C is for Cloned Chinasaurs

This little lot came in from a charity shop a few weeks ago, and are interesting for two reasons, firstly, I think they are the Jaru set (one of the Jaru sets) Brian Berke has previously sent to the blog as shelfies . . .

. . . namely the Explore Planet Earth 12 Dinos Play Dinos (#1679) sets. Brian has also sent us shelfies of a fifteen-piece set (#1655).

Secondly, because while it wasn’t' clear from the shelfies, each dinosaurs appears to have been pantographed in two (or three) sizes to create family groups (if you get a large enough sample!) of indentikit Chinasaurs!

As a fan of Dimetrodons I'm well pleased with these two fiery additions to the collection, but a further observation I think I made at the time of the original posts is that I'm pretty sure these are old 1970's 'HONG KONG' moulds dug-out and re-run with a variety of China marks?

Three of this sample were singles but some of them can be seen in Brian's shots, in other sizes; the triceratops with lop-sided horns (in orange) for instance. Also there seems to be more paint involved in my purchase-sample than the bagged sets, particularly the 12-dino set, although the stegosauruses are the same.

Speaking of the 'Steggie', he's the one I'm sure was around when we were kids, I definitely remember that arrow-head and the way the double-row of spine-plates have been achieved by a single row bent alternately to either side, allowing for a simpler mould . . . classic rack-toys!

The whole sample - which I'm assuming is either a near complete set or the contents of multiple sets - is of twelve dinosaurs, although the flying dino's and larger sauropods seen in the bagged-sets are missing.

There are two large, three medium-large, three medium-small and four smallies, whether all pose/sculpts come in all four size brackets remains to be seen? I suspect 3 sizes per-animal; with some starting bigger and some finishing smaller.

Prior to the last few years, I only collected smaller dinosaurs, but they will give us a clue as to whether they were HK-marked, when they turn up - I haven't seen them yet!