Ceratopsian's custom paints and everything else: new 10 May 2024

[ceratopsian]

That (raw kit) was the other occupant of the box!

Really nice 
I'm still waiting for SenSen Hypsilophodon from Darkroom (it's in transit..).

[Bokisaurus]

Another impressive addition!

[BrontoScorpio]

The chief occupant was another model sculpted by SenSen, this time a 1:20 Kentrosaurus.

This is really beautiful - I envy you for this one.
It reminds me of another Kent. - don't remember now exactly by whom.

[Jose S.M.]

I'm glad that you received the Kentrosaurus in perfect shape! It looks beautiful.

[postsaurischian]

  Great aquisition! The ceratin parts are wonderfully coloured and the blueish skin is the icing on the cake.
       I would have ordered the finished version as well, if (in my case) it hadn't been so much more expensive.
       I'm looking forward to what your Hypsilophodon will look like .

[Halichoeres]

Ooh, that's a beauty. A worthy addition to your well-curated shelves.

[ceratopsian]

Thanks everyone. 

@postsaurischian - I agree it was pricey for what it is.  I'm glad that the factory paint job looks as good as the sample.

@Halichoeres - your comment on "well-curated shelves" reminds me that they need a good dust!

[ceratopsian]

I especially like PNSO models, so I was quite excited when the two very cute juveniles were revealed, Sinoceratops and (yet another!) Tyrannosaurus rex.  Given my liking for ceratopsians, the Sinoceratops was a must.  I'm always pleased when PNSO releases a model of a Chinese dinosaur that isn't well represented in toys/models.  And although in general I am not excited by acquiring more T. rexes, this one was different enough to make me want it.  Both are certainly charmers - not sure how my occasional fondness for cute dinosaurs squares with "good taste" - but who cares?  I think they will display nicely with my two Rebor hatchlings, the Stegosaurus "Clover" and Triceratops "Jolly".

I hung on for ordering until Everything Dinosaur had them in.  They were a bit smaller than I expected - the boxes measure about 14 cm/5.5 inches along the sides.  And at £19 each, plus postage, not the cheapest.  They would make good toys for a youngster, as they seem very robust.  The Sinoceratops, especially, cries out to be held in the hand - it reminds me somewhat of a cuddly piglet!  The usual well produced and bilingual printed sheets inside the box contain a short story - snippet really - about each animal, which implies they are aimed at a younger market.  (Full marks to PNSO for their usual flawless English.)  But at that price...  I presume it would be different if I were buying for my child in China!

Both models are detailed and very well sculpted.  Zhao Chuang, as usual, has managed to imbue both little babies with a real feeling of living and breathing.  He is so good at capturing implicit movement, and also emotion.  The Sinoceratops is beautifully painted - I especially like the stripes across her back, which took me by surprise, as they are not (usually?) visible in the promo photos.  I had thought the colour scheme rather bland from photos until I saw her back.  It's a shame that the T. rex's needle-thin little white teeth are left unpainted.  I know for sure my hand isn't steady enough to rectify this!  I like the way the Tyrannosaurus has a nice fluffy coat over his back and sides to keep the small juvenile body warm - but his chest is bare and scaly.  This seems a nice balance in the feathered/non-feathered and to what extent controversy.

For once I decided to take some outdoor shots in my garden.  I'm not used to that (usually my outdoor shots are buildings and archaeological ruins!), so it was a bit trial and error....

First of all, "Aaron the Young Tyrannosaurus rex":







And on to "A-Qi the Young Sinoceratops"...

Hiding place discovered...


"If I can't see you, you can't see me!"


"Help, I'm going to fall!"


"Green camouflage"


"Please go away!"


And finally, a shot of the boxes: each model was well protected inside within a plastic clam shell.  Forgot to take this, so it's just a phone snap:



If you want to see yet more shots (or hi-res), here's the links to the two Flickr albums:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/69501171@N03/albums/72157715066900693
https://www.flickr.com/photos/69501171@N03/albums/72157715068500212

[PlesiosaurusNessy]

OMG, how sweet is that Really wonderful looking babies! My favorite is the Sinoceratops, too !
They are perfect arranged in their surrounding, that looks all very real ! I very admire your collection!

[Bokisaurus]

Those baby PNSO are so adorable! Great photos, too!

[ceratopsian]

Thanks P @PlesiosaurusNessy and B @Bokisaurus!

Today I'm showing something that arrived in the post over a week ago.  It took a while to get my photos done.

I particularly appreciate having models that show creatures of the same species interacting with each other - but these are not so common, especially at the toy end of the spectrum.  The closest approach tends to be focused around eggs.  CollectA, ever adventurous, produced two tiny family groups a while back (Koreaceratops and Hypsilophodon), but presumably they didn't sell well as the concept was not pursued.  Even resins don't offer too much choice, as the focus tends to be on a single eye-catching specimen.  I guess there is the cost angle - and also the size angle - to consider.  When more than one animal is created, it tends to be hunting scenes.  Of course I've picked up a few: for instance SenSen's Camptosaurus with juvenile, his Dryosaurus pair, or on a more spectacular note in terms of size, his Einiosaurus with juvenile (and Troodon group).  I've had a few things from Paleo-creatures too.

When CollectA released their Fukuisaurus this year, I immediately thought it offered the perfect opportunity for creating a diorama.  It's quite similar to their earlier Mantellisaurus.  Both models have good life-life poses that would make a pleasing contrast.  Any minor discrepancies in terms of beefiness, size or shape could be put down to sexual dimorphism or greater maturity. I asked Martin Garratt to paint them so they were not identical, but clearly from the same species.  The Mantellisaurus cried out for a patch of water.   So as we came out of lockdown, I had Mike and Sue at Everything Dinosaur send one of each to Martin.

The result turned up to cheer me up after my eye operation.  I'm thrilled with it - but then I always am when Martin creates something for me.  Whether you call the result a pair of Mantellisaurus or a pair of Fukuisaurus is entirely up to you.  I'm going for Mantellisaurus, as it's from my own country!

Here's some photos.

First the whole thing:



The animals are not fixed in position on the base, so they can be moved around:



Fukuisaurus snacking on Martin's rather nice tree, and Mantellisaurus grazing for once instead of drinking perpetually:



Keeping watch over drinking mate:



Threat posture!



Focusing on the Mantellisaurus:



Their tails: that of the Mantellisaurus is much thicker:



A shot of the base - the photo doesn't really catch the indentations suggestive of animals trampling on the bank of the pond:



And finally a few shots showing the repaints with the originals:







Should you want hi-res images - or still more examples! - here is the link to my Flickr album:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/69501171@N03/albums/72157715212641107/with/50147434253/

I should confess that this isn't the first time I commissioned Martin to make a diorama with the CollectA Mantellisaurus: see above, 16 July 2018, reply 211.  Here's a quick reminder and a link to the Flickr album:



https://www.flickr.com/photos/69501171@N03/albums/72157671198044968/with/43421600011/

[Halichoeres]

They look wonderful! And the pair is surprisingly versatile. Glad to hear, too, that Martin is back in action. I trust that means his hands are feeling better.

[ceratopsian]

Thanks @Halichoeres.  He is well enough to paint at the moment but he takes on fewer commissions than previously.

They look wonderful! And the pair is surprisingly versatile. Glad to hear, too, that Martin is back in action. I trust that means his hands are feeling better.

[Fenestra]

What a lovely scenery. The option to put the figures in different spots on base is a really nice bonus. When you change their position every few months, it will feel like a new diorama all over again. 

[ceratopsian]

Today's model isn't really a recent addition.  I ordered it early this year when Safari's 2020 releases became available where I live.  But I didn't get round to photographing it as I was very busy at work then.  It was still in my study and I had the camera to hand last week, so here it is.  One thing I like about photographing my toys and models is that the process makes me look at them harder and see them better.  I also quite like coming back to something rather than just putting it into my cabinets and never truly looking at it with my full attention again.

I don't have many models of Pachycephalosaurus in my collection.  A couple of Carnegies, the Battat, a Kaiyodo.  A very unsatisfactory Safari miniature that I keep thinking of sending to a charity shop.  Even so, I wasn't "in love" with the new Safari when I ordered it.  But it looked more than good enough to add to my order.  I was impressed when I actually had it in my hand and I think it's excellent.  Very attractive to the eye; plenty of detail; an attractive pose, alert looking but calm and content.  The colours work really well for me. The balance is superb - interesting that when it stood on my photography fabric, it was thrown by the slightly uneven surface and needed a bit of support.  So it's a very fine line!  Anyway, my thanks to @Doug Watson for creating such a beauty.







If you want large images, here's my Flickr album:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/69501171@N03/albums/72157715205331626/with/50143750101/

[SidB]

I love the very appropriate heftiness of this figure, fitting for a herbivore. Boy, I wouldn't want to be on the receiving end of a head-on charge. Approach with caution!

[Halichoeres]

I like this piece too. I hadn't planned to buy it, but I saw it in a museum shop in Arizona back in December and fell in love.

[ceratopsian]

One of the pitfalls of being a member of the DTF is that it encourages you to spend money!  Earlier this year, I helped @Loon obtain the beautiful Toyway "Walking With Dinosaurs" Ichthyosaurus.  Although I had purchased the Polacanthus in this series back in 2018, I hadn't thought more about it.  Until I saw Loon's Ichthyosaurus....

In brief, I now have a few more from the Toyway "Walking With Dinosaurs" line.  For me, the attraction here is nostalgia.  I know the models are rendered out of date by the passage of time, but that doesn't strip them of the memories they hold.  I remember the massive excitement of seeing the documentaries when they were first broadcast.  I had never expected to see such marvels on screen.  I had never expected to see a TV series that treated dinosaurs as anything other than suitable for children.  It was also roughly the time when we first learnt that dinosaurs had feathers.  It was a fantastic time to be interested in dinosaurs.

Incidentally, if you want to read a good account of the excitement of those times, look at the opening paragraph of our @dinotoyforum's review of the "Walking With Dinosaurs" Tyrannosaurus rex here:
http://dinotoyblog.com/2007/10/13/tyrannosaurus-rex-walking-with-dinosaurs-collection-by-toyway/
If only I had known then that there were toys to go with the series, my model-collecting career would have begun years earlier!

One of my purchases is the hefty Ankylosaurus: a few photos for you.









His counterpart in the 1999 Tim Haines book that went with the series:



And standing on the BBC book that went with the series:



To close, two "bone heads" together - Ankylosaurus posing with Pachycephalosaurus from my previous post:



If you want hi-res images, my Flickr album:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/69501171@N03/albums/72157715198014087/with/50140587298/

[Loon]

That Ankylosaurus looks good. Makes me regret selling mine, now I have to get some more Toyway figures.

[ceratopsian]

@Loon: the potential drawback to selling things!  As my grandmother used to say, "You never know when you might want it"!  (But she hoarded to excess.)

Today's offering continues with the "toy" side of my collection.  Life's current restrictions have made me perhaps a little keener to have the occasional parcel arrive to give a little variety to the daily routine, so it's been a good time to catch up with items that had caught my eye but which I had never got round to ordering because they weren't top of my priority list.  At the back of my mind, I periodically thought that I should order the CollectA Deluxe Dacentrurus.  Yes, it's an older model (2011 I think, and contemporaneous with the release of the Carnegie Miragaia), and so it looks much more toy-like than CollectA's recent releases.  But for me it has a certain older-style charm.  The pose is certainly different from other stegosaur models I own (though heaven knows if it was actually possible!)  I like the touch of red at the throat.  It also reminds me of visits to the Natural History Museum, London, in times past when I would pass the wall-mounted slab of stone with remains of Dacentrurus.  I like stegosaurs in general but this one is particularly appealing to me because it was the first stegosaur named: by Owen as Omosaurus in 1875.





And a more impressionistic and experimental view of it coming down hard on to smash into an unseen enemy it has knocked to the ground!



Speaking of getting round to finally ordering things I'd hankered after - I decided to order the CollectA Jobaria at the same time.  To no avail, as it is out of stock at Everything Dinosaur.  The moral of the tale: don't wait too long!

If you want hi-res photos, here's the Flickr album:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/69501171@N03/albums/72157715211759263/with/50145207306/