1/40 Supersaurus- Released

[Meso-Cenozoic]

I like that other sculpt too. But, his was one of those that I was remembering having the skinny whip of the tail starting up towards the body too soon.The whip was at the end of the tail not starting halfway through. I think it looks rather silly having such a large beast with such a long string of a tail, lol! Malcolm said he was gonna beef-up his model's tail a little more. I think that would be better! ;D

And, I'm still loving the fact that we're also getting spikes! ;D

Can't wait to see some new pics!!!!

[Blade-of-the-Moon]

Apr 17, 2009 8:42:32 GMT @tetonbabydoll said:

What's so tough about painting a dino??? A little paint here, a dab there--easy peasy.... ;D

Maybe for some of us...but it was observed before, just about every other member here has some art talent...but there others who can't or won't.... show a reg person a kit in a pile of parts and a fully painted piece and see what he/she goes for..

You'll notice most model kit companies would rather advertise a finished, pro-painted product on the packaging or ad instead of the kit form...why ? It sells the item plain and simple..

[dinonikes]

I have a question- so there seems to be two schools of thought regarding the necks on sauropods,or at least supersaurus- one that has the necks with flattened out bottoms like in the Rader supersaurus that Blade posted a link to- the other school of thought shows necks like the one in the Araki model posted earlier in the thread- what is the deal there? Which is the current consensus? The Rader site claims that his supersaurus was sculpted for the Wyoming museum that has Jimbo, so it would seem the flat bottomed neck would be scientifically more accurate- any thoughts?

[Blade-of-the-Moon]

Basically you want know the reason behind eitherthe flattening of the lower part of the neck or thickening of it right ?

From what I can tell it has to do with interpretation... looking at just the bones they are squared off or flat on the bottom so that could be right...on the other hand animals like giraffes have rounded necks due to the muscle or tissue so that could also be right.

I found one article with a few diagrams : www.nmb.bs.ch/forschung/forschung-geowissenschaften/project-sauropods.htm

but all from the side and not front...

[tetonbabydoll]

The Kinto Favorit apato has a flat bottomed neck all the way up, while their brachio's is round. There seems to be some reason, or they would have done both the same. I would guess.

[dinonikes]

I noticethat a lot of the current reconstructions of sauropods make them look like Hollywood starlets, starvingly thin looking, with all of the bones sticking through the skin- like someone just draped a piece of cloth over a skeleton mount- I would think that these things would be more beefy looking than the current trend seems to be from recent perusing of models and other types of reconstructions- I am going to have a much more 'healthy' looking sculpt- no ribs showing on my supersaurus-they also tend to show the legs, especially the back legs as spindly looking- i guess that is why they make them look so thin so it will be less weight for their spindly legsto hold up-

[Blade-of-the-Moon]

It might be the more curved out neck is used by higher grazing animals.. Brachios and giraffes... we don't have any long necked grazers in our time to compare to.

Thin is one thing, healthy is another and fat is last...heh what I mean is.. thin is gaunt looking...like seeing the ribs sticking out way too far... healthy would be showing the muscles through the skin..very little fat and very healthy...fat would be showing none of these features..like say the Invicta Brontosaurus..smoothed over, lotsa fat and weight there.

I doubt obesity was a real problem then..but some could look thin ( though not completely starved ) if they had a lot of parasites..or they couldn't find food due a drought which seemed to occure frequently. Healthy would be during spring or early summer when a lot of food was present...feast or famine was the order of the day.

Basically if you don't want thin that's fine, but don't remove all that musclature..like pec muscles in humans , ribs with a layer of muscle could be shown..there are differences in bone, fat, and muscle..

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

I have no problem with fit dinosaurs-- I think many people are too used to seeing the fat dinosaurs pictured in cartoons from when they were kids.. If you look at many animals today, they have bulging muscles and and you can see their bones... Especially ones in their prime... The older animals tend to either be real thin or real fat.. The babies are generally chunky or thin too... Granted, there are some particularly chunky animals out there...

[Blade-of-the-Moon]

True..and that's what I'm getting at..if animal is supposed to be overweight or old/sick then that's fine..but if you want prime of life and healthy..keep the muscles showing...even in the neck there are prob even more muscles showing...

I think these pics kind of show were I'm going :

Too thin :

Healthy :




fat :

[dinonikes]

Here are some photos I took back a bit- the piece is farther along right now- but figured for now you might like to see some progress shots-

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

From the pictures it looks as though the front feet are kind of short, stubby and fat... If that is so, they should probably be a little more elongated and less "circular" if you get what I mean... I like it overall though.

[Blade-of-the-Moon]

I think thsat's just a result of the sculpting stage CT..I was thinking the same thing while looking at em'...

A this point is does kind of resemble the Invicta pieces...can't wait to see the details added...

You know I always wondered why the new Safari Diplo looks like it's panicked...scared..even...I think we found the reason why... ;D

At least it will look that way on my shelf..assuming I can fit this hefty brute up there... lol

[dinonikes]

Yeah the feet are just blobs of clay in these photos- they were refined as the piece was finished more- in these photos the neck and body have had the most work done, the legs and feet are just sort of roughed in at that point- this supersaurus is definately not a skinny guy at all, but you can definately see the musculature, so it isn't a fat one either. I probably was subconciuosly influenced by the Invicta pieces- those and the Marx dinos are the only dinos I have ever had- Invicta sauropods are still my favorites- just my own opinion, they just look so epic in stature and presence-

[Blade-of-the-Moon]

We need to get you some more figures then....

It's hard to beat actually holding a piece in your hands and seeing just how it looks for comparison.

[Meso-Cenozoic]

Wow! Looking good, Malcolm!!

Hey, I'm liking the beefed-up tail! I think, however, if possible at this point, it should be a little longer. It looks about the same length as the neck, and I believe it was longer.
Maybe if you would just elongate the skinny "whip" section at the end.

[Blade-of-the-Moon]

It's a little longer than the neck...can't say by how much...but put a rule up the monitor from head tip to base of neck, then do the same to the tail.

He based it on a skeleton reconstruction so the length should be correct ...unless sauropods had a little extra un-boned section there on the tip...something I always though might have been possible..especially in the whip-tails like Diplo.

[Meso-Cenozoic]

Yeah, I was pretty much nitpicking. To me, if you'd straighten out the neck, it looks to measure about the same length as the tail. But, I'm pretty sure, from whatever I've read and seen, that the tails of these super Diplodocids were a little longer than their necks. Diplo's and Seismo's tails were even longer, with a longer extension in their "whip tips". Mamenchi's was of course much shorter and Apato's was more like Super's, just a smaller version.

I am going by life restorations. So, remembering them with full skin, muscle and such. You might be onto something about the whip being extended slightly beyond the bones. You've got my curiosity up now! Gonna go read up more on this.

Here's a life restoration pic. If you measure the tail's length (stretched out straight) to the neck's length, it's a little longer. It also shows the possibility of those little spikes and a nice spinal ridge along it's back.


But, all-n-all, Malcolm's Super is gonna rock big-time! He's looking so fierce already!

Don't know if anybody else has put dibs on the first finished one to be sold or not. But, I'd like to officially say this now. Malcolm, I would be very proud to be the first buyer of this guy! Heck, I'd even love to you to send a tag along with it, with your autograph on it! (Hmmm, would that be extra? LOL!) ;D

[Blade-of-the-Moon]

I really want one myself , but I need to see a price tag first to see if I can afford it at the time... I do have my next couple checks already filled out for him though... ;D ( not that weird, I don't normally write checks for anything )

The extended tail tip is just my own idea really, a tough sheath of skin wouldn't preserve..it just makes sense to me they would flail a thin tail tip around without some kind of protection on it...maybe that's where the longer spins on the tail come in.. :/

[Meso-Cenozoic]

Hey, Malcolm. Whatever happened to this Supersaurus? My birthday is coming up in exactly 3 weeks! Let's get crackin'!! Just kidding!!!

I know you've been really busy at work and spending most of your off time dividing it among all these figures. But, the good news you said was that your schedule will be freeing up a bit.
The dinos should then be stampeding out of your workshop, lol! ;D

[dinonikes]

The supersaurus has suffered the fate of all of the other pieces- waiting til I have more time- working far too many hours at work- am heading in today as well- leaving soon. I am just about done with the colossal squid model I have been working on- and the aquarium project- both need to be done by the 21st- once that is over I will have more time-like you said- by the way the supersaurus is just about done sculpting-just needto detail the head and add the skin texture and spines