Dinosaur Fans! Check THIS Out!
- Thread starter SgtFang
- Start date
Archie Opteryx
Well-Known Member
While we wait, why not enjoy my photos of REAL dinosaurs, which I took at New York's famed American Museum of Natural History?
You're making me miss "home". I practically grew up in that museum.
Cenobyte
Sr Member
I will try and get pics tonight.
Took about 10 mins to build once I had all of the piueces in line by number.
Very sturdy and not a bad paintjob for right out of the box.
This thread needs pictures!!! :cry
SO here are some.
First impresions: BAD!
Big Ass Dinosaur. :cool
If I were a kid, I'd eat this thing up. Finally a BIG impresive dino kit. Definitely a great gift for a dino-lover of any age.
And yet... it's not without its disappointments. The presentation is pretty poor. The box touts "full color assembly poster with facts and history", but that turns out to be just a photo with numbers pointing to all the parts. No actual "assembly instructions" as such.
On the plus side, assembly is pretty straightforward pressure-fitting, so it's not hard to figure out. Mostly a matter of IDing the little numbers on all the parts and matching them to the photo. I would have appreciated a line diagram though.
Each piece is black plastic, with a dab of beige paint to highlight the texture. Unfortunately the base is vacformed from the SAME black plastic, wth the same beige paint! The box photo shows a green-and-brown base, which would have looked much better. As it is, everything the same color makes it look cheap and unimpressive. (this could be fixed with a little paint though)
The molding on the parts themselves looks pretty good though. I haven't assembled it yet but the spine of the kit is a bent aluminum square-section rod. The spine bones, skull and tail slip onto that, and the legs assemble with tab-and-socket construction.
So to summarize... a very nice kit! If it were cast in polystone resin, and had a more careful paint job, you could sell these in museum shops for hundreds of dollars.
I paid $50 shipped direct from Toys R Us (it seems to be a Toys R Us exclusive), which feels kind of high to me. If you love dinosaurs and absolutely have to have this now, I'd say it pushes the outer envelope of "worth it". If you can find it on sale, maybe after the holidays, it's a definite must-buy.
And of course it would make a great gift for someone who digs dinos. :cool
SO here are some.
First impresions: BAD!
Big Ass Dinosaur. :cool
If I were a kid, I'd eat this thing up. Finally a BIG impresive dino kit. Definitely a great gift for a dino-lover of any age.
And yet... it's not without its disappointments. The presentation is pretty poor. The box touts "full color assembly poster with facts and history", but that turns out to be just a photo with numbers pointing to all the parts. No actual "assembly instructions" as such.
On the plus side, assembly is pretty straightforward pressure-fitting, so it's not hard to figure out. Mostly a matter of IDing the little numbers on all the parts and matching them to the photo. I would have appreciated a line diagram though.
Each piece is black plastic, with a dab of beige paint to highlight the texture. Unfortunately the base is vacformed from the SAME black plastic, wth the same beige paint! The box photo shows a green-and-brown base, which would have looked much better. As it is, everything the same color makes it look cheap and unimpressive. (this could be fixed with a little paint though)
The molding on the parts themselves looks pretty good though. I haven't assembled it yet but the spine of the kit is a bent aluminum square-section rod. The spine bones, skull and tail slip onto that, and the legs assemble with tab-and-socket construction.
So to summarize... a very nice kit! If it were cast in polystone resin, and had a more careful paint job, you could sell these in museum shops for hundreds of dollars.
I paid $50 shipped direct from Toys R Us (it seems to be a Toys R Us exclusive), which feels kind of high to me. If you love dinosaurs and absolutely have to have this now, I'd say it pushes the outer envelope of "worth it". If you can find it on sale, maybe after the holidays, it's a definite must-buy.
And of course it would make a great gift for someone who digs dinos. :cool
Steelblitz
New Member
Thanks for the pics. I'll have to grab one for x-mas for my little ones. I think it is a prerequisite these days for all children to be dinosaur experts, at least mine seem to be. :lol
Yeah, the base being the same color as the rest of it was my biggest beef. The skeleton's feet just kind of blend right in and make it hard to see where the skeleton stops and the base begins.
I haven't had time to get out to a hobby shop yet to get some real faux finishing colors and the moss, but for now I just shot my base with grey primer, and then sponge painted it with some green acrylic I had laying around. It looks worlds better, but not as good as it could yet.
-Sarge
I haven't had time to get out to a hobby shop yet to get some real faux finishing colors and the moss, but for now I just shot my base with grey primer, and then sponge painted it with some green acrylic I had laying around. It looks worlds better, but not as good as it could yet.
-Sarge
I'm considering chucking the base entirely and replacing it with a round black plaque. That would look more museum-ey. :cool
All kids love the dinosaurs!
Unfortunately most of them grow up and get distracted by other stuff. :lol
Some of us keep the love alive tho. Such magnificent creatures that once roamed the landscape.
And for us old codgers, it's a shock to thnk that next year is the FIFTEENTH anniversary of Jurassic Park. :confused
- k
PHArchivist
Master Member
"Museum-y" -- add that to the RPF dictionary!
I think a nice cherry or mahogany oval wood plaque would look great.
Thanks for the pics Karl. Now get it built!
I think a nice cherry or mahogany oval wood plaque would look great.
Thanks for the pics Karl. Now get it built!
Reminds me of this.
http://www.aboyd.com/prodinfo.asp?number=DS 101
I never got one, but always thought it looked nice. Does anybody have one to compare?
http://www.aboyd.com/prodinfo.asp?number=DS 101
I never got one, but always thought it looked nice. Does anybody have one to compare?
Wow! That one looks nearly identical!
So there you go... save $300. :cool
The Edu Science box says theirs is 36" long tho, while the Kinto/Dinostoreus (love that name) says theirs is 28.9". But somebody could be fudging.
I'll measure mine after I get it built up...
- k
Yeah, that's the 300.00+ one I mentioned earlier. I always wanted one, but just couldn't justify the price to myself.
Also, I just noticed that one's only 28" long vs. 36"
For the price, this one is still a fantastic deal. It could use a repaint, but I said that from the start. The only thing I'd have done differently on it would have been to make the forelegs as seperate pieces- they're molded as part of the "collarbone" and the detail on the joint where they meet the breastbone is a little soft. That can be cheated when we repaint though- just paint the line where they should attach a little darker.:thumbsup
-Sarge
Kinto-Dinostoreus makes a whole line of scaled dinosaur skull and skeleton replicas. The skulls are not too expensive as it is.. but if this is some kind of cross-licensing deal with Toys R Us, maybe we'll see more of these issued in inexpensive kit form...?
http://www.linkandpinhobbies.com/dinofosl.htm
http://www.linkandpinhobbies.com/dinofosl.htm
KevVader
Sr Member
Keith
Sr Member
PHArchivist
Master Member
Is this the same head? I got this (head only) for about $10 at the la Brea Tar Pits gift shop...
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PHArchivist, the head you have there looks like it might be close to the same size, but it's not the same casting.
- k
- k
