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This is how the skeleton looked as it arrived in the box from The
Anatomical Chart Company.
There was a little assembly required. Some of the hardware was loose in
the bottom of the box. I found 90% of the screws that held the ribcage
together, but some of them had fallen out of the box during shipping.
For the most part, my skeleton was complete and relatively good looking
straight out of the box. |
Skeleton
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| I had to do some "surgery" to the skull. The nose
and related bones were glued in funky and made the skull look silly, so
I broke them all apart, did some filing and cutting and then glued the
whole assembly back together with 2 part epoxy. While I was at it I
used my heat gun to heat up the ribcage and pull it out. It was
smashed flat and kind of off to one side when I got it |
Skull repair
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| Once I had things straightened out I went to work making
the bones look a little less clean <grin>. I found some tips on the
internet for a simple method of making the bones look a little more
realistic. Using Minwax Gelcoat Mohogany #605 I painted on a nice
thick coat and then blotted it off lightly with a terry cloth towel.
I left a lot of the stain in the cracks and crevices and did my best to
keep it messy and just blot it off instead of rubbing.
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Staining
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| I did the arms, legs and head first. They were
fairly easy to do because they are light and easy to handle. |
Drying
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| The ribcage took the longest. it was tough to get
the inside of the ribs and the spinal cord all coated. The whole
assembly weighs quite a bit and was tough to hold while blotting off the
stain. If I had to do it again I think I would build a support for the
torso and hang it from the top hanger that came with it. |
Finishing touches
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| The finished product assembled after about a week of
drying. For over a month after I stained the skeleton, there were
parts of the spine that were still wet to the touch. You'll need
to give the skeleton plenty of time to dry before handling it too much
or you risk rubbing off the stain. If you are nervous about "ruining"
your $100.00 skeleton like I was, it doesn't seem like you can really go
wrong with the staining technique. There was not much to it and
you can touch up here and there if you end up rubbing off some of the
stain. |
Final result
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