T-Rex Toy Skeleton Makeover

Here is an amazing T-Rex skeleton kit from Elenco / Gakken. It comes with the skeleton to assemble, a cool magazine/book, and several molds to make plaster fossil casts. It is really a great kit for kids, but I got this for the big kid (myself), because I was very impressed with the sculpt of this skeleton. I am a bit of a skeleton snob. My wife always laughs at the way Halloween drives me nuts.... I can't stand all of the badly proportioned skeletons! They get a pass if they are stylized, but many are clearly suppose to look real, but falls way short of the real anatomy. So I have a great appreciation when I see a really nice sculpt of any skeleton. This small T-Rex skeleton is really a work of art.

Here is a video showing how to easily apply paint, to make cheap plastic toys look like replicas. This technique can be applied to other toys, but isn't something that you'd do for toys that you play with.... since it's water based paint, the paint on the surface can be scrubbed off with a little force, even after coating it with a protective finishing spray. Oil based paint would be much more durable, but is a mess to deal with. So for a model, or something that you handle lightly, this is a really easy way to improve the toy/model:

Here is the finished model, using dry brush, wiped on/off, with acrylic black paint, and covered with Krylon Matte Finish spray. The base is a simple wood plaque from a craft store, with a hole drilled for the leg support, glued and stained. I'm very pleased with the results, it gave this great model the justice that it deserves. It turned it from a cheap looking toy, to a nice replica:

Elenco / Gakken Jr Scientist Tyrannosaurus Rex kit comes with the unpainted skeleton, magazine, and several molds & plaster for casting fake fossils. This is the small skeleton kit. Elenco also produces a HUGE T-Rex skeleton, which has wipes already and looks amazing, especially for the price. I will be doing something with that as soon as I get more time, stay tuned :)

Leviathan taxidermy sculpt (Skylanders)

Here is a sculpt of the giant fish from Skylanders. He hangs like a taxidermy fish at my desk at work :) This video shows the process that I used:



I used aluminum foil to shape the general shape and size first. This is to help the Sculpey clay to have an even thickness, otherwise the inside of the fish will never cook before the outside is fully baked. Once I had a base, I just sculpted the fish, adding more detail as I went along. The teeth are made from Shapelock, as small sculpey teeth would break easily.

After making the teeth, I simply inserted them into the unbaked fish's mouth to make the teeth sockets. Some details were made by imprinting patterns onto the surface of the soft clay.



I then baked the fish, and used Shapelock under the fins to help support them. I painted the fish with acrylic paint.... the cheap stuff that's made for crafts/kids, which are thicker than model acrylic paint. Plus they are super cheap, a dozen colors for a few bucks.

My son also joined me for a while, painting his dinosaurs alongside me, as seen in the video, which was a really amazing experience for me. I added some gloss to the mouth/eyes, and glued the them into place. Last step was to stain the wood plague and epoxy the fish into his permanent home.

It was fun making this thing. The Leviathan fish was something that I had designed and modeled for Skylanders, but you only see him for a second in the game, so it's nice to show him off as a trophy fish :)