More of my earliest Dinosaur model-making.....
This 1/35th Iguanodon, sculpted by Max Salas, is now long out of production. The one-piece casting depicted a beast ambling along in a quadrupedal gait seemingly bellowing, perhaps to other members of it´s flock or maybe at an approaching threat. Casting seams were removed with needle-files, de-gassing bubble-holes were filled with putty and a wash in warm soapy water made the piece ready for paint.
I had plans for bold colouring on the belly of mine, so decided to portray the animal rearing, instead of walking on all fours, to show this off. The right foot was sawn through at the ankle, re-positioned and the joint re-modelled with putty. My first attempt at something like this. Now I realised that the tail had to be bent upwards to prevent it touching the ground. Warming it very carefully with a heat-gun and easing it upwards did the trick. I should have tried this on the ankle joint before going to so much bother!
A hole was drilled up into the supporting leg of Iguanodon and another into a stone, chosen to exaggerate the rearing pose, then some epoxy-glue and a screw joined these permanently together.
The patterning was heavily influenced by a Gregory Paul illustration and Bombina bombina. I found myself unable or unwilling to resist the cultural conditioning that seems to result in so many representations of Iguanodon being pre-dominantly (British racing-)green. As if in punishment, all the black patterning reacted with the final coat of matt-varnish, giving off a frosty white encrustation. Patience and application sorted the problem out - stippling with a VERY stiff brush removed the encrustation and all the blacks were re-painted. The next coat of matt-varnish was sprayed with no little trepidation, but this time there was no chemical-reaction. Maybe the black paint was not thoroughly dry when varnished. I now wait 24 hours before applying any finishing coat of matt-varnish to any of my finished models.
I had plans for bold colouring on the belly of mine, so decided to portray the animal rearing, instead of walking on all fours, to show this off. The right foot was sawn through at the ankle, re-positioned and the joint re-modelled with putty. My first attempt at something like this. Now I realised that the tail had to be bent upwards to prevent it touching the ground. Warming it very carefully with a heat-gun and easing it upwards did the trick. I should have tried this on the ankle joint before going to so much bother!
A hole was drilled up into the supporting leg of Iguanodon and another into a stone, chosen to exaggerate the rearing pose, then some epoxy-glue and a screw joined these permanently together.
The patterning was heavily influenced by a Gregory Paul illustration and Bombina bombina. I found myself unable or unwilling to resist the cultural conditioning that seems to result in so many representations of Iguanodon being pre-dominantly (British racing-)green. As if in punishment, all the black patterning reacted with the final coat of matt-varnish, giving off a frosty white encrustation. Patience and application sorted the problem out - stippling with a VERY stiff brush removed the encrustation and all the blacks were re-painted. The next coat of matt-varnish was sprayed with no little trepidation, but this time there was no chemical-reaction. Maybe the black paint was not thoroughly dry when varnished. I now wait 24 hours before applying any finishing coat of matt-varnish to any of my finished models.
This male Iguanodon is deliberately displaying those bold belly-markings - either to impress a potential mate or to impress and impose upon a rival. You can´t see it in these images, but I drilled the mouth out for a more convincing appearance of bellowing and sculpted a tongue in the floor of the mouth.
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Finished in April 2003.
Spike.
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