Dunkleosteus Display

[Jiminy350]

I was so impressed with the PNSO Dunkleosteus that I decided it deserved a display to put it in its marine environment rather than just have it sitting on a shelf with land animals. So I made a display base for it.

In order to create the marine plants and animals in the display that were present in the Devonian Period so they would be reasonably recognizable I chose to make the display 1/15 scale, therefore here the Dunkleosteus is a juvinile.   And because they made the Dunkleosteus mouth so it could be opened or closed I designed the display so I could display it either way. When his mouth is open I've got him attacking a juvenile Titanichthys. As you can see from the pictures I can remove the Titanichthys from the display. The Dunkleosteus is also removable from the display, since I didn't want to permanently fasten it to anything.

The Titanichthys is on a wire that attaches to the acrylic base supporting the Dunkleosteus. I designed the display so I could minimize the appearance of the wire and the support of the Dunkleosteus so it looked as natural as possible, especially when viewed from the front 180 degrees of the display. In one of the pictures if you look closely you can see the wire.

The sea floor life consists of a grass-like seaweed which is used to help conceal the acrylic post supporting the Dunkleosteus figure; several forms of bryozoans; tabulate and horn corals; two figures of the bottom feeding placoderm Bothriolepis, two species of trilobites: Viaphacops claviger  and Huntoniatonia huntensis (you can see both species in the closeup picture); two different forms of crinoids; sponges; and brachiopods (at this scale it likely would be Gigantoproductus giganteus.

[Halichoeres]

@DinoToyForum sorry to bother but can we get some images approved here? I'm excited to see this diorama.

[postsaurischian]

 I'd also like to see the Devonian Diorama .

[thomasw100]

Why do images have to be approved individually? No trust in the members?

[DefinitelyNOTDilo]

Most likely issues with bots, I know they have been pretty prevalent lately.

[DinoToyForum]

@DinoToyForum sorry to bother but can we get some images approved here? I'm excited to see this diorama.

Thanks, images approved! (I don't receive notifications for images awaiting approval, its a glitch)

[triceratops83]

Really impressive setup, and I know what you mean about the PNSO Dunkleosteus - it looks like a living fish.

[Faelrin]

Incredible work on this display. Welcome to the forum as well.

[DinoToyForum]

Why do images have to be approved individually? No trust in the members?

Yeah, it's partly the risk of bots or spammers posting dodgy images. I've only opened image attachments on the forum very recently, so I'm still testing the waters with this feature. I may change the settings to allow members to post images without approval once I have a better understanding of the system. Also, I'll need to update the instructions to make sure members insert the images into the post, otherwise they are just links below the post. I have done this for you for your recent posts, but you can do it yourself easily enough. On the page where you compose the post there's a little blue up arrow icon next to each attachment (see screenshot below, taken before I inserted some images for you in a different post). You need to click these arrows, and then click an insert button that pops up, to insert the images into the appropriate places in the post (controlled by where the curser is).



Sorry for taking the discussion further off topic... that's a fantastic Dunkleosteus display!

[Blackdanter]

Looks great. Really nicely done.

[Torvosaurus]

That is IMO the best Dunkleosteus on the market, and that diorama definitely does it justice!

Torvo

[Blade-of-the-Moon]

Very cool!

[DefinitelyNOTDilo]

Oh my that is really quite the nice display!

[Jiminy350]

Thanks, everyone for your kind words. It's really nice to put the figures in their environments. It helps to imagine them as they once were.

[BlueKrono]

Is the Titanichthys 3D print or build-up?

[edu]

It looks like a -good- museum display. Amazing work!

[Jiminy350]

Is the Titanichthys 3D print or build-up?

Everything except the Dunkleosteus was scratch built. I don't have a 3D printer, and although there are some really cool things you can do with one, rather than invest in one for me I think sticking with the traditional scratch built method is better because I can design things exactly how I want them faster than learning a 3D program, and dealing with the inevitable technical issues, maintenance, supplies ordering, etc. that would come with a 3D printer.  I think my time is better spent scratch-building and it's more creative for me and satisfying.

So here's a summary of how everything in the display was created:

The Base  The literal base was two pieces of PVC house trim board I had extra from some home repair. I cut the shape, glued the two boards together and carved to the final overall shape.

The support for Dunkle was constructed from two pieces from an acrylic sheet. I just cut them in the profile I wanted, and carved them to fit together and into the base. One is hidden in the middle of the seaweed and the other is carved to fit the bottom form of Dunkle. I carved the "flat" support for Dunkle so it was at a slight angle and it was carved to form fit the bottom of Dunkle. It has a minute pin fastened in it that projects probably about 1/16" from the support and fits into a minute hole in Dunkle to assure he won't accidentally slip off and crush the fauna below. I can easily remove Dunkle if I want to show him to someone so they can see his detail and see the unique way his mouth opens and closes.

Seaweed  The seaweed was made from Apoxie Sculpt. Just rolled segments in my hands to various lengths close to what I wanted and draped them over some small cylinders to get the wavy affect (I used old dental tools but anything in similar size would work well). When they hardened, after I fastened the acrylic Dunkle support to the base, I inserted a number of seaweed stalks into Apoxie Sculpt sections that were positioned at various places around the base of the acrylic post. I put saran wrap between the Apoxie Sculpt and the base and post so that the Apoxie Sculpt that the seaweed strands were in wouldn't adhere to the base. That way once it had hardened, I could remove the sections and more easily paint the seaweed. I had about three sections that when assembled completely surrounded the acrylic post. Once those were painted I mounted them into place around the post.

When that was completed I covered the base with Golden Coarse Pumice Gel. It comes in fine or course, and I think the course worked really well for the scale of the sandy ocean bottom in the display. It comes gray, but you can color it any way you want with acrylics since it's an acrylic material.

Titanichthys I sculpted Titanichthys using Apoxie Sculpt around a large spring. I used the spring since it allowed me to bend and shape it to a curve and it was hollow, so the final figure would be lighter. I needed the Titan to be as light as possible since it's supported by a horizontal wire, with one end fastened to the spring in Titan and the other end of the wire inserts into the acrylic base just under Dunkle. The Titan figure worked fine, but I'd like it to be even lighter.  If I did it again I'd probably use a different lighter material, or perhaps cast my sculpt in a plastic. I used the best references and descriptions of Titan that I could find.

I love working with Apoxie Sculpt and Sculpey. They work great together since they're compatible and serve different purposes in sculpting. I use Apoxie Sculpt especially in cases where the parts are delicate or if the part can't be oven cured because of other materials I've used in the part. I use Sculpey for other sculpting, especially if I need more time to work with the material. One thing I love is that I can use both materials together and can bake, revise, re-bake etc., because the Sculpey heats to a temperature lower than the maximum the Apoxie Sculpt will withstand. So I can rework a figure until I'm satisfied. For example I'm sculpting a 1/35 scale Dimetrodon because I can't find one I'm satisfied with in that scale, and I'm making the sail and feet with Apoxie Sculpt since they're more thin and delicate, and I'm using Sculpey for the head, body, tail and legs because I have more time to get the anatomy, proportions and skin textures the way I want with Sculpey.

Other fauna  Several forms of bryozoans; tabulate and horn coral skeletons; two figures of the bottom feeding placoderm Bothriolepis; the trilobites; and clams were all made from Apoxie Sculpt and painted. The horn coral polyps are dyed carpet fibers glued onto the coral skeletons.

In making the Bothriolepis, I also used plastic tooth picks for the pectoral fins (so I could heat and bend, then sand down to the right thinness) and clear plastic from a product package for the dorsal fin. I've attached a picture showing the Bothriolepis figures in process, with the insert at the top of the photo showing the pectoral fins and dorsal fin attached. You can probably imagine that from the size, these were a bit of a challenge to make. I mounted them on the base on thin wires to create the appearance that they were swimming above the sand browsing for food.

Sponges were made from Sponges (how appropriate!).

Crinoids were made from modified Liatris flower seeds (from my wife's garden) mounted to floral wire and painted. Its great to keep an eye out for anything in nature or around the house that could be used or revised to represent something else.

So mostly everyday objects, glue, paint, and some patience and persistence. Small tools and close-up magnifying glasses help also! 

[Halichoeres]

Wonderful! I'm very impressed with the scratch-built Titanichthys. And I love that they both have a complete environment to chase each other around.

[Totoro]

Just found this post.  This diorama is delightful!  So creative.  I hope you make and share more J @Jiminy350.