Reimagined MPC Prehistoric Animals

[Rogue1stClass]

I'm obviously new to the boards, but I wanted to share my current project. I'm doing modern interpretations of the animals from the old MPC prehistoric animals sets. That's 24 dinosaurs, reptiles and mammals, 25 if you count the Troodon I finished before remembering that was Invicta.

The reason I'm doing this, such as it is, is a story. Way back in 1978, I made a Cynognathus out of clay in school. Not a real one, but the weird, alien thing that was part of my dinosaur playset. I remember being obsessed with the toy for a while, because it didn't look like any kind of animal, much less the one it said it was supposed to be, and my six year old brain couldn't make sense of it. So, while the other kids were making bowls and cups and ashtrays, I made a bad copy of an MPC Cynognathus, which itself was a bad copy of the Marx version, which in turn was a bad copy of the one from the Age of Reptiles, which was itself not a very accurate interpretation. Mine ended up looking like a rather sick generic animal, because I was six, and because the figure fell apart before the teacher could kiln it and had to put it together the best she could.

My mom displayed this horrible thing in her living room for nearly 40 years.

So, this summer, my mom was hospitalized. While I was picking up some things from her house, I saw the figure and thought I should do another one of those. Something less embarrassing she could put next to the old one when she got home. I'm not a sculptor. I've done some modeling, building pieces I needed for games, but nothing major. It was just supposed to be a goofy thing to do in the evenings, making a silly present for my sick mother. Then she died, and I just kept going. I'm not sure when or why it turned into making all of them. Grief probably played a factor, but also it was fun and I was pretty surprised at how well they were turning out.

Anyway, here's what I have so far. After the Troodon incident, I bought a full set of the MPCs off eBay. I'm going for the most obscure and most fun ones first so when I finally get bored with this, I'll at least have those instead of yet another Apatosaurus or Allosaurus. They'll all be painted, though I'm also using an airbrush for the first time, and there were some problems with the paint rubbing off the mimic that I need to figure out.



Addressing the obvious questions...The Tyrannosaur and the Triceratops are both meant to be sub-adults. They both have a layer of feathers which cover blade-like scutes, I'll have some poking out when I'm done. The Triceratops has a purposely stunted brow horn and his head is covered with keratinous plates like a turtle shell. He was also finished using just the white putty, Apoxy, but he shattered when I dropped him so I'm adding a layer of the more pliable Kneadatite. The sloth will be the only model tripoding, a defensive posture taken from a related animal, a tamandu anteater. Yes, I like head crests and scaled snouts on my therapods. The larger animals will probably be more colorful than the mimic, who I would think would benefit more from camouflage. That is Alduin from the collector's edition of Skyrim poking his head over the top of the Terra boxes and Otachi from Pacific Rim on the other side of the extremely ugly lamp. You can also see the feet from a Papo running Tyrannosaurus and a 2013 JP Allosaurus.

Any other questions, comments, or jokes at my expense are welcome.

[Halichoeres]

That's a very touching story and a great project. I look forward to seeing your progress! Nice work up to now.

[Kayakasaurus]

I am very sorry for your loss. I like the triceratops!

[Patrx]

Great progress so far, I like the Ornithomimus As Halichoeres says, that is a touching story, and I think it is good to use art as an emotional outlet. Thanks for sharing your work!

[Rogue1stClass]

Thanks, everyone! Quick shot of the original amid the normal mess that is my work desk.

[Rogue1stClass]

Megatherium attempting to intimidate predators by use of the defensive technique known as "flashing". More advanced species would hone this technique by developing an adaptation called the "trench coat".

[Rogue1stClass]

Not sure what to do about the sloth's ears. Restorations of Megatherium usually have visible ears, but modern sloths don't. I don't know where the visible ear came from, if there's evidence for it or if it was just something someone drew a hundred years ago that everyone adds now because it looks right. There is a recent paper saying that the inner ear of Megatherium was more similar to the other edentates than modern sloths, but the one closest to Megatherium, the giant anteater, doesn't have much in the way of ears, either. So, I guess it's bow to tradition or not.

Anyway, since he's almost done, I started Pteranodon. I'm doing the walking pose even though I hated them in that pose as a kid, mostly because I like the Collecta Quetz so much.

Those other figures, the Plateosaurus, Diatryma, Dire Wolf, and Dimetrodon are going to the next group. I'm considering doing the Diatryma as a Titanis because the toy looks more like that than a Gastornis, and how many Titanis toys are there, anyway?

Any suggestions on, well, any of this? Ears, next figure, or which bird?

[Paleogene Pals]

I'm very sorry for your loss. Your project is fascinating and unique. The Titanis is an interesting choice as it is a road seldom taken. I will be following your progress.

[Rogue1stClass]

Thanks for the thoughts, folks. Been busy, but the project continues forward, and more than a little laterally. Megatherium and his weird feet have been put on hold while I texture Pteranodon and Triceratops. Trach-anat-edmonta-don-titan-saurus is ready for texturing, too. Rexy gets left overs from the others. Shortened Cynognathus's tail and started Dimetrodon while I waited for more green stuff. Not starting anyone else until I finish someone. Probably.

[Dinomike]

These are wonderful! A touching story as well! Keep on the good work!

[Rogue1stClass]

Quick update. Broke my promise and started Deinonychus. MPC didn't make a Deinonychus? Huh...well, I made one for them.



The project has officially gone off the rails...

[Halichoeres]

It should always have been a bigger line anyway...

[Rogue1stClass]

Coming along...

[Rogue1stClass]

Been a little while, but the project continues forward and only slightly off the rails.



Papo Raptor is in there for scale. Just in case anyone cared how big these are. But why stop there?



Deinonychus is a little big for a dino toy, but he should scale pretty well for 6 inch action figures.



I went a little overboard on the Tyrannosaur, though.



My Dimetrodon is modeled after my savanna monitor lizard Mojo and coincidentally scales with the Papo one, which I didn't get until I had already started texturing. I chose to go with a walking pose, instead of the usual splayed limb resting pose. Modern lizards are capable of walking with their legs down, joints straight, and tails off the ground, and while Dimetrodon wasn't a lizard, he had a similar body plan.



These guys are just about done, which means I haven't been working on them as much, of course. I do need to do something about Pteranodon's wings...

[LophoLeeVT]

how about resculpting them?

[Rogue1stClass]

how about resculpting them?

I'm going to, I'm just not sure how I'm going to texture them. All of the plans I've come up with are wildly outside of my skill level.

[Tyto_Theropod]

Okay then. Firstly, welcome to the forum, and I hope you enjoy your stay. I am so sorry to hear about your mother, and it's good that you've found in these sculptures a way to deal with the loss. They're coming along really nicely, especially the Trike. I hadn't really thought about fluffy juvenile Ceratopsians but it's an intriguing idea. I also really like the Troodon, especially the colour scheme you've given it. My only nitpick would be that the neck is a bit too long and the feathers on the arms should be longer and more like wings, but I understand if this is all to do with sculpting practicality.

[Rogue1stClass]

Okay then. Firstly, welcome to the forum, and I hope you enjoy your stay. I am so sorry to hear about your mother, and it's good that you've found in these sculptures a way to deal with the loss. They're coming along really nicely, especially the Trike. I hadn't really thought about fluffy juvenile Ceratopsians but it's an intriguing idea. I also really like the Troodon, especially the colour scheme you've given it. My only nitpick would be that the neck is a bit too long and the feathers on the arms should be longer and more like wings, but I understand if this is all to do with sculpting practicality.

Sorry for the delay, but I was distracted by Fallout 4, the holidays, and some bad luck with illness and injury.

Thanks! Yeah, I started doing the Trike with just the butt quills people put on them now, but it felt inadequate. I've finished the texture work on him and the rex and am switching gears to get the five I've actually done modeling fully painted. The Trodie's neck was supposed to be shorter, I measured proportions off a skeletal reference, but his arms got positioned too far back while I was building the figure. As for the wings, I was using the newest Carnegie Velociraptor as a guide, but I've since realized that's way too conservative. The Dienonychus will have real wings, or at least as real as my skill level can provide. I would also think my Tyrannosaur should be fluffier than he is, but he's good enough and I have sooooo may others to do.

I'll post more pictures when I get into the painting.

[Rogue1stClass]

These guys are close to done. The trodie's pattern is kind of Stellar Sea Eagle, while the juvenile trike is sort of a wild piglet wearing a turtle helmet. The Tyrannosaur is, well, reddish. He still needs a good bit of work. I'm still working on the models, too. Almost have Dienonychus ready for painting, but time has become an issue.

[Archinto]

The project is looking great! I really like your adaptation on the sculpts. It evokes a combination of old and new skool dinosauria. As far as the pterosaurs wings, imagine the wing panel being able to soften up and tighten as if on a draw string, while still folding a bit. The way the marx pteranodons wings are is fairly correct. Maybe also take a look at some of thehigh end model pterosaurs and see how they pulled off the folded wings. Dont be afraid to thicken it up in the pit of the arm a little where the wing folds up. best of luck!