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Project:6ft T-Rex: Difference between revisions

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Revision as of 07:24, 9 September 2012

409 bytes added ,  9 September 2012
Better write-up on t-rex
(added picture and more rambling)
(Better write-up on t-rex)
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=Crazy giant t-rex skeleton=
=Crazy giant t-rex skeleton=


I had one of these as a kid (I liked dinosaurs a lot /vastunderstatement). Found this http://www.instructables.com/id/Build-a-6-0-tall-Wooden-T-Rex-Model/?ALLSTEPS on instructables and decided to build it.  
==Background==
There's a bit of a joke around the hackspace that I'm a t-rex because I have short arms and I'm constantly asking for help getting things off of shelves. I then randomly found these plans to build a huge t-rex skeleton on Instructables... With EMFCamp coming up, I thought a t-rex in a field would be a good addition to the field.
==Construction==
Weirdly, trying to print out the pattern pieces took the longest amount of time. In retrospect, I should have done what the instructable suggested and just take the PDF to a copy shop and have it all printed out properly. Printing out and piecing together the pieces took me about two weeks to complete.


Ended up spending ages thinking of how to make it cooler for EMFCamp and decided on Rosco Fluoro paints (from Flints) and UV lights.  
I used two 8ft x 4ft sheets of exterior grade 12mm plywood. It took about a week to trace & cut out the pieces using a jigsaw with the help of my husband, Sully.  


Since it's going to be in a field, I've looked into waterproofing the wood. I might need epoxy paint as a base coat (and it comes in spray cans on ebay). I need a white base coat for the best UV light effects anyway.  
I then managed to nab some generic off-white emulsion off of a friend and painted all the pieces. Then I spraypainted the pieces with glow in the dark spray paint.


I found out that you can print multi-page images with Paint (Go Windows!) and copy PDF pages using Foxit PDF viewer. I've managed to put together 2 of the 13 pages required so far and taped together the tail piece (which is about as long as I am tall). http://www.flickr.com/photos/fishies_go_pook/7575690972/
==Field Work & Lighting==
Used some cheap 1.2m UV/Blacklight tubes to light up the dinosaur at the bar at EMFCamp.I had made lovely wooden holders for the UV tubes but I forgot that, in a field, things are not flat or level... So had to hack up some Club Mate boxes to hold the lights up.  
He hid nicely under a dark archway under the M1.  


Since building everything (cutting out the pieces took under a week thanks to help from my husband, Sully, with cutting out some of the pieces), i think i may have scaled it a bit wrong... 6ft t-rex is not 6ft tall. More like 5ft tall, so a little shorter than myself. It's at least 6ft long so I'll keep the name anyway...
==Gallery==
<gallery>
File:T-rexunfinished1.jpg|T-rex in the lobby, just after I had completed cutting the final pieces. Still needed adjustments to the slots.
File:T-rexgarden.jpg|T-rex painted white
File:T-rexEMF1.jpg|T-rex near the bar at EMFCamp 2012
File:T-rexEMF2.jpg|T-rex from the back
</gallery>


I've also been rethinking the painting and considering going for glow in the dark spray paint - this will glow if we have normal sunshine and also glow under UV light for evening effects.
==Links==
 
[http://www.instructables.com/id/Build-a-6-0-tall-Wooden-T-Rex-Model/?ALLSTEPS How to build a 6ft tall wooden t-rex model on Instructables]
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