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Before Micronauts, Japanese robots, Godzilla and Ultraman, anime and all the other stuff that dominates my hobbies, I loved dinosaurs like any other little kid. My favorite dinosaur things were cheap plastic models that my dad built for me, and Aurora's amazing Prehistoric Scenes snap kits, which I could make myself. This is a portion of my current collection of those things.
Included here is the only publicly acknowldeged Prehistoric Scenes kit prototype - a painted hardcopy of Bill Lemon's amazing sculpt for the Giant Bird (probably used as a model for the box art painting). Also, there's a carbon of the concept art for the Prehistoric Scenes' Neanderthal kit from the files of the late HSM Company of Willow Grove, PA (design firm which actually created many of the best toys and hobby kits from the 60s, 70s and 80s).
There in the middle are three childhood buildups from the Life Like Models "Prehistoric Monsters" kit line, re-issued from Pyro's 1960s kit line. My dad built and painted two of them, and I built the bronto - probably all before I was 9 years old! They had great cavemen with some of them, and were occasionally old Pyro stock molded in funky colors, like swirled metallic and purple.
I have all the Prehistoric Scenes - including the big Red T-Rex, with both his box and the blank JC Penney catalog box. Some of those are shelved elsewhere, or stored away waiting for restoration. (Many of these are still available today in various re-issue forms. Several of both the Prehistoric Scenes and the Pyro/Life-Like dinosaurs were re-released just last year. But often the Prehistoric Scenes re-releases are missing their elaborate diorama bases.)
Alan at the Kruger Street Toy and Train museum asked me if I'd like to provide a temporary exhibit of these guys for a few months next year, so that'll be one of my major projects this fall.
Included here is the only publicly acknowldeged Prehistoric Scenes kit prototype - a painted hardcopy of Bill Lemon's amazing sculpt for the Giant Bird (probably used as a model for the box art painting). Also, there's a carbon of the concept art for the Prehistoric Scenes' Neanderthal kit from the files of the late HSM Company of Willow Grove, PA (design firm which actually created many of the best toys and hobby kits from the 60s, 70s and 80s).
There in the middle are three childhood buildups from the Life Like Models "Prehistoric Monsters" kit line, re-issued from Pyro's 1960s kit line. My dad built and painted two of them, and I built the bronto - probably all before I was 9 years old! They had great cavemen with some of them, and were occasionally old Pyro stock molded in funky colors, like swirled metallic and purple.
I have all the Prehistoric Scenes - including the big Red T-Rex, with both his box and the blank JC Penney catalog box. Some of those are shelved elsewhere, or stored away waiting for restoration. (Many of these are still available today in various re-issue forms. Several of both the Prehistoric Scenes and the Pyro/Life-Like dinosaurs were re-released just last year. But often the Prehistoric Scenes re-releases are missing their elaborate diorama bases.)
Alan at the Kruger Street Toy and Train museum asked me if I'd like to provide a temporary exhibit of these guys for a few months next year, so that'll be one of my major projects this fall.
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