Tyrannosaurus | Part 6 – Plants: Cycads (cycadophyta)

For the cycads I used laser-cut leaves from Fredericus rex and made the stems from scratch using a dense urethane foam and a carving knife.

Painting

Painting was mostly done by airbrush using Tamiya acrylic. I started with a dark green color and gradually added yellow to the mixture towards the tips of the leaves. Some tips received a tan color to immitate dried leaves. Smaller details were painted by brush.

Cycad with a high stem

Cycad with a low stem

Tyrannosaurus | Part 5 – Detail painting of the head

I painted the eyes and some other details of my Tyrannosaurus rex.

Tyrannosaurus rex – head details

Tyrannosaurus | Part 4 – Scratchbuilding a swamp cypress

Making a Taxodium sp.

Taxodium sp.

I want to include a swamp cypress (Taxodium sp.) into my diorama. I carved the stem from urethane foam and used magic sculpt for the surface of the stem with its chraracteristic grooves. The aerial roots are also done using magic sculpt.

Painting was done in the following order:

1. Tamiya XF-57 Buff applied by airbrush
2. Tamiya XF-64 Red Brown applied by sponge
3. Thin coats of umbra and sienna artist´s oils applied by brush
4. SLIMY GRIME LIGHT from AK interactive: Algae rings on the lower portion of the stem
5. Sprinkling on bright and darkgreen paint to add details and breaking up the artificial appearance of the algae rings.

Algae ring applied using masking tape

Looking through the foliage

Tyrannosaurus | Part 3 – Desiccation Cracks

I tried to develop a technique to make desiccation cracks. After some experiments I found the following formulae: 

pigments + water + white glue = desiccation cracks

I applied the mixture by brush to some depressions were water would have accumulated after flooding or heavy rain falls and let it dry. The shrinking paste created cracks revealing the dark underlying layer. This resulted in a nice contrast to the red oxide colored surface. Some white pigments mixed with thinned lacquer were used for salt and mineral incrustations.

Please also note the foot print of Tyrannosaurus rex in the upper left corner.

Desiccation cracks

Tyrannosaurus | Part 2 – The Ground Work

The Base

For the base I made a relief from plaster. Once dry it was brush painted a dark earth color. I wanted to do a laterite soil with its typical red iron oxide colors. Laterite is a weathering product of rock common to areas in tropical climates with a high amount of rain fall and high temperatures.

For this I made a rather liquid paste of white glue, water and pigments from VALLEJO (natural sienna and dark red ochre in an approx. ratio of 1:2) for coloration. The paste was applied by brush and right after its application to the ground work I tilted the base with the basin for the lake being the lowest point. Next I sprayed water over the base to create the convergent drainage system exposing the dark ground color underneath the laterite layer.

Convergent drainage system

Tyrannosaurus | Part 1 – Painting

I studied geology and paleontology at the University of Stuttgart, Germany, in the 1990s. So it is just natural for me as a scale modeler and paleontologist to do diorama involving a Tyrannosaurus rex. I decided to use the beautiful model created by David Krentz. The model is 1/40th scale.

After assembling and cleaning up the joints and seams of all parts I washed Tyrannosaurus rex with a polymer remover. He didn´t like it and he bite me! Anyway, next I airbrushed the model with several coats of a resin primer.

Painting is done mostly by airbrush using cellulose paints. I decided to do a male Tyrannosaurus rex in a basic dark green coloration in due consideration of the law of counter shading according to Abott H. Thayer. This means that I painted the lower portions a bright tan color and the upper portions a dark green color. I use some orange as a signal color on his head and neck.

The diorama will show him walking along a lake shore.

The pictures are showing the painting in progress (PIP), some final details are still missing.

Lefthand view

Righthand view – details of head and neck