Pegasus Hobbies 1/24 T Rex and juvenile Trike

[Dances With Wolves]

Hi folks - a Cretaceous critter in issue 64 of Airfix Model World, out today.

Partially shielded within the trees of the Cretaceous forest, she stood perfectly still. Early flowering plants lay at her feet and insects moved enthusiastically among them, pollinating and feeding.

Her skin gently fluctuated in tone and colour, as the chameleon-like cells within adjusted to the dappled light that tumbled to the floor below through the hot and humid air. Although an adult and some forty feet long, the Rex’s muscular bulk melted silently into the background, as cold yellow eyes surveyed the bare, trampled trail some twenty or so yards away.

Her acute hearing and sense of smell tuned out the many distractions of the forest until eventually they excitedly conveyed the presence of approaching prey. Outwardly unchanging, she came to a state of readiness.

The Triceratops group was larger than normal and after a successful breeding season, was swollen with numerous young, who kept close station with their mothers. Unable to traverse the trail without spilling into the tree line, some individuals were forced to pick their way through the coniferous obstacles on either side, their direction undulating away and then back towards the relative safety of the herd.

Still she waited. Lethal jaws parted slightly, to better sample the scent that blew over and around her, revealing the rows of dark ivory teeth within. Still she waited.

The juvenile ‘Trike’ barked in sudden terror as he stumbled within a dozen yards of the Rex. His alarm galvanised the herd that immediately flew forwards at the gallop in a thundering desperation to escape. The young Triceratops wheeled sharply to the left, seeking out the trail and the fleeing mass of flesh.

She was on him within seconds. Knocked to the ground and ruthlessly pinned beneath a clawed foot, ribs splintered under her nine tons as the young Triceratops squealed in painful response. The Rex paused and bellowed out her roar of defiance at the Triceratops adult that stood, head and horns lowered, nearby…

TTFN

Steve

[Vince1159]

Unbelieveable,that's fantastic,how long did it take you to paint them....

[Dances With Wolves]

Unbelieveable,that's fantastic,how long did it take you to paint them....

Hi Vince:

Thanks for that.

The Peggy items were assembled and painted in stages over a period of weeks and with the usual magazine caveat of having a deadline to work to.

The painting m/o is in the build article in the mag and can be applied effectively to any dino kit - beyond that, if you have any supplemental queries feel free to pitch them.

Hope you and yours have a great weekend!

Steve

[whitestar12chris]

Thats just a cracking dino build, lovely paint job, well done.

All the best Chris

[Vince1159]

Hi Vince:

Thanks for that.

The Peggy items were assembled and painted in stages over a period of weeks and with the usual magazine caveat of having a deadline to work to.

The painting m/o is in the build article in the mag and can be applied effectively to any dino kit - beyond that, if you have any supplemental queries feel free to pitch them.

Hope you and yours have a great weekend!

Steve

Cheers Steve hope you have a good one as well,i'll have to pop down the newsagent tomorrow and see if the have one...

[Gimme Shelter]

Absolutely fantastic work - I hope I can produce my kit of the same to the same glorious and delightful end result you have produced here - this Dio is a real treat on the forum

[Dances With Wolves]

Absolutely fantastic work - I hope I can produce my kit of the same to the same glorious and delightful end result you have produced here - this Dio is a real treat on the forum

Hi GS:

Thanks for that - the paint is very straightforward and the m/o I describe in the mag is appropriate for all dino kits. I do wish you well with yours. Do you have the Trike and Spino too?

As an aside, Shane Foulkes isn't too far off releasing a Liopleurodon to supplement the current line up.

Happy days

Steve :-)

[brodiebear]

fantastic, looks even better here than in the magazine build

[Dances With Wolves]

fantastic, looks even better here than in the magazine build

Cheers BB!

[Badder]

Great work made a bit easier by what is clearly a great model. Super and exciting.

I only have one reservation, and it's only a slight one, but personally, I do not think pink is the right colour for the skin stretched between the T-Rex's jaws. It's too 'mammalian'. Of course, no one knows what colours dinosaurs were, but if you look at modern day reptiles with their mouths agape , most show grey, pale yellow, or off white in this area.

Badder.

[Dances With Wolves]

Great work made a bit easier by what is clearly a great model. Super and exciting.

I only have one reservation, and it's only a slight one, but personally, I do not think pink is the right colour for the skin stretched between the T-Rex's jaws. It's too 'mammalian'. Of course, no one knows what colours dinosaurs were, but if you look at modern day reptiles with their mouths agape , most show grey, pale yellow, or off white in this area.

Badder.

Hi:

Thanks for that.

It's an interesting point and science has had some success with colouration features in the fossil record, through melanosomes on protofeathers. Notwithstanding that, as you say, colours are, in by far the broad scheme of things, unknown.

Shane Foulkes, one of (if not the) world's leading paleo modellers, was commissioned by Pegasus to paint the Rex for the box art. He used a pink gape too and he and I had a bit of dialogue over the question of colour, prior to my build going to print. I'll raise it with him as it's an arresting observation you make, so thanks again for that!

Best regards

Steve

[Badder]

Hi:

Thanks for that.

It's an interesting point and science has had some success with colouration features in the fossil record, through melanosomes on protofeathers. Notwithstanding that, as you say, colours are, in by far the broad scheme of things, unknown.

Shane Foulkes, one of (if not the) world's leading paleo modellers, was commissioned by Pegasus to paint the Rex for the box art. He used a pink gape too and he and I had a bit of dialogue over the question of colour, prior to my build going to print. I'll raise it with him as it's an arresting observation you make, so thanks again for that!

Best regards

Steve

The colouration of long extinct creatures is indeed a very interesting subject for discussion, and especially so for dinosaurs. We can look at today's reptiles and make educated guesses as to what colouration some dinosaurs had. Probably ALL small dinosaurs, including the young of large predators, had camouflage patterns, while the adults of those that formed herds may have had disruptive patterns. On the other hand, dinosaurs large and small may have been extremely colourful. When it comes to the very largest predators and herbivores it's anyone's guess. Erroneous beliefs, assumptions and fashion has dictated dinosaur colouration, but as you say, modern science is getting close to giving us answers. No doubt many dinosaurs had pink gapes, (as do many snakes and lizards today) but I suspect more didn't. At then end of the day though, T-Rex was a fearsome predator and just looks too girly in pink.

Regards,

Badder.

Edited February 10, 2016 by Badder

[Flag_overlord]

Got the magazine last night (which otherwise I wouldn't have known about/bought).

Thanks for the post, really good timing as I have a Tamiya 1/35 T rex, stegosaurus and adult triceratops coming up to the top of the build list, and wasn't too sure about the Tamiya colour layout (I'll probably emulate yours!)

In fact, double thanks - one of the other articles in the magazine provided some thoughts about how to do something on another kit on my list, which I wouldn't have seen without getting the mag for your article.

[Flag_overlord]

Just had a thought ... the colouration is slightly reminds me of late German WW2 armour camouflage

[68 SQUADRON]

looks great. im on the lookout for a dino kit to go with a 54mm figure iv got, something a bit out of the ordinary obviously. thats a bit big but might well do. how does the foot attach to the trike though?

[Dances With Wolves]

Got the magazine last night (which otherwise I wouldn't have known about/bought).

Thanks for the post, really good timing as I have a Tamiya 1/35 T rex, stegosaurus and adult triceratops coming up to the top of the build list, and wasn't too sure about the Tamiya colour layout (I'll probably emulate yours!)

In fact, double thanks - one of the other articles in the magazine provided some thoughts about how to do something on another kit on my list, which I wouldn't have seen without getting the mag for your article.

Hi F:

Glad the mag's helped out with 'the other kit' (which one btw?). I wish you well with your upcoming dino builds and look forward to seeing them on BM when they're sorted.

Just had a thought ... the colouration is slightly reminds me of late German WW2 armour camouflage

Have a read of Chris's editorial ;-)

looks great. im on the lookout for a dino kit to go with a 54mm figure iv got, something a bit out of the ordinary obviously. thats a bit big but might well do. how does the foot attach to the trike though?

Hi 68:

It doesn't. Pegasus didn't provide for this in the Rex and Trike kits but incorporated solid plugs for the base in their Spinosaurus release.

Thanks for the nod - much appreciated.

Steve :-)

[68 SQUADRON]

ah thats good to know. il have to see what the spino looks like done n decide which to get. then i just need a 1.32 biplane i can build into a car of sorts n il be all set. to quote J Clarkson "How hard can it be" lol

[Flag_overlord]

Hi Steve

Sorry for the delay, I couldn't find my copy of the magazine... under some modelling stuff. Have read the editorial now ... Panzer.

The other kit in the magazine was the 1/76 Matador/Dorchester conversion - I have an Italeri 1/72 Italian cannon with some gunners and wanted to give their uniforms a more bleached/dusty look. The weathering sounds like it's ideal for what I want.

Thanks for the best wishes for the forthcoming builds.

[Gimme Shelter]

Hi GS:

Thanks for that - the paint is very straightforward and the m/o I describe in the mag is appropriate for all dino kits. I do wish you well with yours. Do you have the Trike and Spino too?

As an aside, Shane Foulkes isn't too far off releasing a Liopleurodon to supplement the current line up.

Happy days

Steve :-)

Hi Steve - I've had to come back for another look at this gorgeous piece of art - I do have all 3 of the Pegasus Kits. I have this week just started my dino production line with a Stegosaurus - its in the figures section of the forum.

I'll have a hard time getting close to your paint work !

John

[Dances With Wolves]

Hi Steve - I've had to come back for another look at this gorgeous piece of art - I do have all 3 of the Pegasus Kits. I have this week just started my dino production line with a Stegosaurus - its in the figures section of the forum.

I'll have a hard time getting close to your paint work !

John

Hi John:

Apologies for the delay getting back to you - thanks for the generous appraisal. Great to hear you've all three of the Peggy kits. I was advised by Larry at Pegasus a couple of days ago that their forthcoming Liopleurodon project is stalled for the minute while they wrap up on a few other production items.

Just heading over to the figures section to 'ave a gander at your Steggy. :-)

Cheers!

Steve :-)

[Flag_overlord]

Hi Steve, as you were so kind as to express an interest in my forthcoming builds, thought I'd let you know the first few pics are up in the "Figures" section

[shelt89]

Hi Steve

I had this model for Christmas as I have a secret love for dinosaurs and have just recently started to try out a bit of model making. I have not painted an animal before and am only just starting to get my head round the various weathering and washing techniques from practicing on star wars models. So I was looking for tips for painting this model and luckily stumbled across this thread. I managed to get a pdf of the magazine so that I could read the article which has really helped me! There were just one or two discrepancies in it that I wanted to ask you about. The first is that it says Gunze H79 Sandy Brown was used. Gunze H79 is Sand Yellow (Dark). Gunze H66 is RLM Sand Brown Semi Gloss. Just wanted to check which was used? Secondly, after the nato black was sprayed on in patches, did you mix the hull red in with the black before applying it or was that also applied in its unmixed color? Finally, am I right in saying that a Gunze Pale Buff was sprayed on after the Hull Red because that is not described as being used in the article but there is a photograph with it on? Thanks in advance for the tips, just want to make sure I get the colors close to yours as it is the look I wanted to go for on mine! Great work!

Matt

[Dances With Wolves]

Hi Steve

I had this model for Christmas as I have a secret love for dinosaurs and have just recently started to try out a bit of model making. I have not painted an animal before and am only just starting to get my head round the various weathering and washing techniques from practicing on star wars models. So I was looking for tips for painting this model and luckily stumbled across this thread. I managed to get a pdf of the magazine so that I could read the article which has really helped me! There were just one or two discrepancies in it that I wanted to ask you about. The first is that it says Gunze H79 Sandy Brown was used. Gunze H79 is Sand Yellow (Dark). Gunze H66 is RLM Sand Brown Semi Gloss. Just wanted to check which was used? Secondly, after the nato black was sprayed on in patches, did you mix the hull red in with the black before applying it or was that also applied in its unmixed color? Finally, am I right in saying that a Gunze Pale Buff was sprayed on after the Hull Red because that is not described as being used in the article but there is a photograph with it on? Thanks in advance for the tips, just want to make sure I get the colors close to yours as it is the look I wanted to go for on mine! Great work!

Matt

Hi Matt:

First up, my apologies for the tardy response - I've not been on BM much in recent weeks I regret and thanks for the kind nod on the Rex.

In answer to your queries, here's my original text re finishing paint.

The short story made subsequent colour choices straightforward in seeking a mottled, patchy appearance and a base colour of Gunze Sangyo H79 Sandy Brown was airbrushed over all surfaces, including the mouth, teeth and tongue, as a prelude to that “… chameleon like…” colouration. With that in place, a custom ‘cold’ pink, assembled from Tamiya XF-2 Flat White, Tamiya XF-7 Flat Red and Tamiya XF-20 Medium Grey, suitable for the mouth, was airbrushed freehand. Any of the pink mixture that had strayed into the Gunze H79 Sandy Brown was corrected and the demarcation neatened with more base colour, again sprayed freehand.

The next evolutionary step was Tamiya XF-69 Nato Black that was popped over in thinly applied banding and squiggles, intended to considerably dull the base coat. The airbrush stayed loaded with the Tamiya XF-69 Nato Black as the spine from the base of the head, to the tail tip was also darkened. With that in place and the fun quotient building rapidly, Tamiya XF-9 Hull Red was added to the paint party in identical fashion to the Tamiya XF-69 Nato Black that preceded it. The final mix was a lighter, more isolated use of Gunze Sangyo H318 Radome, that concluded the randomly arranged four colour base. After a polite drying time, a sealing coat of acrylic Winsor & Newton Galeria Matt Varnish was the order of the day. While a gloss clear coat was an option, this was ignored in favour of the matt alternative, that would better hold a thin film of wash and control flow through the crevices.

So, yes - GS H79 Sandy Yellow was the base, followed by the custom pink. The Tamiya XF-69 Nato Black followed, the a/b then being cleaned out and reloaded with straight Tamiya XF-9 Hull Red. Final paint was GS H318 Radome.

Paint thinning was circa 30% paint to 70% thinner. No conscious effort was made to direct what was randomly and loosely misted over, other than gentle darkening of the spine (after the disruptive colours were on) with Tamiya XF-69 Nato Black and the patches of XF-69 on the head and over the eyes. Not that you would but I'd suggest not trying to copy the layout of the colours on mine but to pursue the principle instead - switch off the conscious mind and skip quickly around the model. Be asymmetric - don't repeat similar patterning on the opposite side

With your base patterning on, it's the wash that 'binds' everything and makes the skin detail visible.

Wish you well with it Matt and again, apologies for the late reply.

Best regards

Steve