Return to the Crackington Formation

[Crackington]

That's a Wade Whimsical small ceramic from the 70s, Dino from the Flintstones. They made a small set with the sabre tooth cat too (i.e. the one that chucks Fred out of the window at the end of each show). I'll see if I can get a better snap of it - cute figure.

[Halichoeres]

Oh, yes, I recognize it now! Thanks!

[Shonisaurus]

By the way, that cool piece of furniture where you have on each shelf a miniature of a dinosaur or another prehistoric animal, where did you get it? I would be interested in finding it.

[Halichoeres]

By the way, that cool piece of furniture where you have on each shelf a miniature of a dinosaur or another prehistoric animal, where did you get it? I would be interested in finding it.

@Shonisaurus I believe he said it was from Lidl.

[Shonisaurus]

By the way, that cool piece of furniture where you have on each shelf a miniature of a dinosaur or another prehistoric animal, where did you get it? I would be interested in finding it.

@Shonisaurus I believe he said it was from Lidl.

Thanks for the information, it is exceptional. As you can see in my collection, I could use a lot of furniture like that on the walls to put all my miniatures of dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals.

[Crackington]

Hi @Shonisaurus - yes I think it was Lidl and it was pretty cheap, about £8 I recall? It's actually meant for holding photos I think and has a glass cover. I saw it and thought, "Kaiyodos"....

Aldi also have this kind of thing from time to time too, not sure if you have them and Lidl in Madrid?

[Shonisaurus]

Hi @Shonisaurus - yes I think it was Lidl and it was pretty cheap, about £8 I recall? It's actually meant for holding photos I think and has a glass cover. I saw it and thought, "Kaiyodos"....

Aldi also have this kind of thing from time to time too, not sure if you have them and Lidl in Madrid?

Fortunately we have Lidl in Madrid and in Spain.

[Crackington]

I was taking some snaps of the Airfix Pteranodon model for the DinoToyCollector site, when I thought since I had it out, why not get a shot of a flock of them? Here it is with the Bullyland Sternbergi figure, granddaddy Marx and for comic relief the irrepressible Inpro:



I realised there's still quite a few of my collection not shared yet too, so here's a few more snaps. Next up, the three amigos Rex style with the sleek Marx, the venerable SRG metal figure and Doug Watson's brilliant Field Museum Sue:



For UK and Irish members, this puts me in mind of the Three ages of Elvis from Father Ted!

Next we have Sue's pal (prey?) from the Field Museum, the Anatotitan and a nice Starlux Triceratops. A nice and peaceful Cretaceous scene:



Lastly, and staying in Cretaceous, there's the state of the art (back in the eighties!) Stenonychosaurus. It perhaps as aged less well than many of its Invicta kin, but this was the bee's knees in mass produced dinosaur toys back then:



Hope you enjoy them 🙂

[Gothmog the Baryonyx]

I always enjoy Invicta figures, even that one. And I didn't realise that there were 2 Sues until relatively recently. The pteranodon looks very classy

[Gwangi]

Love the Sue figures, I have them both and the Torosaurus too. Still haven't tracked down the Anatotitan. That Airfix Pteranodon is pretty cool, I really impressed by the fish actually. The Bullyland sternbergi is forever one of my all time favorite pterosaur figures.

[Crackington]

Thanks @Gothmog the Baryonyx and @Gwangi yes the Sue figures were very nice and I liked @Doug Watson's sculpts. As you can see, I preferred the closed mouth version. She still retains a sense of power and strength, but doesn't look like she's immediately going to attack, unlike most Rex models!

I had a wee discussion with @Halichoeres about the Airfix Pteranodon fish and whether it was the first Coelacanth made into model form back in 1978? He thinks there may have been some earlier ones such as Sterling Lanier, but wasn't sure. It's a very nice model in any case, and the most sought after of the Airfix kits. It took me several years to track down at a reasonable price.

Completely agree about the Bullyland Sternbergi figure - it's very classy too.

[Gwangi]

I also prefer the closed mouth Sue, I prefer closed mouth theropods in general.

[Halichoeres]

The Airfix kit is great. The coelacanth is the first in plastic, as far as I know, for whatever that's worth.

I also prefer closed-mouth theropods, if for no other reason than that paint slop will never give them a milk mustache.

[Duna]

What fantastic additions  The pteranodon is wonderful, I'm in love with the box. Very nice companions there.
Invicta Stenonychosaurus is one of their best figures and the second most rare.

I see a big problem with the Starlux Triceratops .... you had bought it.  Starlux are incredibly irresistible. 

[Crackington]

I've been a bit busy lately so not had too much time to update this thread and post much on the Forum in general, apart from the odd comments here and there.

However, I do have a few new snaps to share. First off some MPC mammals provided by the great Mike Fredericks at Prehistoric Times and brought across the pond by my brother Mick for a big family event the other week.

Thanks to the two Michaels, here are the Mammoth, Glyptodont, Macrauchenia, Diatryma and my two MPC faves the Dire Wolf and the extraordinary Ceratogaulus:



I'm very pleased with the Dire Wolf as it's a rarer green variant rather than the usual red colour. Ceratogaulus is unique and seems to defy logic - a mostly plagiaristic 1960s toy company producing such an obscure species and doing it rather well!

[ITdactyl]

For older figures, those are nicely textured.

Diatryma might find offense at being called a mammal though.  (just kidding)

[UK]

Love the old monochrome figures Rob and real space savers too. Just think the pleasure they brought to many a budding palaeontologist through the years, sparking their imaginations.

[Crackington]

Thanks for that @UK , I guess the MPCs which were aimed at slightly younger kids than Marx, may well have been the first toys for those aspiring palaeontologists back in the day.

MPC's own creations were certainly pretty good and it does seem a bit mystifying why they knocked off so many of the Marx figures. They must have had talented sculptors to do their own designs judging by these beasties!

@ITdactyl  I've apologised to the Diatryma for calling it a mammal 

Earlier in the summer, I managed to get another golden oldie, the 1972 Aurora Prehistoric Scenes Cave. Unfortunately, I've no room to display it, but did put it together for some snaps:



It was nicely painted inside with some prehistoric cave art:



It makes a nice home for Craig the Cro-Magnon Man. Hope you enjoy:

[Duna]

Very cool!

[Crackington]

Thanks @Duna and apologies for missing the earlier post - yes I do like Starlux too, particularly the non-dinos and I keep an eye out for them over here!

Now for a rather cautionary tale - I took a punt on some old unlabelled figures on eBay recently which I'd hoped were Marx. It appeared that the seller had not realised what they were and other buyers could well miss them due to the unclear photos and the scant details in the description.

Well after some excitement on first sight in opening the package, disappointment soon crept in as I soon realised they were Jaru Marx copies, 1970s Hong Kong (I think). Here they are in all their (in)glory:



Fortunately, they were very cheap, the seller sent them quickly and well packed and they are probably good value for the price I paid. I also don't yet have the original Marx Brontosaurus and as this one is a good copy,  it's found a home in the collection:



More on this soon including a quick comparison with real Marx's and the downside to the Jaru figures - mutant dinos!