Microraptor sp. wooden puzzle like skeleton

cults3d

Originally published for free here on Thingiverse. This is my first try on making a series of realistic wooden-puzzle-like dinosaur. I designed it over two years ago, refined details and printed last year, but I preferred to polish some details before publishing it. I designed this using several skeletal reconstruction and images from the fossil, so it is not a single Microraptor species. The size of the models is about the scale 1:1 for the smallest specie, M. zhaoianus, about the size of a pigeon. I left also the .dxf files of the siluetes so you could use with CNC machines on a 3mm thick plaque (MDF, aluminium, or whatever). You can scale up the sketches 183,34% for a 5mm plaque, 300% for a 9mm, or 400% for a 12mm thick plaque. Some details like tooth, may not be carved with a CNC milling cutter, but with laser cutters. I must remark that this model was never tested with CNC, laser or milling, just 3D printing; if you try to do it in any of these technologies, I would like to see the results. It is in a gliding pose, you could enjoy it better hanging it with a rope attached on the hip. Although most of joints can be assembled easy, it is recommended to have a good levelling of the hot bed, since a tight or loose joint will make more difficult to assembly. The joints could not be as strong as expected to be so I recommend to glue them. I used heat silicone (hot glue, HMA) for the displayed model. Some details are intentionally wrong, like the double sternum, in order to make it easier to assemble. Microraptor is better know for being the first known four winged dinosaur. It was suggested that it could fly, but the muscles and wing anatomy was too weak when compared with modern or even early flying birds, it was probably a developed glider. It's one of the few fossil species whose color was at least partially deduced, being in the case of Microraptor, iridescent black, like crows. Instructions for the assembly. References David W. E. Hone, Helmut Tischlinger, Xing Xu, Fucheng Zhang - Hone DWE, Tischlinger H, Xu X, Zhang F (2010) The Extent of the Preserved Feathers on the Four-Winged Dinosaur Microraptor gui under Ultraviolet Light Microraptor Skeletons by Jaime A. Headden