Custom small figures

[sbell]

So I finally decided to take a knife, heat, and paint to some small & insignificant animals, to make them into something more...

Some are minor changes, some are pretty drastic. I added 'before' photos for the benefit of people who would not be sure what they used to be (probably everyone). I am not a painting type of guy, and am not very creative with my colours; it is also really difficult to add anything to figures that are under 2 1/2", made of PVC. I will work up toward massacring larger (unimportant) figures at some other point...I definitely have enough around to work with.

I will start with what I consider the least drastic:

Old TRU dino toob Dimetrodon becomes Sauroctonus (a gorgonopsid--depends on the picture I used!) (sail removed, touch up paint):


Small K&M elephant becomes Deinotherium (recurved tusks, mouth removed, touch up paint):


Panini black rhino becomes Teleoceras (carved down horn, shortened legs, touch up paint):


Unknown maker Dimetrodon? becomes Melosaurus[Temnospondyl]? (sail removed, repainted):


Large and small K&M white rhinos become Toxodon [originally, aphelops, but the look was not quite there] (horns removed, repainted):


Unknown maker Sable antelope become Ilingoceros [antilocaprid] (horns trimmed, bent straight, repaint). The hardest part was capturing the twin tips on the horns--I got one to work very well, and since the stupid things are about 1 mm wide, I'm not complaining; I also couldn't quite get the horns perfectly straight:


Panini camels become Oxydactylus [or some other Miocene camel] (humps removed, some heat-shaping of back, repaint]:


I known, those are some...different colour schemes. Like the Melosaurus, my son (5 years old) insisted on helping. I figured it doesn't matter enough to discourage him--maybe when he's older he'll be able to do all sorts of things for which I have no skills at all.
The rainbow camel is all him; I was commissioned to do the spots and bars on the camel and amphibian, respectively.

As for picture sizes--I think it helps hide flaws ; also, that's the size I got when I edited the separate photos together (I don't want this blog to kill it's bandwidth! ;D)

[[][][]cordylus[][][]]

Nice Sauroctonus! I made that exact same dimetrodon into a generic amphibian.

[sbell]

Thanks. If it were a larger figure, I may have felt more inclined to augment the front teeth, etc., but at 2", I figure that it is close enough.

[Meso-Cenozoic]

Hey, those are pretty cool! Very clever of you!

[bokisaurus]

I think I like your son's creations better ;D Just kidding ;D Very cool, it looks like the figures are all small! did yo cut yourself?
Now, I want to try and make a deinotherium, too! Sbell, in your opinion, what would be more appropriate to use for a deinotherium, African or Asian elephant?

[sbell]

Mar 12, 2009 20:42:19 GMT bokisaurus said:

I think I like your son's creations better ;D Just kidding ;D Very cool, it looks like the figures are all small! did yo cut yourself?
Now, I want to try and make a deinotherium, too! Sbell, in your opinion, what would be more appropriate to use for a deinotherium, African or Asian elephant?

I did all the necessary cutting, melting, scraping, etc. And the largest figure there is the Melosaurus--at a little over 3".

I used an Asian elephant for the deinothere, mainly because of the smaller ears--any reconstruction I've seen indicates smaller ears (although, given the tropical environment, they may have had big air conditioners like an African elephant, but I went with what I knew).