Return to the Crackington Formation

[Faelrin]

Amazes me that the JPIII Ceratosaurus resembles the die cast one. I wonder if they designed it that way intentionally, or just was some amazing coincidence?

I guess the Parasaurolophus is also similar to its eventual TLW design as well (though the one in the film's mural did have a similar design, although seemed more green).

Very cool seeing all of these together.

[Crackington]

Thanks @Faelrin, yes I wonder if the JP artists and effects people had brain stormed designs for more dinosaur species than appeared in the first film, referring to these unused ones later? Those figures in the set which appeared in JP 1 are quite faithful to it (I like the suggested movement of the Brachiosaurus).

I thought I'd check that these figures were really  made for the first film as I did collect them some time later and certainly after the first three films were released.

Looking at the blister pack more closely, they were distributed by Hasbro UK from their then Coalville site in Leicestershire, UK. A bit of sleuthing on the net revealed that this factory closed in 1994. So,the figures must have been merchandise for Jurassic Park itself.

Here's an interesting weblink on this about the rich history of the Coalville Palitoy factory, whom Hasbro had taken over:

https://downthetubes.net/may-the-toys-be-with-you-palitoy-returns-to-coalville-in-new-exhibition/

The figures themselves were made in Macau, then a Portuguese colony, but now along with Hong Kong, part of China. There is clearly quite a bit of history tied up in these old figures!

[Halichoeres]

I had a couple of these when I was a kid. Somewhere I may still have the cards, but I think I sold the figures. I definitely remember seeing them in KMart when the movie was new. I think even then I preferred these to the action figures. The base had that nice little notch if you wanted to display the trading card, although naturally mine were in protective sheets along with my DinoCardz.

[Crackington]

Thanks Halichoeres, took me a while to figure out that's what you do with the cards 

In addition to the Inpro discussion upstream, I serendipitously saw the Chivers booklet on sale on eBay and managed to get it recently. It's a bit battered and without the figures (though I have them already):





I like the illustrations of the Inpro figures, very accurate renditions with nice descriptions of the animals too:





There was an unexpected bonus too with the booklet, the Chivers Fossil collection and I'll post about that soon.

Overall a good catch!

[Crackington]

Here's the Chivers Fossil collection which was produced as a premium 4 years earlier (1973) than the Inpro give-away:



Four fossils are provided in the box, a shark tooth, sponge, dinosaur vertebrate fragment and a bivalve:




The back of the box features a nice geologic timeline:



People had to collect vouchers from the Chivers Jelly packets and then send off for the collection. This presumably must have been successful for the company as it encouraged them to do the Inpro dinosaur promotion a few years later.

It was great to be able to pick up both of them for a reasonable sum on e-bay recently. Keep your eyes peeled, there's treasure out there if you have patience 

[Crackington]

Continuing the Inpro theme, appropriate in their fiftieth anniversary year, I managed to get a few more recently, hidden amongst a fairly cheap dinosaur joblot from eBay:



These were interesting as the Heterodontosaurus and the Corythosaurus are a harder plastic than the two I already have in my collection. This is how I remember them in the 1970s. Although their paint is faded a bit, you can still see that the paint job was superior too, particularly the Corytho (the darker one is the bendy one). I believe they are the earlier models, here they are with the other two:



There were many unbranded figures too in the joblot. Here's two, a Plateosaurus and Iguanodon which were quite interesting:



I can't make my mind up whether I like them or not, or if they should go on the Ugly Ugly Dinosaur thread! There is something a bit Sibbick-esque about them though, so keepers for now.

More by-catch pictures soon!

[Halichoeres]

I'd heard before that earlier Inpro runs were a harder plastic. For the Heterodontosaurus, the leftmost one is the older one? Does it also have the the name misspelled on the belly?

[Crackington]

Hi @Halichoeres - the harder plastic Heterodontosaurus is actually the lighter one to the right, and yes, it has exactly the same spelling error as the other one.

Both the (I'm presuming) older models in hard plastic have clearer features than the later rubbery ones, which might be expected if the molds had been used more.

As promised here's the by-catch dino pictures. I probably won't keep these but have a moral dilemma with the UKRD look-alikes as many have that awful sticky plastic "disease" and I wouldn't want small children to get hold of them if given to a charity shop. They may just need to go to hard plastic recycling (but is that a sin against the hobby?):



The green pachycephalosaurus at the back has something of 1960s Star Trek alien about it!

There were some quite nice mini figures too, a bit like Paninis, including these plesiosaurs and colourful Ceratosaurus:



Finally, some more of these wee models at the front:



Any suggestions for what species the pro-sauropod third from left in front row is meant to be? It's one of the better ones.

[Crackington]

A couple of snaps of models this evening, firstly two Papo mammals bought from @UK as a Xmas present from Mrs Crackington and my daughter's. I love the detail on the Cave Bear and Smilodon, but not sure how accurate they are. I've gone from 0 Papos to 3 models now, thanks largely to Steve, but have I joined the Papo admirers too late?



I also got a super pressie from my lovely ladies, via Everything Dinosaur, the brilliant Beasts of the Mesozoic Dromaeosaurus:



I was aware of David Silva's line many moons ago when there was a feature on the prototypes in Prehistoric Times but I found them a bit too large and expensive, until he produced these little 1/18 scale beauties. Afraid my phone camera struggles to do it justice, but a huge thanks to my family for these wonderful gifts 

[Halichoeres]

What thoughtful Christmas presents! As for Papo, I think there's plenty to admire in terms of artistry, especially in Seo's work (maybe not so much the Amargasaurus and Protoceratops). The 1/18 BotM dromaeosaurs are really something, so much detail and action crammed into a tiny package.

[Crackington]

Thanks @Halichoeres, couldn't agree more about the Papo and the Creative Beasts. I'll be keeping half an eye out for the French models in future. Who knows as their star wanes against the competition, it might be a good time to start hunting them!

The detail on the Dromaeosaurus blows my mind though - like Kaiyodo meets Action Man

In other news I'm afraid that I sadly have to report that taking the Xmas decorations down led to a casualty. Little Al, the Revell Allosaurus lost his arm and had to go to the theropod emergency room (they have to have their own you know):



After stopping him from eating it, I managed to carry out the necessary procedure to make him whole again. He is sulking a bit though, as I had to use gorilla glue (the indignity of it!).



Who knew taking Christmas trees down could be so dangerous!

[ceratopsian]

Poor chap!

[Crackington]

I had a tidy up of Site A today, the main cabinet which has a good number of Invicta's on the top. I thought this a good opportunity to get them all out together and take a couple of snaps:



I have the Dimetrodon too in Site B, the wall cabinet but it was too much of a pain to take out! You can just about see it on the left hand side:



It's nice to have a few left to collect and something I can do over time, but the Lambeosaurus will be the biggest (most costly!) challenge. The worst thing is I could have had it cost price twenty years ago in the Natural History Museum. Need that TARDIS again!

[Libraraptor]

Yes, the lovely Invictas

[Paleo Flo]

It's nice to have a few left to collect and something I can do over time, but the Lambeosaurus will be the biggest (most costly!) challenge. The worst thing is I could have had it cost price twenty years ago in the Natural History Museum. Need that TARDIS again!

Love your coloured Baryonyx

[Crackington]

Thanks Libraraptor and Flo,

I was also repairing a few broken bits yesterday including the tree fern in the above pictures. This also presented an opportunity for a couple of snaps, so I gathered the rest of the kit together:



This is a resin kit from Prehistorix designed as add-ons to the Aurora Prehistoric Scenes. Prehistorix seem to still be going with a presence on Facebook, and are very much a garage  industry catering to the Aurora fans.

The kit includes the large tree fern, based on the Spiked Dinosaur kit but then with some original designs: a medium tree fern, small cycad cluster, broad leaf shrub, tree trunk with vine and a rotting palm trunk:



I painted them a few years back, but it was good to find some prehistoric foliage and Prehistorix were very nice to deal with. Hope you enjoy the pics.

[Crackington]

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I can't make my mind up whether I like them or not, or if they should go on the Ugly Ugly Dinosaur thread! There is something a bit Sibbick-esque about them though, so keepers for now.

I was browsing through the Toyblog earlier and came across the Iguanodon. It seems it was, at least in another incarnation, part of a cheaposaur set which also included the wonderful Nayab Placerias. The set was released by Toyway, who are very good at re-purposing different toys (as seen by the Inpros to Dinocrats earlier). The Toyway Iguanodon is much brighter though and I think I prefer my more mundane one. You can see the blog entry here:

https://dinotoyblog.com/dinosaur-boxset-2-toyway/

[Halichoeres]

I've thought about those Prehistorix plant models, they do a great job matching the style. I have the Aurora Jungle Swamp kit, albeit incomplete and with a couple or broken pegs, and those would be a nice complement. What are the low-growing things that look like four-pointed ninja stars?

[Crackington]

They're cycads Tim, but not as we know them.

[Justin_]

There is a page here about add-ons for Aurora kits. Obviously compiled a long time ago but updated last year:
https://www.tylisaari.com/prehistoricscenes/kits/addons/addons.html