Ely Kish Dinosaurs of China Models

[Amado Narvaez <anarvaez@umd5.umd.edu>]

At the local Zany Brainy (children's educational toys store) I found two 
of the "Dinosaurs of China Series" models designed by dinosaur artist Ely 
Kish. Zany Brainy had Yangchuanosaurus and Therizinosaurus. The third in 
the series is Mamenchisaurus. I really like the Yangchuanosaurus, and as 
one would expect from a prominent dinosaur artist, it is very nicely 
rendered. It comes with a "fossilized environment" (a rock face with the 
bones imbedded inside; however, the bones in the rock are arranged to 
mimic the pose in the reconstruction, as if the skeleton were walking; I 
would have preferred a more realistic "fossilized environment" with the 
neck pulled back and maybe even some of the bones scattered.

The company that distributes these "Made in China" models is:
        Safari Ltd.
        Box 630685
        Miami, FL 33163

The Tamiya Tyrannosaurus model was also on sale at $16.99 at Zany Brainy, 
and on top of the sale price, it was red-tagged... which means another 
$4.24 cents was deducted.

While on the subject of models... I'll repeat here a question I posed in 
the middle of another posting: Why are there no models of Triassic 
dinosaurs? The Carnegie collection gives us Dimetrodon from the Permian, 
but ignores the Triassic completely. I'd like to see Plateosaurus, 
Coelophysis and Herrerasaurus.

Finally, I forget the name of the company that puts out the skeleton 
models in big eggs... but they're pretty neat, too. True, the tails of 
Tyrannosaurus and Brachiosaurus touch the ground--mainly to give the 
model support. But it would be fun to try customizing the T. rex and try 
to mimic the pose of the new AMNH T. rex. Or even cut it into pieces and 
hide it in a glob of mud for five-year-olds to excavate. (If you haven't 
seen these models, they snap together so that kids can assemble them 
without glue.)

----- Amado Narvaez
      anarvaez@umd5.umd.edu