Psittacosaurus restoration

[Biju]

Hi Members,

I'll start off by saying that I'm a complete newbie in the fossil/dinosaur world, so please forgive me for using incorrect terminology.  I have just come to acquire a complete Psittacosaurus mounted skeleton (see photos), that is mostly intact on the mount.  The previous owner had a box of manus parts (phalanges, etc.).  She also had an old tube of adhesive in that box (B-7000 in the "parts" photo). I would like to "restore" the structure via glueing the loose parts back onto the skeletal structure. I am looking for advice on which adhesive to use, e.g. should I use the B-7000 that the previous owner had?  Through my web search, I have found references to Paleobond and Starbond as possible adhesives to use (with varieties different mostly by viscosity). Are these the best brands and types of adhesives for such work? Other than the adhesive itself, should other substances be used for preparation, hardening acceleration and preservation purposes?

Any advice for this aspiring "paleontologist" would be greatly appreciated!

 

Thanks in advance,
Biju

[Top Trilo]

17 minutes ago, Biju said:

I have just come to acquire a complete Psittacosaurus mounted skeleton (see photos), that is mostly intact on the mount

Not sure on resto or repair but it looks really cool and I will add it had ribs.

Here's a diagram of a skeleton

[Biju]

2 hours ago, Top Trilo said:

Not sure on resto or repair but it looks really cool and I will add it had ribs.

Here's a diagram of a skeleton

Thanks for your reply Top Trilo. My structure does indeed have "ribs" (see photo), however, they are just short & incomplete fragments at the origin points. 

[Fossildude19]

Moved to FOSSIL PREPARATION. 

Welcome to the Forum.  

 

[Biju]

1 hour ago, Fossildude19 said:

Moved to FOSSIL PREPARATION. 

Welcome to the Forum.  

 

Thank you Tim.  Glad to become part of this community.

[Ptychodus04]

I would glue the broken bits back on with Paleobond or Starbond. Don't use an activator as it has a tendency to turn clay based matrices green and there's a bit of clay in the matrix that these fossils came from. So, you're taking a good chance at giving your dino a green thumb.

[jpc]

21 minutes ago, Ptychodus04 said:

I would glue the broken bits back on with Paleobond or Starbond. Don't use an activator as it has a tendency to turn clay based matrices green and there's a bit of clay in the matrix that these fossils came from. So, you're taking a good chance at giving your dino a green thumb.

Ptychodus' advice is very good.  If the fit is perfect you can use thin glue, which will set up pretty fast.  If the joint not perfect, best to use a thicker glue but that will take more time to set.  Also thin glue is more likely (much more likely) to spread itself around and glue your fingers to the fossil.  

[Biju]

2 hours ago, Ptychodus04 said:

I would glue the broken bits back on with Paleobond or Starbond. Don't use an activator as it has a tendency to turn clay based matrices green and there's a bit of clay in the matrix that these fossils came from. So, you're taking a good chance at giving your dino a green thumb.

Thank you Ptychodus04 and jpc for the advice. My main objective is to restore the phalanges, so there seems to be a mix of well fitting pieces and not so well fitting (see the photo with the loose pieces in original post).

Looking at the Starbond offerings, what do you guys think of using the Starbond EM-40 Heavy Thin over their thinner Starbond EM-02 Super Fast Thin? I assume from what you say that the thinner one might be too "messy" for me, while going thicker will be problematic with the curing time.

 

[Ptychodus04]

Thin runs easily, so less is more in those scenarios. Don’t use too much glue and you won’t have dinosaur stuck to you.

 

slow setting can be problematic if you are trying to hold the piece in place. The best scenario for this is to build an adjustable support armature where both pieces are well supported. This can be done with wire on small specimens like these, allowing adequate cure time.

[Biju]

1 hour ago, Ptychodus04 said:

Thin runs easily, so less is more in those scenarios. Don’t use too much glue and you won’t have dinosaur stuck to you.

 

slow setting can be problematic if you are trying to hold the piece in place. The best scenario for this is to build an adjustable support armature where both pieces are well supported. This can be done with wire on small specimens like these, allowing adequate cure time.

I've thought about a support structure. Thanks for the advice.

[jpc]

I have successfully used aluminium foil to make supports like this.  Very adjustable.  When you have the pieces meeting exactly how they should, then drop a drop of glue in there and walk away for an hour.  I know nothing about starbond.  I use PaleoBond.

[Biju]

9 hours ago, jpc said:

I have successfully used aluminium foil to make supports like this.  Very adjustable.  When you have the pieces meeting exactly how they should, then drop a drop of glue in there and walk away for an hour.  I know nothing about starbond.  I use PaleoBond.

I'll give that a shot. Thanks jpc!

[jpc]

To do this with aluminium foil, I lay a small-ish piece on thetable top, with my two index fingers and two thumbs on it, hands few inches apart.  Slide your hands towards each other and the foil will scrunch upward.  This action can be controlled and you can use that upward scrunching to hold you fossil and do some pretty delicate adjusting.

[Biju]

6 hours ago, jpc said:

To do this with aluminium foil, I lay a small-ish piece on thetable top, with my two index fingers and two thumbs on it, hands few inches apart.  Slide your hands towards each other and the foil will scrunch upward.  This action can be controlled and you can use that upward scrunching to hold you fossil and do some pretty delicate adjusting.

Seems simple enough - I'll certainly try that. Thanks.