Raptor shelf refurbishing

The finished JP:TG raptors, as well as that pretty box the model kit came in, have found their way to the bookless dinosaur case. They're spilling over a bit to the other half of the shelf, but I left an empty-ish spot where the double doors' frames would cover anyone standing there while they're closed. It's a spot for long tails now, got to put those somewhere. I'm glad I could fit everyone.

And the new additions, plus Dash and Dare, facing the other way where the other half of the shelf houses miscellaneous theropods (including their favorite neighbours, the Dilos, who at the moment seem more interested in cuddling than in picking a fight with the raptor pack).

More and better photos of the JP:TG trio can now be found here at my site, and here at deviantart.

Also I made Whirlwind this cute podium out of a chocolate box, so she's not too short to be seen. The podium is barely visible back there so it didn't really need to be pretty, but, why not.

Incoming raptor photoshoot

The raptor trio figures are finished!

I ended up finishing the painting on Swiftdive and Treeclimber's tails sooner than expected, so they were already done by the time I started attaching them to the bases. Probably for the best.

Cat-caught tongues

The cat is actually innocent of all she is accused of here, such false advertizing.

Anyway, I made tongues for the model kit raptors out of polymer clay.

Eye pictures and eye thoughts

The raptor figures have eyes!

Stripes, eyes, and claws

Racing stripes

Swiftdive has the first coat of paint on her patterns. Except on the tail, which is still mostly unpainted, but we'll get to that later.

Painting everything but the nails

Leader has the first coat of paint on her stripes. I'll go over them again after finishing her base colour to give them a purple tint and to make them neater. She also got some touch-ups to her teeth, and I started on the raw sienna base colour at her face. We'll see whether she needs one or two coats of that, but her underbelly colour will probably still need another one.

Swiftdive has her base colour done, and her mouth and underbelly colour tidied up, so she'll get stripes next.

Nothing for Treeclimber this time, it's a girls' night tonight.

Belly flop into paint

Leader is starting to look more like a JP raptor rather than a JW one.

Broad strokes

Progress on the raptor trio.

Something old, something new, something borrowed, something Blue

Continuing the work on that JP Velociraptor model kit, as well as the third raptor joining the set.

All three have now started getting painted. I decided to seal the hip seams on the model kit raptors before attaching them to the bases after all, as I think painting them first will be easier than trying to fit the brush between plants. I also removed the Battle Damage feature from the Battle Damage Blue. There are probably different ways to do it, too, but this way worked for me:

A clone! (Aren't we all)

"What? Who's this impostor?"
"Never mind that, just help me out of this thing!"

Don't worry, she won't stay a Blue for long. It seems that even though my "actual" Blue barely had any paint on her when she arrived, any Blue figure with more detailed paint on it that I acquire just gets repainted beyond recognition. I'm sure she won't miss that badly placed eye paint, though.

I like the Battle Damage raptor sculpt, but I liked the Attack Pack one's lack of a giant wound better, so I got that Blue originally instead of this one (also her face is cute, and most importantly, the Attack Pack figure was easier and cheaper to get, lol). But we know what happens to character doubles in this house! Except to Skye, because I made two of her, but she started out as a Blue double, too.

Unlike with Meripihka/Tree-stain paws, whose base colour I wanted to leave as it was and who got a bit of a backstory for her injury, with this one I want to try customizing the Battle Damage feature - ideally making it look like it was never there, because the character this will be does have a scar, but not on her side. And, because I think it will be an interesting challenge to figure out.

Bases for the raptors

The two raptors from the JP model kit now have something to stand on, and the little plants I made do, too.

Here's how I made them [cw: brief descriptions of (sewing) needles]:

Little fake plants

Made with polymer clay. I think I have enough I'm going to start making the bases and placing these on them.

Baseless tangents about raptor hips

The raptor kit is almost done with the puttying, still without a base.

Smoothing the raptors

The Revell JP raptor kit is getting some epoxy putty added here and there. Definitely not a required step for the kit's intended audience, since it's not a perfectly safe material - please make sure to look into how to properly handle it before using it (epoxy stuff in general, too). Here's a very good video going over the hazards and precautions from the perspective of a sculptor regularly working with it.
...Also adding from my personal experience: label the lids of the containers! :D (if the brand you're using doesn't already have them labeled.) If you have them open at the same time you'll forget which is which and putting them on the wrong containers would probably ruin the putty. Alright, back to raptors.

I didn't end up using all the tools here, but better to be prepared than having to look for things with your gloves already on and stained, I think. The silicon brush and the sewing pin continue to be my favorites.

Attaching the tail halves, which really didn't want to stay together. It might be that the plastic is warped a bit, it's an old kit, after all. The cloth pin keeps it together while it cures.

Not done with the seams yet, but it's coming along nicely. I sealed and sculpted around them a bit to blend the seams at the raptor on the left's legs and one hip seam (the other leg moves a bit, so I'll seal that hip seam after I've attached the raptor to the base), around the raptor's neck (the other raptor is looking straight ahead, so the head and body aren't separate parts on that one), the middle seam on the head of the raptor on the right, and tail tip and upper back and chest on both. Not every seam will need putty on it to look nice, but a few more have enough of a gap that I don't think paint alone would bridge it.

Raptor models with a side of raptor model

Starting on that raptor kit. So, on further inspection, "partially assembled" is an understatement, and actually each raptor is only missing one limb, both of which are included, so that's excellent. And there's even a bit more in this box than I'd thought!

Boxful of raptor

New members to the LQoT raptor family! Or, old members that didn't have a figure of them before.

I bought another raptor model kit. This one is made by Revell and is official Jurassic Park merch for TLW from back in the 90's. The kit is in good condition, and is actually already partially assembled by its previous owner. Should be mostly snap-fit, but I'm prepared to fill in seams and such as needed. Whirlwind (the previous kit's figure, on the left in the photo) had a few complications, but still turned out quite nice if I say so myself and was fun to put together, so I look forward to working on this, too.