New Prehistoric Animal Models from CollectA (Part 4)
Today we complete Everything Dinosaur’s round up of the new releases from CollectA with the fourth part of our series on the new for 2016 prehistoric animal models. CollectA have left a couple of very impressive models for us to reveal today, it most certainly is a case of “last but not least”!
First up is this splendid re-boot of one of the most bizarre of all the members of the Ornithomimosauria, Deinocheirus.
New for 2016 An Updated Deinocheirus Model
Available from Everything Dinosaur in 2016.
Picture credit: CollectA
Prehistoric Animal Models
Fans of the CollectA range will recall that a model of Deinocheirus was introduced by the company into their Deluxe range of scale models back in 2012. At the time, the consensus was that the huge fossilised arms, powerful shoulder girdle and gigantic three-clawed hands (plus fragments of ribs and other post cranial material) that had been assigned to Deinocheirus (D. mirificus) represented some sort of super-sized “ostrich mimic”.
The Deinocheirus model produced by CollectA was a great attempt at interpreting the, as then, known fossil material. However, more complete fossil specimens representing a number of individuals have been found in the strata that makes up a portion of the Nemegt Formation and palaeontologists have a much better idea of what this bizarre theropod dinosaur actually may have looked like.
Commenting on Deinosuchus
Designer Anthony Beeson takes up the story:
“Originally only known from an astonishing pair of arms almost 8 feet in length and a few other bones, it [Deinocheirus] remained an enigma for around fifty years. I considered it too important an animal not to spread its fame amongst children, so a few years ago CollectA had a go at reconstructing the animal for our Deluxe range, and the result was very well received at the time. Quite amazingly, two more specimens turned up around 2014 and the world at last saw what the animal actually looked like, which was something no one could have predicted.”
The designer went onto state:
“Overall, our stab at reconstruction wasn’t bad, but the new fossils show that it actually had a large hump on its back and the head was a equipped with a Hadrosaur-like mouth. The skeleton suggests that the tail bore a fan of feathers and so I have reconstructed it in the act of display, either during mating or perhaps as a show of defiance.”
An Amazing Model
What an amazing model it is! It is fascinating to see how the interpretations of fossil material change and how model manufacturers respond to new scientific data.
The Deinocheirus 2016 replica is going into the “Prehistoric Life” not to scale series, it measures a fraction over seventeen centimetres long and that colourful head with its magnificent quills stands some ten centimetres tall.
CollectA Will Introduce a 1:20 Scale Model of an Andrewsarchus for 2016
A 1:20 scale replica of an Andrewsarchus from CollectA.
Picture credit: CollectA
CollectA Prehistoric Animal Models
CollectA’s prehistoric mammal models just keep getting better and better. The Daeodon and Moropus models that were introduced this year won considerable praise and in 2016 CollectA will introduce a replica of the largest mammalian land carnivore that ever existed, the fearsome Andrewsarchus.
Commenting on Andrewsarchus
Explaining the reasoning for the introduction of an Andrewsarchus Anthony stated:
“For the prehistoric mammals, this year I chose to do Andrewsarchus from the Middle Eocene period some 48-41 million years ago. It lived in what is now inner Mongolia, China. It was named after the great American palaeontologist Roy Chapman Andrews, whose book “All about Dinosaurs” was a best seller amongst British and American children in the 1950s and 1960s.”
The model designer added:
“Although the animal has been reproduced in toy form before, and has starred in various television documentaries, it may come as a shock to many that all that survives of it is the upper jaw that is armed with a formidable array of teeth. It’s lineage has also been a matter of controversy. Like so many prehistoric creatures the body has to be a matter of speculation if one is to produce a toy, so this is my take on it.”
A 1:20 Scale Figure
The 1:20 scale Andrewsarchus measures nineteen and half centimetres long and that impressive shoulder hump is nearly nine and a half centimetres high.
Both models will be available from Everything Dinosaur in the middle of next year.
To view the Deluxe range of CollectA models: CollectA Deluxe Prehistoric Life Models.
For a view of the popular prehistoric life range of CollectA models: CollectA Prehistoric World Dinosaur Models.
To read an article that discusses in more detail the 2014 Deinocheirus reconstruction: Deinocheirus Done and Dusted For Now At Least.
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