.... O'Shea butts in .... that's the first time I've seen/heard about that one Clem; doesn't quite look right, but it's a good colour; it would be nice to see the finished product, no-doubt suspended from some ceiling somewhere.

No Clem I haven't seen that before. I was checking the site ( http://science.edu.sg ) to see if I might have missed it but theres no Kraken exhibit. :(

TTF's shoes reminded me of my brides 4" heels on our wedding day - I always said she wore them so she could look down on me! (But those heels were designed to pin one down, not crush!!) :roll:


p.s.Wish I needed a baseball cap to keep the hair out of my eyes - I lost the automatic hair-cut reminders some years ago :goofysca:

Vatch this spaze over the next few weeks. It's all go right now!!

Vatch this spaze over the next few weeks. It's all go right now!!

:) Can't wait

.... no need to now; it's all happening!

Here's a series of pics. The original model has since been destroyed (much sadness), but this was necessary in order to build the resin cast :cry: I'll try and salvage something from this ... as in have a 1/2 squid poking through the wall (like they do in those cafe's with cars).

The 'beast' is presently being poured ... and it comes out of its cast tomorrow (much excitement). The rubber that you'll see in these shots is worth ~ NZ$2000/bucket! Colossal costs!

The mantle and head will be bolted together, the entire thing cast in rubber, then splatter painted (photophores) .... but more shots tomorrow, the day after ... and then more .....

http://www.tonmo.com/phpBB/download.php?id=1594

http://www.tonmo.com/phpBB/download.php?id=1593

http://www.tonmo.com/phpBB/download.php?id=1592

A peek into the guts of the thing (2 skins, resin interior, fibreglass exterior, a pour point into which the rubber goes, and Barry mixing the rubber ....

http://www.tonmo.com/phpBB/download.php?id=1597

http://www.tonmo.com/phpBB/download.php?id=1596

http://www.tonmo.com/phpBB/download.php?id=1595

Close up of rather expensive rubber, head in scaffholding, Barry in scaffholding (with Justin 'just in' the frame doing the big point; Justin is the main man making this model).

http://www.tonmo.com/phpBB/download.php?id=1603

http://www.tonmo.com/phpBB/download.php?id=1601

http://www.tonmo.com/phpBB/download.php?id=1598

.... and yet more (anyone want to guess what the 'mystery knobs' are?)

http://www.tonmo.com/phpBB/download.php?id=1606

http://www.tonmo.com/phpBB/download.php?id=1605

http://www.tonmo.com/phpBB/download.php?id=1604

.... emergency surgery (coz the rubber leaked through the cracks.....).

.... Barry (a little birdy tells me) has actually been in some cornflakes commercial in the UK; he also had a role on Xena (not that I ever watched Xena....)

http://www.tonmo.com/phpBB/download.php?id=1609

http://www.tonmo.com/phpBB/download.php?id=1608

http://www.tonmo.com/phpBB/download.php?id=1607

So coooool...

The rubber that you'll see in these shots is worth ~ NZ$2000/bucket! Colossal costs!

:shock: What is that stuff? How much is this model going to cost, again?

anyone want to guess what the 'mystery knobs' are?

Really expensive, really foul-tasting gumdrops?

LOL (re gumdrops); in excess of $120K .... yikes! .... but you just wait until morrow; we're looking at the exterior of a skungy fibreglass mould right now ..... I'm buzzing!!!

Are those the only mystery knobs, or are there lots more of 'em?

.... there's ~ 11 of them

Are they actually part of the animal, or just leftovers? If they do belong on the squid, are they cartilaginous bits?

Tiz a sehkrit that ya' all gotta figure out; tiz an important lesson in squid morphology.

11? 8 for arms, 2 for tentacles and one spare casting, just in case?

and un-developed quasi-hectocotylus? why not? i was right about the hooks for mating in that other species....

.... and yet more (anyone want to guess what the 'mystery knobs' are?)


Steve is planning on entering the midwinter poultice again.....yikes

Knobs of the carpal locking apparatus?

Steve,

If you wanted to turn that into a model af an ammonite, How big would the shell have to be? And how much of that costly rubber would you have to use? Hypothetically thinking of coarse.

Steve,

If you wanted to turn that into a model af an ammonite, How big would the shell have to be? And how much of that costly rubber would you have to use? Hypothetically thinking of coarse.

Well, you'd probably make the shell out of fibreglass, and there'd be no need to fill it with rubber (unless you want to internalise the shell .... but it's too early in the morn to go there).

The head, arms and tentacles have proven considerably more economical in terms of rubber than the mantle and fins (the fins have taken most of the rubber). You could probably get away with NZ$20,000 for the rubber (if making it anything like the Mesonycho head, arms and tentacles).

This head could actually be bolted into an ammonite aperture, if you had an appropriate-sized fibreglass shell.

With the mould they can actually knock off aditional specimens, although (because of the cost) they wouldn't be cast in rubber (I can't remember what it was right now); I'll ask them today - perhaps I can become a squid model broker ... your very own colossal for a couple of thousand (excluding postage and packing).

I'm not going to let on what those knobs are. You'll have to do a spot of reading to familiarise yourselves with cranchiid squid morphology (they're rather obvious; their function hasn't been picked yet).

:mesonych: ...comes out of its cast today... :D

I'd guessed tubercle doohickeys for the funnel-mantle fusion cartilage earlier, but I changed it because it sounded silly. But since I was wrong anyway...

:read:

Bingo ... Sir Dr Ummm.........

8)

:meso:

.... clarification ... they're the knobs that sit on the external surface of the mantle at the points where the mantle fuses with the head (at the bases of the funnel; equivalent to the mantle and funnel-locking cartilages, except there's actual tissue fusion) and dorsally, the 'neck' or nuchal region, similarly fused.

We're putting one knob dorsally and 2 cluster lots of 5, one either side of the funnel (where it fuses with the mantle).

Right now the rubber is a light, near-translucent red. It will be splatter painted (chromatophores), but will remain largely translucent (and then some of the film/images will be CG enhanced).

Sorta like these ('1')?

http://www.tonmo.com/phpBB/files/CranchCharact.gif

Sorta like those indeed, only not as many and not V-shaped in distribution.

Re le squid ... well .... here goes the undressing. Now the lads at Glasshammer would have kittens if I showed a model like this online, because this is JUST THE START!!! It has to be cleaned, eye lenses attached, painted, mounted together .... it is such an unfinished product at this stage. More to come in rapid succession (over the next few days); it should be finished in ~ 3 days.

Figure titles self explanatory (I'm late - am not supposed to be here and have a bit of a drive ahead of me to get to where I'm supposed to be ....)

http://www.tonmo.com/phpBB/download.php?id=1614

http://www.tonmo.com/phpBB/download.php?id=1613

http://www.tonmo.com/phpBB/download.php?id=1612

:) :)

http://www.tonmo.com/phpBB/download.php?id=1617

http://www.tonmo.com/phpBB/download.php?id=1616

http://www.tonmo.com/phpBB/download.php?id=1615

:) :) :)

http://www.tonmo.com/phpBB/download.php?id=1620

http://www.tonmo.com/phpBB/download.php?id=1619

http://www.tonmo.com/phpBB/download.php?id=1618

:D

Oh, they excavate the funnel, have glass domes going in the eyes, warts here and there, hooks on arms and tentacles, beaks, stunning paint scheme ..... this is sooooooo early on (it's just come out of bandages ... now gets the plastic surgery).

It's gonna look positively smashing!

http://www.tonmo.com/phpBB/download.php?id=1621

:) Awesome.

Steve,

If you wanted to turn that into a model af an ammonite, How big would the shell have to be? And how much of that costly rubber would you have to use? Hypothetically thinking of coarse.

.... an interesting thing happened today Kevin. I got to talking about your ammonite model query, and didn't really expect barry (one of the model makers) to really know what an ammonite was :oops:

He used to collect them!

To see the sort of work they do, check out www.glasshammerfx.com

It'll blow your mind (and dtsrt thinking about how you'd like your rubberised ammonite to look, and I'll work on Barry and Justin to log on and join us.

The model is really starting to look great! Can't wait to see the final product.

Always nice to have another ammophiliac on board :)

Now, where can I put a 15' rubber ammonite :?: :?: :?:

looking good. Remember the model squid was the highpoint of going to the Shed Aquarium when I was a kid. Those models are great.

The long job of cleaning it began today, + the cutting off of suplus rubber bits that stuck to the mould. Morrow painting commences, but morrow is a rather hectic day with 3 or 4 other things on .... hope I can squeeze this in.

They were painting today, whilst total nonsense was uttered from our lips ... as we struggle to make the Colossal the victor in its battle with the sperm whale.

The latest pics I have were taken last night, but I'll trundle on down this evening and get a few more/progress shots.

http://www.tonmo.com/phpBB/download.php?id=1630

http://www.tonmo.com/phpBB/download.php?id=1629

http://www.tonmo.com/phpBB/download.php?id=1628

:notworth:

Breaking images from last night's film shoot... the colossal has hit the water!! I'm sure Steve got some better ones and will post them soon, but here are a couple for now (hopefully he's home sleeping - no idea what time they finished, but I'm sure it was some unpardonable hour this morning).

:goofysca:

http://www.tonmo.com/phpBB/download.php?id=1638

http://www.tonmo.com/phpBB/download.php?id=1639

http://www.tonmo.com/phpBB/download.php?id=1640

great pics! :thumbsup: as for the divers pic, i just hope they cut the blue wire with the white stripe, not the black wire with the yellow stripe....

Virgil Brigman... back on air.

:thumbsup:

... twaz about 3am when I crawled into bed :D , but it was all worth while.

So many pics .... what to do. Just a selection online. A moving sequence says a thousand words; a stills just doesn't do this thing justice. Nevertheless, here goes (several posts worth):

http://www.tonmo.com/phpBB/download.php?id=1643

http://www.tonmo.com/phpBB/download.php?id=1641

http://www.tonmo.com/phpBB/download.php?id=1642

... and a few of the beast!

http://www.tonmo.com/phpBB/download.php?id=1646

http://www.tonmo.com/phpBB/download.php?id=1644

http://www.tonmo.com/phpBB/download.php?id=1645

... a few others.

The series titled 'Face Off' has actually turned into a Face Off between various scientists. Here we have the 'one and only tiger-man Dave' (who's sole purpose is to wind everyone else up .... and have a good time) and Dr Scott Baker, the whale expert .... Scott has facts on his side, but you'll be rather surprised to hear some of the tricks that Meso can get up to to win a battle against the sperm whale. Laser death rays are just one of them! (I'll do anything to win this battle; take no prisoners).

http://www.tonmo.com/phpBB/download.php?id=1649

http://www.tonmo.com/phpBB/download.php?id=1647

http://www.tonmo.com/phpBB/download.php?id=1648

:shock: Awesome...

you could always throw the opposition off the verrrrrry high dive.... either that or try to get the squid on the NZ olympic diving team by throwing the squid of the high dive....

.... filming wrapped today (for 99.9999% of it), but we've got one small thing to do tomorrow.

I'm afraid you'll just have to watch the show to see what happens, who won, and what complete and utter nonsense went on.

A fantastic time was had, and much was learnt.

Let's go looking for the real thing :mesonych: now!

Can't wait to see the results of all this filming! - didn't you say it will be out fairly quickly? Please keep us posted.

Nancy

Should be out about mid-June 2004. I must say I'm looking forward to seeing this yarn too ... so much has been done that there'll be a lot of fun and frustration in the editing suite.

Virgil Brigman... back on air.

:thumbsup:

made some new friends down here

keep... pantyhose... on.

:thumbsup: :thumbsup:

Arr,

'Tis a rare and wondrous strange thing, two lassies quotin' "The Abyss."

:smoke:

Clem

It didnt hit me until earlier this week how much of that movie is ripped of from the day the earth stood still.... ( a mix of this thread and another made me think of it)

still a decent movie though.... the water tentacle was kinda cool...

Anyone think this was a Russian water tentacle?

Da :grad:

Steve and Co.,

All I can say is... <expletive>! After viewing the Meso-model, I'm beginning to be ashamed of the cardboard, wood, cloth and foam thing we built. Perhaps I should change my avatar. :oops:

(then again, ours had pneumatic tentacles and only cost $100 to make...)

Great work! I'm sure this will boost ceph interest quite a bit!

- Ika-san

Is the size of the model supposed to be the same size as the specimen that was caught? Sorry if this had already been answered in this thread before, but I didn't feel like going over 8 pages to find the answer. :oops:

Yes, it was built to the dimensions (5.4 m total length) of the specimen we had from the Ross Sea last April. We believe this to be about half-grown.

:meso:

Should be out about mid-June 2004. I must say I'm looking forward to seeing this yarn too ... so much has been done that there'll be a lot of fun and frustration in the editing suite.

Perfect - right around the time Dr. Octopus will be menacing Spider-Man on the silver screen.

Apologies if this has been answered elsewhere (I just discovered & joined this board today) - but if these models are for a documentary, will it be on TV or Imax or...? eight-warned is eight-armed, as they say.

Also -- I'm an illustrator, and though these are nothing close to scientifically accurate, I thought you all might enjoy a look at a couple of drawings of mine that are pretty tentacular, if I do say so myself....

http://members.shaw.ca/vancouvergamingguild/squid.jpg
http://members.shaw.ca/vancouvergamingguild/kraken.jpg

These were created for everybody's favourite roleplaying game, Dungeons & Dragons, FYI.

:welcome:, Toren! Love the avatar, man, and those illustrations. I'm off to snoop through your website(s), looking for more...

As for the squid, 'twas all built for the Discovery Channel's new series Animal Face-Off (http://dsc.discovery.com/convergence/animalfaceoff/animalfaceoff.html).

Nice to see the model, scince most AFO models look like cyborg-ish skeletons, I expested this to not look to mush like a full squid, but I was pleasently suprised, by the way, has the DVD come out in NZ yet? because it doesn't seem to be going to premier in the states, and I have to see that episode :bonk: .

Hmm.... people tend not to say much once I've said something. I personally find it really strange, you see I-ICE CREAM!!!

I wouldn't worry about that OctopusV; it's no 'kiss-of-death'. This is pretty standard for a thread - you just never know when it gets resurrected; there are pages of dead threads here already (in this forum and others). This is actually one thread that is unlikely to die, but it's also unlikely to be resurrected unless we digress (and we do that often), or something happens (press wise, and we'll not know what that is until it happens). What is more likely is that a 'newbie' will come along and start a similar thread, and then we'll respond on that; those of us that have been around a little longer, and know the history of the site, will try and dredge this one up (or whatever thread is appropriate) from whatever page it is on and post anew, where it left off.

:mesonych: rocks; we've certainly not heard the last of this monster!

Oh, okay, I've seen that on other forum sites, but on those sites if a thread hasn't been posted in for more than twenty days, and then someone posts in it, it gets closed. Anywho, do you have any info about that AFO episode coming out on DVD?

u guyz are SO lucky! I might be going to AUZ next summer, if its out ill be the DVD or VHS ill buy it as a sovenier! :lol:

hey steve whats teh model made of?

The mantle, fins and head have a rigid internal fibreglass frame, covered in a thick layer of latex; the arms and tentacles are completely latex.
Cheers
O

Hello Steve,

Don't know where else to post this, so:

Colossal Squid Rendering (http://www.deepoceanquest.com/context3.html)

It's on a page explaining the mission of DeepOcean Quest, a deep-sea exploration outfit. Elsewhere, in the outreach section of the site, they have some good information on Mesonychoteuthis and Architeuthis. The renderings look good, although Messie's fins don't look quite like those on the holotype.

Apart from imparting some star power, I wonder if these squids presence on the site indicates anything about Deep Oceanquest's ambitions? Peter Batson, author of "Deep New Zealand" is on their staff.

Cheers,
Clem

Ta Clem. I actually worked with Peter on this image (it could have been his brother that did it). I was given rather 'strict' instructions not to use the image (as in post it online) as it was commissioned for a client (although I use it in all of my talks).

Peter was actually doing his PhD at the University of Otago (bottom of NZ), but withdrew so that he could go chasing beasties around the ocean with Ocean Quest. He deserves both a slap on the wrist for withdrawing (because he's a rather bright lad), but at the same time a pat on the back for his new job. I hope that one day he gets back into it.

I was given rather 'strict' instructions not to use the image (as in post it online) as it was commissioned for a client (although I use it in all of my talks).
Steve,

How do you keep track of all the "DO NOT DISTRIBUTE" injunctions on your sehkrit image stash? A mnemonic device? Or, do you just file the sehkrit ones in your moustache?

:wink:

Cheers,
Clem

Many, many apologies for the quality of the picture, but here is a tentacle club of Messie that is stored at the Natural History Museum in London. I did not dare use a flash at the time as this was in the specimen collection, and the picture is a little shakey. Nonetheless, here it is anyway.

Interesting pic, nevertheless. Notice again a slightly triangular keel on the club; It's probably all about hydrodynamics and convergent evolution on basis thereof that this seems to be a feature shared by both Mesonycho- and Architeuthis. I wonder what it teaches us about "striking speed" as part of feeding behaviour, when modeled.

Errm considering this site has been rebooted; and the older photos lost. Would it be possible (for those who still have them) to re-post the pictures of the colossals quid being made for AFO?