Albertosaurus sarcophagus is UNLOCKED! ALL STRETCH GOALS ARE FUNDED!!
over 4 years ago – Sat, Oct 23, 2021 at 02:16:53 AM

As we continue to wind down the final day of the Tyrannosaur Series campaign, we have indeed unlocked the final stretch goal- Albertosaurus sarcophagus! Congratulations to all of the backers for the huge support and unlocking all 18 stretch goals!

As with all of the stretch goals, this figure can now be selected from the 'add-ons' menu to include in your pledge.  Add-on price: $117(US)/ $122 (INT)

 The Albertosaurus figure measures 20"/ 51cm in length and features 22 points of articulation, three sets of alternate feet, base, interchangeable standing lower legs, and a bendable tail end.

The preliminary paintwork for this one was done by Shane Foulkes and naturally did an amazing job laying down the initial colors for the final look. The lighting is a bit yellow here, but in-hand the green was more noticeable. Believe it or not, I pretty much used all the same colors to finish it, but just slightly more green.

 So for some comparisons, here's the Albertosaurus with it's close relative, Gorgosaurus.

 And here it is with some potential prey, err... ceratopsians.

 And with the adult Tyrannosaur rex.

 And of course, 'human' scale.

 I'd definitely meant to post this update sooner today, but the photography ended up taking longer than expected. It's very hard work... no fun at all. Really...  

Anyway, you can view the full gallery here.

Sculpting

 The Albertosaurus head was beautifully sculpted by Jake Baardse. This may be my favorite head sculpt of the line and that's saying a lot.

 Part separation for the head as well as printing was handled by Raul Ramos. Seen here with the thicker Tarbosaurus neck, it has since been revised and the final version will resemble the painted prototype. 

 And of course, this figure shares the Body 4, originally sculpted by Raul.

 I also want to give a big 'Thank You' to my mold maker, Jeremy Monz, for all of the excellent work he's done throughout this series with molding and casting the countless number of parts for these figures.

Package Art

 One of the standout illustrations of the line must be this action-packed piece by Raph Lomotan. Not only is it very dynamic, but also incorporates the BotM Pachyrhinosaurus and... lightning! Because why not? I do love a good thunderstorm.

 This package art is another to be included in the Postcard set #3 add-on. 

Will there be any more stretch goals?

The short answer- no, but I should elaborate. I've had time to give this a lot of thought and while we've managed to come up with some great ideas, I wouldn't want to offer anything else at this time without it being thought out and well-researched. Keep in mind that the 18 stretch goals that we've unlocked have been two years in the making so I feel pretty good about offering those. And we simply don't have enough time to do a proper Fans Choice vote either. But as many of you know, I tend to add things here and there to the BackerKit pre-order store sometimes so don't be surprised if you see something new pop up early next year. I think that baby ceratopsians and tyrannosaurs are great ideas, as well as Fans Choice recolors of some of these newly-funded figures. But the fact remains that I'm still behind on the current prototypes so my priority right now is to finish painting and sculpting the figures that aren't done yet. But don't worry, any overfunding here can only help with offering a few new items later on without Kickstarter. 

So with that we go into the final hours of the Tyrannosaur Series Kickstarter campaign. It's very exciting to have everything funded well before the end and like you all, I can't wait to see all of these finished prototypes. How well can we do here? It'll be fun to see, but I think I'll go do some painting now.

Have a great night everyone and thank you all again for the amazing support!

-David

Moros intrepidus is UNLOCKED and the final 48 hour countdown has begun!
over 4 years ago – Thu, Oct 21, 2021 at 08:59:51 PM

 The final 48 hrs is well underway now and this morning I woke up to see that the 1/18th scale Moros intrepidus has been UNLOCKED! This figure is now selectable from the 'add-ons' menu to include in your pledge. Add-on price: $32(US)/ $35 (INT)

Moros measures 8" / 20cm long, with 19 points of articulation including a bendable tail, base. and interchangable feet.

The promo shot was desaturated for color, but like the other Body 1 figures, this little one is still a work-in-progress. 

There were some comments recently regarding the size of the legs and their inaccuracy to the Moros fossil evidence. Since Moros is almost only known from leg bones, I'd better be sure to get this right! 

 After the campaign, I'll be creating an additional set of legs based on these proportions- with a slimmer more agile look- to be used for Moros and possibly for Proceratosaurus. These body 1 figures are all still the sculpting stage so now is a good time to make this adjustment.

Sculpting

Speaking of sculpting, since there is no known skull for Moros, I decided to use the next best skull for the head- Suskityrannus. As you may remember, Raul Ramos did an excellent sculpt of the Suskityrannus skull which served as the base of the head sculpt for that figure, and now is being used again for Moros

 All four of these heads are still being worked on now, but you can already see the personalities coming through. I find that it helps to think about their possible behavior as I'm sculpting them.

I do want to mention here that I did have a sculptor lined up to sculpt these heads while I painted more prototypes, but he had an unfortunate hand injury just before he could begin the project. Luckily his hand seems to be healing just fine, but it did cause me to adjust my schedule a bit. And although I hadn't expected to sculpt the heads for these guys, I am enjoying it so perhaps it was for the best!

Package Art

 The package illustration for Moros was marvelously executed by Raph Lomotan!

 This piece is available with the #2 postcard set. And while we're on the topic of package art...

Eotyrannus package art update

Shannon Beaumont just finished this beautiful piece depicting the hungry/angry little predator, Eotyrannus!

This Eotyrannus art is included in the #3 post card set.

That'll do it for now. It's an exciting time as we approach both the end of this campaign and the final stretch goal, Albertosaurus- unlocking at $530K!

Now's the time to let everyone know that this project is nearly over- please spread the word to those that might be interested, share my social media posts if you see them, and we'll meet back here tomorrow with a full look at the Albertosaurus prototype!

Later everyone!

-David

FINAL 24 HOURS! Last stretch goal, Albertosaurus, is nearly unlocked!
over 4 years ago – Thu, Oct 21, 2021 at 08:59:43 PM

Congratualtions everyone in our success thus far as we now are in our final 24 hours of the Tyrannosaur Series Kickstarter! As of this update, we are less than $4K away from unlocking the last stretch goal, Albertosaurus!

Here's a preview of the Albertosaurus album I'm currently working on.

I'll have a full gallery to show for this figure later today. 

As for what's on the paint desk next... it's Dryptosaurus!

I wonder how far I can get on this before the campaign closes tomorrow morning? Let's find out!

More on the Albertosaurus later today- let's get it!

-David

Postcard Set #3 added, plus new Daspletosaurus gallery, and first look at Albertosaurus!
over 4 years ago – Tue, Oct 19, 2021 at 11:01:12 PM

Hi All- as we approach the home stretch of the Tyrannosaur Series campaign, I have several updates for you today!

Postcard set #3

The third set of postcards featuring the beautifully rendered package art for Daspletosaurus, Gorgosaurus, Tarbosaurus, Eotyrannus, Albertosaurus, Dryptosaurus, and Qianzhousaurus is available to add-on to your pledge now!

This set includes seven postcards instead of six like the other two sets, and features the artwork of Gabriel Ugueto, Raul Ramos, Shannon Beaumont, and Raph Lomotan. 

Add-on price: $13(US)/ $15 (INT)

 Daspletosaurus gallery 

I've uploaded a new Daspletosaurus gallery to my website, which you can find here.

A link to the gallery has also been added to the item listing on the main campaign page. Daspletosaurus was recently unlocked and is available now to add to your pledge.

First look at the Albertosaurus prototype 

Some of you may have seen this pop up late last night on the campaign page, but here is a the first image of the finished Albertosaurus, our final stretch goal at $530K!

Expect to see more photos and information on this figure as well as for the Tarbosaurus within the next few days.

Will we see the Tarbosaurus unlock later today? If you've been planning to let your friends know about this Kickstarter, now is definitely the time. And thank you once again to the backers who've been sharing this project- it's been a huge help!

And also, if anyone is having trouble with selecting the add-ons, please post your questions in the regular comments section so that myself or one of the other backers here can answer you as quickly as possible. 

We'll talk again soon- enjoy your day everyone!

-David

Tarbosaurus bataar is UNLOCKED- plus updates on the last two stretch goals!
over 4 years ago – Tue, Oct 19, 2021 at 10:59:57 PM

We're now getting down to the final days of the campaign and unlocking the last of the stretch goals. So as you may have heard, yesterday the 1/18th scale Tarbosaurus bataar was UNLOCKED!

This figure can now be selected from the 'add-ons' menu to include in your pledge.  Add-on price: $117(US)/ $122 (INT)

The Tarbosaurus figure measures 20"/ 51cm in length and features 22 points of articulation, three sets of alternate feet, base, interchangeable standing lower legs, and a bendable tail end.

The preliminary paintwork for Tarbosaurus was done by Michael Whitworth and he did a really nice job establishing the foundation for the final look. 

Here's Tarbo with a few other Asian Tyrannosaurs. You can view the full prototype gallery here.

At this point I must address the size of this figure. While Tarbosaurus is estimated to be between 33-40ft long, due to its lighter build, it would not have been compatible with the T. rex body. And giving it its own 27" long figure would have been a big additional expense, so I opted to share it with the other Body 4 figures: Daspletosaurus, Gorgosaurus, and Albertosaurus. 

At this size it would represent a specimen of 30ft long, so if the size of the figure is a concern, you could refer to this a sub-adult. 

 It wouldn't be outside the realm of possibility to make a larger Tarbosaurus at some point later on, but for now this was the only way I could include this species in the line up.

Sculpting

 The sculpting for this entire figure was expertly handled by Raul Ramos.

This was the first of the body 4 figures to be sculpted, and various heads, necks, and arms would follow to create the other species. 

 Again, Aaron Doyle did great work with the parts separation for this figure.

This exploded view gives you a good idea of the amount of articulation that this and the other Body 4 figures will have. Keep in mind that the neck piece will be made of flexible plastic.

Package Art

 Being the multi-talented artist that he is, Raul is also creating the beautiful package illustration for this beast. This is still a work-in-progress, but as you can see it's already quite impressive.

 This package art will also be included in the newly added, Postcard set #3, which was added to the campaign yesterday.

Stretch goal updates

Seeing as how we only have two more stretch goals left to unlock, I wanted to give a quick update on each. 

Moros

First, here's the next stretch goal figure at $500K, Moros intrepidus! The head sculpt is still in-progress, but you can see it taking shape.

Albertosaurus

And after the recent reveal of the Albertosaurus prototype, a few people comments on the thick squat neck that was used. For some strange reason, I'd used the Tarbo neck which was a mistake on my part. So yesterday, I kit-bashed a new neck using the front of the Tarbo neck and the later portion of the Gorgosaurus neck and I think it turned out really well! 

 I still have a little painting to do before I shoot the gallery, but I'm much happier with this look. For the final action figure, we'll have an actual dedicated neck made for Albertosaurus, but it will be based on this look so the differences will be negligent. 

Albertosaurus unlocks at $530K and I think we still have plenty of time to make that happen.

That's all for now- let's go get that Moros!

Later everyone!

-David