The Battat Dynasty

[Simon]

Unfortunately the pieces will eventually warp back and fall down - unless you live in a cold climate and your room temperature never exceeds, say, 72 degrees Fahrenheit.  I do not, and I gave up on the boil and then freeze method.  Now I just use little clear plastic rods to prop them up ...

[Seijun]

Have you tried leaving them in the refrigerator for a few months after correcting the leg? I have a carno in the fridge right now, need to take him out and see if the leg warps back or not. He's been in there for over 6 months (because I forgot about him, lol)

[tyrantqueen]

Have you tried leaving them in the refrigerator for a few months after correcting the leg? I have a carno in the fridge right now, need to take him out and see if the leg warps back or not. He's been in there for over 6 months (because I forgot about him, lol)

Haha, must have gotten quite frosty.

[docronnie]

I have some experience with action figures, sometimes it works, but most of the time it doesn't.  I live in a tropical environment. 

They warp back to their original state or packaging form.

[Bokisaurus]

I had a question that I wanted to ask Boki...Recently there has been a seller on ebay representing himself as Loru1588, who seems to have established that he is the original sculptor of these dinosaurs....ie Dan Larusso.(hope i spelled that correctly) I took the opportunity to email and ask him regarding the Pteranodon, and Plateosaurus done for Safari. I tend to collect figures that are signed by the artist or consultants for the piece where possible. He stated in his response ........."I did several sculpts of extant animals for Safari ( Hippo & baby, Zebra & Baby, Sea Lion, Gorilla, Cheetah & baby, Octopus, Green Sea Turtle, Giant Panda & baby, and Eagle Ray plus 6 mini dinosaurs ( Spinosaurus, Diplodocus, Iguanodon, Pteranodon, Allosaurus & Elasmosaurus) and 4 mini Jungle animals ( Rhino, Elephant, Lion,Hippo). The 2 dinos you mention I believe were done by Forrest Rogers. Sorry about that!"

He seems to be stating here that he did not sculpt or model the two dinosaurs listed in your thread, so I wondered where you had gotten that information.

Interesting, he is indeed the sculptor for half of the Battat line, and I have gotten all of my resin masters from him many years ago. I also got the two figures that were Safari from him, and he told me that he did sculpt some for Safari way back. Maybe he have forgotten?

[tyrantqueen]

For those mourning the discontinuation of the Battat line, Dan LoRusso's line of resins are the closest thing available today of a continuation

[Daspletodave]

I have all the battat dinos, including all 3 T-Rexes, all 3 Dilophos, both Ceratosaurs, all the mini dinos and the mini T Rex. The series does have its faults, but that was more due to production problems than the sculpting. And I would NEVER mention Collecta in the same sentence as Battat! Battat's worst dino is still light years ahead of Collecta's best dino.
Considering the series ended in 1998, it took a while for the other lines to catch up - Carnegie only started getting good in 2004. Wild Safari has only been really good for about the last five years. Even the Favorite dino collection #1 came out in 2004. As for Papo- they are not a museum line, so they dabble a bit more with artistic licence rather than strict scientific accuracy. As well, Papo's dinos are generally larger than 1/40 scale - so they can have more detail than a 1/40 scale model would.
I think someone on this forum mentioned that the Boston Museum holds the rights to this line, and not the Battat Company (are they even still around)? To me it makes perfect sense for the Safari Company to make a bid to acquire the entire "Boston Museum" line and incorporate it into the Carnegie Museum line of models. The Boston Museum would make some money selling the rights and the molds, and it would see its models in circulation again, albeit part of the Carnegie line - which is no biggie since the Boston Museum sells the Carnegie line in its gift shop.
As for Safari they absorb the most treasured museum line ever created. The Carnegie line would get a major boost from the addition of the Boston Museum line - and there wouldn't even be that much overlap. Carnegie's Amargasaurus is better, but Boston's T-Rex, Triceratops, Parasaurolophus and Maiasaura win hands down. And Carnegie has already stopped making Styracosaurus, Pachycephalosaurus, Acrocanthosaurus, and Dilophosaurus. Any models not adopted into the Carnegie line could simply be added to the Wild Safari line instead.
Of course the Carnegie Museum and the Boston Museum would have to agree to this, at financial terms that made sense to the Safari Company...which is why it won't happen.

[docronnie]

Thanks Daspletodave! 

Learned a lot from your post.  I wanted to know back then as to when Carnegie improved and now I know.  You also gave the year when the first Favorite dinos were released and other things I wanted to know.

[0thebigwytec5]

Hi guys,

I am more of a lurker here, than a poster, but thought I would share some art pics of the Battat dinos that I am across while at the Boston Museum of Science. If this artwork has already been posted somewhere, sorry for re-posting.

They have a large chart of the wall titled "Who's in Family?" and I tried to zoom in to take close-up pics With all of the other dinos on that chart, it makes you wonder if they were planned for an expanded line.




























They also have a HUGE mural spanning 2 walls and thought this was a great picture that showed similar color schemes:





Enjoy 

[radman]

Wow, that is very cool, Othe, thanks for posting that cladogram.  Too bad those other sauropods and theropods were never made, do you happen to have any close-ups of those pix from the chart?

[Jetoar]

Wonderful images friend  .

[Gwangi]

Thanks for sharing, that is really cool. I notice the Velociraptor in addition to having the toy Utahraptor colors is also feathered! Shame Battat was unable to produce a feathered Velociraptor or Utahraptor.

[Roselaar]

Great pics, thanks for posting! Interesting to see several species Battat made figures of (including the infamous Diplodocus) are absent on that chart, despite the appearance of other species that would have made beautiful figures. In some ways I'm glad they didn't produce those either, it's hard enough collecting Battat without spending hundreds of dollars as it is on the existing range.

[0thebigwytec5]

do you happen to have any close-ups of those pix from the chart?

I'll be sure to take some close-ups of the others from the chart next time I go back.

[Ikessauro]

Hey guys, I need some advice here. I've got a Battat Mini T.rex still in the original factory bag. I know we are supposed to keep our models, specially rare and valuable ones, as mint as possible, but my inner child wants to take the toy out the bag for closer inspection. I want to take good pictures of it and the plastic in the front will not help that. What should I do in your opinion?

[Simon]

If you don't plan on displaying it, I would keep it in the bag.  Removing it would certainly decrease the value some (although the darn thing is so rare that I don't know that it would matter that much.)

OTOH, its just a PVC figure.  I've always displayed all of mine - even the rare ones ....

[Ikessauro]

If you don't plan on displaying it, I would keep it in the bag.  Removing it would certainly decrease the value some (although the darn thing is so rare that I don't know that it would matter that much.)

OTOH, its just a PVC figure.  I've always displayed all of mine - even the rare ones ....

Yeah, I want to have it on display like all of my other models. And it's not like I'm gonna be selling mine that easy.

[amargasaurus cazaui]

Myself I would leave it sealed and work to acquire a display copy as well. Once you remove the seal, you can never go back. Your priorities might change over time.....but you will still be stuck with something you had sealed that you opened. Easier to get a second copy for display puposes.

[Ikessauro]

Myself I would leave it sealed and work to acquire a display copy as well. Once you remove the seal, you can never go back. Your priorities might change over time.....but you will still be stuck with something you had sealed that you opened. Easier to get a second copy for display puposes.

It might not be that easy nor affordable I guess; at least for me. But thanks for the advice.

[amargasaurus cazaui]

Well it is your model. Do what makes you most happy. I would not have purchased a sealed copy if I wanted to display it myself, but thats just how I work. I also believe I will never get rid of my dinosaurs, so their resale value is a moot point...since I will not live to see it. So for me it would not matter anyway.