We were contracted by the Museum für Naturkunde in Berlin, Germany to disassemble, clean, consolidate, and remount Brachiosaurus, Elaphrosaurus, Dicraeosaurus, Edaphrosaurus, Dysalotosaurus, and Kentrosaurus. In addition, a cast Allosaurus and an original plaster cast Diplodocus were also mounted. We completed several phases of the project in Berlin and employed a new laser scanning and printing technique to scan the fossil bones of Kentrosaurus and Elaphrosaurus. We were then able to print the bones and any mirrored bones we needed using our rapid prototype printer. At our shop, we constructed the armatures and mounted the skeletons using the prints. The original head of Brachiosaurus – a well preserved and priceless specimen – was also replicated using our 3D scanning technology. The armatures and mounting steel were sent back to Germany for the final fitting before installation.
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World’s largest dinosaur gets makeover in Berlin
–In 2011, we completed the L.A. County Museum of Natural History’s Cenozoic and Dinosaur Hall redevelopment. This is a wide ranging project that involved the disassembly, repair, consolidating, and remounting of many specimens including Allosaurus, Stegosaurus, Camptosaurus, and Platosaurus for display. We also reconstructed and mounted many new specimens using our 3D scanning and rapid prototype printing to make precise models of missing elements for specimens such as Struthiomimus, Thescelosaurus, and Paleoparadoxia. We also prepared out a Mastodon skeleton, Saurolophus skull, and Lambeosaurus caudals out of matrix material for eventual display. In addition, there were many other cast dinosaur and mammal skeletons mounted to complete the new displays for their reopening in 2010 and 2011.
This was the first large sauropod skeleton to be completely digitally developed. Scanned cervical vertebrae from the Perot Museum, scanned caudal vertebrae and forelimbs from the Smithsonian, and prepared and scanned fossil elements of a complete dorsal series, hip, fore and hindlimbs of an associated skeleton from Big Bend found by Wann Langston for the University of Texas, Austin were all used for the development of an Alamosaurus skeleton. The original fossil material from these three institutions had enough overlapping elements that we could confidently scale the elements to an accurate full scale skeleton of the largest Titanosaurus from North America.
This project involved the digital development of one of the largest sauropod dinosaurs ever discovered. Elements were scanned on site in Argentina. Digital data was used to 3D print the elements and our 5-axis router carved the complete skeleton. Missing elements were digitally produced and added to the skeleton.
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Techno-lizardry
In January of 2014, we were commissioned to build 12 dioramas for the Shanghai Natural History Museum in addition to custom making 133 specimens of fish, corals, and invertebrates for a large coral reef and 190 specimens for a hydrothermal vent. From a tiny orchid mantis to an oversized Man o War jellyfish, the range in specimens that had to be custom built was incredible. The dioramas depict wildlife from large mammals to tiny insects in their respective habitats. The exhibits opened in Shanghai in April of 2015.
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