Sunday 6 November 2016

One Million Years BC!

This is a story of long, long ago; when the world was just beginning.
Welcome to this, the first post of 'Dinovember 2016'.  This is the month that I indulge in my love of all things Prehistoric, or at least things connected to that bygone age, no matter how tenuously!  My first offering is an adventurer from 'Antediluvian Miniatures' and one that is rather amusing titled, Raquel Scotch.  This delightful sculpt, as far as I am concerned, is a wonderful homage to Loana the fair, one of the central protagonists in Don Chaffey's One Million Years B.C.
Now I would like to tell you that this was one of Young Master Awdry's favourite films, but sadly this was not the case.  When I first saw it, I remember being decidedly unimpressed by the Dinosaur quotient even though they had been ably brought to life by the fine work of Ray Harryhausen.  Over time this disappointment gave way to the appreciation of the outstanding costume design, how Miss Welch's outfit was not oscar nominated still remains a mystery?
Now purely, in the interests of research, I decided to revisit this celluloid spectacular whilst painting the miniature and can report that I may have been a little hasty in my original analysis.  Yes there was still a sense of disappointment that the Dinosaurs didn't feature as much as I would have liked, but there were plenty more stand out performances that the ten year critic had missed; Martine Beswick's portrayal of Nupondi being an obvious one!  Still, I think that it is fair to say the special effects haven't aged well, but the whole adventure had a reassuringly nostalgic feel to it.
Returning to the miniature and I was happy to recreate the look of the film with the colour palette, not that there was a lot of outfit to paint!  Raquel actually came in a pack with a couple of adventurer types and I am hoping to share those with you over the coming month; for the time being let me leave you with one of the film's more memorable exchanges:

Loana: [pointing to Ahot] Ahot.
Ahot: [pointing to himself] Ahot.
Tumak: Ahot.
Loana: [pointing to Ahot] Ahot.
[pointing to herself] Loana.
[pointing to Tumak] Nnn?
Tumak: [misunderstanding] Ahot.
Loana: [pointing to Ahot] Ahot.
[pointing to herself] Loana.
[pointing to Tumak]
Tumak: Tumak.

I'm sure the scriptwriter had many a sleepless night coming up with that!  Hopefully a dinosaur up next if I manage to get the airbrush working this afternoon.


69 comments:

  1. Tremendous start to your Dino'Vember Michael, and a nice bit of backstory into the world of a young master Awdry. Terrific stuff and I'm looking forward to seeing the rest of your submissions for this month :-)

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    1. Thank you Simon, I hope to have some more frippery for you before too long.

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  2. Winged Dino caught in the act of ogling, on a time traveler's mobile device camera.

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    1. Absolutely! Not something you see every day.

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  3. Great start to Dinovember! Can't wait to see what you come up with this year :)

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  4. WooooW what a amazing start! Great!

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  5. Phil (pointing to your job) : excellent, excellent!

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  6. Great start to the month! Can't wait to see what the rest of the Dinovember brings.

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  7. Great work!

    And having met Ms. Beswick at a convention a year or so ago, let me say she is a riot to talk to and has aged very well!

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    1. Thank you Bill and what a lucky chap you are!

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  8. Great figure, shame the dinosaurs had all been dead for 64 million years and were at their peak 65 million years before that. Still only 900,000 years to early for Ms Welch. Don't mess with pedantic geologists

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    1. Fair point Martin, but not something that was troubling Young Master Awdry. ;)

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  9. Fantastic, lovely figure.....I mean the minature 😀By some bizarre twist of chance I share my birthday with the real Raquel....although we aren't quite the same age.

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  10. yaayy it's Dino'vember! time for sir Michael to go all Jurassic Park and stuff....
    *sits comfortably* I'm ready to be (dinos)awed now! *gets his coat*

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  11. Great looking figure. Looking forward to seeing more as Dino'vember continues.

    Cheers, Ross

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  12. Gosh that takes me back! (Stop it I am not that old. Stop it. Stop it! I can still hear you sniggering.)

    No pun was intended when I typed the first line. Yes I remember the film well the blondes vs the dark hairs!

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    1. I promise I did't snigger, well maybe just a bit. ;)

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  13. What with Loana and Nova from the original 'Planet of the Apes' you have no idea the havoc this played with my childhood mind! I still have a thing for women in fur bikini's even now!!!

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    1. Nova, now how did I forget her? What a great shout.

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  14. Excellent inspiration - must dig my T-Rex out! :D

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  15. A wonderful entree to the season m'Lord - I'm looking forward to the rest of the month's madness now :)

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    1. Thank you so much Tamsin, more to follow before too long.

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  16. A lovely rendition of the figure Michael, beautiful paintwork sir, I have recently bought (but not yet painted) a similar figure from "Tin Man", that I personally think is nicer. But that is just my opinion, what do you think..

    http://tinminis.com/Cavegirl.JPG

    Not as accurately Raquel though.

    Cheers Roger.

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    1. Thank you Roger and that is a great miniature, I can see why you like her. She might have to be added to the collection at some point.

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  17. What a funny man you are kind sir! ;-) While I am not altogether sure I actually have seen this movie I do know for a fact I am no Dinosaur fan. That said your enthusiasm is catchy... oh dear!

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    1. Thank you Sander, now how have you managed to live this long without seeing this little gem? You are in for a treat Sir.

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    2. Living in the Netherlands gets you there like this pretty safely!

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  18. Exellent !!! Will follow you pre-historical adventures with interest

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  19. I'm sort of regretting that I bailed on Dinovember this year, Michael. All those plastic dinosaurs are looking at me reproachfully, saying "Why won't you paint us? Don't you love us anymore?" But what can I do? I've got 'pumpkin fever'...
    A nice start, Michael. I can't wait to see what else you have up your sleeves - which I believe may include one of my gifts to you, if memory serves me right, as I think I saw it lurking on your workbench...

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    1. I'm sure the Dinosaurs will be waiting for you next year Jez. Yes, one of your kind donations is due to feature at the weekend complete with his thagomizer!

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  20. Fabulous stuff. Very evocative of long Sunday afternoons.

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    1. Definitely required viewing for a long Sunday afternoon.

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  21. Can it get any better than this???

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  22. Great stuff as always and I too was/am a fan of both this film and Miss Raquel.

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  23. I am old enough to have seen the film when it came out at the cinema. I was not impressed by them mixing dinosaurs with humans and the charms of Miss Welch passed me by, as a six year old (not now of course!). I have the same figure sitting on my desk at the moment but she is very petite which makes your paint job even more impressive!

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    1. Thank you Legatus, I had been putting off painting young Raquel for a while noe, but once you get the skin colour down there really isn't much more to do. That said I did get a couple of quizzical looks from the Saintly Mrs. Awdry, who felt that I was taking my research of fur lined bikinis a little too far!

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  24. This will be a fun Michael! Lovely job on Loana!

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  26. 'Winged Dino caught in the act of ogling'
    There is a sub-genre of self-published ebooks on Amazon where the dinos to more than oogle young ladies. Don't ask me how I know this and don't judge me.
    Lovely work, Michael. Ms. Welch made a more attractive cavewoman than the ones in Quest for Fire, which were, sadly, probably more realistic, if less hygienic.

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  27. Wonderful film...so tempted to get the newly released 'restored' bluray despite already having the DVD...and you've done a superb job on a fantastic figure!

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  28. Really great work on the figure sir, the tone is spot on

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  29. Oh, Raquel, ravishing!!! The dialog... is pure poetry! Outstanding work, as usual, Michael! Cheers!

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  30. A splendid piece of cinematic art brought to life again. Tremendous post, my friend. :-)

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  31. That film brings back memories for sure.

    Very nice rendition - She certainly was a beaut.

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  32. Never seen that particular movie but looking it up on the interwebbie I've to say you've done an impressive job once again, Mr Awdry. Excellent painting and a promising start for Dinovember I'd say.

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  33. Your poster is really good! Cheers, Karl

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  34. A) Raquel looks stunning as per your painted mini
    B) That last group photo shows why you are a master of colours. They all gel really well together and apart.

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    1. Oops I still had that last photo on a previous post imprinted on my mind as I commented on this one. My bad.

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