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

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.

Dinosaurus (1960) – movie review

Rare and Obscure Dinosaur films

Dinosaurus (1960)

Produced by Jack K. Harris (The Blob, 4D Man, Equinox), this 1960 B- movie is more likely fun for kids but adults might enjoy the campy humor, especially associated with the caveman (Gregg Martell). Construction crews building a port on a Caribbean Island accidentally dredge up two long buried dinosaurs from the ocean floor. They have been preserved by the cold deep waters. The Brontosaurus and Tyrannosaurus are pulled onto the beach and the foreman, Bart, calls a scientist to come investigate their find. Little do they know, but they have also beached a Neanderthal Man tangled in the seaweed. Overnight there is a violent thunder storm and the dinosaurs are struck by lightning, bringing them back to life (ala ‘Frankenstein’ science). An orphan boy, Julio, befriends the Brontosaurus, knowing he is a herbivore. The T. Rex is soon on the hunt putting Julio in jeopardy but Julio is saved by the caveman. The caveman falls in love with Betty. Later in the film Julio, Bart and Betty, are stuck in a cave as the T. Rex tries to gain entry. As the walls collapse, the caveman saves Julio again, along with Bart and Betty. The climax of the film has the foreman fighting the T. Rex in a steam shovel from the construction site. Filmed partly on the island of St. Croix, US Virgin Islands, the film is campy entertainment for all ages.

B-movie fans will also be entertained by the trivia and correlations to other films:

Marcel Delgado (maker of King Kong) had only 2 weeks to design the dinosaur models used for the film.

During filming, the special effects crew also filmed a sequence for The Twilight Zone using the miniature set and the Brontosaurus. The footage can be seen in the TZ episode “The Odyssey of Flight 33.”

The steam shovel vs. T.Rex climax is reminiscent to Ripley fighting the Alien in the ‘pay-loader machine’ in the film Alien. It is also clearly ‘hijacked’ for the scene at the end of Carnosaur (1993).

In one scene, a bus full of tourists is confronted by the T. Rex who bends down low and peers into the bus windows at the screaming people. (see photo above) He then bangs the bus with the side of his head and eventually crushes the bus. The similarities between this scene and the scene in 1993’s Jurassic Park with the ‘tour jeeps’ are more than a coincidence and thought to be Spielberg’s homage to the earlier film.

Psuedo science:
By now most of you know, there was no actual Brontosaurus that ever walked the earth. The Brontosaurus was a mistake of having the wrong head on the body of an Apatosaurus. Through the 1980’s, most museums began removing the ‘Brontosaurus’ heads from their skeleton displays and replacing them with the proper, smaller heads. And naturally, millions of years passed between the time that Dinosaurs lived and Cavemen arrived on earth.

Related Articles:
The Legend of Dinosuars and Monster Birds
Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women

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I always attract the wrong type of guys

Caveman think… brain hurt.

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My dates always end like this – maybe I should quit drinking

Marcel Delgado

Twilight Zone episode

The Odyssey of Flight 33