Misc. Business/Flotsam and Jetsom

[Patrx]

http://dinogoss.blogspot.com/2011/02/heat-feathers-and-half-arsed.html
^ That article might be helpful to you when designing the feathers. It's a bit outdated (I think most workers currently regard the imprints of"proto-feathers" mentioned to be of full, vaned feathers that were damaged over time), but it's a good explanation of just how "fluffy" Velociraptor was. Not sure I like the "mohawk" or " "crown" feathers, but that's just me.

I do not really want to make a 1/2 scale Velociraptor-not that into the animal to make one that large-would rather make something else if I were going to make a large piece of 36 inches or so(to be honest would rather sculpt a life size Hawk, which is on my agenda for the future). I am looking to make the velociraptor 12 to 18 inches or so, depending on scale.

A hawk would be cool! I guess you could even categorize with the others in the Fauna Casts line, as it is a dinosaur like any other

Am also currently working on a very cool commission that I cant talk about right now, but is very cool indeed, fleshing out a specific fossil as a scale model.

Hmm, intriguing! Maybe the Montana Dueling Dinosaurs?

[dinonikes]

I do not really want to make a 1/2 scale Velociraptor-not that into the animal to make one that large-would rather make something else if I were going to make a large piece of 36 inches or so(to be honest would rather sculpt a life size Hawk, which is on my agenda for the future). I am looking to make the velociraptor 12 to 18 inches or so, depending on scale.

A hawk would be cool! I guess you could even categorize with the others in the Fauna Casts line, as it is a dinosaur like any other

I chose the name Fauna Casts so it would include extant animals as well as prehistoric- you can see some modern animals on the Fauna Casts facebook page- I have sculpted quite a few life size birds for museum exhibits, unfortunately they usualy have low budgets so I had to sculpt them in a matter of hours to make budget, for example-spent 5 hours sculpting the Great Horned owl- I sculpted a Bald Eagle for a civil war museum (did not know til then that some units of the north kept Bald Eagles as mascots-one was famous for flying over battles accompanying his unit, confederates tried unsuccsessfully to shoot him down many times,he retired and served as a mascot for a veterans group living to a ripe old age) But I digress- I do intend on more making birds and other extant animals in the future.

[Takama]

since your into makeing modernlike birds, how about you try an Argentavius for the Prehistoric line.

[stoneage]

since your into makeing modernlike birds, how about you try an Argentavius for the Prehistoric line.

Yes I would vote for an Argentavius in 1/40.  That gives you about a 7" wingspan.  That would be cool.

[Takama]

and also have it grasping a horse sized prey item, so people dont confuse it as just a big buzard model.

[stoneage]

and also have it grasping a horse sized prey item, so people dont confuse it as just a big buzard model.

Medicom made one grasping an Indian, though humans didn't exist at the same time.  But it does give you some idea of size.  Here is a picture by Bell.

http://dinotoyforum.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=toys&action=display&thread=2218

[dinonikes]

since your into makeing modernlike birds, how about you try an Argentavius for the Prehistoric line.

It seems to me that would look like a vulture figure-just larger. I have the same problem with requests that I make a Dire wolf-it would just look like a wolf, just larger -it seems to me that there are many other critters that would be more interesting to do in 1/40 scale.

On another note- I was just commissioned to make two life size pterosaurs-Rhamphorhynchus and Dimorphodon- looking forward to these.

[Patrx]

I must say I agree with you there. I'd not be too enthused about an Argentavis model or a dire wolf. Sure, you could add something to the sculpt for scale purposes, like the proposed horse-sized prey, but as you say, there are so many fascinatingly unique shapes of animals throughout prehistory.

Wow, those pterosaurs ought to be very cool Might you post some work-in-progress shots along the process?

[Blade-of-the-Moon]

Cool..1/1 pterosaurs !

Are you going to do flying, perched or both ?   Perched pteros can be a pain in the tail to make.

[Seijun]

How about uintatherium?

[dinonikes]

The pterosaurus will be flying. They are being made to go outside flying above the visitor.

I have actually started a 1/40 Uintatherium, just have the armature so far. Need to post photos, I have a lot of photos I need to post, time is tight though lately.

[Patrx]

The pterosaurus will be flying. They are being made to go outside flying above the visitor.

Cool!

I have actually started a 1/40 Uintatherium, just have the armature so far. Need to post photos, I have a lot of photos I need to post, time is tight though lately.

Looking forward to it Might any of them be of progress on the Velociraptor sculpt?

[Blade-of-the-Moon]

The pterosaurus will be flying. They are being made to go outside flying above the visitor.

That's cool ! A little flock of those guys would be really sweet.

[Takama]

The pterosaurs will be flying. They are being made to go outside flying above the visitor.

I have actually started a 1/40 Uintatherium, just have the armature so far. Need to post photos, I have a lot of photos I need to post, time is tight though lately.

how about you upload them to photobucket(you had an account right?)  and I will volunteer to reveal them for you. 

[dinonikes]

Thanks for the offer Takama, very kind to offer, but I will take care of photo posting when I can.

I have found it interesting just how many controversies I find when researching info to make prehistoric sculpts. I am not a paleontologist or scientist of any sort, and basically start off from scratch most times when doing a new sculpt of a critter that I am not real familiar with. ALong the way over projects I have ran across the feather/no feather issues, lips or no lips on theropds and sauropods issue, now run into the shape of pterosaur wings issue-this diagram shows some basics sides of issue-



Its interesting that on all of these issues you can find those on both sides of the issue adamantly declaring they are right on their blogs, and in my opinion it is all about how one interprets the fossils. It reminds me of 'fine art' experts who declare whether a painting can be attributed to an artist or not. If there isnt a well documented history of the painting, they really have no way of knowing for sure, unless they can go back in time to see who actually painted the piece-I have read for example experts declaring a painting not to be by Rembrandt, not because of chemical or other scientific analysis, but because the expert feels the brushstrokes arent up to Rembrandts standards-as if a painter always paints the same every day of his life- a similar example to fossil interpretation a case of one expert interpreting the physical evidence, where another can see something entirely different- off too far on a tangent sorry-
But this wing shape issue is interesting as it seems that the fossil evidence can be interpreted different ways- one issue I find is some claim the wings always attach at the ankle- this diagram says otherwise- I am trying to decide how to go with the wings on my two pterosaurs and it is frustrating that there isnt just one right answer.

[Himmapaan]

It might be worth noting that David Peters (responsible for the diagram below -- the one with the apparent 'thumbs-up') has been universally discredited by palaeontological consensus. In this case, it's not so much a matter of differing expert opinions as trumped up nonsense based on personal convictions and highly questionable methods. Not quite 'Lips or no lips', but more 'Aquatic dinosaurs' á la Brian J. Ford.

[Patrx]

Indeed - I was all set to take that second diagram seriously till I saw who'd drawn it up 
If you've not thought of it already, you might consider sending an e-mail to Darren Naish over at Tetrapod Zoology - as I understand it, he's quite the pterosaur expert.

[Himmapaan]

Or Mark Witton. 

[dinonikes]

Yeah, I kinda had sorted through the blogs on pterosaurs including Wittan's and others. I guess my point was how frustrating it is to continually find just how little is REALLY known about prehistoric animals for ABSOLUTELY SURE. I know that they are learning more every day, but for the layman like me it is hard to sort out the riff raff theories and such when perusing online doing research. I posted that diagram more as just an example of the type of this side that side thing that I come across more often than Id like. I found many takes on pterosaur wingshapes more than just this diagram- just search pterosaur wings on google image and you will find many takes by many different artists. I guess it is all a learning process for me.

[Patrx]

I guess my point was how frustrating it is to continually find just how little is REALLY known about prehistoric animals for ABSOLUTELY SURE.

I agree - and it's troublesome, how a reconstruction of a prehistoric animal can be considered totally up-to-date one day and comically outdated the next. It seems the most you can do, when faced with an issue like the pterosaur wings or the theropod/sauropod lips is to investigate why each expert is convinced about each side, then do what any scientist does: try to eliminate personal bias and determine which reconstruction genuinely seems better-supported. However, it seems like some issues are so indeterminate that I think you'd be fine going with whatever you think looks best - until some new material adds weight to one side or another.