your knowledge back on the forum.

Thanks. Sunny Hastings remains the seaside battle ground it always has been. How's things with you? You still hunting down rare things?

Welcome back John.

Hope all's well in sunny Hastings. Will look forward to all the rarities being displayed and having your knowledge back on the forum.

Not too bad thanks. we've had a few setbacks the past few years but hopefully things are on the up.

I'm sort of running a one in one out collecting policy these days, though I am allowing a larger size figure now and then if they fit the bill.

Is it really seven years, doesn't feel longer than yesterday.

Will you be selling on eBay once more?

[Bokisaurus]

My goodness, it's been a long time! Glad to see you back! Looking forward to what other goodies you have to share, I've always enjoyed you collection and threads!
Cheers!

[Halichoeres]

I think I joined the forum (and the hobby) too late to have overlapped with you, but welcome back anyhow! Some really interesting and unusual items here. What would one smuggle in a Camarasaurus belly, heroin?

[Ikessauro]

Yes, the Photobucket disaster. I looked around at free hosting sites but couldn't find anything I liked the look of. I'll certainly take a look at  postimages.org (thanks for the recommendation).

Great to see you back @Blackdanter. You might wanna check out Imgur.com

I use it without any hassle to host my pics. Works fine in the forum.

[Blackdanter]

Welcome back John.

Hope all's well in sunny Hastings. Will look forward to all the rarities being displayed and having your knowledge back on the forum.

Thanks. Sunny Hastings remains the seaside battle ground it always has been. How's things with you? You still hunting down rare things?

Welcome back John.

Hope all's well in sunny Hastings. Will look forward to all the rarities being displayed and having your knowledge back on the forum.

Not too bad thanks. we've had a few setbacks the past few years but hopefully things are on the up.

I'm sort of running a one in one out collecting policy these days, though I am allowing a larger size figure now and then if they fit the bill.

Is it really seven years, doesn't feel longer than yesterday.

Will you be selling on eBay once more?

Glad you're doing OK, Managing collections is always a quandary but it sounds like you've found a solution that suits you. Seven years, i honestly don't know where the time goes but it seems to speed up the older you get. No matey, No Ebay selling. I won't be scouring the planet for rare stuff or utilising finders in China ....................... It becomes somewhat painful after a while.

[Blackdanter]

My goodness, it's been a long time! Glad to see you back! Looking forward to what other goodies you have to share, I've always enjoyed you collection and threads!
Cheers!

Thanks Boki. I was rather pleased to see that you're still here as you have a superlative varied collection. ;O)