Return to the Crackington Formation

[Crackington]

Thanks for posting the link @Justin_ I think this Prehistoric Scenes fansite is where I first heard of the Aurora add-on garage kits.

Unfortunately, it looks like some of them have stopped making kits and the Prehistorix foliage is no longer available.

Jurassic Arts does look like it's still going though and there are some interesting accessories, foliage and indeed new kits, produced in the Aurora style. The Nothosaurus is more appealing than the Schleich model from last year!

Their website is here: https://jurassicartsstore.com/shop

[dinofelid]

Jurassic Arts does look like it's still going though and there are some interesting accessories, foliage and indeed new kits, produced in the Aurora style. The Nothosaurus is more appealing than the Schleich model from last year!

Their website is here: https://jurassicartsstore.com/shop

All the ones I clicked on said "sold out" above a grayed-out "add to cart", did you see any still listed as available? (apart from the T-shirts, which are still available)

[BlueKrono]

Jurassic Arts does look like it's still going though and there are some interesting accessories, foliage and indeed new kits, produced in the Aurora style. The Nothosaurus is more appealing than the Schleich model from last year!

Their website is here: https://jurassicartsstore.com/shop

All the ones I clicked on said "sold out" above a grayed-out "add to cart", did you see any still listed as available? (apart from the T-shirts, which are still available)

Every one I clicked on was sold out.

[Crackington]

Oh dear D @dinofelid and @BlueKrono - looks like we missed the boat. The profiles on the Prehistoric Scenes website Justin shared indicated that some of the sculptors were retiring and that the molds used only lasted so long

I did a quick sweep of eBay and it looks like there's one more kit of the Ceratogaulus going:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/303573627121?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=1OFGFd0nTR-&sssrc=2349624&ssuid=y4grGFtORgq&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

This person appears to be selling kit bases too, so may get some other stuff in at some point:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/404124953882?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=jcpnticuqr2&sssrc=2349624&ssuid=y4grGFtORgq&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

[BlueKrono]

@Crackington Ive bought some recast Aurora bases before. But I shall pine for that entelodont.

[Crackington]

Time for some more cards, this time from a UK 1970s (what else!) chocolate bar promotion for Curly Wurlys:



Curly Wurly was a very tough chocolate bar designed by Cadburys and the British Dental Association to help loosen kids' milk teeth*. They often had promotions and these cards were give aways  I think after munching through a few bars. Members might recognise them in a larger form as postcards for UK museums and I recall having them in that medium as a boy:



I won them pretty cheaply on eBay recently but am missing two, Tyrannosaurus and Triceratops. Fortunately you can see them facing off against each in Card number 8. The remaining two cards gives me something to keep an eye out for, so nice catch overall 



*allegedly

[Paleo Flo]

Awesome. Generates a "The Land that time forgot"-Feeling to me.

[Blackdanter]

I won them pretty cheaply on eBay recently but am missing two, Tyrannosaurus and Triceratops.

I have these as originally collected in the 70's Crackington. I'm sure I have duplicates of some of them. Do you want me to dig them out and see if I have the ones you're missing?

[TooOldForDinosaurs]

Dig this! Do you display them or keep them safely stored?

[Justin_]

I had a poster of the stegosaurus. I seem to remember the models were from a museum in Wales.

[Crackington]

Awesome. Generates a "The Land that time forgot"-Feeling to me.

Thanks Paleo Flo - there's definitely an old film vibe there, but maybe One Million Years BC (RIP Raquel   ) with that dessert landscape? How such enormous beasts would find enough plant food to eat is conveniently over-looked though!

I have these as originally collected in the 70's Crackington. I'm sure I have duplicates of some of them. Do you want me to dig them out and see if I have the ones you're missing?

That's very thoughtful @Blackdanter and amazing you have them too. I'll send you a PM, thanks!

Dig this! Do you display them or keep them safely stored?

Not so far @TooOldForDinosaurs but they would make a nice display. I don't have much space I'm afraid, which is one of the reasons I've consciously branched out into also collecting cards and other paraphernalia in recent years. I keep ones like these without their own album in a nice photo album - will show it at some point.

I had a poster of the stegosaurus. I seem to remember the models were from a museum in Wales.

That's very interesting @Justin_ I had a few of these as postcards from the London National History Museum. Would have loved to have seen the actual models. I always thought the Ankylosaurus looked like the Pyro model, but also thought they wouldn't display that would they?!

[Crackington]

I've been a bit busy recently and had hoped to post some interesting recent additions earlier.

First and foremost a huge thanks to @Blackdanter who followed through on his kind offer to send the two missing Curly Wurley cards, and then some!

I'll post more on that soon, but here are two missing dinos, the T-Rex and Triceratops. It's lovely to complete the set:

[ceratopsian]

So glad you now have a full set!

[Blackdanter]

I've been a bit busy recently and had hoped to post some interesting recent additions earlier.

First and foremost a huge thanks to @Blackdanter who followed through on his kind offer to send the two missing Curly Wurley cards, and then some!

I'll post more on that soon, but here are two missing dinos, the T-Rex and Triceratops. It's lovely to complete the set:

Glad these arrived safely and happy to help complete the set for you. They are a great little set of cards.

[Halichoeres]

Those are great! Glad you could complete the set.

[Crackington]

Thanks everyone for the kind comments, but there's more! On top of the missing cards Blackdanter also sent a Marx booklet from their Prehistoric Times playsets:



This appears to be from the early 1970s according to Jeff Pfeiffer's excellent "Dinosaur Playsets" book (thanks J @japfeif  ). It's coded P-1311R and contains illustrations of the classic Marx models:



To cap it all Blackdanter also sent Invicta white models of Triceratops and Stegosaurus. I really did not expect these at all, a wonderful surprise and I'm gobsmacked by his generosity:



Thanks very much again Blackdanter👍

[ceratopsian]

I'm not surprised that the Tyrannosaurus on the cover is attacking the Triceratops. He looks seriously underweight!  Seriously though, what a wonderful package to receive.

[Halichoeres]

That spread in the booklet makes me a little wistful--three of those four genera have barely ever been attempted since!

[Crackington]

It's amazing that they used the cover artwork for so long, but the figure illustrations inside are much better. Marx species choice was also sublime considering their pioneering role in manufacturing prehistoric toys.

Time for a couple of books I managed to recently acquire. The first is a new book on the Crystal Palace dinosaurs which my lovely family gave as a pressie on my birthday recently  :



I think it's also been posted on the Books thread, but I can't recommend this enough. An excellent history of the creation of the sculptures and the park:



The book goes into lots of details on the featured animals and how Waterhouse Hawkins designed them, along with the painstaking creation, geologically accurate in the 1850s, of the environment they are placed in:



The Friends of Crystal Palace Dinosaurs also get a donation from each book sold, so please consider adding it to your book collection, you won't be disappointed!

[Stegotyranno420]

Ah, Crystal palace, one of the first great paleoart. A bit of topic but the iguanodon on the cover looks like a intervewee from the fittingly British show Creature Comforts