Leyster's Collection

Binomial name: Tyrannosaurus rex Osborn 1905
Classification: Dinosauria->Theropoda->Neotheropoda->Averostra->Tetanurae->Coelurosauria->Tyrannoraptora->Tyrannosauroidea->Tyrannosauridae->Tyrannosaurinae
Time: Maastrichtian (late Cretaceous)
Formation: Hell Creek Formation, Lance Formation, Frenchman Formation (present day USA and Canada)
Manifacturer and date of release: PNSO, 2020
Sculptor: somebody in the atelier of Zhao Chuang
Scale: 1:32 for AMNH 5027
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Yes, yes, I know, another model of that incredibly overrated Laramidian theropod nobody cares bout. But AMNH 5027 is one of my favorite specimens (along with the holotype and Tufts-Love). I also like its crouched pose and somewhat stupid expression, I don't like when Tyrannosaurus had to appear rearing and angry all the time... after all, a lot of dangerous animals we live with (bears, ie) have a totally not scary look (to the point that incredibly stupid accidents happen because people underestimate the danger they represent). I have a few issues with it, the exposed teeth (I'm not convinced at all by PNSO's arguments) and its oversized scales (I get the idea "let's show Tyrannosaurus' scales real size on a 1:32 model to show how they were shaped, but I would've preferred it to be smooth: Tyrannosaurus scales, if they're even scales to begin with, are incredibly small and basically invisible at that size...). Still, a very, very nice Tyrannosaurus.

Those scales are nests of scales what is a stupid explanation but at least the idea could work at this scale. The figure seems relatively peaceful for a PNSO, I guess.

This prehistoric is very interesting

Binomial name: unnamed acanthodian (cf. Climatius, fide [member=1403]Halichoeres[/member] )
Classification: Acanthodii->Climatiiformes->Climatiida->Climatiidae
Time: Devonian
Formation: /
Manifacturer and date of release: ?
Sculptor: ?
Scale: 1:1
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Almost forgot I had this smol guy

Thanks for the information

Binomial name: Carnotaurus sastrei Bonaparte, 1985
Classification: Dinosauria>Theropoda>Neotheropoda>Averostra>Ceratosauria>Neoceratosauria>Abelisauroidea>Abelisauridae>Brachyrostra>Carnotaurini
Time: Maastrichtian (Late Cretaceous)
Formation: La Colonia Formation (present day Argentina)
Manifacturer and date of release: Safari LTD, 2019
Sculptor: Doug Watson
Scale: surprisingly, a 1:20 for MACN-CH 894. I admit that maybe the head is a bit too big or that I may have made some mistake with calculations.
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Probably the nicest one from the regular brands. Those we call major on forum.

Roger wrote:

Probably the nicest one from the regular brands. Those we call major on forum.

Yes, it's nice there is finally a Carnotaurus restoration not based on the old Pinhead McLongLegs mount.



Binomial name: Opabinia regalis Walcott, 1912
Classification: Arthropoda->Dinocaridida?*
Time: Wuliuan (middle Cambian)
Formation: Burgess Shale (present-day Canada)
Manifacturer and date of release: Kaiyodo, 2001
Sculptor: Katsuo Takuma
Scale: 1:1
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*this group might be paraphiletic

Another very important to paleontology animal I'm very happy to have in my collection. I wanted an Opabinia since reading Wonderful Life: The Burgess Shale and the Nature of History by Gould.

Binomial name: Tianyulong confuciusi Zheng et al., 2009
Classification: Dinosauria->Ornithischia->Heterodontosauridae*
Time: exact level unknown, so Bathonian-Oxfordian (Middle Jurassic) for all the formation
Formation: Tiaojishan Formation(present-day China)
Manifacturer and date of release: PNSO, 2019
Sculptor: somebody in the atelier of Zhao Chuang
Scale: 1:4,5 based on skull lenght
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*some place Heterodontosaurids at the base of Marginocephalia

It probably should be a lot more fluffier than this (considering an unpubblished specimen of which beautiful photos exist), and palms should face inward... but who cares, it's the only good Heterodontosaurid I know of.

You're exploring very unusual taxa, that's really great!

Leyster wrote:

I have a few issues with it, the exposed teeth (I'm not convinced at all by PNSO's arguments) and its oversized scales (I get the idea "let's show Tyrannosaurus' scales real size on a 1:32 model to show how they were shaped, but I would've preferred it to be smooth: Tyrannosaurus scales, if they're even scales to begin with, are incredibly small and basically invisible at that size...). Still, a very, very nice Tyrannosaurus.

Very very interresting links, thank you

About the Tianyulong I would also prefer a fluffier one like Gabriel N. U. drawing. I understand your 1:4,5 based on skull lenght but I put mine on my 1/6 shelf because of the body size, even if I know we don't know the real body size

When it is to determine precisely the scale of an extinct animal, I agree your way is the safest but when you have to choose with what kind of neighbours you want to show it, it is always a pain for me to choose. Will I show a Tianyulong with a right scale head and a probably underestimate size or a probably good size with a too big head... Dilemnas

Kikimalou wrote:

About the Tianyulong I would also prefer a fluffier one like Gabriel N. U. drawing. I understand your 1:4,5 based on skull lenght but I put mine on my 1/6 shelf because of the body size, even if I know we don't know the real body size  

When it is to determine precisely the scale of an extinct animal, I agree your way is the safest but when you have to choose with what kind of neighbours you want to show it, it is always a pain for me to choose. Will I show a Tianyulong with a right scale head and a probably underestimate size or a probably good size with a too big head... Dilemnas    

Full lenght is often questionable, because most of the sources do not give how it was calculated and thus how trusty their measurement is. Not to mention that they often forgot to mention what they meant by "lenght": along the centra? Along the curvature? With incomplete specimens (there is a complete Tianyulong, but it's currently undescribed), the difficulties only increase.
By the way, I don't think the head is that much oversized... if anything, the leg is way too short.
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Leyster wrote:

Full lenght is often questionable, because most of the sources do not give how it was calculated and thus how trusty their measurement is. Not to mention that they often forgot to mention what they meant by "lenght": along the centra? Along the curvature? With incomplete specimens (there is a complete Tianyulong, but it's currently undescribed), the difficulties only increase.
By the way, I don't think the head is that much oversized... if anything, the leg is way too short.
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I agree with what you say except for the head, if the scale based on the head is 1/4,5 and the scale with a lenght estimated 70cm is more 1/7, something is too big or too small.

Kikimalou wrote:

I agree with what you say except for the head, if the scale based on the head is 1/4,5 and the scale with a lenght estimated 70cm is more 1/7, something is too big or too small.

Yes, but full lenght was not known due to incompletness of the remains, so it's more or less a guess. Skull lenght is measurable.
Let's not forget there is a second, undescribed specimen with different proportion than the skeletal above (look at that tail!)
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Binomial name: Palaeoloxodon antiquus (Falconer & Cautley, 1847)
Classification: Placentalia->Atlantogenata->Afrotheria->Paenungulata->Tethytheria->Proboscidea->Elephantiformes->Elephantimorpha->Elephantidae->Elephantinae
Time: Calabrian-Chibanian(Middle - Late Pleistocene)
Formation: Soleilhac, Abbeville, Grotte du Vallonnet (present-day France); Unterer Travertin of Taubach-Ehringsdorf and Weimar, Randersacker, Karlich 'See-Ufer', Mosbach 2, Mauer bei Heidelberg (present-day Germany); Kalymnos, Kaloneri, Sotiras, Xerias, Terpsithea, Nea Lefki, Kalamakia, unit UA3 of Marathousa 1, Kyparissia surface and 1, 3, 4, Kharoumes III, Koumpes Cave III, Cape Cheladi, Simonelli II Cave, Tyrokomeio, Tsakoni, Grana tou Skoufou, Ravin de l'elephant, Amyntaio lignite mine, Ptolemais, Canal of Corinth, Kostakis Quarry, Nisi, Roupaki, Ambelia, Trilophos, Epanomi, Perdikkas (present-day Greece); strato 4 della Sedia del Diavolo, Slivia, Quisisana-Certosa, Monte Tenda and Zoppega 1 of the Brecce di Soave, S. Giovanni di Duino, Malagrotta, settore 1 di Isernia la Pineta, San Romano, Casa Pontita (present-day Italy); Condeixa-a-Velha, Conimbriga, Foz do Enxarrique, Casal do Torquato, Santa Cruz (present-day Portugal); Huescar 1, terraces of Manzanares river, level AS1, AS1/2, AS3, AS4, AS5 of Ambrona (present-day Spain); Lakhuti 2 (present day Tajikistan); Pakefield/Kessingland gravel, Mundesley, Thorpe, Kirkdale Cave, Victoria Cave (present-day UK)
Manifacturer and date of release: Eofauna, 2018
Sculptor: Shu-yu Hsu?
Scale: 1:36 for 175-E23B
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A great one

I can't calculate how much I like this model. Thanks also for the reference to Portugal.

I am planning on buying my elephant loving mother an Eofauna model for Christmas. Would this one be a good first choice?

All are a good choice and this one is a very good choice

pipsxlch wrote:

I am planning on buying my elephant loving mother an Eofauna model for Christmas. Would this one be a good first choice?

Sorry for the late answer, dunno why I stopped getting notifications on my mail. Anyway, all Eofauna proboscideans are great, my favorite is the Palaeoloxodon for how imposing and active its pose is.

Roger wrote:

I can't calculate how much I like this model. Thanks also for the reference to Portugal.

It's awesome, isn't it? Palaeoloxodon antiquus was quite common in Europe, some were found in Italy too.


Binomial name: Metriacanthosaurus parkeri (von Huene 1923)
Classification: Dinosauria->Theropoda->Neotheropoda->Averostra->Tetanurae->Carnosauria->Allosauroidea->Metriacanthosauridae->Metriacanthosaurinae
Time: Oxfordian (Late Jurassic)
Formation: Oxford Clay Formation (present day UK)
Manifacturer and date of release: Collecta, 2016
Sculptor: Matt Geiger
Scale: 1:40 for OUMJ 12144
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One of the nicest Collecta theropods, marvellously detailed. A pity that they went for those undermuscled legs and clown feet in their latest works, a serious step back.

Big congrats for this Paleoloxodon!

Caracal wrote:

Big congrats for this Paleoloxodon!

Thank you!


Binomial name: Plateosaurus trossigensis Fraas, 1913
Classification: Dinosauria->Sauropodomorpha->Plateosauria->Plateosauridae
Time: Norian-Rhaetian (Late Triassic)
Formation: Plateosaurus type site of the Löwenstein Formation (present-day Germany)
Manifacturer and date of release: Kaiyodo, 2004
Sculptor: Seiji Yamamoto
Scale: 1:40 for the smallest specimen.
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Plateosaurus is maybe the dinosaur with the craziest size variation. We have specimens more than 9 meters long and specimens less than 5 meters long, and they're both adults. After some eyeballing from the Eofauna book, I decided that the Kaiyodo model was the right size for the smallest specimen, and I was happy I was proved correct when I measured it after acquiring it. Such a striking colour scheme, too:

Leyster wrote:

Plateosaurus is maybe the dinosaur with the craziest size variation. We have specimens more than 9 meters long and specimens less than 5 meters long, and they're both adults. After some eyeballing from the Eofauna book, I decided that the Kaiyodo model was the right size for the smallest specimen, and I was happy I was proved correct when I measured it after acquiring it. Such a striking colour scheme, too:

Really nice tiny guy, congratulation

Mine is on my 1/87 shelf

[quote="Kikimalou"]

Leyster wrote:

Really nice tiny guy, congratulation

Yes it has amazing details for its size


Binomial name: Deinocheirus mirificus Osmólska & Roniewicz, 1970
Classification: Dinosauria->Theropoda->Neotheropoda->Averostra->Tetanurae->Coelurosauria->Tyrannoraptora->Maniraptoromorpha->Neocoelurosauria->Maniraptoriformes->Ornithomimosauria->Deinocheiridae
Time: Campanian? Maastrichtian? (late Cretaceous)*
Formation: Nemegt Formation (present day China)
Manifacturer and date of release: PNSO, 2022
Sculptor: somebody in the atelier od Zhao Chuang
Scale: 1:31 for IGM 100/127 (largest specimen if you do not count that ulna whose referral is dubious)
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*There are some doubts about the exact age of the Nemegt Formation

What can be said about Deinocheirus? What can not? I remember reading about this animal whose forelimbs were the only known parts (well, almost), and then in 2014 not one, but two more specimens surfaced. This animal is now virtually completely known, and what a strange animal it is! It turned out that its arms are the less crazy part, after all.