Ceratopsian's custom paints and everything else: new 9 Oct. 2024

[ceratopsian]

@Shonisaurus: thank you!  Martin is indeed a miracle worker.

The Dinosaur Museum at Lufeng is indeed a large and important one. It has first of all glass cases with many fossils on show. Then you walk through into two or three massive halls with a sea of mounted dinosaur skeletons (with some plaster reconstructed bones). Many are Lufengosaurus but also other sauropods and some theropods. It is very impressive. Finally at the back some of the excavations are shown in situ. You look down on the rock and fossils from a viewing gallery.

[Loon]

That has to be the most magnificent museum I've ever seen. To see the entrance alone would be worth the trip; those pillars are so beautiful. I'll definitely have to find a walkthrough for this online, though, I'd love to see it in person one day.

[Fenestra]

What a pretty Dilophosaurus.
I totally agree with everything you say about the attraction of this model. I bought one myself months ago, but it is still sitting in my cabinet with just grey primer coat of paint. I just can't decide on what or which way I want to paint it. It is very motivating to see yours.
Congrats!

[Bokisaurus]

Amazing museum and experience! Must be breathtaking to see all of the exhibits and fossils.
That Dilopho sure is a beautiful one😃

[Halichoeres]

Oh, that's beautiful. The palette puts me in mind of a coral snake, although of course the pattern is quite different. Thanks for the story to accompany it, what happy memories to be called up when looking at the model.

[ceratopsian]

Thanks for your kind words on the Dilophosaurus. A few weeks on and I still love it, so my impulse buy turned out well!  Oh - @Fenestra - I hope we'll see your repaint in due course!

It took longer than I had hoped to post today's model, as my desktop had a massive setback after being mended and refused completely to reboot.  So it joined @postsaurischian's machine in computer heaven after all.  I didn't lose anything, but it took time to get the new one installed.

I was excited when CollectA announced last year that they would release the pterosaur Caviramus in their Supreme range in 2020.  I was very keen for Martin Garratt to repaint it for me, as he had previously done all the other "sister" releases and they make a magnificent group.  I was also elated because it was a Late Triassic pterosaur – and how many Triassic models of any sort are made? – and it's a very unusual pterosaur at that. 

Mark Witton's blog of 14 March 2016 about this animal is well worth reading, in which he explains why it is "marvellously strange".   Here's the link:

http://markwitton-com.blogspot.com/2016/03/the-magnificent-caviramus-early-example.html

In brief, it has a strong skull with powerful jaws, and blunted teeth with worn tips.  This strength of the skull contrasts with the extremely slender humerus.  Normally pterosaur humeri are the most robust part of their limbs.  This slenderness makes the beast look very spidery, but actually the humerus isn't relatively longer than usual, just very thin.  This slenderness naturally has implications for how Caviramus managed a quadrupedal launch and possibly implications for its flight as well.  Anyway – go and read the short Witton article and admire his artwork!

I gave Martin a few suggestions as to scheme but also said he was free to do as he pleased.  The only proviso was that I didn't want the teeth to look like a toothpaste advert, all gleaming white.   I wanted them to look suitably worn and yellowed.  Plus I asked him to immobilise the jaw.  And I said I didn't much care for the bubble gum pink and green of the original. I don't have bases with my Supreme pterosaurs – they would just take up too much valuable space.

I might not have found the original colour scheme appealing - but CollectA produced a beautiful model here, even down to little details like the nick in the tail.  The sculptor is to be commended on his work, I think.

I'm not completely happy with my photos of Caviramus – its large size and rather spidery shape meant it was difficult to get enough light into my set-up.  But they give you an idea of what Martin created:













As usual, hi-res images (and more images!) are available in my Flickr album:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/69501171@N03/albums/72157716194223913

[Stegotyranno420]

@ceratopsian congrats on your new repaint by Mr. Garrat. I Hope someday i could paint like that.

[ceratopsian]

@Stegotyranno, I'm really glad you like it. Martin is very talented. I could certainly never paint as he can.

However - please don't copy my entire long post with all my associated images in your response. If you look at the forum rules, one of them is not to repeat images unnecessarily.  In this case repeating my text and images makes my thread repetitive and untidy. Please, please edit your post so that only your comment appears.

[Stegotyranno420]

Fixed

[ceratopsian]

@Stegotyranno - thank you!  That's a kindness!

[Bokisaurus]

Wow, amazing translation! Love the colors!
I really love the supreme range, it's so unique and really gives the artist a lot of room to pack on small detail.
I agree, I just got my figure and it's amazing and beautiful ❤️ So much details on this figure and I love how CollectA always add some imperfections, it's give the figure some character 😃

[triceratops83]

Damn, that pterosaur is beautiful. It looks like a multi-hundred dollar statue.

[Shonisaurus]

@ceratopsian That pterosaur is spectacular !!!!! It greatly improves the figure of Collecta. Martin Garratt has done an excellent job as always, I congratulate you on your new acquisition, it is very beautiful, the repainting of Martin Garratt turns these PVC figures into figures comparable in genius to high quality resin figures.

[Faelrin]

What a stunning repaint. I really like this color scheme much more then what it released with honestly.

[Loon]

I was actually ok with the Caviramus' color scheme, but this is amazing. It looks like something I'd see in a museum, maybe a little nicer in some cases.

[RobinGoodfellow]

Simply gorgeous   

Congrats

[Libraraptor]

This is a very entertaining thread showing us some great repaints and newly even museum pictures. Thank you!

[postsaurischian]

    Bull's eye! ... Envy .

[ceratopsian]

Thanks everyone for the kind comments on the Caviramus.

Today isn't a "Martin" model - which is perhaps a timely reminder that I have a lot of toys on my shelves as well as custom models!  Just a couple of shots of a fairly recent arrival that I love for its satisfyingly tactile bulk and solidity - the CollectA Lisowicia.  And full marks to CollectA for again being willing to take a risk on an animal from a less popular group and a less popular period (as indeed with the Caviramus).







Here's a link to my Flickr album for hi-res photos (and a couple more images):

https://www.flickr.com/photos/69501171@N03/albums/72157716317062757

I had a new arrival from Martin earlier this week, but haven't taken photos yet.....

[Shonisaurus]

Magnificent specimen the lisowicia bojani. My congratulations. I hope to get mine from the Store of the Museum of Natural Sciences of Madrid, although I am aware that the novelties of Collecta and those of Papo (megalocerates, stygimoloch and repainted velociraptor) will be delayed until the end of this year or the beginning of next year due to the problem of the coronavirus pandemic.