Jurassic Park Raptor Claw Finishing Questions...

[Gimpdiggity]

Hi everyone!!

I'm in the process of trying to make a raptor claw to display. What I have is a model of a 3D scan of an actual velociraptor claw. As such, it's too small to be representative of the raptors that were in the movie, so I've scaled it up 200% and gotten a pretty good print from it.

What I was hoping to hear from you fine folks on RPF is some opinions on how I should finish the replica.

Seeing as the model is an actual scan of a velociraptor claw, it's obviously a scan of a fossil. Due to this, it's got imperfections and dimples and such in what would otherwise be a pretty "smooth" claw.

I've looked at a lot of pictures of modern birds, and their claws are always smooth, sharp, and relatively "shiny." The birds of prey I've mostly looked at have almost universally had black claws, as well.

In shots from the film, when Dr. Grant is showing the young boy the claw, it appears that it is black in these shots as well. However, from my research this wouldn't be the case if it were truly a fossil...it would be much more brown in appearance. From what I have found also, the prop used in the film was relatively smooth...again indicating a difference from what a true fossil would look like.

So...as I build this piece and work on finishing it, I ask you folks for your opinions...should I go for the appearance of a claw that would NOT be a fossil...make it nice and smooth, shiny, and black in color...or should I work on trying to make it as "fossil-like" as possible?

Making an exact replica of the film's prop isn't necessarily my goal...as the model I've printed is pretty different from the look of the claw in the movie...probably because it's a scan of an actual claw...so I'm taking a bit of artistic liberty in my build.

For what it's worth, here is the printed claw after some filler being laid and sanded out.

You can see the areas where the filler has filled in the dimples and imperfections that are part of the real fossil. So right now if I were to lay primer it would be fairly smooth, with maybe a FEW imperfections. If I were to go with an actual fossil look, I'd end up sanding out those areas where the filler has filled in more so that it's down to the base print with only the filler in the print lines.

I also have another Jurassic World piece that is an Indominus Rex tooth...and it's based off the one that Owen pulled out of the hamster ball when they found it, so it's a "fresh" tooth that I have on display...and this is the reason I'm entertaining making the raptor claw look "fresh" as well.

Any thoughts are appreciated.

Thanks!


***EDIT***

Here is the Indominus tooth display. As you can see, it's clearly not a "fossil" looking tooth.

 

[Gimpdiggity]

I went ahead and laid primer on the claw with it like it is now...filled and sanded relatively smooth. It was an easy enough print that if it ends up not looking right, I can just print another and start over.

I've got the primer done on one side...then had to call it a night. It's getting awfully cold in the garage, and I didn't feel like sitting out there with my heat gun to keep the box I was painting in warm any longer.

 

[TuskenRaider]

Unfortunately I can't see the photos. I'm absolutely no expert on this subject but here are my thoughts for what they're worth..

Since you're not trying to replicate the actual Grant raptor claw prop I would just go with whatever finish YOU prefer. If you want a "fresh" looking claw to match the indominous rex tooth, great. If you want a realistic looking fossil, then go that route instead.

If it was me I would either paint it up like a fossil and leave the bumpy texture as it is. Or if I wanted it to look fresh I would add the outer layers of keratin back on before finishing. The fossil will have lost those outer layers in the fossilization process so it looks very different to how it would have looked while the raptor was alive. red4 has done an amazing job of adding back on these outer keratin layers...

http://www.therpf.com/showthread.php?t=177486&highlight=keratin

I love the Grant claw, JP is one of my favourite films and it's such an iconic prop from that film. However I have to say it's really unrealistic - not only were velociraptors much smaller than depicted in the film (as you pointed out, you had to resize the scan) but the claw is not at all the right shape and is not a very realistic colour (at least not compared to other fossils I've seen). Therefore unless you 're trying to replicate the actual prop I wouldn't use it as a guide for the paint job. I don't think it takes anything away from the prop or the film but I have no idea why they decided to make the prop like that rather than closer to a real fossil claw? :wacko

Good luck, post some pics with your progress.

 

[Gimpdiggity]

Thanks TuskenRaider.

The pics I s are gone because I accidentally deleted an entire folder in my Photobucket, and of course I didn't have them saved anywhere else...because why would I? They were safely stored on my Photobucket account. :lol

 

[TuskenRaider]

Thanks @TuskenRaider.

The pics I s are gone because I accidentally deleted an entire folder in my Photobucket, and of course I didn't have them saved anywhere else...because why would I? They were safely stored on my Photobucket account. :lol

:lol If you take any more pics through the process, make sure you share them with us. I'll be making a Grant claw soon and it's good to see how other people tackle it - even if yours is different to the Grant version.