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

[Faelrin]

The paint job on it looks so beautiful. Really gives new life to that sculpt. Retro or not, it's sad that there isn't more figures of this genus (or relatives) to begin with.

[Loon]

Loving that Stenonychosaurus. The Invicta sculpts hold up so well, and that paint job really brings out the detail.

I've always found the rarity of that figure odd. I guess because I got one for not much more than any other Invicta I've bought, I guess maybe it just doesn't pop up as much? Either way, I feel weird that some noob like me has one and more serious collectors are still looking for it.

[Tyto_Theropod]

The paint job on it looks so beautiful. Really gives new life to that sculpt. Retro or not, it's sad that there isn't more figures of this genus (or relatives) to begin with.

Agreed.  If any companies are listening, we need more Troodontidae in our lives!   I'd personally love to see a Latenivenatrix figure.

[ceratopsian]

Thanks for the comments everyone.  And I agree that we need more Troodontid models.  They are in desperately short supply.

Today's update is completely different and only a single photo.  Made for me by my best friend, who enjoys sewing a great deal!



The cushion cover is intended for the chair in my model room.  Just need to source the cushion now.  The cacti are significant too - I have two greenhouses full of them.  The triple-layer mask is a nice use of the offcuts.

[Shonisaurus]

What your friend has done is very original. I honestly would like a mask like that to go out on the street.

[Tyto_Theropod]

As a sewer myself, I appreciate this!  I especially love that cushion cover and its gorgeous cool colour palette.  And of course I approve of the dinosaurs.

[Halichoeres]

What a thoughtful gift! I hope it's as comfortable as it is beautiful.

As a desert native now living in a more temperate climate, I envy you your cactus greenhouse. I prefer the cooler weather on balance, but I sometimes miss the saguaros and barrel cactus.

[ceratopsian]

I'm glad the cushion went down well.  Its fill has now arrived, and here it is in the model room:



I said earlier that I regretted not having had Martin Garratt make a custom base for the CollectA Bajadasaurus he repainted for me.  In the end, I listened to my inner voice and commissioned him to make one.  Here's a view of Bajadasaurus occupying her own environment, rather than borrowing from a fellow dinosaur:



I sent a template of where her feet are placed, but in the end it wasn't necessary, as Martin had his own Bajadasaurus to make footprints in the muddy shore.

Taking photographs ground to a halt recently, as my computer developed an intransigent problem after a Windows 10 update. It took several days for the new part to arrive, then two visits from my expert to actually stop it reverting to being unusable.  It seems stable now and so hasn't joined @postsaurischian's in computer heaven.  I'm crossing my fingers!

In the same box as the Bajadasaurus base nestled a small model from the Chinese artist, SenSen - the long-awaited Hypsilophodon.  This had a lengthy journey to reach me.  Initially it was delayed owing to the pandemic.  Dinosaur Darkroom sent it to me rather than Marilyn, as by the time it reached him, we were in lockdown.  I was just on the verge of sending it to Marilyn as lockdown eased - but then my eye operation was brought forward a few days, and no time to get it to the Post Office.  After my operation, I had to shield for about a month....  It seems ages since postsaurischian and @RobinGoodfellow showed their versions of Hypsilophodon!

My instructions to Martin were quite simple: it is not to look like either postsaurischian's or RobinGoodfellow's.  In addition, I asked if he could reference the old and now discredited theory that Hypsilophodon was arboreal, either living in trees permanently like a tree kangaroo, or at the very least able to climb.  This was still current when I was a child, and was not refuted till the 1970s, so I feel quite nostalgic about the theory.  At the same time, I didn't want any tree trunk etc to make the Hypsilophodon look like a massive creature - it was only around 1.5 m long.  I'm very happy with how Martin managed this!  I'm also very happy that he managed to overcome the loss of one of the toes on its feet in transit to me.

It's an intriguing animal, though not common in model form (the CollectA "family" group), with fossils confined to the Isle of Wight.  Its relatively large eyes have suggested to some that it was active at night.  It has five fingers on its hands, the fifth very small.  I like very much how SenSen is willing to make small dinosaurs as well as "blockbuster" models.  It makes a good pair with the Dryosaurus couple he did.  And at 1:20, they have the advantage of taking up only a small amount of shelf space.  I hope he continues to make more small models.

Onto the photos:











Should you want hi-res images, or indeed more images, here's the link to my Flickr album: https://www.flickr.com/photos/69501171@N03/albums/72157715851377796

By sheer coincidence, I have a small original by John Sibbick, which depicts a Hypsilophodon (left) and a Dryosaurus (right).  I didn't realise till the other day that this reflects so well SenSen's choice of the same two animals for his line. Here's a snap of it:



I don't know the year he drew it - the 1980s or early 1990s perhaps?  I know it was an illustration for a Kingfisher book, but not the title.  I'm sure I could find out if I tried!

As a bonus, here's a photo of a juvenile Hypsilophodon skeleton from the Natural History Museum, London, on show at a temporary exhibition at their satellite in Tring last summer.

[RobinGoodfellow]

Really, really nice 

Martin Garratt did a wonderful job as usual.
Congrats

[Shonisaurus]

Martin Garratt always makes repaints of dinosaurs and prehistoric animals that are works of art. I congratulate you on your repainted hysilophodon, it has been very beautiful and elegant with that repainted.

[Justin_]

Is the John Sibbick picture a pencil drawing or some kind of ink washes, or something else even? I know he uses gouache for his colour paintings.

[ceratopsian]

@Justin_, I wish I could tell you for sure.  I bought it (along with three colour items and another black and white) at an open day at his house many years ago now.  I didn't ask what the medium was - I'm completely inartistic in practical terms and thought only of whether I liked them.  I've just dug out the original labels, but no information there.  My guess would be for this one that it is mostly pencil - though I wouldn't rule out some ink for definition.  I'm sorry I can't be more helpful and wish I had been more curious at the time.

Is the John Sibbick picture a pencil drawing or some kind of ink washes, or something else even? I know he uses gouache for his colour paintings.

[Tyto_Theropod]

@ceratopsian That is a lovely Hypsilophodon, and as usual stunning work from Martin.  I like how he's incorporated the tree-trunk without taking away from the modern theory that Hypsilophodon was mainly cursorial.  The whole thing really brings the model to life.  And I certainly agree with you on the need for more Hypsilophodon models!  I'd welcome any small Ornithopod, but I have as a Brit I have a particular soft spot for this little guy.

[ceratopsian]

Thank you, @RobinGoodfellow - it really was quite a wait to see Martin's!  Thank you too @Shonisaurus - I always feel honoured that Martin paints models for me.

@Tyto_Theropod.  Yes, Martin handled the old arboreal theory reference very discreetly.  He is very clever that way!  And yes, as a Brit there is something special about having a "local" dinosaur.

[Bokisaurus]

Very nice new addition, love the colors!

[Halichoeres]

That's a phenomenal piece, and a wonderful base too. I really love these small ornithischians; I wish mainstream manufacturers did as well!

On another note, I had no idea the known distribution of Hypsilophodon was so narrow!

[Jose S.M.]

The Hypsilophodon looks beautiful and the bases for it and the Bajadasaurus are beautiful as well.

[ceratopsian]

Thank you @Jose S.M., B @Bokisaurus and @Halichoeres - and yes, if only mainstream manufacturers saw the appeal of small ornithischians!

Today I'm showing you another piece of art by Martin Garratt: his re-paint of the DinoStoreus Dilophosaurus.  Normally I commission him directly but this was one was purchased from Urzeit.  I had a spare moment and decided to while away the time by browsing Urzeit's site, which is something I do very occasionally.  I didn't intend to buy anything – but I fell in love.  I worked out that it was a repaint of a Dinostoreus release and investigated whether I could get hold of one in order to commission Martin – but as I would have to order one from the USA, I decided it probably wouldn't be economic, given the imposition of customs dues.  And it would probably not arrive quickly in the current climate.

Different motivations drive my different purchases.  I didn't buy this Dilophosaurus because it is an accurate depiction of the dinosaur: even before the recent re-evaluation of the genus, it wasn't up-to-date. 

The chief thing that I loved about it was the paint scheme – the pattern of irregular, clearly defined patches, along with the turquoise crest, drew my eye inexorably.  I also found the camouflage very satisfying.  Its colours blend surprisingly well with the wet sandy surface on which it is crouching.

And that brings me to a second aspect that drew me.  It reminds me of the trace fossils from the Early Jurassic that record "resting" or "crouching" behaviour.  (See e.g. A.J. Martin, Dinosaurs Without Bones, pp. 38ff.)  I like having models that remind me of life behaviour supported by the fossil record, for instance Mei long.  Martin Garratt's base shows exactly the sort of pattern that Anthony Martin describes: "Hence, where dinosaurs stopped, they would have pulled up their trailing leg next to their lead leg, meaning their footprints will be parallel and adjacent, or slightly offset.  Upon sitting down, the dinosaur will have lowered the long parts of its legs just above its feet...   This pressing of its metatarsals onto the ground would have given its tracks elongated extensions....  Additional parts of the body might have made contact and left their marks too, such as the rear part of its anatomy – which is properly called an ischial callosity, and not the more appealing term "dinosaur butt" – as well as its tail and front-foot (hand impressions).  Of these, the ischial callosity is most likely to be preserved, although tail and hand imprints have been recorded in a few, too."  Sadly this rather bunny-handed DinoStoreus Dilophosaurus doesn't leave hand impressions, but the rest is all there in Martin's base.  (A.J. Martin goes on to discuss a resting theropod trace from Utah, reported in 2009 – and now protected at the St George Dinosaur Discovery Site –, which has excellent hand prints that vindicate the assertion that theropods must have held their hands with the palms turned inwards.)  Given the age of this Eubrontes trackway, it's more than possible that it was made by a weary Dilophosaurus (or something similar).  (I should also mention that I have a rather nice book from 2015 by J.D. Harris and A.R.C. Milner about the St George Dinosaur Discovery Site, Tracks in Deep Time.)

The third factor that drew me to the model was that I could pretend that it represented the North American Dilophosaurus's Chinese relative, Sinosaurus triassicus/Dilophosaurus sinensis, known from the Lufeng Formation of Yunnan Province. I visited the Lufeng museum in spring last year and had the honour of being shown round by the eminent Professor Dong Zhiming, who had worked on Dilophosaurus sinensis/Sinosaurus triassicus.  I've been on the lookout for a good model of a Lufengosaurus to remind me of this trip but so far without success.  But this is a good substitute!

On to the photos:













If you want to see more or hi-res photos, here is the link to my Flickr album:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/69501171@N03/albums/72157715971293898/with/50346051952/

I'll see if I can find a couple of snaps of the museum at Lufeng to add....

[ceratopsian]

As promised, a few shots of the Lufeng Dinosaur Museum:

The approach is magnificent, with four massive pillars decorated by panels in faux bronze (at least I assume faux)



Inside was horribly dark for photography but this gives an idea: a Dilophosaurus mount:



Our guide, with Professor Dong on the right:


And one of the large models outside the museum:

[Shonisaurus]

@ceratopsian That repainted dilophosaurus from DinoStoreus has been fabulous, the original is a bland figure compared to that repainted, it is magnificent! Martin Garratt performs complete miracles with his figure repaints. My congratulations, I'm happy for you.

On the other hand, thank you for sharing these photos of the Lufeng Dinosaur Museum, they must have very important dinosaur fossils judging by the second photograph showing the interior of the Museum full of exposed fossils.