Raptor models with a side of raptor model

Starting on that raptor kit. So, on further inspection, "partially assembled" is an understatement, and actually each raptor is only missing one limb, both of which are included, so that's excellent. And there's even a bit more in this box than I'd thought!

Apart from attaching the one arm and one leg, the raptor models need a bit of tidying up by trimming away the bits left from where the parts were attached to the sprue, and there are a few seams from casting the plastic that I'm also whittling down. Nothing major, though should probably be done with adult supervision when a kit like this is put together by kids - it's for ages 8 and up. I'm 35 and under the expert supervision of my cat who is in her 70s in cat years, so I think I'll be safe enough.

(I cleared the table to put the raptors on it and when I came back with the box, look who was waiting for me. She moved to the couch after sniffing at every piece.)

And so, the raptors are ready for the next stage, which will be securing the seams. Some of them are fine as is, and there's even a bit of articulation in the limbs (might be unintentional, but I might leave those limbs mobile if they stay attached like that), but especially the tips of tails and the two halves of each leg are going to need something to hold them together.

They're a perfect match in size and proportions to the other JP/W raptor figures, so I think they'll blend in nicely. The kit also has a base for them, and a selection of paints and a brush. I have enough paint and brushes of my own that I won't need those last two, though.

The box also had this baby in it when I got it, already assembled as well! A complete surprise, as the ebay listing was only for the JP raptor kit, and I hope it wasn't forgotten in there by accident to be now dearly missed. It's a really lovely Velociraptor skeleton model, made of soft plastic, and it has an articulated jaw and a ball joint for the head so it can turn around. Obviously based on the actual Velociraptor as seen from the shape of the snout, which is shallower and more upturned at the tip than JP raptors', and in general the animal is a bit more gracile, since Jurassic Park's raptors are anatomically based on the slightly larger Deinonychus (of which I have a much more up-to-date figure looked at here). The skeleton model is from the same year as the JP kit, 1997, hence the pronated wrists, which at the time were still considered accurate.

Along with the year it says "Somerville House Books Limited" at the underside of the base. So not JP-related. It looks like it originally came in a set of the skeleton, an egg model that the skeleton was packaged in, a book, and a poster, in a series called "Tiny Perfect Dinosaur", which also includes a set about T. rex (of course), Stegosaurus, Hypacrosaurus, Brachiosaurus, Triceratops, and Leptoceratops. Cool stuff!