Creating Replica Insects

[Guest]

Hi All! I'm a new member here. I hope that my questions are not too far afield for this site(?). I'm interested in creating replica insects using fly tying methods and other techniques. More specifically, I am working from fossils to create likenesses of extinct insects and I hope that I might be able to find some more direction with the level of expertise in modelling and finishing methods here.

With my first couple of projects I am starting with the most challenging aspect; creation of convincing insect wings. Among the animals that I wish to represent there are several general kinds of wings:

1. Transparent wings with fine venation (e.g. dragonflies, mayflies)
2. Opaque wings with scales and fine hairs (butterflies & moths)
3. Thick leathery wings with venation and translucent colors (roaches)

I have spent some time looking around, but have found little in the way of materials and approaches for creating insect wings. There are, however, a few good examples to be found on creators' Websites. Here is a fly tyer who creates replica insects for Hollywood...

http://www.filmflies.com/portfolio.html

Note in particular the sulfur yellow butterfly on the lower part of the page with very cinvincing wing creases and texture.

If you are logged into Facebook I hope that you can see this remarkable giant proto-dragonfly replica...

https://www.facebook.com/Paleocreations/photos/a.266181773487782.47481.266174723488487/1047951781977440/?type=3&theater

There are also a couple of video clips on that page that show the fine wing venation and glistening wing surfaces. I do not wish to copy anyone else's work, but I would like to gain some insight into approaches for creating beautiful replica insect wings like these.

Look at the amazing Central America giant roach, Megaloblatta on this page...

https://thesmallermajority.com/2012/09/30/celebrate-blattodeans/

Ancient cockroaches and related extinct insect probably had wing surfaces with this kind of fine contured and sculptured texture surfaces.

Thanks for reading this introduction. I would be interested to hear any ideas that might come to mind or suggestions for other sources of information.

Cheers!

[Thorbrand]

Well this is a new one for me. I had no idea people made replica insects. I think your biggest hurdle is going to be creating the ridges and veinous (is that even a word?) structure on the wing. I have no doubt you will need to use a clear plastic based media, some kind of thin film that doesnt react to glue. A lot of the clear plastic mediums we use for scale modelling tends to be fairly thick in comparrison to what you will probably need since we mainly use it to replicate glass.

I would say however one thing that you might find useful is a clear gloss varnish. I use it a lot to add a nice shine and protective layer on my clear surfaces.

You need something that is clear, thin, crumples and is durable at the same time. I also think you would want to consider getting some thin copper wire to use as a structure to mount the plastic on. The wire can be painted easy enough.

You will need to do some experimenting i think. If i were you i would start with very thin copper wire, maybe some cling flim, wrap the film around the wire and bond it with glue. Then i would see what happens when you put a coat of clear varnish on the plastic wrap, one thing about the varnish is it becomes tacky for a few minutes prior to drying solid so you could use that to your advantage to maybe set in some hairs as the veins. I would invest in a desk mounted magnifying glass and some needle nose tweezers too. Another clear media you could use is Acetate but, that might be too thick..