discussion Colins (CDWs) Plesiosaur scratch build.

[Guest]

Excellent start Colin!!

Very good idea for the flippers.

Cheers. Polux

 

[yak face]

MMM cornish pastie ! ,seriously , it looks great colin , top work mate ,looking forward to seeing it come to life so to speak , cheers tony

 

[Ian M]

I would not even know where to start on such a project! Watching with note pad in hand!

Ian M

 

[papa 695]

MMM cornish pastie ! ,seriously , it looks great colin , top work mate ,looking forward to seeing it come to life so to speak , cheers tony

Not too keen on the filling Tony

Great start Colin looking forward to more

 

[Guest]

I would not even know where to start on such a project! Watching with note pad in hand!Ian M

My way, not necessarily the best way, it to get a general shape, then fill in all the larger details and tidy up joins, after that I make a thin paste of the clay and paint it over the whole model, when its dried off a bit I'll then use tools to add all the fine detailing.

This excludes the head as this will be detailed off the model and then filled and smoothed into the neck.

Its worked with a load of dragons I made for people so let's hope I haven't lost the knack.

*edit* forgot to say this, hopefully, will be specifically Hydrotherosaurus (basically because I like the shape of the head and neck, very monitor lizard like ) which was about 35 - 40 feet long ... So to answer Laurie's question of earlier, it will be about 1/35 scale.

 

[Guest]

Right then ... Hobby craft "wont crack or shrink when drying" clay is not what it says on the tin.... never had this problem with Das stuff.

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Started the basis of the tail, and filled in a few areas to create body folds/creases etc.

The tail is flattened as i read in a paper that there is evidence that the endmost bone fossils were slightly longer laterally giving an indication that the tail end could be somewhat paddle shaped as an aid to steering ... so that's the direction i'm going in

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[yak face]

Nice repair colin , keep it up mate , cheers tony

 

[Guest]

Well the trials and tribulations with this rubbish clay continue ..... On picking up the model after drying time the tail broke under its own weight in two places.

It seems there's no binder in the stuff, and it goes almost to powder on drying.

Am going to use polyfiller to coat the model and give me the base for detailing.

The neck will probably end up made from plasticine as I'm not prepared to continue working with the poor quality clay.

Will update with piccies when I've got something other than a broken Cornish pastie to show

 

[Gern]

Hi Col. Sorry to hear of the problems you're having with that clay.

I'm no expert but if I was in your shoes, I'd scrap what you've done so far (while there's still not too much to lose) and re-start with a better quality clay. I know you're going to reinforce what's there, but I'd worry about it breaking again when handling it for painting etc. Any building is only as strong as its foundations.

Gern

PS Not trying to teach grandma - just a thought.

 

[Guest]

Yeah youre right, and the though crossed my mind Dave, Still though, plenty of time to complete so I'm going to grit my teeth and try to build up from what I have at the mo.

If it all goes nipples skywards then I'll admit defeat and redo.

 

[Ian M]

I would be banging the clay down on the counter where it was bought and demand a refund.

Ian M

 

[Guest]

I would be banging the clay down on the counter where it was bought and demand a refund.Ian M

Great minds think alike mate..... That's happening tomorrow !!!

 

[Guest]

Been ...moaned... reimbursed ... kept the crappy stuff too.

Going to drift away from the norm here and place everything into situ so there's extra strength from the dio base

I'll be repairing, adding to, painting and finishing as a whole, gawd 'elp me.

This is the general layout, the rocks are made from the remaining clay as are the eggs,

Ill be needing to finish theneck and make the flippers, these can be laid on the ground and resting on the wire whilst they dry, When this is all dry i'll make a runny polyfiller mix and pour it between the rocks and up to the eggs and plesio's body/flippers ... this will be textured to give a sloppy mud type stuff

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[Guest]

OK then, been shaping and re-shaping the body etc to get some lumps and bumps under the "skin" to simulate muscle/bone etc.

Got the neck done up to the joint for the head

Finished the base off adding fern/lichen type stuff that you'd find in clay-pits around the time.

Obviously you couldn't have a pristine animal in a mucky hole thrashing around and laying eggs without getting a tad s**t up so that's the look I've gone for and tried to get it to sink into the surface a bit.

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Next up is the head where there's a bit of detail required so i'm taking my time on it ... if only these were thought to be fully scaled, i could have detailed the body a lot more .. ho-hum.

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[papa 695]

Great work Colin looking very good

 

[Guest]

Thanks Ian, its getting there!

Im surprised there's only four of us in this build ... Though there was more interest when the theme was decided.

 

[flyjoe180]

Coming along nicely Colin. Interesting to watch this come to life with the sculpting.

 

[Andy2035]

HI Colin,

Looking great so far Sir, I actually thought you had finished it, then I read the bit about her not having a head yet, although, maybe you could team up with Ian (Papa) and have his T-Rex munching on her head just as a Triceratops come wandering around the corner, sees the T-Rex munching and is about to scoot when he sees the meteorite come shooting out of the sky and clonks Mr Rex on the head...;-)

 

[papa 695]

HI Colin,Looking great so far Sir, I actually thought you had finished it, then I read the bit about her not having a head yet, although, maybe you could team up with Ian (Papa) and have his T-Rex munching on her head just as a Triceratops come wandering around the corner, sees the T-Rex munching and is about to scoot when he sees the meteorite come shooting out of the sky and clonks Mr Rex on the head...;-)

I think its time for your medication Andy

 

[Guest]

Well after losing a bit of "mojo" in the modeling world ... i finally got on with the head and tidied up the groundwork a bit and i'm calling this finished...

All scratch built (apart from the photo frame) ..... comments welcome, be gentle!!!!

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