About twenty years ago I was collaborating with the famous Kaiyodo label from Japan, trying to promote their wonderful models here in London. They were so advanced for their time that I really wanted to have them all and customise them according to my own colourful patterns… something that they appreciated so much that meant I started to receive all sort of samples… this was one of my favourites. A Velociraptor over a vanquished Protoceratops.
Unfortunately Palaeontology has been changing at a vertiginous pace in these last twenty years… I had never dared to touch this model in particular, because among other things it would have meant to remodel the arms and specially: add the corresponding feathers! I must admit I’m not the greatest model customiser… but when I appreciate something I can only pay tribute to it doing my best to enhance and modernise it accordingly. The Kaiyodo models have proved durable and sometimes timeless… what to do?
Using Milliput is a rather lousy clay substitute… but it was all that I had at hand. I discovered that feathers could dissimulate some of the inadequacies of the old-fashioned construction of the arms and hands and actually remodelled it. Sometimes feather by feather… same happened with the tail!
After the modelling came the paint… and I just followed my original pattern, the same I have use all these years for Velociraptor. I like to keep things personal…
So here it is … finally revamped, update and its in its rightful place… With modelling and customising, fun never stops… Pure enjoyment!
Luis V. Rey Blog 