Having fun with Jurassic Park. Old “Velociraptor” mutates into Deinonychus, and gets its feathers back!
An old Jurassic Park toy model was languishing unused in my vaults and I thought: what I would have done if it was me designing Jurassic Park? What would have I done to correct the stuff that has become so popular (mistakes and all)?
Using as starting point the idea of bringing out in 3-D every bit of my old -controversial- painting of the original turkey-like Deinonychus vanquishing Tenontosaurus, I decided to completely remodel everything that was wrong with the old so called “Velociraptor” in the movie (including the lack of feathers).
Obviously the main issues were remodelling the head, face, tail and arms but that was nothing compared to the task of feathering the model. I used several bird skins and my shed was covered in feathers for months . The feathers around the arms and tail had to be drilled in one by one.
I find almost offensive all the reconstructions I see that do not know how to feather the arms of raptors…. No they did not have a fan of ornamental feathers staring small at the wrist leaving the hands free to do the diva-thing at an Eurovision contest. The feathers started long, possibly on top of the second digit, fanned out and then got smaller as they approached the elbow. The second digit was partially covered and the third digit was most probably under the feathers. Alan Gishlick classic paper on the mobility, structure and proportions of the hand and arm of Deinonychus is taken in consideration here.
A prospective wing for sure?
Months in the making, this has turned out much more than a simple toy modelling hobby.
Luis V. Rey Blog 
