Here be dragon!

[Hammers]

As you may have noticed I have been less than active for some time and in an attempt to remedy that and get back to the swing of things I thought I'd do someting fun an unusual.

I've had this metal Grenadier dragon glaring at me from a shelf for *quite* some time, 25 years or so. I went as far as priming it and painting one eye before I took a critical look at it and decided to call it a day.

Although not entirely anatomically convincing, it is quite an impressive model (Teronus - the Ultimate Dragon, I believe it is called) sculpted by William Watt. Wha put me off was the compromises they did withthe wings wich are too small and much too clunky, as they too are cast in metal.When I put the model aside i decided to remedy that in some way at some point, and now that time has come.

I googled some images for "dragon anatomy" and did a sketch of the shape and size of how I want the new wings to look.




Cutting and bening some floral wire, I created a skelettal armature of the "fingers" and arm of the win, sharpoened the points and soldered them together at the hand joint.





Non-textured tissue paper is a quite good material for the bat-wing type membrane I want. The tissue paper absorbs moist, i.e. dilluted white glue, and dries to a quite stable but flexible state. This is what's desired as it allows me to experiment with how I want the wings to fold or stretch.





I crumpled the tissue paper to create lots of paralell folds, These will add some texture to the membranes.





Like so.

I applied a generous amount of watered down white glue, trying to preserve some folds, and placed the armature in a way the the folds would stretch between the fingers.

I, silly me, did brush the glue on the tissue dorectly onto the mdf board I used as a work surface. Not a good idea as it the glue will absorb into the mdf. I redid the whole process putting some cling film on top of the mdf...



...and hung the wing to dry overnight.




Looking at it I may glue another layer of tissue on top of this, to get a more convincing thickness to the mambranes.


I mirrored the whole process to make the right wing.


More to follow....

[tikitang]

That's some seriously impressive craftsmanship! Looking forward to seeing how you progress!

[OSHIROmodels]

Very cool   

Did you or will you apply the tissue to both sides of each wing?

[Daeothar]

A very cool project, and it's already obvious that your craftmanship is producing the perfect wings for that dragon!

Just for laughs though, we'll want to see your impressive work next to the original metal wings...

[McYellowbelly]

Really nice work.
effect is great

[beefcake]

Very Nice! I love that model, My brother bought it in a trip to Hamleys I believe a long time ago.

[Hammers]

Very cool   

Did you or will you apply the tissue to both sides of each wing?

Thanks!

Yes, on both sides, folded over for durability and looks.

[Hammers]

A very cool project, and it's already obvious that your craftmanship is producing the perfect wings for that dragon!

Just for laughs though, we'll want to see your impressive work next to the original metal wings...

Thanks!

I can do that. If I can findthe original wings.

[Hammers]

Really nice work.
effect is great

Thank you!

[Hammers]

Very Nice! I love that model, My brother bought it in a trip to Hamleys I believe a long time ago.

Thanks mate!

[Golgotha]

That is fantastic can't wait to see the wings.

Dragon itself reminds me of some of the old Grenadier dragons which is fantastic.

[Silent Invader]

Nice work hammers!

[snitcythedog]

Impressive work so far on the wings.  Can't wait to see more.

[MaleGriffin]

Brill! Thank you for the how to!

[Belisarius]

I hope you’ll post more on this thread. I look forward to seeing it painted up .👍