For a paint scheme I went for a sun-dappled look. This was inspired by a couple of lizard photos I found online. The model measures 9cm long. At 1/100 that would make Primaeval Design’s offering about 29.5′ long. This makes our animal slightly longer than the average specimen of Allosaurus Fragilis (8.5m)-in other words perfectly acceptable. We have a big boy here!

The pack I received included twelve figures in eight poses. Four poses were unique and four were doubles. The primitives are powerfully built and clad only in fur loin cloths. For weapons they carry a variety of stone axes, picks, and spears. A few figures have a trophy head hanging from the belt that keeps on their breechclouts. At first look I thought the heads were skulls, but a closer view showed them to still have noses but empty eye-sockets so I painted them grey-green as mummified. All the poses are nicely active and the weapons look suitable for bringing down megafauna.

For a paint scheme I opted for a darker skin tone than I used for the Primeaval Designs Neanderthals. As near-naked, I imagine them living in a warmer climate than the more heavily-clothed PD cavemen.  Included in the gallery are comparison shots between the Copplestone Picts and Primaeval Designs Neanderthals. These make good opponents and I’m now considered a Rosny-inspired “La Guerre du Feu” adventure.

The first picture is a comparison of a Blue Moon Victorian detective and a Deep One and the second is the same chap with a Salaman

I’ve neglected my blog for sometime. Very busy and I’ve not had much new material to add. To get the ball rolling again, I’ll have a look at Khurasan Miniatures excellent new ‘Deep Ones’ figures. What heresy is this? H.P. Lovecraft inspired miniatures on a prehistoric/lost world blog? If you recall your Mythos, the Great Old Ones and their minions are timeless and have dwelt upon the earth for eons before the rise of Homo Sapiens Sapiens. The Deep Ones might be the result of genetic tinkering by The Great Race of Yith during the late Devonian, or perhaps the Octopus God himself grew them as intelligent slaves from some creature such as Ichtyostega?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ichthyostega_model.jpg

Khurasan’s ‘Deep Ones’ pack has 12 figures in six poses. I purchased two sets so I have quite a horde of 24 humanoids from the deep. They were a breeze to paint. I used a couple of different shades of green with a pale underbelly and yellow eyes. The bases are washers built up with Liquitex modelling paste, then dipped in sand with a tiny seashell glued on here and there.

First up we have Scelidosaurus, a small herbivore whose fossils have been found in various places including the British Isles and North America. This creature may have been the ancestor of the Cretaceous ankylosaurs. The Magister Militum model is very nice and does the little beast justice. The living animal was about 3.8 meters long (12.5 ‘) and the model is 27mm nose to tail-tip, making it 9′ with 15mm figures. Again the model is quite nice with nicely detailed osteoderms covering the back. I’m glad I bought two.

Next we have another armored dinosaur Kentrosaurus, a stegosaur from Tanzania. The living Kentrosaurus was up to 4.5 meters (15′) long and the Magister Militum offering measures 4cm. At 1/100th scale this makes the Kentrosaurus model approximately 13′ long.  This is another nice model with excellent detail. Too bad my inept photography makes it look like a gum-machine toy. The Kentrosaur was rather interesting in that it had Stegosaurus-like plates on the front half of its back with a double row of  spikes on the rear half .  Typical of stegosaurs, Kentrosaurus’ tail ends in a “thagomizer” -a word I did not know existed until this year. I’m thinking of saying to my wife “I think I need a thagomizer” and she’ll reply “I think they have those at the pharmacy.”

Lastly we have good ol’ Camptosaurus, a dinosaur known since 1879. Camptosaurus was another in the long line of dinosaurs that filled the niche now occupied by many ungulate mammals. This makes them an unassuming critter that likely wandered about constantly browsing the low-growing vegetation.  This is true Allosaurus food. Originally the first specimens of Camptosaurus were mounted in an upright stance like a kangaroo, but the latest anatomical studies reveal that it was mostly a quadruped. Magister Militum opted for a compromise and have the animal bipedal but with its back horizontal. This is acceptable since Camptosaurus appears capable of bipedal movement. In the BBC Planet Dinosaur series Camptosaurus is reconstructed using bipedal locomotion to flee from an Allosaurus. It seems many of these herbivores could rear on their hind legs to reach leaves and possibly run short distances.  The Camptosaurus model is 5 cm long which actually makes the figure closer in scale to 15mm as according to Paul’s “The Princeton Field Guide to Dinosaurs”, Camptosaurus was about 5 meters (16′) long.

Gasosaurus was a small theropod found at Dashanpu fossil quarry in Sichuan Province China. It is noted to be only 3.5 to 4 meters long, but some controversy exists as to whether the fragmentary remains are of a juvenile. I bought two of the little Magister Militum models. I forgot to measure them, but from my own pics they look to be 20-25 mm long. This would put them in the 8-10′ range when compared to 15mm figures. Big enough to take out the unwary or unlucky explorer.

Eustreptospondylus roamed the island archipelago that would one day become the British Isles. It has been classified as a variety of Megalosaur, but the only known specimins are small. Maybe juvenile or adapted to island life through dwarfism. The Magister Militum model is 5.5cm long which actually scales it nearer 15mm when compared to the 4.63 meters of the fossils. In 1/1ooth scale 5.5 cm would translate to approximately 18′.

Last but not least is the Magister Militum Allosaur. A

nother dinosaur that the size is relative when you consider the large number of species of  Allosaurs that spread across the Northern Hemisphere during the Jurassic. Allosaurus is one of those very familiar dinosaurs whose anatomy is completely known. The Magister Militum model is nice , but the head lacks the prominent brow-horns of the North American A. Fragilis.  Don’t worry though, in the wonderful world of prehistoric life we soon discover that a Chinese allosaurid has been found with less obvious brow-horns so our Magister Militum model can represent this monster. The casting is 7cm long making a 23′ animal when used with 15mm miniatures.

The pack contains 25 figures -five mummies, four diggers, and 16 Western explorers and archaeologists. The Westerners are evenly split between men and women with all poses dressed in typical tropical kit. The figures mix well with the Deep Dark Africa Adventurers, Great White Hunters, and Missionaries, etc packs.

 Of the eight male figures, two are unarmed, two wear sidearms, and the other four wield revolvers, a rifle, and a shotgun. Two men carry lanterns and another has a burning torch. The lanterns are especially nice for a journey to the center of the earth. The man with the shotgun is clearly inspired by Brendan Fraser’s character in “The Mummy” series while one of the pistoleros is dressed in a fedora, leather jacket, and grips a whip in his left hand and is a useful Indiana Jones stand-in.

The female figures have four unarmed archaeologists and four  with side arms. Two of the handguns are clearly automatics so date these ladies as Pulp-Era. The gun-girls all wear riding boots and trousers and two carry torches and a third has a lantern. The unarmed women have three dressed in safari jacket and long dress while the third is dressed as their armed sisters. The three in dresses all have lights-two bulls-eye lamps and one torch and one girl holds a book while the other two have what appear to be maps.

The four diggers are fairly self-explanatory. Two with shovels and two with picks. One of each type holds a torch while his compatriot works. We hope they take turns. The figures wear typical long robes with one guy seems to have pulled his robe up to his knees to make it easier to work. One wears a fez while the other three have turbans wrapped around a fez.

Last but not least are the five mummies. One mummy is clearly bigger than the others so I assume he is the leader. He carries a bronze sickle-knife and the others are empty-handed. One figure wears a death-mask, or at least I interpreted this as a death-mask. Mummies go a bit beyond the topic of this blog, but who knows what lost ruins one might find in deepest Pellucidar? Have any returned alive after daring to enter such cursed tombs?

The Khurasan animals are a great set of six different Deinonychus. The poses are all advancing/attacking but each is unique. Deinonychus is portrayed as feathered which seems to be the current scientific opinion in regards to the dromaosaurs. The tail and arms have long feathers with shorter feathers over the rest of the body, with the exception of naked head and scaly legs.  The figures are about 35mm nose to tail making the flock members about 11′-12′ in 1/100th scale. 

Since raptor fossils from North America and East Asia come in many sizes and species, I feel free to use the 10mm castings by Magister Militum. Magister Militum has two sets of sickle-claws: Deinonychus and Velociraptor. The M.M. Deinonychus is ‘old school’ and unfeathered (though the model could be said to be covered in proto-feathers since at such a small size one can’t differentiate smooth skin, tiny scales, or peach-fuzz. The 10mm Deinonychus comes in more than one very similiar pose. One pose has an open mouth, while the second has its mouth closed, but perhaps there is three poses, it’s hard to tell.  The models are about 25mm long so are around 8′ next to a 15mm figure.

The tiny Velociraptor models have noticable feathers and a fringe of longer feathers around the base of the bare head. These also come in a multipose pack of five and are about 20mm long, or 6′ in 1/100th scale. The little Velociraptor makes nice partly grown chicks for Khurasan’s Deinonychus.