Re-Tooling the Carnegie Kronosaurus

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

Alright, so, we've all met the carnegie Kronosaurus....



... That commonly available, sausage shaped pliosaur replica. I'm thinking about making it less sausage like and fixing the rest of the flaws...

I think I will move the eyes forward on the model first; does anybody have a way to do that? I'm thinking of just cutting out the old eyes altogether and resculpting newer ones on the snout.

Then I think I'll add teeth to the front of the jaw-- Just to fill that gap and make them a little more fang-like. I don't want to completely replace the teeth, as I don't have money to blow on dinosaurs that are only going to have their teeth cut out I think I'll just make new ones out of sculpey and add them to the front of the jaws. Thoughts?

To make it less sausage like, I think I'll just cut an inch and a half or so out from the middle of the body-- Is there a specific type of knife that would make a relatively clean cut? (just for ease of gluing the two leftover body parts back together)

And the fins-- I think I'm just going to go the route of cutting them off and sculpting new ones out of sculpey or putty (the fins should be a lot larger- especially the back ones!). Is there a type of putty that works best? I've heard epoxy putty to quickplastic. For epoxyputty is there any brand you guys prefer?

[paleoferroequine]

The body can be cut with a new X-acto knife blade. Heat the body with hot water or a hair dryer to make it easier to cut. Mark the cut with masking tape and make a series of cuts around the body, don't saw through. Or a razor saw can be used. Or my favorite the Dremel tool with large cutoff wheel(this will melt the plastic a bit though) you can pretend the screeching is the Kronosaurus. ;D Sculpey or epoxy putty? Sculpey has the advantage that you decide when it will harden but is a bit brittle. Cernit is harder. They have to be blended after baking to the body with something like Squadron putty or epoxy putty. Epoxy putty is a lot tougher and can be blended right away, but may need support to keep it from sagging while curing. I would use heavy wire for the fins inserted into holes drilled into the body. You can buy epoxy putty in hardware stores but that kind dries quickly in 5-15 min which can be too fast. Milliput epoxy putty takes longer to set. My favorite is Magic-Sculpt, I buy it in 5lb lots for about US$35. It takes 2 hours or so to set, plenty of time and blends and smooths well with water. Of course everybody has their own favorite methods and may not agree. ;D The eyes can be removed with a knife and puttied over. I would use my Dremel with a burr bit to make new sockets and use epoxy putty to make new eyes. Should be a good project.

[stoneage]

Are you using this for a reference?

[Horridus]

A more recent photo from our Wiki friends. I think this animal has some of the most evil-looking eye sockets going.

[paleoferroequine]

Dec 5, 2009 19:17:58 GMT Horridus said:

A more recent photo from our Wiki friends. I think this animal has some of the most evil-looking eye sockets going.

Just remember the skeleton has at least 7 too many vertebrae in that display.

[Horridus]

Yeah, they made it a bit too long. 10 metres is a decent estimate.

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

Thanks plaeoferroequine!

I'll post pictures once I start