ParkerPaleo Posted April 28, 2020 Author Share Posted April 28, 2020 In my own version of 'Sometimes you just have to whack it" The nose on this camel had been glued about a 1/4 inch off. How do these things happen? Now to clean all the bad glue off and put it back together. Bouncing between several projects at the moment, 2 camels, an oreodont, and I'm expecting a shipment of rabbits soon. Almost sounds like the premise for a sitcom. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Randyw Posted April 28, 2020 Share Posted April 28, 2020 57 minutes ago, ParkerPaleo said: camels, an oreodont, and I'm expecting a shipment of rabbits soon. sounds like you got a lot of fun on the way! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ParkerPaleo Posted April 28, 2020 Author Share Posted April 28, 2020 I should have taken a before picture, but it lines up now. Will always have a seam but it looked horrible with the nose offset. Nothing a little epoxy putty can't fix Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RJB Posted April 30, 2020 Share Posted April 30, 2020 Good going taking that camel apart and reataching it. Ive seen out in the field where guys will add glue to a fossil to help hold it together while they get it out of the matrix and pack it back to camp. Rabbits too? Nice. Ive got one of those somewhere? RB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ParkerPaleo Posted May 1, 2020 Author Share Posted May 1, 2020 Back to the Oreodont I'm prepping tonight... coming along rather fantastic in my opinion, so close to done. I have a little work left to do with some glue on the incisors and canines, one of the eye orbits needs some matrix sculpting, and I'll use a pin vice to pick out any little bits that didn't get cleaned off the teeth. The nuchal crest on this blows my mind, don't see them this nice that often. I'm toying with the idea of exposing the neck on both sides, but I'm worried it will get too thin and fall off. Sidenote: This skull is from Wildcat Ridge in Nebraska (Scotts Bluff area) instead of Pine Ridge. Sidenote 2: He is missing an occipital condyle, or its out of position, bet he had his neck broken shortly before beginning his life as a fossil. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Randyw Posted May 1, 2020 Share Posted May 1, 2020 Sweet looking skull! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpc Posted May 1, 2020 Share Posted May 1, 2020 nice Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RJB Posted May 1, 2020 Share Posted May 1, 2020 Nice! RB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LordTrilobite Posted May 1, 2020 Share Posted May 1, 2020 That's looking great! Olof Moleman AKA Lord Trilobite Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Troodon Posted May 1, 2020 Share Posted May 1, 2020 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ParkerPaleo Posted May 1, 2020 Author Share Posted May 1, 2020 Couple final pics after my lunch break. Teeth look a lot nicer! Thanks for all the encouragement! 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RJB Posted May 3, 2020 Share Posted May 3, 2020 Wow! Nice to have all those front teeth! RB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ParkerPaleo Posted May 5, 2020 Author Share Posted May 5, 2020 The last two evenings I have been working on a Paleolagus. Too bad Easter has already come and gone. No cranium on this one but its a nice looking front end. Not sure if I should go any further with this one, maybe a little needle work tomorrow to clean off any rough spots. I did this almost entirely with a MicroJack 3 and an Optivisor. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RJB Posted May 5, 2020 Share Posted May 5, 2020 I was checking out this last skull of your and then I saw the centemeter measurement! Wow!!! RB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ParkerPaleo Posted May 5, 2020 Author Share Posted May 5, 2020 These little rabbits are about as small as I can go without a scope. When you get down to the small rodents and insectivores, its all scope work. I try to save the small stuff for the winter and do larger things in the summer. The prep lab is not heated/insulated as well as my office. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpc Posted May 5, 2020 Share Posted May 5, 2020 nice bunny Do you have an air abrasive? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ParkerPaleo Posted May 5, 2020 Author Share Posted May 5, 2020 4 hours ago, jpc said: nice bunny Do you have an air abrasive? I did a little at the end. Mostly to expose the edges of the teeth better and get rid of the scribe marks on the matrix. Still getting familiar with the setup at my new house. I left my MV-1 for my dad to use, I've been using a LV-1. Not the greatest setup for small stuff. I was running 'Carbo Blast' if you are familiar with it. I have a feeling dolomite or something harder would have injured the specimen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpc Posted May 5, 2020 Share Posted May 5, 2020 carbo blast?... nope, never tried it. I looked it up... it is wheat starch. I may have to try some. I use fine bicarb at less than 10 psi for small White River things (under the microscope) but I still have to be very careful, and glue cracks a soon as they appear. But I can do some pretty incredibly detailed stuff (he says, very humbly). I just bought a pressure gauge that goes from 0 to 15 to try to use with my Swam Blaster. I hope to try to get better psi accuracy at these low levels. Another future project. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ruger9a Posted May 6, 2020 Share Posted May 6, 2020 On 5/1/2020 at 2:03 PM, ParkerPaleo said: Couple final pics after my lunch break. Teeth look a lot nicer! Thanks for all the encouragement! Impressive work. I only have one specimen with all (some partials) the front teeth, tough to find. Especially nice job on the teeth. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ParkerPaleo Posted May 6, 2020 Author Share Posted May 6, 2020 4 hours ago, jpc said: carbo blast?... nope, never tried it. I looked it up... it is wheat starch. I may have to try some. I use fine bicarb at less than 10 psi for small White River things (under the microscope) but I still have to be very careful, and glue cracks a soon as they appear. But I can do some pretty incredibly detailed stuff (he says, very humbly). I just bought a pressure gauge that goes from 0 to 15 to try to use with my Swam Blaster. I hope to try to get better psi accuracy at these low levels. Another future project. The regulator in this Swam Blaster is broken, so I was trying to control pressure from the compressor regulator. I'm just not very happy with the setup the way it is. It needs a different nozzle too. A future project for me as well. I'll swap it around as I get to smaller/nicer things. I'm not sure the right term, but I use these little micro-pipettes to get glue into cracks. How do you control you control your glue? I'm constantly watching for them too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpc Posted May 6, 2020 Share Posted May 6, 2020 1 hour ago, ParkerPaleo said: The regulator in this Swam Blaster is broken, so I was trying to control pressure from the compressor regulator. I'm just not very happy with the setup the way it is. It needs a different nozzle too. A future project for me as well. I'll swap it around as I get to smaller/nicer things. I'm not sure the right term, but I use these little micro-pipettes to get glue into cracks. How do you control you control your glue? I'm constantly watching for them too. Have you tried the scratch technique? Put a drop of glue on a piece of paperboard (ceral box type stuff), not corrogated. Scratch it quickly with a very sharp dental pick. Micro glue is on the end of your dental pick and can be delivered with good control. Takes a little practice, and not all paperboards are the same, but it works. If you are having a really good day, you can get micro micro drops on the end of a single fiber of paperboard to reglue that cusp that fell off a Cretacoeus mammal tooth. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ParkerPaleo Posted June 4, 2020 Author Share Posted June 4, 2020 Been a while as work got hectic for a bit, but things are still moving off the prep bench to the done pile. Here is the latest rabbit. I'm behind on my photography (so no pre-pic) but it did not start out as the greatest specimen and it still isn't. It does display a good number of things one would expect to see in a White River rabbit. Anyway, I would like to air my grievances against this specimen in the greatest of Seinfeld Festivus tradition. Majority of cranium was missing, eroded prior to collection. Significant twisting can be seen from the front, the incisors no longer align. Missing a lower jaw, one got away. Missing nasal and fenestra, how do you lose just 1? I think it was in someone's mouth at some point. Bullae was near a crack and bone was missing near the external auditory meatus. Grievances aside, I'm happy to be moving on to my next piece. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpc Posted June 5, 2020 Share Posted June 5, 2020 The right side looks pretty darn good considering all the complaints. Do you ever free up the zygomatic? That is clean out everything behind it. It might make a dull bunny look a little more dramatic. From what I have seen of modern rabbit skulls, I think the nasals are among the first to fall off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ParkerPaleo Posted June 5, 2020 Author Share Posted June 5, 2020 I have done 'free cheeks' before. I was just ready to move on to another specimen. You are right that it isn't a horrible specimen, was having some fun with it. I may just be a bit jaded when comparing it to other skulls I have. I've been using these last few rabbits to get ready to work on a skeleton. I just wanted to make sure I was confident in my anatomy and technique again before moving on to much nicer specimen. On the compressor front, I did add an in-line regulator before my abrasion unit (Swamblaster LV-1) so I can control it better. I've noticed that under 20 PSI, my unit won't close the piston and stop the flow correctly. Not sure if its a defect or if I need to refurb/rebuild the blocks. There's always something to maintain, feels like home ownership.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ParkerPaleo Posted June 23, 2020 Author Share Posted June 23, 2020 More parts of the collection keep arriving. Before I put this into storage, I took a minute to clean and solidify this titanothere tibia. I found this when I was in high school in the summer of 1990 or 1991. I haven't had much opportunity to hunt the Chadron formation in the past few decades, sure do miss it. Though I do really enjoy the Orellan nodules/burrows I work on now. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now