Dinosaur Fans! Check THIS Out!

[TridCloudwalker]

Excellent finish, Servo! I just started work on mine. I see you also opened up the vertebrae on your central armature connection piece. Doing so opened a couple small holes where the plastic was thin, so i shot a small squirt of expanding foam in there to a.) fill the holes and b.) add a teensy bit more stuctural integrity...not that ir really needs, as it very well engineered, but better safe than sorry.

I've been contemplating getting rid of the molded base entirely and mounting it on a nice walnut base, but I'm not sure I can get support pins into decent enough places. I don't want to add any more stress to the ankles than needed. It already bounces and woobles a bit if jostled. But in a way, that's good. It means if my cat knocks it over, it probably won't shatter into a hundred pieces.

Anyone have any thoughts on this?

Also, as incredibly beautiful and perfect as Servo's paintjob is, what you're seeing in museums is a plaster or resin cast dinosaur. The actual petrified bones (that are also on display in some museums), have a much flatter greyy/brown appearance, which I think is what I may try to go for. I'll figure it out when I get there.

 

[BlindSquirrel]

My repaint is finally done! Instead of mimicking petrified bone, this skeleton was harvested from a zoo specimen. I found craft paints that perfectly matched real bone and picked up a plastic fern for foliage.

I just wish it was BIGGER! Life-size kit, anyone?

 

[SgtFang]

Wow! You guys have been doing some great stuff with these things! :eek

Blind Squirrel, where'd you find your fern?

-Sarge

 

[BlindSquirrel]

I got it at Michaels. It came in a little plastic pot and I just clipped out the small ones in the center. Best of all, it was under $5! I may add some moss but there's not a lot of choice in plastic Cretaceous plants...:lol

 

[phase pistol]

Good job Squirrel! Looks like chicken. :cool

 

[Servo]

Great job! I especially like the base!

 

[TridCloudwalker]

I just wish it was BIGGER! Life-size kit, anyone?

Got ya covered:

http://www.fossilsasart.com/exhibit_fossils_rep.asp

It's $100,000, but I found another company that has one for $150,000 where you can choose three different poses (stalking, running, jump attacking), but I lost the URL.

Come up with $8,000, though and you can at least have a full size skull.

Also, great paint job. You truly nailed the bleached bone color perfectly.

Has anyone done a lower jaw rework yet? I'm still sanding the central vertebrae I hollowed out and puttying the screw holes. Next I'm going to thin the slender bones down a tad that hang along the bottom of the neck. I'll try to get pics up soon.

In the mean time, I uploaded my collection of T-Rex fossil pics I've collected (a few are of the 1/12 scale bronze skeleton you can buy, but most are authentic bones). Feel free to copy and save, but don't repost them anywhere, as they're all copyrighted photos I snagged from various museum websites. If anyone comes across other shot that could be helpful in accurizing, please post away. I can even host them on my domain if wanted/needed.

http://tridity.org/~achernak/Pictures/T-Rex/

 

[TDandD]

Hey guys, I'm a little late to the game but I got mine this weekend and put it together to see how it is. Gotta say out of the box it's pretty decent. Going to repaint the base for sure then mount that to a nice wood base.
Really not sure what way to go on the paint up. I like the idea Edu Science had but the quality of it wasn't so good. Maybe I'll replicate that stained look...

Anyway, the reason I posted was to ask, does anyone have any good info cards for this guy? I've been searching but can't find anything that looks classy.. All I've seen are more elementary school science project stuff.

 

[Clutch]

My ToysRUs has a boatload of these things for 19.99! Why did I spend 40 on mine!!??!?!??! Of course if I didn't buy one, they'd be sold out and super-rare. lol!

 

[TridCloudwalker]

Anyway, the reason I posted was to ask, does anyone have any good info cards for this guy? I've been searching but can't find anything that looks classy.. All I've seen are more elementary school science project stuff.

Check out this thread: http://www.therpf.com/showthread.php?t=36683

 

[Knightjar]

Would anyone be kind enough to pick one up and mail it to the UK for me? I'll pay in advance via PayPal. We NEVER get deals like that over here!

 

[Treadwell]

That's awesome, BlindSquirrel. That's the kind of approach I plan to take with mine. What paints did you use?

 

[BlindSquirrel]

That's awesome, BlindSquirrel. That's the kind of approach I plan to take with mine. What paints did you use?

I'm totally crap at mixing paint so I had a painter friend mix up a match for a bit of cow bone I had.

Fortunately Americana acrylic craft paints from Michaels had a dead-on match for the custom mix right out of the bottle! Best of all, they're crazy cheap....2oz for around $1.

I used Light Buttermilk (DA164) for the base coat, Raw Sienna (DA222) for a dry brush tone variation in spots and a wash of Burnt Sienna (DA063) to bring out detail.

 

[Cenobyte]

These are back to $39.99 at TRu again. They were $19.99 just a week ago.

 

[TridCloudwalker]

Would anyone be kind enough to pick one up and mail it to the UK for me? I'll pay in advance via PayPal. We NEVER get deals like that over here!

I ran over to TRU yesterday to try to snag you one, but the sale is over and they're back to being $39.99. Do you still want one?

 

[Knightjar]

I ran over to TRU yesterday to try to snag you one, but the sale is over and they're back to being $39.99. Do you still want one?

Wow that's really kind of you! Thank you! I guess it kind of depends on the cost of postage, but I don't imagine surface mail would cost more than about $25? Assuming that's the case, yes please, that would be fantastic!

 

[TridCloudwalker]

Wow that's really kind of you! Thank you! I guess it kind of depends on the cost of postage, but I don't imagine surface mail would cost more than about $25? Assuming that's the case, yes please, that would be fantastic!

Ugh....cheapest shipping I can find is $40 (might be a bit less. i haven't weighed the package. i guessed 8 lbs).

So you'd be looking at a grand total of Fourty Pounds Sterling all together give or take. That's not quite worth the price in my opinion, but then again, it's still a hell of a lot cheaper than the resin museum pieces out there. Guess it depends on how much of a natural history/t-rex buff you are.

Think about it and let me know. I'll try to get an accurate weight and a finalized shipping price. I live 5 minutes from the Toy R Us and I work in the post office, so none of this is out of my way. I'd be happy to do it for you if you still want.

 

[Vaderman]

I got really lucky. I saw this thread, but missed the deal. I was back there the other day, they had ONE and it was at the sale price.
I got it and even my wife agreed it was totally worth it.
Goes together really easy, though I plan to add some glue, at least to the pelvic halves that don't want to stay (they are rubber-banded now) and paint it and the base.
I really like the idea of the train store soil glued to the base too or sprinkled over the paint to add some better texture and a small fern from michael's!
Great tips guys! I will try to use them all.

 

[Knightjar]

Ugh....cheapest shipping I can find is $40 (might be a bit less. i haven't weighed the package. i guessed 8 lbs).

So you'd be looking at a grand total of Fourty Pounds Sterling all together give or take. That's not quite worth the price in my opinion, but then again, it's still a hell of a lot cheaper than the resin museum pieces out there. Guess it depends on how much of a natural history/t-rex buff you are.

Think about it and let me know. I'll try to get an accurate weight and a finalized shipping price. I live 5 minutes from the Toy R Us and I work in the post office, so none of this is out of my way. I'd be happy to do it for you if you still want.

I can't find anything even remotely similar over here, and the price still sounds reasonable (despite what the exchange rate says, we pay in pounds what you pay in dollars for most things , it's so expensive here). If you PM me your PayPal details, I'd be very grateful if you would pick one up for me, thank you!

 

[SgtFang]

Anybody got anything new?

-Sarge