Dinosaur Studios strikes again (sculpture review)

[dunn1@IDT.NET]

(Note to Dinosaur List members:  this is a review of resin dinosaur 
sculptures and you may wish to delete now if you are not interested 
in dinosaur art or modeling)

The two newest pieces from Dinosaur Studios prove that we can 
continue to expect excellent, accurate dinosaur sculptures from Dan 
LoRusso and Greg Wenzel. Better yet, they are commited to 1/35 scale, 
which not only allows you endless diorama possibilities but affords 
you the chance to display them all together ("Gee, Styracosaurus was 
really *much* smaller than Triceratops, wasn't it!")

These new pieces are the first theropods from Dan and Greg, 
an Albertosaur by Greg and an Allosaur by Dan.  To those familiar 
with the Dinosaur Studio's work, the Albertosaur is a scaled-down 
version of Greg's justly-famous 1/10th scale piece on display in the 
Tyrell.  A scale 30 feet, it looks the same as the 1/10th scale 
critter, losing none of it's charisma in the downsizing.  Its mouth 
is closed (go figure -- a tyrannosaur with its mouth closed! I didn't 
know they could do that) and it's striding along looking for that 
Pachyrhinosaurus it hunts in 1/10th scale (he may find it soon -- 
I've heard Dan is working on downsizing his amazing Pachyrhinosaur 
as well).  Not much more to say here -- a little gem.

New to my eyes is Dan's Allosaur.  What a great item!  At a scale 
38 feet long, this is one of your larger Allosaurs, to be sure.  
It's posed as per the Denver mounting (as is the stegosaur the 
Dinosaur Studio released a month or two ago -- they will make a great 
pair). Mouth is open on this guy, and all of the features we know and 
love in the Allosaur are there -- a very true and convincing life 
restoration indeed.  

It's interesting to compare the Albertosaur and this 
Allosaur -- the Allosaur is substantially larger (although I was 
interested to note that much of the extra length was tail -- 
Allosaurus certainly had a tail on it).

There's a little cleanup of mold release stuff, etc., but we of 
the figures list all have Dremels, don't we!  No assembly (except 
replacing the inevitable broken-off tail tip).

Highly recommended to the casual dinosaur hobbyist or the accuracy 
stickler (now watch -- someone on the dinosaur list will pounce 
because the angle of a foreleg is slightly off or something!)  

The Dinosaur Studio has a Lambeosaur available as well.

At about 85 smackeroos a shot, the Allosaur winds up being a 
better buy because it's bigger!  I'm sure Dan and Greg will 
eventually change their set price -- like when the promised 
camarasaur comes out (I can't wait -- a run-of-the-mill sauropod!  
Believe it or not a Camptosaurus may be in the queue as well.  Bring 
on the Average Joe dinosaurs).

In adition to what I've previewed above, expect to see the famous 
T-pair, T. rex and T. horridus, from the Studio soon (rex will be 
based on Sue, if I recall correctly).  I believe an ankylosaur is in 
the lineup too. I hope they do a Giganotosaur as well.

To summarize, they are nice, well worth the money, and accurate.  If 
you're interested, the Studio regularly advertises in Prehistoric 
Times.  Their phone numbers are:

Greg: 508-897-3636
Dan:  617-396-8066

They take plastic.

Enjoy,

Larry

"I see your schwartz
is as big as mine."