Other Dinosaurs from Invicta

Other Dinosaurs from Invicta Plastics

• Stegosaurus • Megalosaurus • Scelidosaurus • Muttaburrasaurus •
• Tyrannosaurus • Iguanodon • Triceratops •

All these figures show very good mold detail. The surface features - the plates, folds, and scales of the skin - are particularly interesting, albeit almost entirely fanciful.

Stegosaurus Still don't have that scale just right. The markings say Length 5 m, which would scale to 4.3" (11 cm). The figure is actually 4.87" (12.4 cm) long, making him 1:40 scale. He was made in a 3 segment mold - left, right, and dorsal (down the back, between the plates). Even though there's no separate mold segment for the ventral side of the figure, Invicta managed to put the markings down there - quite a feat, although the copyright date is illegible.
Markings - INVICTA PLASTICS LTD. LEICESTER ENGLAND STEGOSAURUS Length 5 m. © BRITISH MUSEUM (NATURAL HISTORY) 197
Megalosaurus This is a nice carnivore from a three-segment mold. I have two of these, one at least ten years older than the other, and they're very nearly identical (even the color) - an indication of good quality control at Invicta. The Middle Jurassic carnivore Megalosaurus was named and described in 1824, but the remains were scanty, and the systematics of this creature are still unclear. He is often visualized as a European version of the North American Allosaurus, and this seems to be the way Invicta has depicted him. A great many species (generally described from little more than a tooth or bone fragment) have been assigned to the genus Megalosaurus since 1824. Most are today considered spurious. The current species are M. bucklandi Ritgen (1926), described from some teeth and skeletal fragments found in England, Wales, and France, and M. hesperis Waldman (1974), described from some skull fragments found in England. Another half-dozen or so species still assigned to the genus Megalosaurus are doubtful. What may be Megalosaurus trackways have been found in England. They seem to show the toes pointed slightly inward. The Invicta version's toes are turned conspicuously outward. Size estimates vary from 7 to 9 meters length (23 to 29 feet). Invicta claims "about 9 meters" for the length - in which case, this figure is dead-on, scalewise.
Markings - MEGALOSAURUS Length about 9m. © BRITISH MUSEUM (NATURAL HISTORY) 1974 INVICTA ENGLAND
Scelidosaurus Here's an animal you don't see in plastic every day. The genus Scelidosaurus, of the Lower Jurassic of England, was an armored ornithisuchian, closely related to the ankylosaurs and stegosaurs. There is only one known species, Scelidosaurus harrisonii, described by Owen in 1860 from an incomplete skull and incomplete postcranial skeleton (an articulated postcranial skeleton of a juvenile found in the 1950s may be a Scelidosaurus, also, but that's it for specimens). Parts of the limbs were missing, so stance and gait are hypothetical. The current paleontological thinking is that Scelidosaurus was possibly bipedal, but more probably quadrupedal. The Invicta figure is irrepressibly quadrupedal, and has that clumsy splayed-out amphibian-throwback look to the feet and legs which is currently out of fashion in dinosaur depiction. The seven rows of small armor plates show nicely on the figure's back, though. This Scelidosaurus is just a tad too big for his scale, at 4 5/8" (11.7 cm) overall. He was made in a three-segment mold (left, right, ventral). An Invicta peculiarity is apparent on this (and some other) figures - when set on a flat surface, only three of the feet will touch. The Scelidosaurus right-rear foot is two millimeters too high, or else the tail is too low. UPDATE - I have recently acquired another of these, of recent production. It is identical to my older one - same color (whatever that color is - it's not a very convincing black), mold detail, etc - except that all four feet touch a flat surface. Go figure.
Markings - Invicta Plastics Ltd. Leicester England SCELIDOSAURUS Length about 4m. BRITISH MUSEUM (NATURAL HISTORY)
Muttaburrasaurus Another unusual figure, hot off the paleontological press. The genus Muttaburrasaurus (of one known species, M. langdoni) was described in 1981 from a partial skeleton found in Muttaburra (in central Queensland). He was a creature of the Lower Cretaceous of Australia. Classification varies - he's sometimes lumped in with the iguanodontids, sometimes with the camptosaurids. And sometimes I have to wonder about paleontologists - the iguanodontids are the dinos with spiky thumbs, but the hands of Muttaburrasaurus have yet to be found. No wonder his classification remains problematical. The figure was made in a three-segment mold (left, right, ventral). The spike thumbs and bulbous lump atop the snout seem to be characteristic of Muttabuarrasaurus. Scale remains a problem. Seven meters is about right for Muttaburrasaurus, but that scales to 6 inches (15.4 cm), and this figure is just over 7 inches (18 cm), tail tip to snout.
Markings - MUTTABURRASAURUS Length about 7m. © BRITISH MUSEUM (NATURAL HISTORY) 1989 in association with the AUSTRALIAN MUSEUM INVICTA PLASTICS LTD. LEICESTER ENGLAND
Tyrannosaurus We all know about this guy already. Although not particularly histrionic in pose, the Invicta figure is suitably menacing, and molded in a suitably menacing color. However, I think the tail is too long. The figure was made in a three-segment mold, and is stable on its two feet and tail, but has a distinct list to port (reminiscent of the early Allosaurus from Louis Marx). Seven meters is about right for the length of the big species (T. rex), which would make a 1:45 figure about 6 inches (about 15 cm) long. This figure is much too big, at about 11 inches, tail tip to snout. The scale here is more like 1:24.
Markings - TYRANNOSAURUS INVICTA PLASTICS About 12 metres long LEICESTER ENGLAND © BRITISH MUSEUM (NATURAL HISTORY) 1977
Iguanodon Everybody who puts out an Iguanodon puts him in something very close to the "standard kangaroo" pose. Louis Marx did it, Safari/Carnegie did it, and Invicta did it. C'mon, guys, let's see some imagination.
Markings - IGUANODON About 9 metres long © BRITISH MUSEUM (NATURAL HISTORY) 1980 INVICTA LEICESTER ENGLAND
Triceratops This was made in a three-segment mold (left, right, and area between horns). The figure is a tad too big for 1:45 scale, at 6.75 inches overall. To my eye, the tail looks too short and stubby. The skin details of this figure are particularly decorative.
Markings - TRICERATOPS Length about 6 m. © BRITISH MUSEUM (NATURAL HISTORY) 1975 INVICTA PLASTICS LTD LEICESTER ENGLAND