I'm glad I finally stopped lurking and joined this amazing community!

[DarkPhantom]

My name is Raymond, and I'm so excited to finally be a member here!

I have recently had to take a leave of absence from my job in a call center due to my health, and my dinosaur collection has really helped me cope and manage when I have an attack. My wife suggested, after hours of looking of looking on the forums, especially at the amazing repaints by Federreptil and copper, that maybe I should start to paint my own figures; which I have been terrified to do, given the amazing sculpts on some like Papo.

I've been lurking for months and soaking up as much knowledge as I can from the above members' painting and diorama posts, and I finally got the courage to start. The forum & YouTube channel has provided recommendations for new figures and has greatly influenced my purchasing decisions. They have also made me even more enthusiastic about my first true love: the "terrible lizards".

Dinosaurs have been a passion since I was four years old; reading anything I could get my hands on. The Jurassic Park movies, and later, the "Jurassic Park" novels, propelled my love into adolescence and later into adulthood. I first bought a couple of Papo T-Rexes and Velociraptors as a joke, thinking it would be a silly thing to have in the corner of my room. All of that changed when I came across this site.

The Dinosaur Toy Blog has expanded my knowledge about dinosaurs that I didn't even know existed, as well has how to make dioramas, and how to customize my figures. I hope to give back to the forum and learn more, and I hope someday my posts might make someone stop and go "Hey I can do this too!"

Thank you for the chance to join in, and I look forward to interacting with you!

[Uroplatus]

Welcome here Raymond.

Seems we have abouth the same story when dinosaurs are concerned, not thinking abouth my inner child my girlfriend bought me a few figures last christmas, thinking it would be joke.., little did she know that by now i would have a shelf filled with them. Hehe.

[Patrx]

Welcome, Raymond! I look forward to seeing what kinds of repaints and dioramas you come up with

[Arul]

Me too  welcome welcome i love diorama

[Dinomike]

Welcome to the forum! It was Papos that rekindled  my dino enthusiasm too - I also bought them as a lark to amuse my kids...little did they know ablut what was going to happen! Looking forward to seeing your repaints!

[Federreptil]

Welcome, Raymond,
I'm so curious to see your visions of an amazing dino diorama. New dioramas are always an inspiration for me.
But if you looking for a guide of repainting, you give too much honor to me. E. g. Copper or Martin Garratt are here true masters and many other members of the forum show also very fine examples. My more functional repaints in the 'horrible horn horde' take one given make-up and expand so the herd with nearly similar versions. The role model for the trike is the first 1:35 favorite triceratops in polyresin, for the pachycephalosaurus it's the collectA version and for the Quetzalcoatlus the flying Colorata model. I want to improve also my skills of repaints. But I still don't know, what is a doable goal for me this year.

[DinoToyForum]

Welcome Raymond! I'm glad you decided to stop lurking and join in the fun

[tyrantqueen]

Welcome to the forum. That first step is always the hardest

[laticauda]

Welcome Raymond, good luck with your repainting, I look forward to seeing them.  No pressure, just have fun.   

[Jetoar]

Welcome to DTF new friend  .

[Gwangi]

That was a great introduction Raymond, welcome to the forum! Looking forward to seeing you around.

[Tyto_Theropod]

Glad you stopped lurking! I look forward to seeing your work.

[docronnie]

Welcome and enjoy your stay here! 

[DarkPhantom]

Thank you all for the warm welcome and kind words! I'm still working on the diorama as a whole, but I do have a preview of my Papo Green Running T-Rex I'm currently working on.

I hope you all like it! I still need to add the eyes, but I finally have a decent Internet connection so I'll upload what I have. lol.

Any critiques or suggestions are welcome.

[DarkPhantom]

A close up of his head. Again, currently with no eyes lol.

I plan to have bloody drag marks in the sand on the diorama where he has killed and dragged a juvenile triceratops off into a clearing away from the herd, the same way African big carnivores make their kill and take it somewhere else to eat without interruption.

[Everything_Dinosaur]

Welcome to the forum, we look forward to hearing more about you and your interests.