Wednesday, April 27, 2016

Daspletosaurus Assembly: Building a Frightful Lizard

There is actually a very good reason why I haven't updated this blog in a while: We've been up to our armpits in the lab building the prototype cast copy of Pete III, our 11m Daspletosaurus.
Ilium cast fresh in the mold

Progress is going quick by Academic standards, and we hope to finish the cast by early May.
Both feet before assembly

Jacob and I called "dibs" on making this skeleton, since we've been working on the project for 10 years.
We just admired this for a few days
It really is a great thing to see all this hard work finally amount to something tangible
Making the pubis. It is no longer blue
Plus everyone loves a huge tyrannosaur, especially one way more rare than T. rex.
Progress as of a few days ago. Tail is 17 feet (5.2m) long
Stay tuned for some more exciting progress really soon. We're finishing the neck, working out the gastral basket and have a few cervical ribs to go.