From animatronic dinosaurs to [Jeff Goldblum]’s prosthetic chest hair, Jurassic Park is known for its practical effects and props. While it’s not as fancy as a breathing triceratops, YouTube’s god of resin casting has recreated one of the more endearing props from this movie. [Peter Brown] and [Pocket83] made a replica of the amber-topped cane carried by John Hammond, and it took him two years to do it.
The ‘mosquito in amber’ walking cane prop from Jurassic Park is just what you think it is – a large mosquito-looking bug trapped in 100 million year old amber. Of course, finding such a chunk of amber with the included mosquito would cost a fortune, so [Peter] turned to polyurethane resin. This block of resin was cast in two halves, with a ‘mosquito eater’ (or a crane fly) embedded in the middle. It took two years for [Peter] to cast this block of amber, but really all but two weeks of that was waiting for a few adult crane flys to appear.
With a bug encased in resin, the project went over to [Pocket83] who turned the walking cane on his lathe. There’s not much to this part of the build except for drilling a three-foot long hole down the center of a piece of wood, although the finish does make this cane look spectacular.
The long wait for crane fly breeding season was worth it. This is one of the best looking functional props from Jurassic Park. You can check out the videos for this build below.
That’s probably how they made the one for the movie, too. At the end, as Hammond rotates the cane looking at the bug, you can see the casting seam.
Resin castings can be polished and seams removed, especially if they are going to be on film in high resolution. I assume this holds true for real amber as well?
Two years to find a crane fly?
Shit, son, could’ve just asked me. There’s at least one flying in or around my room almost every night.
I used to cast custom insulators for custom Super Penetrator mobile usage; just using PVC tube as a mold with release agent; no lathing required. Finish and polish was done with automotive sandpaper then rubbing and polishing compounds.
Best one of these had a florescent tube from a camp lantern right up the middle. SWRs were fine at 600 watts and it lit up beautifully
Funny I have poured polyurethane for a long time and as it hits the exothermic point mosquito hawks / crane flies are attracted to it. Perhaps it’s the heat or the CO2 outgassing but they’re immediately drawn towards it, their entrapment, and unfortunately their demise.
At first I thought the process seemed a bit contrived and attributed it to inexperience with casting, but looking at the Youtube channel he actually has a lot of experience with it. Funny. Making the silicone mould is superfluous. Since the final product requires machining, you simply need a mould in the shape of the block or cylinder you require. A plastic container or possibly even folding one out of sturdy paper should do.
Removing bubbles is easiest with a vacuum chamber. Thoroughly mixing casting materials often means introducing lots of bubbles. With a vacuum chamber you will get a perfect cast every time. You can build them cheaply using a refrigerator pumps and are a cool project to tackle.
Then again, it is easy to shoot at someone’s solutions from the side line and the end result is pretty neat.
1969 Mom was into this. Her hobbies were varied and fascinating, always a good learning experience.
Patience is the primary ingredient and you must add it liberally. Bubbles result if you do not mix and pour with patience, and the cure is a toothpick to tease them to the surface.
I was into photography at the time and had a darkroom. Snapped a B/W pic of the tv screen using 1/30 second exposure, of the moment man first set foot on the moon. Then cast that picture in resin.
Thank you for the memory.
Back in the early 1990’s I made some “amber” jewellery using polyester glass-fibre resin in waxed plaster moulds. Cheap and easily-available materials. Back then the resin was a natural amber colour, and the hardener was clear so it was easy to make “amber”. I never did a casting quite as thick as this so don’t know at what point heat becomes a problem.
I thought of doing this again recently but now all the resin I see for sale now is a horrible blue colour.
And yes sanding/shaping with progressively finer grits and polishing is very easy and satisfying. (Apologies for all the correct English spelling.)
About a year ago, I put a Double Double from In-N-Out inside a block of resin. It was glorious.