I Spent the Day Working on my Tyrannosaurus Rex

I spent the day working on my Tyrannosaurus rex sculpture. I'm sorry if you're waiting on me to do something or answer something or read something: I needed a day off, and it's summer, and there's an unfinished T. rex in my garage.

I've still got a lot of work to do on the body, but I spent most of the day working on the head.  The head has been hard to get going on for a couple of reasons: (1) it's an important part and I want to end up with something I'm really happy with; (2) I'm using an aluminum gas tank (from an outboard motor) as the "base" to build from.  I can only weld ferrous metals, so I've had to devise ways to anchor some steel parts to the aluminum in order to start working toward the shape and look I want. I chose to use the gas tank because it is about the right shape and size and it's a momento of a day trip I took to Bay City, Michigan, with my daughter a long time ago.  And it's light, which is important because I need to keep the weight of the sculpture down at the extremes since it will be standing on two legs.

Anyway, I finally got around to forming the basic shape of the head with steel rods (mostly scraps from old cooling racks) and some pieces of sheet metal and other odds and ends. I've got the protruding teeth roughed out (the mouth will be closed) and I've got a framework for the mandible.  The mandible isn't attached to the head yet and the head isn't attached to the body because it's still easier to work on them with the ability to turn them upside down, etc. 

I'm pretty happy with the way this is turning out. I've got plenty of bendable steel rod to form the rest of the contours, but I'm starting to run short on interesting sheet metal. Tomorrow is a "machine comes along and scrapes up everyone's curb trash piles" day in Columbia, though, so I may spend the morning scouting around for some interesting scrap so I can finish this thing soon.