Jurassic Park John Hammond Cane Build

[dsingleton88]

Hey guys,
I wanted to share my first ever replica prop build and see if i couldn't get some feedback to make my future projects better. I decided to build the vertebra cane from Jurassic Park, I do not in any way think that this is a screen replica, I sized it to fit myself and changed some of the dimensions of the bones as the cane goes down. This was my first time working with resin and I will probably re-do the topper at a later date. I did the entire build with a quarter sheet sander and a dremel on the back porch of my apartment but I think it came out pretty well (especially for my first build). Any advice yall might have or feedback would be greatly appreciated. (also, sorry about the pictures and thumbnails I'm not quite sure what happened there)
Thanks in advance!
-dsingleton88

 

[DWVinny]

Not to shabby for a first attempt. When I did mine I got so obsessive over the details I made at least 15 different canes and I dont know how many eggs LOL

 

[Apollo]

Looks good especially for your first attempt! :thumbsup

 

[dsingleton88]

Thanks! yea I don't even want to talk about the egg... haha

 

[Apollo]

Neither does anyone who has made these :lol

Thanks! yea I don't even want to talk about the egg... haha

 

[Palmy]

nice job man /D continue

 

[cavx]

Very good job. How did you do the egg at the top?

 

[dsingleton88]

Very good job. How did you do the egg at the top?

I used a plastic easter egg as a mold and filled the holes in the bottom with CA glue. I poured the bottom half and let it semi-cure and put the mosquito hawk into the resin. after it fully cured I poured the top half into its mold and inverted the bottom mold over the top half to fuse them together. After that I used the dremel and sander to take it from the egg shape into a shape more like what I wanted.

 

[cavx]

I used a plastic easter egg as a mold and filled the holes in the bottom with CA glue. I poured the bottom half and let it semi-cure and put the mosquito hawk into the resin. after it fully cured I poured the top half into its mold and inverted the bottom mold over the top half to fuse them together. After that I used the dremel and sander to take it from the egg shape into a shape more like what I wanted.

It is a really good job. What sort of resin did you use? I attempted something like this as a speed build a while ago and I used a slow cure polyurethane. I read where people using polyesters and even epoxy burned their insects.

Like you, I let the first half go into gel state before adding the insect. Because I degassed, I had to mix air in to get a few small bubbles.

 

[dsingleton88]

Thanks! I used an epoxy resin for my cast. Next step is to build myself a degassing chamber for future casts. How did you put your bubbles in after you degassed it?

 

[cavx]

Thanks! I used an epoxy resin for my cast. Next step is to build myself a degassing chamber for future casts. How did you put your bubbles in after you degassed it?

Degassing systems are awesome as they pull the air out. They don't prevent air being mixed back in. I gave it a few quick pokes and made small bubbles just to get it a sense realism. What I'd like to do is an actual gel pour, where you let the resin start to set up (go into get state) and then pour that over the insect. It would be as close to actual sap embedding an insect as could be done from resin. Mine is more of a slice, similar to the pieces seen in the 4th film.

Those crane flies are not the most common insect around here. I only see one every few months. I think a dragonfly would be pretty neat.