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Skull cast prep- porcine


LabRatKing

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I was able to get an exact ID on this American Museum of Natural History cast...which I promptly forgot on a Post-it on my desk at work...

 

so posting now as this is the next attempt at museum quality display prep.

 

will update the ID in an edit...can remember it’s a cast of the type specimen from the Sharps formation. Porcine.

 

for this one I plan extensive reconstruction to make it better than found!

 

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Also posted so I can remember to preserve the vintage label made from what I suspect is White-Out and Sharpie...something I forgot on the Meg tooth...

 

And if you have access to actual photos of the original specimen, please message me. I’ve blown my intra library access budget for this quarter and can’t find photos of the original in the attempt!

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Strange,

what I first found for AMNH 10882 is this:

http://fossilworks.org/?a=taxonInfo&taxon_no=47849

Peccary maybe, but "scansorial insectivore?"

Here is a blog containing a picture of a Macrogenis skull in the AMNH, no idea if it is your original though:

http://thenaturalworld1.blogspot.com/2015/06/prominent-cheekbones-abe-lincoln-peter.html

 

Cheers,

J

Try to learn something about everything and everything about something

Thomas Henry Huxley

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On 10/31/2020 at 6:48 AM, Mahnmut said:

Strange,

what I first found for AMNH 10882 is this:

http://fossilworks.org/?a=taxonInfo&taxon_no=47849

Peccary maybe, but "scansorial insectivore?"

Here is a blog containing a picture of a Macrogenis skull in the AMNH, no idea if it is your original though:

http://thenaturalworld1.blogspot.com/2015/06/prominent-cheekbones-abe-lincoln-peter.html

 

Cheers,

J

I ended up down the same road, and yet in my handwritten notes I have "peccary?!?!" scrawled. I rememebr finding photos of it online, but now cannot seem to bring them back up.

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SO, with the other projects finishing up, it is time to start on this guy. One of the issues is the weight. This is a solid cast and is very heavy. SO, I have to build a stand for it first.

 

My plan is to drill out (carefully) the foramen magnum to allow insertion of a 10mm aluminum rod and socket, which I will temporarily affix in place with a removable adhesive like aquarium silicone. That will allow me to clamp it to a large stand that will permit rotation and such while the sculpt process takes place. For the final base, I will have to get creative with the welder and steel to have a floating type display that allows for rotation of the specimen and both wall or horizontal surface display. Though I am scouring museum specimens online for other ideas. (If you have suggestions, I'll take them...all my armature experience is with extant species and real bone is actually easier to work with in my opinion!)

 

At the same time the i1-4 and C(?)/G(?) pictured above will be drilled and wire reinforced for the repair and resculpt of the cast ones. They are all broken off. My plan there is to make reference molds of them as they exist, hand sculpt teeth separately, drill out the plaster, and insert the reproductions. This will also allow me to use enamel paints to get a much more realistic surface. (lessons learned from the american lion project) As for the molars, I already took a as-is mold, so IF I can find good photos of the actual dentition, I can resculpt them/ make caps, that will turn this into a truly exquisite piece.

 

The real issue I am having is finding color photo references, so will likely have to wing it. The good news is I have been able to confirm that this is a female Macrogenis crassigenis, and it is a cast of the type specimen from 1904. The bad news is I am giving myself a crash course on peccaries and their kin, and their fossils from that area are not well described or popular...so I have already blown a third of my intra-library loan funds gathering information and references for the future, final display.

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Sorry, I don know if you already saw this or if the link to the blog I posted was working. Still the only colour photo I could find.Macrogenis+crassigenis+extinct+fossil+pe

Try to learn something about everything and everything about something

Thomas Henry Huxley

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22 minutes ago, Mahnmut said:

Sorry, I don know if you already saw this or if the link to the blog I posted was working. Still the only colour photo I could find.Macrogenis+crassigenis+extinct+fossil+pe

Thanks! I did check out that link...just so swamped right now I'm spending more time on the projects and less posting on them. Should have photo updates to this one in a few days!

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  • 2 weeks later...

Well, finally, I have some time to spend on this guy. I'm going to try something different as I also have a cast of the holotype specimen of Tapirus simpsoni Schultz and both speciemes were found in similar formations and the original fossils have the same color scheme. The only logical thing to do is paint them up at the same time. But first, the putty work needs to be done.

 

Currently I have both specimens in the curing oven after careful treatment of the plaster with a "proprietary" stabilization mix I came up with that is 3:2:1 RODI water, Quickcrete brand concentrated Acryilc fortifier, and PEG 8000. I have spent a few weeks experimenting with different mixtures to best stabilize the plaster of paris and "prime" it for epoxy putty and acrylic paint without sacrificing detail and found this mix works best. Also, it is super cheap when you have access to lab-grade Reverse Osmosis De-Ionized water. I mixed up different densities of P.o.P and tested the mix before hand. This wil result in far more durable specimens for display and hands-on study by my students.

 

The tricky part is both of these specimens had some "reconstruction" work done after casting to fill in weak areas. This was done with plaster at a clay-like consistency which preserved the fingerprints of the artist. So I am going to remove that plaster with a rototool and replace it. The idea here is to preserve the reconstruction, but make it more professional looking. I'll use Apoxy for this as it can be smoothed/polished with water and is far stronger than the plaster.

 

Also, lessons learned from the lion, I'll be painting the crowns teeth with a base coat of white enamel first to get the "proper" look and texture this time around.

 

Photos in a few hours. These guys will be "quickie" paints as the original specimen color palettes are very small, being various shades of white and gray.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Whew. Way behind on this project due to the unstable plaster. So after a week submerged in a 1:4 mix of acrylic fortifier and a slight vacuum, then a very long time in the drying oven at 70C...

 

I had to do an initial wash of medium gray to make details and imperfections more visible. Now just have to let things air dry to do the putty work to hide imperfections and replace broken teeth from poor storage.

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Repairs of teeth complete. Started adding washes. Figured out how to create that translucent calcite effect for replaced enamel!

 

All putty work is done, so painting shall be easy!

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Wil have to do some minor work to get the canines to scale with the original, but as you know by now, I add extra material and remove it accordingly!

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On 11/2/2020 at 12:12 PM, LabRatKing said:

OK...managed to re-find a PDF with the description and illustration of the original fossil...looks like the usual taxonomic changes have happened over the years:

 

http://digitallibrary.amnh.org/bitstream/handle/2246/1456//v2/dspace/ingest/pdfSource/bul/B020a22.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

 

 

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Reconstruction complete. Time for final paint!

 

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