New Resin Nestling Photos and BackerKit Date Announcement
over 9 years ago – Sun, Nov 06, 2016 at 06:08:39 PM

Nestlings assembled!

The response to the recent Nestling updates has been very well received and I thought you all would enjoy seeing these little guys before I paint them. One thing I should note about the paint- I will only be painting one for each set to show by Monday, with the rest to soon follow. But that should be enough to give you all an idea of how the others in the set will look as the paint for all three within each set will be identical.

 Also, I wanted to show how the ball foot-peg system works. Utilizing the 3/16th hole used for the posing rods, the foot peg attaches to the feet of smaller raptor figures and can also be moved around for the best balance and positioning sort of like an extra articulation point. The final ball foot-peg will be cast in the base color and will pushed down a little more than seen in these photos.

 And here we have the whole family- nestlings with the 12" Tsaagan figure all on the Desert Accessory Pack base with egg clutch and hatchling. The ball peg holes here are being utilized by both the Tsaagan and nestling figures.

 And one more just for fun...

 One Week BackerKit Extension- now Nov. 14th

In the previous update, I'd stated that I wouldn't have all of the prototypes ready to show until Nov.7th, which was the planned lockdown date for the BackerKit. Since it really leaves very little time to make your final decisions, I proposed leaving the BackerKit open an additional week to allow people ample time to decide what they want and you all unanimously agreed that an extra week would be ideal, so the BackerKit will remain open until Mon. Nov. 14th. Thank you to everyone who weighed in with your comments. And to those who had questions, I will be getting to those sometime this weekend. Very sorry if I've been slow responding lately- it's crunch time over here so my internet time unfortunately has to be limited. But I will be getting back to you all as soon as possible.

Painting the bases and accessories today so expect more photos to pop up soon for those.

Stay tuned!

Sculpting completed! A closer look at the Accessory Packs and Nestlings preview
over 9 years ago – Fri, Nov 04, 2016 at 06:58:34 PM

It's been several months since the Beasts of the Mesozoic Kickstarter when all of those stretch goals were (unexpectedly) met and as you all know, I've been trying to catch up ever since. Well I'm happy to say that all sculpting for the Beasts of the Mesozoic: Raptor Series has been completed and I am now on pace to show everything by Monday, Nov. 7th as planned. A lot of you have probably been following my progress on the social media sites, but I wanted to collect the recent developments here in one place to for everyone to see.

Accessory Packs

Before I painted these, I wanted to show you all the unpainted parts and what each set will contain. I also wanted to note the intended placement of the accessories. In addition, the accessories and posing rods are designed to be modular and attach via a 3/16" ball plug-in design to allow for interchangeability and customization between all four sets..

 Nestlings

I unfortunately was not able to take many photos of the nestling sculpts due to time, but I will be receiving castings back today so expect more on these very soon. The main thing you may notice that is different from the proposed drawing is... articulation! Instead of making three unique static sculpts as I had originally planned, I decided it would be better to have three different figures that share some parts, and have articulation points at the jaw, neck, shoulders, torso, and hips. All of the proposed poses are still achievable and then some. In addition, the necks, arms and legs will be interchangeable between them. Each will also receive a standard base similar to the Accessory Pack foot bases.

 BackerKit closing date

When I extended the BackerKit this last time, my plan was to give myself a one week cushion at the end to complete the prototypes if I fell behind and was hoping to give you all at least a few days to see everything to make your final decisions. But as I half expected, the 7-day contingency cushion was necessary for me to fill as these took longer to make than anticipated and I am planning to show everything just by the lockdown date of Nov. 7th (yeah, cutting it close I know). So I wanted to ask you all, would you prefer that I leave the BackerKits open for an additional week with all completed content shown and close them on Nov. 14th, or leave the lockdown date as-is to close at the end of the day on Nov. 7th? I realize that trying to decide what to order in a few hours is probably not ideal for most so I can leave it open one more week if people would prefer. Let me know your thoughts in the comments section. I can always lock down individual surveys upon request. And for those who have already submitted your surveys or have pre-ordered: if you want to add more items, contact me and I can add items on your behalf. There is no need to make an additional pre-order and pay for extra shipping.

That's all for now. I expect to show plenty of progress this weekend so keep an eye on my Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for updates as we count down to final stages of the prototypes. You all have been super patient during this process thus far and I really appreciate it- thank you.

And as always the BackerKit pre-order store will remain open until the final lock down as well.

That's all for now- back to work!

A Question for the Kickstarter Backers Regarding Exclusives
over 9 years ago – Sat, Oct 29, 2016 at 09:22:19 AM

This post is for backers only. Please visit Kickstarter.com and log in to read.

Accessory Pack Raptors Photo Gallery and $100K reached in BackerKit!
over 9 years ago – Fri, Oct 21, 2016 at 07:35:01 PM

Hi everyone! For those who've been following me on social media, you've seen the latest reveals of the finished painted 6" raptors from the Accessory Packs as I've worked on them in my humble work space. Well I recently completed an extensive photo shoot of all of the Beasts of the Mesozoic Raptors on the NECA dioramas (all created by the 'Dio Master' Stefan Folkins). I'm still sorting and photo editing many of the photos now, but I'm excited to at least share these new photos of the smaller raptors with you guys, so without further ado...

Accessory Pack Raptors Photo Gallery

Buitreraptor from the Wetlands Accessory Pack

Mononykus from the Desert Accessory Pack

 Microraptor from the Forest Accessory Pack

 Troodon juvenile from the Mountains Accessory Pack

It was a great shoot and more new photos of the larger raptors will be posted as time permits.

Beasts of the Mesozoic BackerKit has reached $100,000!

 The support for this project continues as we pass the $100K mark in BackerKit add-ons and new pre-orders! If you're one of the 269 post-Kickstarter backers, I'm so glad you found this project and thank you all! And of course to those Kickstarter backers who have added to your initial pledges- again, a big thank you to you all as well! The show of support and interest in this project has been a huge motivator for me and I can not express my gratitude enough. :)

That's all for now- remember to follow me on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for the latest project updates. And if you've recently just found out about Beasts of the Mesozoic, the BackerKit Preorder store is still open until Nov. 7th.

Until next time- have a great weekend!

Accessory Pack Raptors- final sculpts, and Build-A-Raptor parts update
over 9 years ago – Wed, Oct 12, 2016 at 07:03:08 PM

As I move forward sculpting the accessory pack bases, I wanted to take a moment to show you all the final sculpts for the Accessory Pack Raptors. A note on the foot bases- the ones shown here are not final. My plan is to make the foot bases compatible with both small posing rods or a removable foot peg. Using the foot peg will be a great way to take photos of your small raptors, but for long term display, the posing rod would be more ideal, so I feel both have their merits. Anyway- on to the photos!

Accessory Pack Raptor sculpts

Buitreraptor g.- from the Wetlands Accessory Pack

Mononykus o. from the Desert Accessory Pack

Microraptor g. from the Forest Accessory Pack

 Troodon f. (juvenile) from the Mountains Accessory Pack

Build-A-Raptor Parts Assortments- Updated

Now that all of the parts for the main raptor figures are completed and the parts map is finalized, I can also finalize the Build-A-Raptor sets. The main difference from how I had them previously is that the Atrociraptor set will now feature the more feathered body like Dromaeosaurus. Some of the heads are arranged differently now as well. My goal here was to make the two sets as different as possible while still being able to build appropriate versions of the raptors based on the heads included. BackerKit images have now been updated as well.

And here are all of the production parts for main raptor figures. I am currently in the process of preparing them for mass production tooling.

 That will do it for now- remember to follow my progress on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for regular updates nearly every day. And of course the Beasts of the Mesozoic BackerKit Preorder store will remain open until Nov. 7th.

Until next time!