Compsognathus

Posted on 05/03/2018 by sho3box

Cute, man-eating dinosaurs, straight out of Compsognathon.  Maybe
Before Jurassic Park everyone knew about tyrannosaurus rex, but few knew about velociraptors.  The ‘raptors are the poster girls for the series.

Before The Lost World: Jurassic Park (the second movie) compsognathus wasn’t a particularly well known dino species, but some memorably grim scenes increased the species profile.  That made them a must have for my dinosaur related games.

The little scamps even maul a small child off camera.  Rascals.


I bought a very reasonably priced pack of ten of these guys from the Honourable Lead Boiler Suit Company.  The metal models are small, slight and delicate, so after possibly doing more harm then good when I cleaned mould lines and flash from a couple, I just took the most obvious bits off the remaining figs.

A spray of yellow from the bottom, a spray of green from the top, a drybrush, a wash and another drybrush and they were ready to be based.

As it happens, the compys were the models that bumped off my own character – Chompers – in their debut Dinoproof game.

Chirp. Chirp. Bite. Roar. Bite. Chirp. Scream. Bite.

Filed under: Miniatures | Tagged: , , , |

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19 Responses

  1. Alex, on 05/03/2018 at 10:40 said:

    They are brilliant mate – I’ll have to grab some of these!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  2. Warburton, on 05/03/2018 at 11:05 said:

    Awesome work–I always loved (and wanted a pet) compsognathus when I was a kid (well before Jurassic Park 2).

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
    • sho3box, on 05/03/2018 at 20:48 said:

      You were ahead of the curve on the compys Warburton!

      Reptiles dont make terribly good pets in my opinion, more like fun projects than members of the family really. That said, if you do somehow end up with a compsognathus on a lead then you must share pictures 😉

      Thanks for the feedback!

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply
      • Warburton, on 09/03/2018 at 08:20 said:

        Even as a child it seemed far more practical than having a pet T-Rex. But in reality I agree, reptiles aren’t much fun as pets, cool as the idea of it is.

        Liked by 1 person

        Reply
  3. airbornegrove26, on 05/03/2018 at 12:47 said:

    Cheeky little buggers aren’t they. Love the look man.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
    • sho3box, on 05/03/2018 at 20:52 said:

      Thanks Grover 🙂

      I may stick the little fella in the background of some futures shots I think, to give an impression of more of a biosphere than the usual Star Trek patch-of-sand atmosphere in my photos.

      I don’t know if you ever read any Usagi Yojimbo comics, but similar little lizards appear in the background of about half of the panels in the comic. They are obviously not supposed to represent aggressive pack hunters like compsognathus, but the look is good, so I will see if I can make it work maybe.

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  4. asslessman, on 05/03/2018 at 13:56 said:

    Wise people know JP is all about compsognathus.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
    • sho3box, on 05/03/2018 at 20:54 said:

      Is it?

      I’m not a Jurassic Park fan really, although I like dinosaurs (obviously… who wouldn’t?), but if Spielberg dropped in a subtext… well that would be a first.

      Like

      Reply
  5. Curis (@Curis), on 05/03/2018 at 17:53 said:

    What I liked about these was they’re a perfect example of how your longterm strategy of keeping all your bases the same and painting the mat to match means everything dovetails beautifully.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
    • sho3box, on 05/03/2018 at 21:00 said:

      I am actually amazed at how well that approach has worked out over the years. It’s great to see that it works from your perspective too.

      There is rather a lot of slight variation in patches on the bases from various projects, but the common, very basic elements running through (beach sand patches, brown tufts) trick the eye really rather well.

      A lot of people use the bases to add a lot of thematic character to their projects. I do that a bit too, but I include the common elements in addition to the project specific ones. It works pleasingly.

      Funnily enough, I based it on a piece on basing written in the back of the Rogue Trader rulebook. I ignored that bit of advice originally (of course) but it has paid off over the years I think.

      Thanks for the feedback Curis!

      Like

      Reply
  6. Maj Guiscard, on 05/03/2018 at 20:26 said:

    Now that is something that belongs in a dystopian universe. Cute little boogers that bite a little girl’s face off.
    It’s almost like you were from Australia. 😉
    Nicely done.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
    • sho3box, on 05/03/2018 at 21:03 said:

      Heh. If they were Australian cute face biters, they would probably lay eggs in the eye sockets as the victim became paralysed.

      And spin webs.

      And carry derringers.

      Thanks for the feedback Maj!

      Like

      Reply
  7. Suber, on 05/03/2018 at 23:02 said:

    Oh, so tiny and adorable! They look nice indeed. One can never have enough variety of dinosaurs. True fact.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
    • sho3box, on 07/03/2018 at 12:41 said:

      Space travel and dinosaurs are the most amazing real things to exist/have existed.

      As you say, I can never get enough of either 🙂

      Thanks for the feedback Suber, I’m glad that you like them!

      Like

      Reply
  8. Azazel, on 09/03/2018 at 03:35 said:

    Great work and very cute. Also, aargh!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  9. daggerandbrush, on 09/03/2018 at 20:36 said:

    Very efficient and effective paint job. I always thought of these buggers to be the secret stars of Jurassic Park. At least they seemed more menacing and insidious than the Raptors or the T-Rex. A bit like Goblins really.

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