Lowering arms of Papo Baryonyx - Would it work?

[IrritatorRaji]

I kinda need some advice

So, I've been wanting to add the Papo Baryonyx to my collection for a while now. I can look past the shiny skin and the not-so-fantastic paintjob but... I can not for the life of me deal the postion the arms. It reminds of me of Diego from Ice Age playing peek-a-boo.


So, I saw somewhere else on the internet that mentioned how to straighten limbs with "plastic surgery" (essentially, put a certain part of the body in hot water for 10 minutes then mold it to the desired shape), but does anyone know if this method would work with the Papo Baryonyx if I were to move his arms down?

(Link to gif incase it doesn't work, been having issues with Imgur --> https://i.imgur.com/eINfyj8.gif)

[Lanthanotus]

Generelly the hot water method works on Papo figures and the plastic they are made from, however, the stronger/thicker the part is, the less successfull will the result be. Also, the arm will bend in itself, not at the shoulder joint where it connects to the body and is thickest/strongest.

I'd recommend cutting the arm off with a sharp scalpel and glue them in the desired position. If done carefully it may not even be neccessary to use any sculpting paste to fill gaps. Cut in between folds and scales and with as less cuts as possible and in the end you may only need a bit of paint to touch up the "wounded" skin (the lesser paint required, the less it is impartoant to hit the exact right hue of the original colors - which often can be a pain to mix on your own).

[IrritatorRaji]

Generelly the hot water method works on Papo figures and the plastic they are made from, however, the stronger/thicker the part is, the less successfull will the result be. Also, the arm will bend in itself, not at the shoulder joint where it connects to the body and is thickest/strongest.

I'd recommend cutting the arm off with a sharp scalpel and glue them in the desired position. If done carefully it may not even be neccessary to use any sculpting paste to fill gaps. Cut in between folds and scales and with as less cuts as possible and in the end you may only need a bit of paint to touch up the "wounded" skin (the lesser paint required, the less it is impartoant to hit the exact right hue of the original colors - which often can be a pain to mix on your own).

Hmm, I don't own a scalpel but I guess I could shop around for one. Thanks for the advice 

[tyrantqueen]

I tend to agree that heating the plastic wouldn't give you the result you're looking for. I've never had sucess with that technique anyway, the plastic has always returned quickly to its old shape.

Have you customised figures before? It might be a good idea to practise on a junker before committing to an expensive figure like this.

Milliput or greenstuff are cheap and suitable for resculpting the damaged area.

[Reptilia]

Agree, I think the better solution is to cut the arms and glue back them in the desired position, as suggested. But if you're not familiar with such type of things I guess you should ask a professional sculptor to do it for you, I think you can find some here on the forum.

[IrritatorRaji]

Agree, I think the better solution is to cut the arms and glue back them in the desired position, as suggested. But if you're not familiar with such type of things I guess you should ask a professional sculptor to do it for you, I think you can find some here on the forum.

I've not really got the money to hire someone though (unless there was someone who lived in England who could do it, that way at least shipping fees wouldn't be that much)

[tyrantqueen]

Agree, I think the better solution is to cut the arms and glue back them in the desired position, as suggested. But if you're not familiar with such type of things I guess you should ask a professional sculptor to do it for you, I think you can find some here on the forum.

I've not really got the money to hire someone though (unless there was someone who lived in England who could do it, that way at least shipping fees wouldn't be that much)

I would have suggested Martin Garratt, since he is UK based. But I asked him before to do a modification on this very figure, and he refused (fair enough I suppose, just a bit disappointing). Said he hated the figure too much to work on it.

[IrritatorRaji]

I would have suggested Martin Garratt, since he is UK based. But I asked him before to do a modification on this very figure, and he refused (fair enough I suppose, just a bit disappointing).

Just out of curiosity, is he really high profile?

[tyrantqueen]

I would have suggested Martin Garratt, since he is UK based. But I asked him before to do a modification on this very figure, and he refused (fair enough I suppose, just a bit disappointing).

Just out of curiosity, is he really high profile?

Yup! Possibly the most famous dinosaur customiser in our hobby.

[IrritatorRaji]

I would have suggested Martin Garratt, since he is UK based. But I asked him before to do a modification on this very figure, and he refused (fair enough I suppose, just a bit disappointing).

Just out of curiosity, is he really high profile?

Yup! Possibly the most famous dinosaur customiser in our hobby.

Oh wow, goes to show just how much of a newbie I am  (I only started collecting last year)

[Reptilia]

Had in mind Martin Garratt too. Why people dislike so much the Papo Baryonyx is beyond me.

[acro-man]

I happened to be working on customizing it for more than half an year now.
Made 3 attempts to change the arm pose and failed.
I came to a conclusion that since the arms are too big and the anatomy of the shoulders is wrong there's no way you can make it look right without big effort.
Still looking for a solution...

[Silvanusaurus]

My friend, my friend... I think you will find that anything is possible...




Granted in this instance, I changed a lot more than just the arms, but repositioning the arms was pretty easy, I could do it again with only minimal, or maybe even no need for sculpting over the 'cracks'. As others have said, if one can remove the limbs cleanly along an existing seam, repositioning them with a bit of super glue will work.
Personally, I really liked the Papo Baryonyx with some reservations, but with some adjustment it can be a really incredible figure. If it's something you aren't able to do yourself then I might be able to offer my services, as I am in the UK, for a small fee I suppose. I've often thought about offering to customise figures for people but It's not something I'm able to dedicate much time to currently.

[tyrantqueen]

Had in mind Martin Garratt too. Why people dislike so much the Papo Baryonyx is beyond me.

For me, it's too Todd Marshall-y. I hate the overuse of spines on a dinosaur. Luckily his newer artwork seems to be moving away from that.

[Reptilia]

Always loved its over-the-top look, it's Papo so I think it is exactly what it meant to be. Silvanusaurus' customization turned out very nice, but I still prefer the original.

[Sim]

I would have suggested Martin Garratt, since he is UK based. But I asked him before to do a modification on this very figure, and he refused (fair enough I suppose, just a bit disappointing). Said he hated the figure too much to work on it.

I can understand why that would be disappointing.  It's very funny though that he said he hated the figure too much to work on it!  I think I can see where he's coming from, I dislike that figure too.

Had in mind Martin Garratt too. Why people dislike so much the Papo Baryonyx is beyond me.

The main reason I dislike that figure is because its head is so off.  The crest on the middle of its head appears to be too far forward, the front part of the upper jaw looks like it's been flattened, and the nostrils are a lot further back on the head than where they should be.  Additionally, the front of its lower jaw has various mistakes: 1. It's too wide.  2. When the figure's mouth is closed, teeth in the lower jaw protrude outside the upper jaw instead of being inside the upper jaw as in a real Baryonyx (see here for example: https://twitter.com/skeletaldrawing/status/563735786386767872 ).  This might be due to a combination of the lower jaw being too wide in that area, and the upper jaw being too shallow in the corresponding area.  3. Some of the large teeth at the front of Baryonyx's lower jaw are missing on the Papo figure, being replaced with a greater number of small teeth instead.

I also dislike the Todd Marshall-like spikes on the figure, because I feel they don't look good and they look unconvincing.   I doubt an animal that had to move its head quickly through water to catch prey would have a spiky dewlap.  To me the figure's dorsal spikes look unrealistic, with how in some areas there are multiple rows, they look more like spiky rocks.

The Papo Baryonyx's chest area also looks weirdly human-like, it looks like it has breasts, and those large chest scales (that are also on the Papo Allosaurus) make me think of human ribs for some reason.

I generally dislike rearing poses on dinosaur figures, but the Papo Baryonyx's rearing pose is even more unlikeable as it looks cartoony.  And coming to what started this thread, the position of the figure's arms is just bad as far as I'm concerned.  It again looks cartoony, why would Baryonyx bring its clawed fingers so close to its head, and it also ends up drawing attention away from Baryonyx's interesting-looking forelimbs.

Lastly, the way the Papo Baryonyx's temporal fenestra is highlighted with different types of scales and a grey spot makes it look like it has a frog's eardrum.

Baryonyx is one of my favourite dinosaurs and I'd love to have a figure that's a good representation of the animal.  I don't know why it's so hard for companies to make a decent Baryonyx figure...   I feel the best attempt at making a figure of Baryonyx is still easily the Invicta figure which was released in 1989 and is quite outdated now!


If you'd like someone else's opinion on why they dislike the Papo Baryonyx, I'd recommend this video that I enjoyed watching (strong language warning):

Spoiler

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFMkk7HxXVo

[close]

[postsaurischian]

I would have suggested Martin Garratt, since he is UK based. But I asked him before to do a modification on this very figure, and he refused (fair enough I suppose, just a bit disappointing). Said he hated the figure too much to work on it.

I can understand why that would be disappointing.  It's very funny though that he said he hated the figure too much to work on it!  I think I can see where he's coming from, I dislike that figure too.

Baryonyx is Martin's favourite Dinosaur species. Maybe that explains his extra sensitivity.

[tyrantqueen]

I would have suggested Martin Garratt, since he is UK based. But I asked him before to do a modification on this very figure, and he refused (fair enough I suppose, just a bit disappointing). Said he hated the figure too much to work on it.

I can understand why that would be disappointing.  It's very funny though that he said he hated the figure too much to work on it!  I think I can see where he's coming from, I dislike that figure too.

Baryonyx is Martin's favourite Dinosaur species. Maybe that explains his extra sensitivity.

Yes, he said as much.

[Sigmasaurus]

Granted in this instance, I changed a lot more than just the arms, but repositioning the arms was pretty easy, I could do it again with only minimal, or maybe even no need for sculpting over the 'cracks'. As others have said, if one can remove the limbs cleanly along an existing seam, repositioning them with a bit of super glue will work.
Personally, I really liked the Papo Baryonyx with some reservations, but with some adjustment it can be a really incredible figure. If it's something you aren't able to do yourself then I might be able to offer my services, as I am in the UK, for a small fee I suppose. I've often thought about offering to customise figures for people but It's not something I'm able to dedicate much time to currently.

ITS BEAUTIFUL!!!!! Way better than the original.

[Silvanusaurus]

Whatever it's inaccuracies may be, it's a far more believable and much less egregious stylisation of a Baryonyx, than Papo's running rex is of a tyrannosaurus (and jurassic park isn't an excuse because the rex in JP did not look so un-natural), not to mention the weird ape/dragon/1998 zilla thing that is the Allosaurus (about which people seem quick to rave). Baryonyx is one of my own favourite dinosaurs, yet as much as I'd love a genuinely scientifically accurate figure of it, I'm still able to appreciate Papo's monstrous yet superbly sculpted depiction, as easily one of their best theropods and a darn impressive figure to have in the collection.