#I'm thinking Tiberus would be a fun name

[justhereforeskel]

Christmas Dino V1

Part 1

I'm still chugging along so it's time for updates!

Day 2

Found some old newsprint sheets in the craft room. Laid them out in a 2 x 4 foot group for some pattern layouts. The spine and tail weren't going to fit on anything smaller.

Figure 1 - the GIANT table I could have used on day 1 but didn't and now my spine STILL hates me

I then popped a line in to make to 2 x 2 sheets to see if I could get away with smaller boards for the rest of the pattern. The smaller the board is the less wrestling I have to do with the laser engraver.

Success! With a little left over to spare if I need counter weights or anything. I honestly do not know if this thing will be balance properly and I'm not gonna do the maths to find out (or simulate it in a CAD program like I've seen some others do) TRIAL AND ERROR BABY!

One trip to Home Depot later and I've secured my wood! heh

Also some gloves for preventative maintenance on my hands because we all know splinters are a thing and I cannot be trusted not to hurt myself. Next step is remembering to actually use the gloves tho. We'll see how that goes...

Anyway, off to do some fiddling with how Tyreal is gonna fit on this whole thing.

I had to decapitate my poor cardboard boi at this point, because there was just no way I was gonna try to do this with an entire limp skeleton attached.

Okay so I've got one dino skull and one Tyreal. Hmmmm...

So my first thought was just, make it super duper easy. I'll cut a notch in the middle piece and Tyreal can sort of ride it like a horse (with maybe a saddle down the road). Like this:

Okay, not bad.

BUT

sigh He's got the whole tabard of righteousness and it's made of rubber so it's not super flexible. And while it will sort of smush out of the way, it's gonna end up stuck like that and that'll just annoy me to no end.

I could get really fancy and like...cut a slit for the front and back of his tabard but that just feels waaaaaay too fiddly and prone to fucking up.

Thinking.....thinking....

What if...okay so Tyreal has a battery box to make the lights light and I'll need to make some sort of holder for it.

I did kind of want him standing too, you get more visual out of it. So what if I went, like, chariot style? I can get fancy with the sides, and create a double layer base to tuck the battery box in.

Some swearing, a few close encounters with cardboard cuts and volia! (ish)

Okay the basic idea is there but I measured nothing and it shows.

Alright, the concept works let's just try with a little more...effort.

And....

Actual volia!

The battery box fits lovely, the sides aren't too out of proportion and he's still nicely visible! Hurrah!

Tyreal also has the balance of a drunken college kid, so I've traced his feet and I'm going to try to engrave little recessed holes for them in attempt to make him a wee bit more stable.

Additional thoughts that came to me while crafting this:

I can get fancy with cut outs on the chariot sides if I want, which could be fun

Since I want the battery box to be hidden but easily accessible, I'm thinking some kind of leather wrap or tassels around the base of the chariot to obscure it but not make it a pain to get at

Since this is a chariot, he's gonna need some reins. For this year I'll probably do some sort of ribbon dealy BUT this means it's not unreasonable to make a full leather bridle for him next year. And give him a little metal nameplate across the nose band. yes yes yes

This whole contraption might just unbalance the whole t-rex but we'll deal with that later. Maybe. Shush. Bolting him to the table will totally be a reasonable solution.

Okay, that feels productive enough for the day! Now I've really gotta knuckle down and get the original pattern and the new pieces all created in Lightburn....weeeeeeeee -.-

ONWARD!