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

One Million BC (1940) – movie review

One Million BC (1940)

Directed by Hal Roach, Hal Roach Jr.

Stars: Victor Mature, Lon Chaney Jr., Carole Landis

Hal Roach is a company you wouldn’t have expected to produce a serious film on prehistoric life. Yet that is exactly what is presented here. We follow the story of Tumak and his struggle to get out of the shadow of his father and tribe leader. Early in the film he battles his father over food and is forcibly kicked out of the clan. Wounded, he floats down river and is saved by a clan of people that are less savage and have a different sense of community. The cave woman Luana takes a liking to Tumak and nurses him back to health. He observes their ways of sharing, even letting the children eat first rather than fighting over scraps as his tribe was accustomed to doing. They work as a community for the benefit of all and even provide for the elders who can no longer hunt and gather. It is a real community rather than a winner-takes-all social hierarchy.

There’s one silly looking Allosaurus to which thankfully they never show a clear view. After that display, the parade of lizards posing as dinosaurs is a welcome sight. This film has the famous scene where the dwarf gator fights the monitor lizard which has been used in half a dozen other future films. Eventually Tumak returns to his tribe with Luana to teach them his new ways. The tribe learns quickly. Unfortunately there’s a nearby volcano that erupts destroying Tumak’s homeland. Luana seeks shelter in a cave with many of the children and they are trapped in the cave by a giant iguana. This iguana-saur ain’t budging. It barks like a dog, growls like a lion and hisses like a snake with a toothache. The two tribes work together to free Luana, the women and children trapped in the cave. And they all live happily ever after.

This is the first film in a line of films that presents the life of prehistoric man without any recognizable dialogue. It’s followed by the loosely based remake, One Million Years BC (Hammer Films), When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth (Hammer Films), Clan of the Cave Bear, 10,000 BC, and even Cave Man (1981). Roach originally hired GW Griffith for the production because of his experience with large scale special effects, but they parted ways after differences in opinions. Despite the departure, the film won two academy awards, best special effects and best music score. There are some noteworthy effects in the film including the volcano lava that just misses swallowing a child and the giant Iguana sequence trapping the women and children in the cave. It’s plot is fairly basic and it’s dinosaurs are limited in appeal but it is notable as a film of its genre for imagining the life of the Cro-Magnon man, however scientifically inaccurate some aspects may be portrayed.

Publicity shots and behind the scenes shots:

Model Kits – Cro-Magnon and Neanderthal Man refurbish – Aurora Prehistoric Scenes

 

Aurora Prehistoric Scenes

Cro-Magnon Man
Neanderthal Man

A few months back, I purchased some original, 1971 – 75, Aurora Prehistoric Scenes kits. These were never reissued through other companies and the original molds were lost or melted down for scrap. Trying to purchase these, in the box, un-built, is nearly impossible without spending a small fortune on each. So, I purchased a used, previously built ‘lot’ with some missing pieces.

The kits were not in great shape with broken parts, old glue, and spaces in the seams that could not be re-glued.

So, it was my little project to refurbish these and bring them back to their original glory.

As you can see the kits had huge spaces that I filled with liquid plastic (Tamiya modeling putty). I sanded the areas smooth with fine grade sandpaper. I hate seams so I tried to fill and smooth most of them away.

I had to build a new foot for the Neanderthal Man.

I had to build a new tree for the base of the Neanderthal man model kit. I also built a new spear for the Cro-Magnon Man.

I sprayed both kits with gray model surface primer so I could start with a neutral color and paint them from scratch.

I found a good combination for skin tones using brown, eggshell white, and orange. I used different amounts of white to differentiate between the Neanderthal and Cro-Magnon’s skin tones.

I’m currently using acrylic paints instead of the usual oil-based model kit paints because they offer better control over color mixing. But that means having to spray the whole kit down with a fixative after its done or the paint will chip and peel. Spraying it in some ways brings out the colors a bit more and it gives the skin a natural shine, even though I’m using a matte finish.

I’m very happy with the finished product and to have saved these kits from ending up in the trash.

I also purchased the Cro-Magnon Woman and the Sabertooth Tiger. I will show the refurbished kits in my next model kits post.