Image: 1-1 scale model (WIP) of Edenopteron, based on the research of Dr Gavin Young with the field and lab assistance of Bob Dunstone, Ben Young & Tim Senden

Description: Long before the A7V Mephisto and Ned Kelly, there was another armoured monster that called Australia home: the ca 3 metre long Devonian freshwater predator called Edenopteron, so named after the town close to its 2008 discovery, Eden, on the far south coast of NSW. This montage shows some of the modeling stages to date, it being still some way off finished, as new fossil material is still being unearthed, processed and interpreted in the lab. The shaping of the model initially began as a conventional sculpted clay form, however, due to unforeseen circumstances I switched instead to replicating the head's core from laminated blue Styrofoam insulation sheet. This was carved and sanded to shape, following a 3D assembly of templates which Gavin had carefully traced from the original pieces fossil - a veritable jigsaw of jumbled and squashed specimens preserved in the 350+ million year old rock strata. These templates were in turn used by Gavin to trace the armoured plate pattern onto the shaped Styrofoam core (photo top right). With the lines marked out, I then etched it all into the Styrofoam surface and applied a layer of fibreglass and sections of zinc flashing for rigidity (photo middle right). Lastly, the individual armoured plates and scales were modeled with more definition using fast and slow set epoxy putty. The pectoral fins and (over-sized) teeth are polyurethane resin castings from patterns I sculpted from Plasticine at short notice as an interim solution, to be refined in due course. The tiny teeth are simply modified wooden tooth picks. These modelling techniques I'd originally experimenting with at home back in the 1980s, then honed as an industrial design student and later through work at the AWM and Questacon. Initially the model was displayed with some urgency, thus it was still in its pure white primer coat when it first appeared at the Canberra Museum and Gallery in late 2011 and in the ANU Reporter. Just recently its gone back on temporary display at the ANU, this time in the intended 'aged' finish I was aiming for, as seen above.
Title: 1-1 scale model (WIP) of Edenopteron, based on the research of Dr Gavin Young with the field and lab assistance of Bob Dunstone, Ben Young & Tim Senden
Credit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/82596826@N03/20304229204/
Author: Baz
Usage Terms: Creative Commons Attribution 2.0
License: CC BY 2.0
License Link: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0
Attribution Required?: Yes