Crackington's Formation

[crackington]

Being a new member of the forum and having enjoyed seeing everyone’s collections, I thought it time to share mine with you. I’m afraid my collection is not large, its constrained by space (I live in a flat) and competition with my good wife and daughters. I thus tend to collect only small models these days, but small is beautiful as they say. Sorry in advance for some of the picture quality, my cabinet is glass and I keep many of the models and fossils in plastic see through display boxes, so there is some glare in the pictures. I hope you like them!

Site A, the dino cabinet in situ. There is no site B yet, that’s for the future with luck!



Charlie the Revell/Aurora Dimetrodon (my girls love to name them!) and the early life shelf which contains most of my fossils and pre-dinosaur models.



Carnosaur corner – shelf 2, which is manly dinosaurs. There is a nice SRG T-rex I got for a birthday present and Sue the T-rex, who the girls didn't name for once!



Rosie the Ankylosaur and Polly (guess, it is obvious), shelf 2 lower down - I based Rosie’s paint scheme on the WWD Ankylosaurus, didn’t quite come out as I expected, but was pretty pleased with it considering my lack of artistic talent.



Shelf 3 –the Jurassic Sea. This is not strictly true as there are some Cretaceous beasties here too. When I first saw the Dino Toy Forum, I was astounded to hear that the Liopleurodon (Leo to you) was now rare and something of a “grail” figure for dinosaur fans. I got him soon after the models were released in England and was on the verge of spending the money on a few pints instead – glad I didn’t! Visitors nearly always comment on him first before any of the other models or fossils, so its obviously not just collectors who can see the “wow” factor.




Shelf 4 the age of Mammals – I like this shelf and have a few curios here. Aside from the mammoth herd etc I also have a metal Cyclops which I picked up in a Cornish antique toyshop in Tintagel. No idea who made it, but it’s obviously based on the great Ray Harryhausen’s villain from 7th Voyage of Sinbad. I also have a fine Brittans' gorilla inclassics King Kong pose – might square him off with a T-Rex one day.




Another picture of shelf 4 with retreating mammoths. This is the only shelf my youngest daughter can reach and she loves to get in and re-arrange things to her liking – I think the mammoths must have heard her coming and made a run for it!
That’s all for now but may be able to put up a few more snaps soon.

[sbell]

What is the large rhino-looking mammal on the right, in the bottom, next to the raised-up Dinotales Arsinoitherium?

[crackington]

Erm, it is a rhino, I think a 70s Brittans one. I got some Inpro dinosaurs off e-bay a while a go which were hidden among a lot of other toy animals, including the Brittans rhino and gorilla. Its quite a nice one I think!

[bokisaurus]

Nice collection, thanks for sharing
I love how you displayed them in little clear cubes.

[paleoferroequine]

Oct 1, 2010 22:47:04 GMT crackington said:

Shelf 4 the age of Mammals – I like this shelf and have a few curios here. Aside from the mammoth herd etc I also have a metal Cyclops which I picked up in a Cornish antique toyshop in Tintagel. No idea who made it, but it’s obviously based on the great Ray Harryhausen’s villain from 7th Voyage of Sinbad. I also have a fine Brittans' gorilla inclassics King Kong pose – might square him off with a T-Rex one day.


I'm pretty sure that the cyclops was made by Ral Partha, I have one like it. Oh, and I really like the way you've displayed your collection. I need to do something like that myself. Someday.

[stoneage]

Nice Collection! I like the Microraptor climbing up the post. Who makes the metal looking army men, trees and camp fire?

[brontodocus]

That's a lovely display and collection, crackington!

By the way - the cabinet, was it by Ikea and was its name "INGO" or something similar, maybe? I have two of them and they look exactly the same.

[crackington]

Thanks for the comments guys.

The camp-fire was part of the Safari Prehistoric Mammals toob. The little soldiers are actually plastic (they do look a bit metallic in the picture, don't they?) and came with a wind-up Godzilla model, unfortunately a victim of over enthusiatic little hands!
Not sure who made the trees, again got them in a job lot of toys on e-bay when I got some Inpros cheap. The fir trees look pretty old though, I'd guess 70s, maybe 80s.
The cabinet is from Ikea and has been an excellent buy.

Paleoferroequine - thanks for the ID of the cylops, there's no manufacturer's label on it, so I had no idea who made it.

[blackdanter]

Nice collection and display. Careful, you'll need a whole room before too long

[Horridus]

Very nice display! I could definitely do with a cabinet like yours, although some of my freakishly large figures (JP tyrannosaurs and the like) may have a problem with it.

[blackdanter]

Oct 2, 2010 11:35:04 GMT Horridus said:

Very nice display! I could definitely do with a cabinet like yours, although some of my freakishly large figures (JP tyrannosaurs and the like) may have a problem with it.

I wonder if those shelves are adjustable? Hmm, might have to take a trip to Ikea and take a look at these (must leave the wife at home or else we'll have to look at everything and come home with wooden shoes and lightbulbs or a load of stuff equally as useful )

[crackington]

Cheers Blackdanter and Horridus,

Yes the shelves are adjustable.

I know what you mean about visiting Ikea, dangerous at the best of times. I have to confess though that it was Mrs Crackington's idea to get the cabinet, so can't complain!

[Horridus]

For some reason the title 'Mrs Crackington' makes me chuckle. It has a good ring...

[Himmapaan]

Wonderful collection! And I echo the others about how well you've displayed them.

Oct 2, 2010 14:17:50 GMT blackdanter said:

Hmm, might have to take a trip to Ikea and take a look at these (must leave the wife at home or else we'll have to look at everything and come home with wooden shoes and lightbulbs or a load of stuff equally as useful )

Come now, you mustn't be ungenerous. Consider how 'useful' the dinosaurs are, for instance. ;D

[[][][]cordylus[][][]]

Oct 2, 2010 18:24:02 GMT Himmapaan said:

Wonderful collection! And I echo the others about how well you've displayed them.

Oct 2, 2010 14:17:50 GMT blackdanter said:

Hmm, might have to take a trip to Ikea and take a look at these (must leave the wife at home or else we'll have to look at everything and come home with wooden shoes and lightbulbs or a load of stuff equally as useful )

Come now, you mustn't be ungenerous. Consider how 'useful' the dinosaurs are, for instance. ;D

They're more useful than wooden shoes... I'd say they're about on par with lightbulbs too ;D

[crackington]

Thanks for all the comments everyone, its amazing but the cabinet itself seems to have garnered more interest than the actual dinos!

Horridus, "Mrs Crackington" could have been worse, I was thinking of using "Old One Eye", (the rogue tyrannosaur from 2000AD comic), as my forum name, but thought through the implications and decided against it - "Mrs Old One Eye" anyone? I hope the good lady
doesn't read this!

[Griffin]

Haha love where you put the microraptor. Very clever.

[blackdanter]

Oct 2, 2010 21:19:07 GMT crackington said:

Thanks for all the comments everyone, its amazing but the cabinet itself seems to have garnered more interest than the actual dinos!

Horridus, "Mrs Crackington" could have been worse, I was thinking of using "Old One Eye", (the rogue tyrannosaur from 2000AD comic), as my forum name, but thought through the implications and decided against it - "Mrs Old One Eye" anyone? I hope the good lady
doesn't read this!

Wow, I'd totally forgotten about the Rex in 2000AD. Those comics wiped the floor with Marvel back in the 1980's. I must revisit some of those I gave up my 2000AD collection long ago

[crackington]

The 2000AD strip was called "Flesh" and was particularly blood-thirsty with an enormous body-count - and this in the early days of the comic when it was aimed at 12 year olds! The equivalent Marvel strips with dinos of the same time, like "Kazar" looked really tame in comparison.

Not sure if they ever collected the stories into a graphic novel and I also stopped reading the comic a long time ago - great memories though!

[Libraraptor]

Wow, crackington, it seems to be quite cozy in your cabinet! Displaying them in those plastic cubes is a cool idea paying due to the lack of space. And I exactly know that "sharing space with wife and daughter" problem. If I lived alone I´d have shelves everywhere - with books and prehistoric figures all around.