Started a Plesiosaur sculpture

[modelnut]

Lately there have been articles stating that plesiosaurs are not as skinny as they have been portrayed in the past. https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/laelaps/paleo-profile-mauricio-fernandezs-plesiosaur/ I saw this on DeviantArt http://kana-hebi.deviantart.com/art/Polycotylus-latipinnis-666079559and just had to try sculpting my own.


Here is the build album. http://s36.photobucket.com/user/modelnut/library/24th%20scale%20Polycotylus%20Plesiosaur?sort=3&page=1 I started last weekend and worked on it in what little free time I had left after our long work days. Here is the latest image:


I am just about to add the flippers and put eyes in the sockets.

- Leelan

[Kayakasaurus]

It's looking good! I always appreciate seeing the building process. I like the idea behind it as well.

[Halichoeres]

That makes it look a bit whale-like! Cool project.

[modelnut]

Done for today. I have bobs from dress making pins for the eye balls.  The fins are made from FOR SALE signs I bought at Walmart.



To give you a sense of scale:



More to follow. I hope to finish this week.

- Leelan

[Cloud the Dinosaur King]

Lately there have been articles stating that plesiosaurs are not as skinny as they have been portrayed in the past. https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/laelaps/paleo-profile-mauricio-fernandezs-plesiosaur/ I saw this on DeviantArt http://kana-hebi.deviantart.com/art/Polycotylus-latipinnis-666079559and just had to try sculpting my own.


Here is the build album. http://s36.photobucket.com/user/modelnut/library/24th%20scale%20Polycotylus%20Plesiosaur?sort=3&page=1 I started last weekend and worked on it in what little free time I had left after our long work days. Here is the latest image:


I am just about to add the flippers and put eyes in the sockets.

- Leelan

Don't forget to add in the tail fluke.

[Paleogene Pals]

Nice work! I like what you are doing. I will have to remember the dress-making pin trick for the eyes. I am looking forward to seeing the final piece.

[ZoPteryx]

Wow, great job!  It's already looking really cool! 

[modelnut]

The flippers were too big so I cut them down a bit. Its a subtle change. But it looks more natural now.





I really like this shot. 



I puttied where the fins attach and put flesh around the eyes. I even added a cloaca. No pictures of all that yet though. Now I just have to thin the flippers a bit more, make sure that all the putty seams are gone and then make a base. And paint the beast of course. That's the part I hate. 

- Leelan

[DinoToyForum]

Looking nice!

[modelnut]

The sculpting is done! 





You can see the eyes in these two pictures. Pointing up and forward as they should.

Tomorrow I start painting. 

- Leelan

[Cloud the Dinosaur King]

The sculpting is done! 





You can see the eyes in these two pictures. Pointing up and forward as they should.

Tomorrow I start painting. 

- Leelan

Wow! That is an incredible sculpture.

[BlueKrono]

With that gray base coat it looks just a couple flukes short of a cetacean. Brilliant sculpt.

[Derek.McManus]

Excellent work with impressive photographs and sculpting information thanks for sharing!

[Cloud the Dinosaur King]

With that gray base coat it looks just a couple flukes short of a cetacean. Brilliant sculpt.

Also a lighter belly would work. Plesiosaurs would probably have colors similar to a modern day Great White Shark.

[modelnut]

Painting prehistorics always confuses me. Mostly because we don't know exactly what they looked like or what color they were. So I will go online and look at art and models of the creature I just finished and try to pick one. But then I will see another one I like better. And then another one and another one . . . So I have at least half a dozen models just sitting on my shelf in primer grey. 

But this one. I am going to paint it to look like the original artwork. 

- Leelan

[Jose S.M.]

Wow that looks really good! The base is nice.

[Patrx]

That's looking really great, Leelan! Kudos to you for doing the research

[Lanthanotus]

Also a lighter belly would work. Plesiosaurs would probably have colors similar to a modern day Great White Shark.

While countershading is highly likely any colors or patterns are debatable... Great White's colors/patterns are as likely or unlikely as Tiger Shark's, Whale Shark's, Cetacean's (there's plenty, especially when it comes to the medium sized and lesser know whales as beaked ones), and then there's also a plenty lot of fish and also some reptiles that grow to large sizes (given not as big as most plesiosaurs) and show a great variety of colors and patterns.

A really nice and smooth sculpt, am curious to see what will be deceided for the paint job

[ZoPteryx]

This is really turning out fantastic, well done!    For color inspiration, I would look to modern animals that lead similar lifestyles, such as fast moving pelagic fish or oceanic dolphins.  The paper describing Mauriciosaurus also mentions tiny, dark, glossy, rectangular scales arranged in rows, on the stomach at least.  The scales are also arranged longitudinally along the flippers and radially at the base of the flippers.

A question: How did you get the surface so smooth?

[modelnut]

I started with a carved foam base. Then I put two layers of paper mache' over that. I sanded that down a bit. Then I slathered a coat of glazing and spot putty https://www.amazon.com/Bondo-907-Glazing-Spot-Putty/dp/B0002JM8PY over that. The next day I sanded that smooth and added another layer. Repeated until I had it as smooth as I wanted.

I am not a rich man. So paper mache' is going to become my building material of choice. It's cheap and it hardens very well. If it is sealed properly it shouldn't decay or give me any problems. Of course, a smooth surface is all very well for sea creatures in 1:24 scale. I don't know what I'm going to do when it comes to building my wife's Apatosaurus. I will need to pick up more sculpting techniques for that one. It's going to need some convincing creases and wrinkles.

As for painting this one, I am going to go with the original artist's painting, dappled brown. I don't see any need to change it.

- Leelan