Tony McVey 1/18 Gorgosaurus

Tony McVey´s sculpts have an instantly recognisable quality. I´m very pleased to own some of his rare pieces. This is one of my favourites. A 6-piece kit (tail, body, lower leg, lower leg attached to base and 2 arms), it was keyed with male/female joints and went together like a dream. The upright running pose was altered into this more aggressive, forwardly leaning lunge  in order to portray the animal just about to snap up an unfortunate juvenile lambeosaur ( - as yet to be finished).

A fossil-hunting trip to Gram clay-pit, where the remains of  Miocene whales have been found, provided me with a suitable background for photographs of a thirsty Gorgosaurus hurrying down to water for a drink. 

Finished 01.10.2004.

Spike.

Shane Foulkes´ first 1/18 Iguanodon.

This was the first ever Dinosaur model-kit released by Shane Foulkes and his Cretaceous Creations of America back in 1995 - 5 years before I even became aware of the Dinosaur modelling hobby.

I know I was very lucky to get hold of one of these 7 piece kits (lower jaw, body, 4 limbs and tail, plus a base) and it still pleases me to see it amongst my collection.

The old kit was completely re-skinned to give it a more pebbly-scaled hide and the separate middle three fingers on the fore-limbs were altered to unified "mitts", bringing it a little more up-to-date.

A "tail-flash" was added for visual communication with other Iguanodon, at the same time livening up my otherwise predictably dull colour-scheme.

This Iguanodon has slopped her way across a treacherous marsh to get at some tasty greens. Her hands and feet are mired with the black ooze that will later bog her down on her return journey - depriving her of life but ensuring that her fossilised bones will be found on the south coast of England 130 million years later for us to wonder and marvel over.

Finished 01.11.2005.

Spike.

American Theropod´s baby T. rex

This limited-edition one-piece casting of Jun Huang´s sculpt has unfailingly proven most popular at shows.

Squatting just 17cm high, those big eyes seem to be looking up imploringly and even we humans find this appealing in a tyrannosaur. The over-sized and gawky feet are a juvenile feature and I painted them in slate-blues and greys to make them stand out even more. Offseting the cuteness of that upward gaze with the slight cock to the head, a few bones were scattered near the feet - is this youngster looking up in expectation of some tender care ... or some tender meat ....?

Finished in 2004.

Spike.

1/20 Centrosaurus, sculpted by Jorge Blanco.

When I saw the one-of-a-kind original sculpt of this animal by Jorge Blanco, over at the sadly now defunct Dinosauricon, I really felt the need to add a second of his reclining Dinosaurs to my collection. I got in touch with him and eventually he was persuaded to make some castings which were released as this kit with only the horn to be glued on. Ceratopian fore-limb posture is still under debate and Jorge´s reclining pose "skips" so very neatly around the subject. It also inspired me to place the beast in a setting as if it has backed into what it feels is a safe place to rest.

This proved to be a very photogenic model and I´m pleased with how it turned out.

Finished in 2004.
Spike.

1/35 Feathered Tyrannosaurus (chicks)

This one piece casting, sculpted by Michael Lovejoy, is no longer available.

I painted mine to represent two Tyrannosaurus rex youngsters squabbling to establish a pecking order.

Finished 14.07.2004.
Spike.

1/20 Albertosaurus, sculpted by Charlie McGrady

Charlie McGrady´s 1/20th scale Albertosaurus was my first "big" kit and taught me a lot about puttying, re-sculpting detail and how to join heavier resin parts. Leg and tail pieces were pinned with brass screws and glued with 24-hour epoxy for the strongest possible joins. A challenging 10-piece kit, well worth all the effort it took. The knees were re-sculpted to lean the animal farther forward and downward than the original pose.....

Hot-glue strands and some epoxy made some slobber, Komodo-Dragon style.

Why is Albertosaurus leaning down and drooling like this?....

.... could be it has scented this juvenile nodosaurid doing it´s utmost to hide in that fallen hollow tree-trunk?

(I sculpted the 2.5cm nodosaurid myself from some left-over putty).

Finished 04.07.2004.

Spike.

Epidendrosaurus, sculpted by Michael Lovejoy.

Mike Lovejoy´s life-size sculpt depicting a juvenile of tiny Epidendrosaurus is only a few centimetres long and was produced as a one-piece casting. These small animals may have had arboreal tendencies and Mike sculpted his clinging to a the bark of a tree-trunk. I ground this away and then painted the little Dinosaur in hues that would blend in with the forest-floor subsequently modelled around it. Caught out in the open, the little Epidendrosaurus hunkers down into leaf-litter, intent on not being noticed by a passing predator.

Finished in May 2004.

Spike.