Homographic

Now she's just extreme

Extreme Damage JW Velociraptor has had her extreme damage patched up with epoxy putty. There's a bit of aluminum foil in there, too, as filler under the putty, as the wounds were quite deep.

The button on her back is a bit awkward since it dips down a little instead of following what I think would be a natural curve for the back, but I hope it won't look too weird once she's painted, and that I won't regret not adding more putty over the whole thing. I decided to leave the pop-up code alone and keep that one functional. I'm not trying to make her look not like a toy, I just want her not to look like she's bleeding to death.

(A note about the materials: I try to remember to mention when talking about sculpting with epoxy putty that it's not safe to use without precautions, such as ventilation and nitrile or equally protective gloves (which are recommended to be worn at least while mixing the putty, but I keep them on while sculpting, too, which I've found is not really an inconvenience so long as I have gloves in a size that fits my hands snugly enough - touching the uncured putty doesn't melt your hands off or anything, but you can develop a sensitivity to it). And a proper mask when sanding it, but I use it to make dinosaurs, which don't exactly need to be silky smooth, so I just don't sand them. Anyway, though this stuff is strong after curing and attaches well to most surfaces and is easy to sculpt, so it works well for my purposes, it hardens by chemical reaction, and a craft project is not worth your health. I feel like I don't see this brought up enough when finding crafting guides and such online and even see people film tutorials where they mix it barehanded or otherwise use epoxy products with no protections, so like, please research your materials, and look into safer alternatives, too.)

Raptquisitions

Well, the damage on this JW Velociraptor sure is extreme. But she's very pretty. I actually like the colour choices enough that it's almost a shame that I have plans for her that involve changing those, but not enough for that to stop me. She'll get to keep the bright orange eyes, though.

I really like her sculpt! It's not quite the same as the Battle Damage one, but it's very similar, and has the same articulation (+ rotating tail). The battle wounds are on both sides, and change into red with a push of the button on her back. It's a neat action feature, and also probably easier to get rid of without a trace, since there's no nub to cut off. Sorry, no bleeding wounds on my raptors once I'm done with them.

This particular one actually has a bit of a defect, as the jaw hinge is very loose, and the mouth doesn't stay closed very well. Not sure yet if that's worth doing something about. The character I'm making her into isn't exactly known for her tendency to shut up anyway.

The figure's second "action" feature is a little code that pops up from her back. Apparently you can scan that and unlock something in some app or another that I don't have, but in case you can scan it from a photo and want it, here you go. I may remove it, or may not. It doesn't really bother me like the wounds do.

Also joining the raptor shelf is a Schleich Utahraptor. Less pretty, but I like the little grin, and the blue colouring on the face. It's strange how few Utahraptor figures I've actually seen, it's a pretty broadly known dinosaur after all, and not even a brand new one. With that in mind, this may even be the prettiest and most accurate figure available for it at the moment?

It does have feathers, even if they're very patchy.

Velociraptors not to scale.

Secret fungi

Hiding under.

Loikomasu

Drip lights

SE29 fledges, SE30 branches

Screenshots from Sydney White-bellied Sea Eagle nestcam. The older of the two eaglets has left the nest, come back, and left again, and the younger has discovered branch-climbing.

From four days ago, picking up from when SE29 first branched. SE29 moves farther up the branch to beg Dad for more food.