Tyto's Repaints & Customs

[Tyto_Theropod]

Your customs are amazing! Do you think you'd be able to do more Chinasaurs? They're always interesting to see.

I would love to do more chinasaurs, as you can really make them into something so much better looking with just a lick of paint. However, I'm always wary with them after the plastic on one reacted to the paint and started releasing fumes into my working space!

When I paint them, I put on the paint layer-by-layer and leave them to dry naturally outside. My acrylic paints only take around half an hour to dry this way, sometimes even less.

I do apply paint in layers, and I let paint and sealer dry outside whenever possible, but the weather in Britain is far from predictable and obviously nothing will dry on a wet day! Even if I did live in a consistent climate, this would still not do anything to stop my being wary of fumes - they can be dangerous even outside and can keep on being released even after the paint is dry. I have discussed this issue previously.

Oh, I live in Britain too! Yaaaay!
I'm actually painting a Triceratops with my other hand right nowand I'm just covering it in Acrylic paint. Like, drowning it. If anything starts coming off of it it won't get through the Acrylic shell fortress.

Be careful. You'll end up obscuring detail if you do that. Especially if the paint isn't thinned.

Detail? I mostly paint Chinasaurs (I'll work my way up once I get better at painting) and they don't really have much detail, unless you count those lazily sculpted wrinkles they all seem to have. They look like worm skin!

I'm afraid I'm going to have to second TQ here: for goodness sake apply the paint layers THINLY. It doesn't have to be so thin you can see the original colour through the first layer, but literally plaster a model in paint and you'll run the risk of ending up with a dinosaur-shaped lump. Chinasaurs might not have a lot of nice details, but there are some that are important, such as the eyes. You don't want to end up with an eyeless dinosaur!

A good technique I've found for base colours is to 'stipple' the paint on and then smooth it out with regular brush strokes, removing any excess as you do so.

[tyrantqueen]

This is what happens if you don't thin your paint

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m3p_VuPIS2c&lc

[Jetoar]

I understand very well, I have a friend that paint exactly as the video...

[Dilopho]

This is what happens if you don't thin your paint

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m3p_VuPIS2c&lc

Excuse me, I'm going to need my lungs back! I coughed them up after laughing to much.
Actually, that sounds horrifying. Eww.
Oh, and I forgot to mention I was using a cool brand of acrylic paints that actually self-thins. It's awesome but you need to put a lot on or you'll get a dinosaur that has two paint schemes at once.

[Tyrannosauron]

Any updates on your Carnegie Rex? I'm looking forward to seeing the finished product.

[Tyto_Theropod]

Hello everyone! Just a quick update on my customs. I'm afraid that work has basically stalled on the WS Velociraptor because I was having trouble reattaching its arms. Perhaps one day...

Things have been going much better for the Carnegie Tyrannosaurus - since I last posted a picture I've re-done the crest into more of a mane and touched up the body feathers prior to painting. I then painted it over the course of the last three days (but as I did other things as well over that time the actual time spent was more like one day). I really wanted to put my best effort into the figure because the sculpting on the Carnegie line is so beautiful and accurate, but also because of production ending this year. My customising their take on what is arguably the most iconic dinosaur to us somehow seemed like a fitting tribute. I have to say I'm very proud of the result - I personally think it's my best paint job to date *is smug* . Today I finished painting with the eyes and mouth, and now all I need to do is seal it.

So I guess you'll all be wondering, why no pictures? Well, in this year's diorama contest I was pretty much the only entry to get zero votes. This was fair enough because I've been very busy over the year (hence why it took me so long to finish the T. rex!) and the picture I submitted couldn't really be considered a diorama at all. It was a just a random shot. I've decided I want to try harder this year, and so I don't want to reveal what any finished customs look like in case they appear in my entry (in which case it would be easy to tell which was mine - also I'd just like to point out that I don't have any hard feelings and the only person I feel fiercely competitive towards is myself!) If I decide on something else, then I'll post pictures!

Anyway, I've also started work on a Schliech Pentaceratops, and my current 'queque' consists of a Papo Triceratops and a Hasbro JW 'titan' Velociraptor 'Echo'. However, I can almost guarantee that I'm going to have more pending projects come Christmas! I know that I'll be busier than ever with Uni next year as I'll most probably be moving onto Honours, but I've promised myself to do some more customising as well. Watch this space...

[no longer available]

These repaints and modifications are lovely!  I especially love the Euoplocephalus and the Spinosaurus! 

[Tyto_Theropod]

Hey all, sorry for the long space between updates! Photobucket is being a pain in the expletive, but I've put pictures of the final version of my Carnegie rex on my new DeviantART. I'll have to find something else to put the WIPs on, though, as I don't like just spamming dA with lower quality stuff. Anyway, hope you like her.

[Link removed]

[CarnegieCollector]

Nice repaints! I have that protoceratops chinasaur!  it is surprisingly accurate. Only protoceratops I own.

[pylraster]

As much as I dislike the Carnegie Rex's head, I think you managed to pull off a nice repaint of this figure.

[Killekor]

Hi,
There are some more new Repaints/customs? Now you Can use Photobucket. How Is finished the Raptor?

Thanks, and, fantastic Repaints/customs!

Killekor

[Tyto_Theropod]

Update: I've taken down the images on this thread as I'm systematically getting rid of all my Photobucket-hosted ones. I plan on reviving this thread and posting Flickr-hosted images of some of the more recent customs, so watch this space.

[Stegotyranno420]

Aw man, i dont see anything. Now i cant appreciate your skills.

[Kapitaenosavrvs]

Aw man, i dont see anything. Now i cant appreciate your skills.

I have the same Problem. In general with older Posts. But this seems to be normal.

Also: I love this Video. Every Time.

[Tyto_Theropod]

@Stegotyranno and @Kapitaenosavrvs - sorry guys!  I've been off most of my social media for a while and took some time out of the hobby too, but I'll try and see about getting pics of my customs onto Flickr and thus onto this forum!

[Kapitaenosavrvs]

@Stegotyranno and @Kapitaenosavrvs - sorry guys!  I've been off most of my social media for a while and took some time out of the hobby too, but I'll try and see about getting pics of my customs onto Flickr and thus onto this forum!

Thanks for your answer. I'm not on Social Media aswell, but if you feel like it and have time for it, i would love to see your Customs. But no pressure. Do whats best for you.

[Tyto_Theropod]

Finally, after five years - FIVE YEARS - getting stuck at home in a pandemic helped me to find the time and motivation to begin working on my crazily long repaint queue.  First up was Safari's Gryposaurus, beautifully sculpted by @Doug Watson.  Be warned!  Here there be image spam!



I've never really liked the original colour scheme for this figure, and mine had been accidentally scuffed while I was moving him (all too easy with Wild Safari factory paint!).  He also had a serious case of derp eyes.  In repainting him, I tried really hard to bring out the detail in Doug's sculpt - which jumped out at me as soon as I primed it.  She doesn't seem to come onto this forum anymore, but I have @copper to thank for recommending The Army Painter's colour primers to me.  This was my first time using one (matte white, to be specific).  I really hope this helps the paint to stay on better.  It certainly provided a really nice surface to paint onto.

Progress:






My colour inspirations were green iguanas for the tail and some red tegu on the body, but primarily sage grouse and prairie chickens.  Even though Doug sculpted scales rather than baggy skin over those big nasal openings, I couldn't help but think of them as inflatable resonating chambers.  So even though I normally try to stick to scaly animals as colour inspiration for scaled dinosaurs, that comparison was just too good to miss.  I could also have gone with something kakapo-inspired, but their 'booming sacks' are entirely covered by feathers, so aren't highlighted in the same way as a grouse's.  And with Hadrosaurs, it seems it was all about sight as well as sound.  My initial idea was that this was a male ready to strut his stuff at a lek, but while I was working on this I read about the theory of mutual sexual selection in dinosaurs and thought it made a lot of sense.  So maybe this is just your average healthy individual, perhaps about to hoot to some friends.

Finished:









Actually, I lie.  He isn't sealed yet, because my can of sealant had leaked and I wasn't happy about using it.  After I've ordered a new one and had a nice dry day to spray him, I'll go over his eyes and mouth with gloss.  Then he'll officially be done and I'll probably spam some more images.  I also thought of painting hooves on the front feet in line with the new Edmontosaurus material, but I'm not entirely happy about doing that until it's been properly published and discussed.  I also thought about making him more of an individual by modding on some scars from fighting off a big predator, but in the end I decided off this as a) I just wanted to press on with a straightforward repaint and b) I didn't want to risk spoiling such a lovely model!

Overall I'm really pleased with how he came out, and I tremendously enjoyed painting one of Doug's models.  I may well need to find an excuse to do more of them in the future - watch this space!  In the meantime, here's my Gryposaur with some duckbilled friends.  I wish there were more Hadrosaurs on the market.  Part of me feels this dapper fellow needs some ladies to impress with all that yellow and black.

[Shonisaurus]

I congratulate you on your repainting, it has turned out superbly well, sincerely I would like the brands of toy dinosaurs and even high-quality figure collectibles to imitate both your repainting of figures and those of other members of the DTF.

Your process of painting that gryposaurus in photographic images is very illustrative.

[Dinoxels]

Oh my goodness this repaint is spectacular. Stellar work here.

[Stegotyranno420]

Can i borrow this paint scheme