The Origami Forum

Many years ago I bought Yoshino's Origami Skeleton of Tyrannosaurus Rex but I lost it due to moving...

The past week I was in New York City and at the Japanese Kinokuniya (at 6th Ave. near West 47th Street at Bryant Park - you should reallu check it out!) I found a new copy and I am overwhelmed with happiness...

I folded the dino many years ago and all of a sudden ran into problems with steps 37 and 40 of the Tail Bone on page 60 and 61.

Not trying to be arrogant but I hardly ever run into problems these days and I have no idea how I tackled closing up the model many years ago.

It seems impossible to do it neatly so you end up with the gap to put the next tail bone in...

Does someone have a pic or sideview photo of how to close the model back up? I have no space to put the raw edge of the paper in since the center is blocked by the crimps of steps 12-14.

Would it be possible to just fold in the corner in step 5 (so folding one corner and creasing the other)

Hi and welcome back!
Here is my fold:

I did it sooo long ago and my books are still on a different continent 20 000 miles away, so I cant help you with this one. Sorry Ryan!

Forgive me if I sound ignorant, but is that model done with only one sheet of paper or is it modular. I have seen it so many times and have always wondered if the bones were just flaps.

21 sheets of equal size... no glueing...

Are you sure you did steps 32-33 twice on both sides of the model? That's the first thing I can think of that would make 37 difficult. Otherwise, here's a few different angles:







Now that I have 1 piece I have to make the 20 others, haha. I know what I'm doing for the rest of the three-day weekend...


I really hope you meant those steps because my book doesn't have steps 37 or 40 on my pages 60-61, but on the pages before.

OMG thanks so much! I did it right the first time... I thought the central spine should have dented inwards too instead of sticking out..... that's why I could get it right! Thanks so much... the diagrams aren't very clear...

I've been thinking about getting this book. Amazon has it for $14.95 Amazon link which seems steep for one book. Is it worth it? It's a very impressive model, so I'm very close to purchasing the book. It's in my shopping cart now!

Edited because the link stretched the screen.

yes you should... it is only 73 pages but it is very good...

OK, on impulse, I just bought the book on Amazon. I'll keep this page of pix bookmarked... for MY next 3-day weekend, probably July 4, US Independence Day.

Obviously, I haven't read the book, yet... so does anyone have the starting page size to model size proportion ? If it is in the book, thanks anyway.

Any other words of wisdom & experience, from many years or current folding ? And, in addition to the wooden two-point support that Quentin shows, any other simple display suggestions ?

I can also think of some origami stands (such as for flowers), but none of them are really as unobtrusive as a wooden or wire support ... ?

Thanx,

- Hank Simon

Hank,
I folded the T-Rex many years ago, probably 6-8 years ago! I made 10cm squares from double-backed kitchen foil (In South Africa we had thin and thick kitchen foil - I used the thin ones).
I started with the head, and worked my way to the tail. For about a year I left it just sitting in a closet because the tail pieces from 10cm foil seemed too hard a task. I probably finished it 2 years after I started it.
I think the size of squares was perfect for an end result, but to fold the tail was difficult!
(I dont think you want to fold it too big, smaller looks better - in my opinion)
I also think foil worked well, because you can shape the head pieces well and also the layers in the tail pieces dont get too thick.
I am sorry, the finished model is still in SA, so I cant give you an end size.

All in all, good luck and hope to see the finished photos!

edit, if I remember correctly, the end size was about 40cm long...

I can't remember how small my squares were the last time I folded it. I think it was about four years ago... But I think if you folded it from 15cm foil it would get around, I dunno, 30-35cm long?

I'm going to attempt to fold it from 7.5cm squares of Japanese foil in hopes it'll turn out really small but clean. I'm just going to have to go really slow and use my tweezers and other tools to help out with keeping it accurate.

jeossmayhem, 7.5 inches or 7.5 cm?

Good luck if it's 7.5cm - it should come out great at the end!

Oh, I just realised I actually did bring my book with me to Canada. I finished folding it in Nov 2005, using 95mm squares. (I write down dates and square sizes in the book when I fold from it).

The book does not say the ratios of square to end size, but it does recommend not going smaller than 6inches to start off with.

Hope that helps
Quentin

I disagree with the book. 15 cm squares are too big. Yeah, it's a little complex, but I would go for 7.5 to 10 cm squares.

I agree that a 6 inch square would definitely make your model come out huge, and depending on the weight of the paper, potentially flimsy.

merman wrote:21 sheets of equal size... no glueing...

I folded one about 6 years ago; but because I moved it around so much, and didn't pack it properly, pieces got lost. So the next one I do, I might make it more permanent like and do the dreaded "g"-word.

Sounds like 7.5 cm - 10 cm paper, foil or wet folded.

I have some 11.4 cm (4.5 in) gold foil paper with a good white background that should work well.

If not, I'll try the training wheels approach and use 6in paper.

Thx,

- Hank Simon