Hallucigenia – Modelling a dream.
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Tom B.That is a really cool idea to make this "unique" little creature as a model 👍
gorbyThanks Tom! 👍
I've always been a bit obsessed with creatures from the Cambrian Explosion so I thought I'd have a go at making one. It would probably be easier to buy a 3D printer. 🙂
gorbyThanks Ben.
I've decided that I'm not happy with the drab colour, so when I get a chance he might be heading back to the spray booth to see what he'll look like in his party clothes. 🙂
gorbyThanks Robert.
I've been fascinated with Hallucigenia for many years and oddly enough Tamiya don't have one in their range. 😄
Spanjaardthat is an original model if i have seen one. who else than the amazing gorby to bring this to Tamiya and the world attention. excellent work my friend 🙂
gorbyThanks very much Spanjaard.
No doubt Tamiya will be unveiling their new 'Cambrian Explosion' range any day now. 😄
Łukasz GlińskiIncredible work, nobody expected the Spanish Inquisition, I mean the Cambrian Critter 😉 👍
RandoOne of the coolest modeling ideas I've ever seen. Absolutely love ancient prehistory.
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Way, way back when the world was young. Back before the continents spit up due to artistic differences and even so far back it was in the time before David Attenborough!!! It was when dinosaurs would have been considered science fiction and even the 'one small step' of the first Neil Armstrong lungfish onto dry land was many million years in the future. Nature was just starting to experiment with designing life and more often than not it was told to rub out that mess and start again. Hallucigenia existed almost half a billion years ago during the Cambrian Explosion and is thought to be the ancestor of the present day Velvet worm, and how embarrassing is that, being out evolved by a worm? Life had yet to emerge from the the oceans and I'm still not convinced it was good idea.
When the first fossil of it was discovered in 1911 it was wrongly classified as an annelid. That was overturned when it was re-examined in 1977 and that was when it was renamed Hallucigenia because of its bizarre, dream like quality. Mind you the fossil was a bit confusing so originally they thought the creature walked on rigid stilt like legs and had a single row of tentacles down it’s back. They also thought it must have picked up food from it’s bum end, then passed it from tentacle to tentacle to the mouth end. It wasn’t for another thirty years they found another row of ‘tentacles’ and eyes on it’s bum and realised they’d been looking at the creature upside-down and back to front.
As Tamiya is yet to release Hallucigenia in kit form (come on, what are you playing at!) I had to have a go at making one from scratch. As it was quite small creature I went large – twice the size of the largest fossil found to date - although it's still less than 10cm (4') long.
Not quite the success I hoped it would be as it turned out to be a grossly over-fed example of the species, who could have done with ten pairs of platform shoes to be tall enough to get on the rides at Cambrian theme parks. There were nearly occasions when I considered just abandoning him by the side of the road to let him fend for himself. That probably wouldn’t have been a good idea for an aquatic creature. I looked into those sad, crossed eyes and couldn't bring myself to dump him. He doesn't ask for much (he's not much of a talker) just fourteen square meals a day and he's happy. Although I'm not sure he cares what shape his meals are just as long as it's food.
As for the 'always base your model on photographic evidence' crew, for some mysterious reason there doesn't seem to be any colour photos of one, so I haven't got the slightest clue what colour they would have been. If you want to read how I built him and why I painted him in a low-vis, boring scheme, this is the build log:
brexitmodeller.com/f..3-modelling-a-dream/