Blog 22: Independent Component 2

This is Alli the Allosaurus. Her model is based on specimen UUVP 6000. I'd like to give credit to the Paleo-Artist Scott Hartman for the skeletal drawing that he had posted on the internet that made this reconstruction possible. In the background, you can see my "Paleontological Workstation."

LITERAL:
(a) I, Santiago Hernandez, affirm that I completed my independent component which represents 70 hours of work.

(b)

Works Cited

Hartman, Scott. “Allosaurus fragilis UUVP 6000” Photograph. deviantart. Deviantart, n.d. Web. 13 Feb. 2016.

Madsen, James H. Jr. “Allosaurus fragilis: A Revised Osteology” Utah Geological Survey 109 (1976, reprinted - 1993): 1-163. Web. 14 Feb. 2016.
Ultimate Paper Mache. "New Paper Mache Clay Recipe." Online video clip. YouTube. YouTube, 10 Dec. 2009. Web. 10 Apr. 2016. < link >
Ultimate Paper Mache. "Paper Mache Clay Update Video." Online video clip. YouTube. YouTube, 5 Mar. 2012. Web. 10 Apr. 2016. < link >

(c) At this time, my Independent Component  #2 hours log has been updated.

(d) Explain what you completed.   

- Using measurements from reliable sources of information, I have created to the best of my ability a reconstruction of what the dinosaur Allosaurus fragilis would’ve looked like in life. This model was based on the real life measurement of fossils from the Allosaurus specimen UUVP 6000 and the composite skeleton found at the Raymond M Alf Museum

(e) Defend your work and explain the component's significance and how it demonstrates 30 hours of work.   Provide evidence (photos, transcript, art work, videos, etc) of the 30 hours of work.   

- Originally, I had planned on creating a sort of exhibit type display along with my reconstruction of Allosaurus fragilis, but unfortunately I couldn't find enough time to do anything else other than the physical reconstruction of Allosaurus. My essential question asks this: "How can a paleontologist best reconstruct the life of a prehistoric creature?" A large part of the life of many complex organisms, such as us humans, is how they look like. The appearance of an animal affects how it mates, how easily it is spotted by possible predators or prey, etc. To put it simply my independent component is significant because it has taken me on a journey that helps me see what its like when a paleontologist conducts research to write a paper and puts me in the shoes of paleontologists who are tasked with reconstructing the way dinosaurs looked. My component has also shown me how much is left to learn in the field of paleontologist, because as of far determining what color dinosaurs were as well as where as where they had fat or any excess skin is there's no fossil evidence or technology that can tell paleontologists either of those things and more. Additionally, this component has in many ways allowed me to explore all of my answers to my EQ. I had to make a semi-educated guess at what color Allosaurus was by taking into account the fact that Jurassic North America was dominated by forest habitat interrupted by clearings, analyze fossils to find the general shape and size of Allosaurus, and use its phylogenetic context and the comparative method to make the best attempt I was capable of at reconstructing the soft tissues (muscles, feathers, etc.) of Allosaurus.

- My independent component is evident of 70 hours of work because a lot of research and preparation went into putting my Allosaurus fragilis together. The process by which I arrived to my finished product is as follows:

First, I began by frantically looking through the internet for any measurements on Allosaurus and eventually I found a skeletal and muscular drawing by Paleo-Artist Scott Hartman. That drawing then gave me an Allosaurus to search for and I eventually found a scientific study done by paleontologist Dr. James H. Madsen Jr. The skeletal drawing that I based my model is shown below.

Once I had plundered both the scientific study and this drawing for all the measurements they could give me, which by the way took quite a long time since I had to record each measurement and make sure I was measuring in parallel lines. I then printed out an enlarged version of the above scale drawing and cut it out and taped each piece together.

This picture shows the enlarged version of the skeletal drawing that I made with Microsoft Word before I had put it together. This print out would serve as the basis by which I gave my Allosaurus its shape.

With the paper version of my Allosaurus created, I set out to cut out a piece of foam board so that I would have something solid to use as a base to give my Allosaurus shape. I couldn't fit the entire printout onto one foam board so I also had to tape the pieces of board together. A picture of me tracing the printout on a piece of foam board is provided below along with pictures of the pieces of foam board I cut out from that trace.

I had to trace the entire skeletal printout onto the foam board.

This is pretty much how all the pieces of foam I cut out for the main body looked like.

After tracing the drawing onto the foam board I had to cut out each piece. 

A side by side comparison of my completed foam cut and the printout. The original printout will be provided to Mr. Rivas.

Just like the body print out, I had to cut out some pieces of foam for several other smaller parts of the body, including another copy of the skull so that I could have and easier time making it 3D.

In addition to cutting out separate pieces of foam for the skull, I had to cut copies of the teeth, claws, ribs, legs, arms, and hands.

After the foam cutting was over with, I had to move on to creating the teeth that were going to be put onto my Allosaurus. For each little tooth, I had cut out a tiny piece of foam and label that. Also, I cut out pieces of foam where I could stick the teeth on so they can dry without being left on top of a surface. Each tooth was painstakingly covered with air dry clay and sculpted so that they would look like the steak knives they're described as looking like. 

With fingers wet (wet fingers are best for sculpting), I began smoothing out the surface of the clay so that it could resemble the tooth of 

A finished tooth under the scrutiny of my dinosaur crazed mind.

After doing the teeth, I was presented with the question of how I was going to make my Allosaurus's hands. Most of that was just testing out different pieces of wire, then scrapping the idea. Eventually I thought I'd give clay a try, but I noticed how heavy it was and figured that since I would be attaching the hand to the main body by tape that it was too heavy. I will be giving that hand as proof of this, because I had forgotten to take a picture of this process since I was so enveloped in my thoughts.

With all the foam and tiny parts done it was time to make the PVC frame that would support my Allosaurus! Because the day before I had traveled to the Raymond M Alf Museum to take width measurements of an Allosaurus they had on display, I had all the final measurements I needed to put Alli the Allosaurus together. I had made a diagram of how I was going to layout the pipes and using that diagram as a guide I started cutting out pieces of PVC pipe out and sticking them together with a glue that's made for keeping them together. While gluing them I was securing them onto my foam cut out of my Allosaurus using zip ties .This PVC system made it possible for Alli to stand on her own.

With this super nifty adhesive, I was able to make sure that my PVC frame was held together tightly.

In this picture, I am tying down the PVC frame to my foam cut outs. Notice how the leg is secured.

Here's a picture of me drilling a hole into the PVC so that I could get a better place to tie the zip tie to. To the left is my baby sister who is helping me by holding up Alli while I drill.

Alli finally stands proudly!!!

Now that the frame was completed, I needed to give Alli her shape and I decided to do that by stuffing her with crumbled pieces of newspaper and keeping that newspaper in place by wrapping it in masking tape. The process was pretty boring, but it did make me actively use my imagination because I knew little about the anatomy of muscles. 

As you can see here, the newspaper was used give Alli a general shape, but the tape is used to compress it and smooth out the shape. However, even with the tape the surface of Alli was rough so I needed a top layer that was smoother.

Again for this step of the process of making Alli, I didn't take much pictures, but the YouTube video links provided in the Works cited portion of this blog post show generally what the process of giving Alli her "skin" was like. The substance I used was called paper mache clay and it dries super hard and it was pretty easy to make. Using a join compound spreader that my dad lent me I spread this stuff all around Alli and then used plastic wrapping, like for food, to make the surface smoother with finger being pressed up against the plastic. 

These are some of the materials I used to make the paper mache clay.

In this picture, I am adding the finishing touches to the coat of paper mache clay that Alli has on her underside. It was hard to get to the back of her arms with the spreader so I was using wet fingers since they make sculpting so much easier.

The finished product of Alli's new coat of paper mache clay. I used some of it to sculpt her decorative horns in and to make a socket for her eyeballs.

Finally, Alli just needed a paint job and she would be finished. However, I had some problems with what colors should I put on her. Should I make her vibrantly colored like her avian descendants the birds, or should I be conservative with her color? In the end, what color dinosaurs were is the kind of thing paleontologists just don't know yet, so really any interpretation I make can be right. So I decided to go with a hybrid of the two approaches. I figured that female birds today are pretty dull colored, but some still have some sort of coloring, so I decided to make Alli's main coat of color a reddish brown and to give her bright green polka dots. For Alli's ornamental horns, I figured that they were probably used as a signal to say that "Hey I'm horny and ready to make babies if you're just the right male!" In that case, I figured that giving her some nice streaks of bright red would be great so she could advertise that fact. 

Here, I'm giving Alli her nice red streaks that I've mapped with pencil. The bright red would have easily advertised her sexual maturity and her youthful vigor.

Alli's first round of painting is done. The day after I finished her painting up. If you are interested, in seeing the finished product come to Mr. Rivas's room to see her in her Jurassic glory.

That sums up the process by which I reconstructed Alli the Allosaurus.

(f)How did the component help you answer your EQ? Please include specific examples to illustrate how it helped. 

- This component helped me see the value in my second and third answer to my EQ. The fossil data that I did find while I was researching for this project was vital in helping me reconstruct Alli. One example of that comes from the scientific study I found, Dr. Madsen's detailed pictures of specimen UUVP 6000 provided me with the next best thing to a fossil to get detailed information on the size and proportions of Alli's body. Another example of this was my trip to the Raymond M Alf Museum, their I used their mounted Allosaurus skeleton to get a feel of what Alli should look like in 3D and to measure it for her width. In terms of my answer three, this component helped me see the use in using both the comparative method and phylogenetic relationships. While I was stuffing Alli, I was having a hard to think of what to make her legs look like so I looked at the only other animal I had readily available that walks with its legs underneath it: humans. By observing the way my own legs look like and finding pictures of bird legs I gained some sort of idea of what Alli's legs might have looked like. I was also able to decide with a degree of certainty that Alli had feathers because of how closely related her branch of the Theropod family was to the part of that has raptors, Tyrannosaurs, and other feathered meat eaters and by finding out that one member of the Megaraptoa branch of the greater Allosaur family of Theropods had feathers. Indeed, this component taught me just how important it is to have fossils when reconstructing a prehistoric creature and how insightful the comparative method and phylogenetic relationships can be.