Your Favorite PS Kit & Why

[RetroArt]

Hi again folks!

What is YOUR favorite PS kit as a built-up?
And what about it's sculpture or fabrication that appeals to you so much out of the entire PS line?

For me, it's the TAR PIT!

(not my built-up ~ image courtesy of auroraprehistoricscenes.com)

THIS kit delivers on the promise of the boxart!
The dramatic subject of this diorama is both amazing and morbid.
I ask you, what kit would be more enticing than of a desperate wooly rhino has submerged in the viscous pool of black death while a huge, carrion-feeding vulture stalks nearby- apparently not bothering to wait for the rhino to perish from exposure before starting to nosh on him?!
The sculpts of this kit are the most mature and, dare I say, "accurate" than the other kits in the line.
Even the color of the plastic- a very 70's reddish orange- is great!

So, just based on the drama of the kit and it's less-cartoony sculpturing of its subjects, the TAR PIT is my favorite PS kit out of the entire line.

But that's just IMHO!

What's yours?

[TAY666]

Mine, too, is the Tar Pit.
It's just so cool. It's basically a diorama-in-a-box.

So many textures to work with. The fur on the rhino, the feathers on the vulture, the grass, the tree, and then there is the tar. Such variety in one kit.

I do have to say that the Sailback is a very close 2nd though.
When I finally built one again (since the original I did as a child), I really realized just how nice the kit really is.

[prescenes2]

I will always have a soft spot for the Allo because he was my very first kit and was the reason I got excited about the Prehistoric Scenes. Tar Pit I think will always be a favorite but for me, the Allo. (spit and all!) ;D

I think the Cave is another of my faves because of the hours of play time we had using army men, Marx dinos and Godzilla in or on the rock house. The Saber-tooth and Godzilla...What a war they had!!!

[desslock]

Agree on the Allo for the same reasons - to me, he always represents the series more than any other kit, both because he was the first kit I ever owned and because he was so closely integrated with the initial 1971 series of kits, appearing with the Cave and sabertooth and Neanderthal art (and the cro-magnons and flying reptile side art).

Although we may never know who sculpted the Allo kit, and the sculptor made none of the other kits, AND it's such a weird kit -- the spittle, the dragon-like back ridges and extremely long tail, and the heavy scales that Harryhausen would be proud of since his 1 Million Years BC Allo and Gwangi were constructed with similar features -- the Allosaurus best represents the series. Any of the others could be taken away, but the Allo is crucial "glue" for the series.

[TAY666]

Now, to me, the allo always seemed like an afterthought.
It didn't have a base.
Wasn't listed in the layout on the 71 instruction sheets.
It always seemed to me that someone at Aurora said.
"hey, wait a second. We've got this prehistoric line, and we don't have any dinosaurs in it.
Do we have anything we can throw in there to fix that?"
Then they went and threw it into most of the graphics for the line to make up for almost forgetting it.

As much as the Tar Pit anchors the layout, I think the Cave was meant to be the anchor piece of the line when it was released in 71. All the people can go in it.
The flying reptile can be mounted to the roof. You could also put the tiger up there if you wanted to.

[hypnotator]

Tar Pit has got to be my favourite too, although it's hard to choose between it, the Sabre Tooth Tiger and the Neanderthal Man. All are superb sculpts and hold special memories for me, and I love the way Aurora focused so much on prehistoric creatures other than dinosaurs, when any other manufacturer would just do a range of dinosaur kits. Of course the last PS releases were all dinos and they are all that ever gets reissued.

The Tar Pit gives you two creatures and tells a story. The way the Rhino is half submerged is great touch. the Giant Bird is another favourite of mine.

[desslock]

Sept 1, 2012 21:50:15 GMT -5 TAY666 said:

Now, to me, the allo always seemed like an afterthought.
It didn't have a base.
Wasn't listed in the layout on the 71 instruction sheets.

I think that emphasizes the point, rather than disproves it. Rather than locking down the Allosaurus in one spot, it was instead pictured outside the Cave, fighting the Saber-tooth, and threatening the Neanderthal -- it interacted with all the others, with the exception of the Tar Pit, and tying it to a specific location would have been contrary to that intention.

Agree with Cave was central and important too though.

The Tar Pit is the one that doesn't seem to fit with the others, except the Sabertooth -- it also seems off-scale, because of the size of the tree and the Taratorn (although it wasn't). The later swamp trees look like twigs by comparison though. I love the Tar Pit though - it really is a scene in box, as you guys said, which in some ways captures the spirit of the series better than most other kits.

[scooke123]

The Tar-Pit has always been my favorite with the Cave a close second. I've always liked the Anklyosaurus for some reason too - guess I like the armor plating. I see your reasoning with the Allosaurus being a free-floater in the series - never thought of it that way before but it does make sence.
Steve

[hypnotator]

Ankylosaurus is my favourite of all the dinosaurs. He's an excellent sculpt, the articulation is good without spoiling the look, and the diorama base is simple but has the great touches of the footprint and volcano. Allosaurus is a great kit too. I have to say the Cave is my least favourite, and the only one of the seventeen I haven't collected. I may get one one day. Seeing other folks' pix here makes me like it more.

[TAY666]

Personally, I don't really like the cave all that much.
I find it somewhat boring. Without putting some figures in there and getting some kind of action, it just looks kind of lifeless.
I will say though, that I have seen some amazing builds of the kit that do bring it to life.
But they are kind of rare.

Same goes for the swamp. Kind of lifeless, unless the builder does a first rate job on it and makes it all work.

[prescenes2]

Now, my favorite "unreleased" PS kit would be the Stegosaurus. That is one kit that I would jump on if it came to fruition! The base is very plain but that I don't care about. It's all the plates and spikes and textures and moveability and.....! It by far would be the funnest kit! I sure had a blast building Rick Wyatt's sculpt of it. It's about as close as it's going to get!
What color do you think it would've been molded in? By the colored pic of it it looks like brownish-orange.

[hypnotator]

I love the swamp, but when I first bought it as a kid I was disappointed. I was only six or seven and had already totally destroyed my Tar Pit a couple of years earlier I think. I wanted another Tar Pit, and it wasn’t. Nowadays those palm trees and accessories make my big glass case look like a proper diorama. The best feature is the hammer headed lizard emerging from the swamp.
My favourite “unreleased” one has to be the tar pit with a weirdly tusked elephant and a sabre tooth and maybe something else on its back. This was around a couple of years ago.

[TAY666]

If you are talking about this one
thealchemyworks.com/product_info.php?cPath=21_25&products_id=53

That isn't an unreleased Aurora kit.
That was an original piece that Alchemy did many years ago.
Which was then lost in their fire. Then brought back thanks to someone who had a pristine kit to use to make new molds from.

[hypnotator]

I suppose I was interpreting “unreleased” as tribute. That’s the one, although they’ve added vultures since I saw it on Ebay. This is the version I fell in love with:

www.monstermarketplace.com/hobby-and-art-supplies/la-brea-tar-pit-scene-resin-model-alchemy-works

Thanks for giving me the name, Tay. Nice to see it’s still available and I might even have time and money for it one of these days.

[TAY666]

Hey, thanks for pointing that out. I didn't realize that the 2 vultures were new to the kit.

[Gamera]

Had to think a long time before answering this, but my favorite has to be The Tar Pit.
Good sculpt, nice interaction between rhino / vulture plus was the first one I bought!
G

[RetroArt]

Yep! TAR PIT delivers the goods! You're a man of good taste, sir!

[hypnotator]

It's a clear majority... Tar Pit is the winnah!