Molding a Dino trackway like a pro!

Sep 26

For the next three weekends we will be in the field to describe outcrops, collect samples, capture aerial photographs with the drone and… mold dinosaur trackways and isolated tracks with molding compound! It all starts with cleaning up each track, then several layers of molding material are poured into each track and eventually are linked. Each layer has a different plasticity, and the last one is pretty strong, rigid to maintain the structural integrity of the mold.

Thomas sprays each track with a releasing agent (©️Dianna Price).

Thomas mixes two compounds until he obtains the desired elasticity (©️Dianna Price).

Thomas starts pouring the molding compound in each track (©️Dianna Price).

Two tracks with a first layer of molding compound in each of them, before they will be bridged with subsequent layers.

Thomas preparing one of the last batch of molding compound.

Mold of an isolated track of a theropod and its original that has been damaged by old attempts to remove it, probably with a chisel and a hammer (©️Dianna Price).

And voila! Back in the lab at the Witte Museum in San Antonio, Thomas will clean this imprint with a first cast of fiber glass to remove all the dirt.

I am impressed and excited by the quality of the mold (©️Dianna Price)!

Alexis Godet

Molding a Dino trackway like a pro!

Fly, little spud, fly

Virtual meeting before fieldwork