This is a first edition Kaiyodo DINOLAND series kit from Japan, circa 1990 by Sigeru Yamazaki. The example I acquired was a first issue kit in mint condition. According to Gene Kube who sold me the kit (from GK Scale Models and Figures; now apparently closed) there was a later reissue of the T.rex kit but Gene believed only a small number in total were ever made (fewer than 100). Parts were faultless and you could sense the effort and pride that went into every aspect of sculpting and casting. In fact I’m still in awe of it and, all things considered, it’s still the finest resin model I’ve ever seen. In all there were 40 separate parts (most in separate plastic bags and some wrapped in tissue and wadding), a wooden base mount, a double sided sheet of assembly instructions (in Japanese), a glossy photo of a fully assembled and painted example and an insert sheet (in English) from the American distributor (PDM Consulting and Developemt Corp, Commack, NY), all immersed in foam plastic chip packing material.   Instructions (double-sided sheet) |
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Sightings
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Stokes Dueling Dinosaurs Kaiyodo Mount
This story surrounding the amazing "dueling dinosaurs" exhibit concept mount was relayed to me by John Carlson, President of Monstrosities: "In 1996, the Natural History Museum in LA County published a story about an exhibit depicting a T. rex battling a Triceratops (TERRA, Vol 5, Sept-Oct 1996; click the cover picture above to download the full article). In that article, it mentions Michael Stokes presenting a model of the dinosaurs which showed his concept. The article does not mention that the dinosaur skeletons used by Stokes were made by Kaiyodo. Because of his position at the museum, Michael Stokes was truly a master model maker, and was able to bash the kits and do amazing things with them. I commissioned him to build me a model the same as he built for the museum and sent him the kits he needed. He never delivered the model, left the museum, and we never heard from him again".
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Robert Westerberg Build-up Robert sent me these photos and description of his Kaiyodo T.rex remodeling project: "A year ago I found a recast of the Kaiyodo 1:20 scale T. rex skeleton made in Thailand. The mold was poorly made, and it took quite a while to clean it up. Unfortunately the gastralia basket was very poorly molded. Making it representable enough to go on the kit will take a lot of effort. The tail was also poorly molded, so I cut of the last 3 centimeters from the tip and made a new one. At the same time I lengthened the tail by about 12 cm. I liked the look of the skull but had it go through some heavy surgery anyway. I used skull of Stan the T. rex as reference. I've also added some detail around the neck. I'm still working on the kit and I'm going to add a furcula, also the hands will be positioned correctly. Some more touches on the head and tail, and I'm done. I'll colour it with an airbrush. I actually like the dark brown colour of Stan the T .rex, so the model will probably get a similar colour. I wasn't sure which position to put it in, but it ended up with a rather dynamic pose. It looks like it's in the middle of charging forward and bite into whatever could be in front of it!" |  |
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Diorama
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Wild Rush Dig Site Diorama
Dig site diorama made using the Kaiyodo T. rex and Triceratops DINOLAND sleleton model kits. The diorama appears in an article titled Wild Rush from the August 1994 issue of Hobby Japan (No. 303). I have not translated the Japanese text, but this and other miniatures shown in the article are the work of Shigeru Yamazaki.
Press
 Hobby Japan. Publication details unknown. From a color photocopy. |
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Request
If you have additional information, resources, images
or can help with translation of the Japanese descriptions
of this or other Kaiyodo DINOLAND skeleton models
I am very keen to hear from you. Please contact me.
