Three Horned Dinosaur – Aurora Triceratops – model kit

Aurora Prehistoric Scenes Triceratops – model kit
with the Lava Pool Base extention

I finally tackled another model kit build after a short hiatus. This one is an original Aurora Prehistoric Scenes, Three-Horned Dinosaur (aka: Triceratops). Added on to the build is the Lava Pool base extension which lines up with both, the Triceratops and The Allosaurus original base.

I painted the whole dinosaur with a van dyke brown and yellow ochre undercoat before painting layers of Blue, Gray and Black for the skin color. The horns are off-white with some textures. The main modification I made to this dino was turning its head to the left to create a more dynamic pose. I built the figure, cut off the head and repositioned it by building a new neck area to support the head twist.

 

The Lava Pool extention was created/designed by myself. I shaped it to align with the edges of the Trike base and the Allosaurus base which also has the volcanic activity present upon it.

This is another one of my favorite dinosaur model kits and I’m glad to have the opportunity to build this again. The first time I had built it was over 40 years ago!

 

 

“Jurassic Savage” – Model kit build – custom diorama

“Jurassic Savage” – Model kit build – custom diorama/kit bash

Ok, this is not exactly Halloween related but it just took me a long time to build, complete and get some decent photos of this diorama and I couldn’t wait to share it.

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Allosaurus Marsh Attack on Brontosaurus

I had a vision of this scene based on Rudolph Zallinger art depicting Allosaurus attacking a Brontosaurus. I always liked the painting as a young man and used it as inspiration for this kit/diorama.  I set out to replicate and expand on the scene using several different model kits available on the market.

I painted the Modified Brontosaurus, Rudolph Zallinger style blue-gray to emulate his famous paintings. I decided to go more modern terms with the Allosaurus creating a camouflage mosaic.

I crafted a bloody battle of life and death that would show the savagery of these ancient Jurassic wonders. Hope you enjoy it.

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Jurassic Savage

There are several kits involved, all modified to create the scene I had envisioned.

Main Components: 

Horizon Apatosaurus Vinyl 24″

I turned an Apatosaurus into a Brontosaurus

modifications:

Cut legs to show half body standing in water – elongated leg stems

Exchanged/Remodeled larger head to shape/form of classic Zallinger Blue Brontosaurus including high brow ridge bones, open mouth/extended jaw, modified nostrils

 

Allosaurus

Airfix Tyrannosaurus modified to represent Allosaurus (2)

 

I turned the T Rex model kits into Allosaurus

modifications:

Change face to an Allosaurus by changing line of sight from forward (T Rex) to side (Allosaurus).

Mold flash bone shapes above the eye

add length to arms, add claw (Allosaurus has 3 claws)

Remove back claws from hind legs and reshape feet

reposition legs for attack stances

Base

Custom shape mounted on stained wood

Aurora Prehistoric scenes and Aurora model kit components for land mass

Prehistorix add-on Foliage kit pieces

Prehistorix Rhamphoryncus

Self made Ceolyphysis

Self made Brontosaurus eggs

Self made Name plate with foliage

Water effects – Scene It water effects

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Baryonyx resin model kit build – May 2016

Baryonyx model kit

Prehistoric Scenes add-on kit from Prehistorix -2016

Here’s a kit that I had been waiting for its release for many months since Prehistorix announced they were working on it. When I was young there weren’t as many dinosaur species known as there is now. The Baryonyx is a carnivorous therapod I learned about some years ago but seeing a model kit for it was a thrill.

I built this kit between April and May, 2016

 

I did a few modifications on this kit. The Baryonyx is half submerged in the water. I sculpted a tail to stick out of the water after seeing a similar scene of Godzilla in a movie. In order to accommodate the tail I had to extend the base on water side of the diorama.

modification sculpts – in progress

undertone colors

I sculpted a fish for the Baryonyx to grip in his crocodilian like jaws.

 

A also cut some strips of plastic to simulate sea grass. The Baryonyx color choices were made from studying alligators and crocodiles.

Most builders painted this kit with a river swamp look in mind. I wanted to make it more of a sea/marsh area. This enabled me to use the water effects to create sea waves and a sandy shoreline.

basis for my eye colors

Check out the wonderful new Resin Model Kits at the Prehistorix Website

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parlor of horror – model kit post

Aurora Prehistoric Scenes Styracosaurus – model kit

Aurora Prehistoric Scenes Styracosaurus – model kit

 

I was finally able to build another model kit after a long hiatus. This one is the Revel re-issue of the Styracosaurus. Included with the kit is the Carboniferous Forest base extension (You can get one from Jurassic Arts) and my little Carnosaur in the background peeking through the trees.

I painted the whole dinosaur with a van dyke brown and yellow ochre undercoat before painting layers of green for the skin color. The horns are black/white/gray and silver. The only modification I made to the dino was adding the skin at the back of the mouth as seen on many reptiles.

This is one of my favorite dinosaur model kits and glad to have the opportunity to build this again. The first time I built it was 40 years ago!

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parlor of horror – model kit post

My Aurora Prehistoric Scenes Collection video

My Aurora Prehistoric Scenes Collection video

I put together this video to showcase my Aurora Prehistoric Scenes model kits. All the kits were built and painted by me. Most of the ones in this video are original 1970’s kits, not reissues. Many of these were damaged and had missing pieces that I refurbished. For some I made minor modifications. I have more kits yet to be built that I will be working on in the coming year. Part II of my video will be made when they are complete. I did a voice over in my 1950’s style narration voice. it came out hokey but I left it in anyways. It was my dry attempt at humor…

Kits: Cro-Magnon Man, Cro-Magnon Woman, Neanderthal Man, Sabertooth Tiger, The Tar Pit, The Giant Bird, Allosaurus (2 kits), The Wooly Rhino, Dimetrodon

You can see photos of these kits and more here: Model kits by Mike K

Aurora Prehistoric Scenes – Allosaurus (w/original base) – model kit

 

Aurora Prehistoric Scenes – Allosaurus (w/original base)

This is my original Allosaurus by Aurora. When I say ‘original‘ I mean there are no modifications made to the kit or base. However, it is actually a combination of original released Aurora parts and re-released Revell Allosaurus parts, plus half the base was the recast from Prehistorix.

So, it is original in look and spirit but not all original Aurora parts.

The Allosaurus base was only produced for one year (I’m thinking it was 1971) then the kit was sold without a base for many years from Aurora and re-issued for many years through Revell without a base.

I’d like to thank the guys from Aurora Prehistoric Scenes Historical Society for helping me find missing parts to complete the kit and save it from the trash heap.

Also, I’d like to mention, this guy has been snubbed by the Jurassic Park franchise for too long, what’s the story?

 

Aurora Prehistoric Scenes style Iguanodon Model

This is my Neave Parker/Burian style Iguanodon. Parker and Burian did artwork of what the Iguanodon may look like in the early 1900s. They only had a few bones to work with and conferred with other scientists about how the creature might look. Today the Iguanodon looks much different as more complete fossils were found in subsequent years. They are primarily quadrupeds and don’t have that broad neck design.

Ok, this is not a marketed model kit – it is a sculpt I made from plastic forming clay to add to my Aurora Prehistoric Scenes kits. I used the Lindberg Corythosaurus figure (minus the head) to start the modeling from, completely covering the entire body with clay to be molded.

I made the base out of clay and plaster. It is shaped to lock-in with my custom Allosaurus base.

I made two Compsognathus (Compys) for the background and the Archaeopteryx on the branch in the foreground is from the Tamiya Mesozoic Creatures model kit collection. I know this mixes time periods but so does the whole PS Line of model kits.

I added some palm trees, plants, broken tree limbs and rock outcrops to complete the scene.

Aurora Prehistoric Scenes Woolly Rhino

Aurora Prehistoric Scenes Woolly Rhino

Kit being built – before paint 2

Here is my Aurora Prehistoric Scenes, Woolly Rhino, garage kit.

There was no Woolly Rhino kit release from Aurora, so I built this using pieces of Aurora kits and sculpting my own details.

 

This kit uses the head from the Woolly Rhino in the Aurora Tar-Pit kit. I sculpted a body and made a base to match the tradition of the Aurora kits.

See my video for info on the build, sculpting, painting and creating the Woolly Rhino kit…

Model Kits – Aurora Prehistoric Scenes – Giant Bird

Aurora Prehistoric Scenes

Giant Bird – Phorohacos

I bought this kit ‘new’ and complete in the box. It was originally released in the early 1970’s in the second wave of Aurora Prehistoric Scenes kits. It was never re-released so any that you may see on the market would be original Aurora product. This one cost me a bit more than others because of its new (unused) condition.

The only problem in building, which I remember from when I was a kid, was getting the body top (back) in place. It never seemed to fit exactly right. This prompted me to use super glue to build the kit so that piece would dry in a minute and not ‘pop’ off or move to a crooked position while drying overnight.

I always liked this kit because it was the same giant bird as in the Schneer/Harryhausen feature, Mysterious Island (1961). I built it as instructed with no modifications.

Be sure to check out all my other Aurora Prehistoric Scenes build-ups:

Allosaurus, Cro-magnon Man, Cro-Magnon Woman,  Neanderthal Man, Sabertooth Tiger,

 

Model Kits – Aurora Prehistoric Scenes – Allosaurus

 

Aurora Prehistoric Scenes

Allosaurus

with custom base

This kit was re-issued by both Monogram and Revell and is still widely available to those who look for it. It originally hit the market in the 1970’s. It had it’s own base for one year, then, for unknown reasons, Aurora dispensed with the base and sold the Dino, only.

The kit I purchased is an original Aurora Prehistoric Scenes kit (without base) in a ‘used lot’ collection. It was missing a hand and the outer half of it’s left arm.

I sculpted a new hand and arm piece.

I never liked the kit’s original green color, so I primed it gray and decided to go with a brown color with snake-like designs along it’s back.

Flowing from the mouth is slather which attempted to make the beast look like it was salivating over a kill. I debated cutting it off and just having a tongue. I think most kit builders agree, it wasn’t very authentic looking, but I decided to leave it to represent the original kit.

In Jurassic Park, I believe the effects crew set up this shot as a homage to the kit. Instead of slather, the T. Rex had bits of the rubber from the car’s tire hanging from his mouth.

Once the kit was complete, I decided to make a base from scratch. I started with a Styrofoam board and cut out a random shape. I edged it with rocky molding and outcrops to mimic the Aurora bases.

I molded grass and plant designs similar to those on the cave-man kits. I could have used more realistic Scene-it products but I wanted to keep some aspects of the Aurora look. I did use Scene-it trees and some branches.

I liked the idea of the Allosaurus crashing through the trees, onto the scene.