If you’ve been on Reddit recently, then you may have seen photos of a life-size Tyrannosaurus rex being built by an enthusiastic Kiwi. The details on this model are sharp, so it’s no surprise that the posts have received a lot of attention.

@Topgunsi has created the model using Creality’s CR-10 Max, printing out parts, one piece at a time. The model has taken over 3070 hours to print, and so far, he has used 97kg of filament.

We were curious to know more about the process, so we spoke with Topgunsi about his unique process of sculpting in VR (check out his YouTube explainer here) before working on painting the model by hand.

Q: How did you get started with 3D printing

Sculpting in VR got me into 3D printing. I find the creative process in VR very intuitive. I’ve been driving excavators and earth-moving machines for some 20 years and playing around with VR since it came out. I enjoyed it so much that I wanted to print one of my sculptures to give to the developer of SculptrVR at the time, which was the main app I was using.

But, no 3D print company here in New Zealand was interested in printing my sculptures as they were in OBJ format, not STL. Then, as luck would have it, I met a young guy called Auwimo on Discord who helped me get started with 3D printing by answering all my rookie questions. So, after getting started with an Ender 3 Pro, I found how incredibly rewarding it was to sculpt in VR and then 3D print.

Q: Tell us about some of your first big prints

First, was a full-scale Raptor head in about 3-4 pieces which I started after learning to do joins and finishing work like sanding and painting. In 2020 I embarked on a 1/2 – 3/4 scale T-Rex head, which turned out great but was a big learning curve because I printed it in about 53 pieces. Next up in 2021 was the full raptor from my first multi-part print, which took a lot longer, maybe around 1200hrs.

Q: Tell us about your current process of building the T-Rex?

I built an entire virtual reality bone museum of various dinosaurs and prehistoric creatures for VRChat. I then decided to print the last T-Rex I made. This was possible because I had moved to a new Mesh sculpting app called Shapelabs VR, which is much more powerful — it’s basically ZBrush in VR. It’s my main app now, and it’s useful for organic-style 3D prints. The best part of VR for 3D printing is the fact that it’s 3D and immersive. I scale my sculpture up to the size I’d like to print it and look at it closely to see if the details would look good. If not, you can add more.

Small upscaled models tend to be very smooth and lack surface details, but VR changes that. So after exporting my 12-plus million poly count obj T-Rex, I decided to print the skull at 1:1 scale. I messed up the scale in Windows 3D builder on the first one and was three-quarters of the way through when I realized the measurements weren’t right. I finished this and started straight into the corrected one but was able to sell the smaller version of the skull to a buyer here in New Zealand, which helped fund filament for the full-scale one.

Then, after getting the first opportunity in my life to view a real T-Rex Skeleton here in New Zealand for a limited time this year, I had a change of plan. There was growing interest online, and one of my friends online (ZandyXR) pushed me to continue onto the entire skeleton. My wife wasn’t so sure at the start, but she’s now fully supportive of me and this massive project.

Q: Do you plan to keep the completed sculpture at home?

There’s no way this will be able to fit in our place, but I want to make this a permanent T-Rex for New Zealand.

Q: Can you reveal more about the process?

I’m currently around 1/2 the way through, and so far, I’ve used about 100kgs of Esun PLA Plus. I have also retired the CR-10 S5 — I’ll incorporate it as part of the T-Rex display. It was replaced with a CR-10 Max. All the prints prior to the full-size skull were done with the stock standard 0.4 nozzles with 0.2 layers. After the skull, I swapped to a 0.8 nozzle with 0.4 lifts and minimal infill to keep light.

Since it’s PLA, I will keep the T-Rex indoors as a display. I do coat the finished pieces with Epoxy resin to help give durability. I am also working on a metal frame to hold this huge display. It will stand 4m high at the hips and 12m long when complete.

All the joins are done using a 3D printing pen much like Mig Welder. I also use a soldering iron to smooth them out and try to hide the seam lines. After resin coating and quickly sanding it down, it’s then base coat and dry brush for the details. The naturally high complexity of the surface of the print due to the nature of sculpting in ShapeLabs lets natural light and shadow work their magic alongside the paint job.

Q: Why do you print dinosaurs?

That’s simple. The fossilized effect and scales naturally lend themselves to 3D printing without having to get rid of the layer lines completely, as they almost enhance the look in some areas.

Q: Is it unusual to be using VR sculpting?

I personally think VR sculpting and 3D printing are a match made in heaven. I’m still pinching myself when I think that I’m able to sculpt in VR and then 3D print at home. This was something a 13-year-old me watching Jurassic Park for the first time would have never thought possible.

You can follow the entire process on Reddit and Instagram.