After about 15 or so hours, this bug is coming along... but not without hiccups along the way. The first challenge was that the bug dips into the matrix on an angle, and this is not exactly butter matrix; my ARO clone was having a hard time planing down with a lot of stalls. Blasting it with the Paasche at 60-90 PSI was not an option either as it was not working to get off more than maybe less than a micron at a time! Although a robust bug, bits would come off that needed to be retrieved and glued down. The second eye also popped off and needed gluing. Still more work to do, but the scribing is pretty much done. Judging by the presence of a genal spine on the right, this is Isotelus "mafritzae" morph type "A" (not "B" like I initially thought). The cephalon looks like it should continue on the right, but it is folded in and crushed.
I'll be updating this post in the coming weeks. Next steps: 1. The right eye has some serious issues that I need to tidy up. 2. Cyanoacrylate that was used to stabilize the right side pleura still needs to be removed. 3. Several areas that need restoration; I'm just waiting for my Milliput to come in the mail. Below, I've greyscaled the image to indicate where some of that future work is required. Comments are closed.
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Kane Faucher
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February 2024
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