The Finished Stegosaurus Sculpture

The final painting on the sculpture was done by dry brushing to accent the plates and scale work.

A dark wash was applied over the stegosaurus to tie the colors together and bring out the texture of the scales.

Painting The Stegosaurus

After spraying the stegosaurus with primer I brushed on a coat of liquid latex to mask off the tail spikes.

Using an airbrush I misted a couple light coats of Polytranspar Light Bass Green over the entire sculpture.

Stegosaur Tail Spikes

After the plates were added I moved on to working on the tail spikes. The locations were marked on the tail and then drilled. The spikes were then glued in place. When all the parts of the stegosaurus had been assembled I covered the entire sculpture with a thin layer of Apoxie Sculpt clay.

While the clay was still soft I embedded various sizes of baked Super Sculpey into it to give the dinosaur hide a pebbly armored look.

After the clay had cured overnight I gave the sculpture a couple light coats of white lacquer primer.

Adding The Stegosaur's Plates

Once the legs had firmly been attached I began adding the plates to the stegosaurs back. After locating the position for each plate a hole was drilled in the back. A rod was then inserted into the base of each of the larger plates and glued with Zap A Gap. This would help anchor the plate in place till the area was reinforced with Apoxie Sculpt clay.

Stegosaurus Sculpture

The stego's legs were padded out in aluminum foil over which Super Sculpey was modeled. In this photo I am adding the toes to the front foot.

The legs were then attached to the body using Zap A Gap glue. I installed the eyes and at that point I began covering the entire stegosaurus in thin applications of Apoxie Sculpt clay.

Stegosaurus Sculpture

I've always liked the stop motion dinosaur puppets from King Kong (1933). They may not be scientifically accurate by today's standards. But they had a look and charm that I find lacking in many of the modern day CGI movie monsters. Recently I thought it might be fun to sculpt an old school type of dinosaur. For my subject I chose a stegosaurus. After deciding on the size I fashioned an aluminum wire armature and carved a balsa wood skull. The body was roughed out in paper mache. In this photo I've added the skull and bent the neck wire into the position I wanted.

While the neck area was drying I began making the plates that would adorn the stegosaurs back. I cut basswood slightly smaller then the actual size that the completed plate would be. Over the basswood I applied a veneer of Apoxie clay which I textured to appear aged.The tail spikes were formed of Super Sculpey added over sections of brass rod and wooden dowels.