Case Studies

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.

In spring 2014, we were contracted by the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) and Memorial University to collect two blue whales skeletons from the shores of Trout River and Rocky Harbour, Newfoundland. The endangered whales had died and washed ashore after becoming trapped in sea ice. Although detrimental to the conservation of the Western Atlantic population, samples of the whales’ tissue and collection of their skeletons provides an important opportunity to gain knowledge on a species not well known to scientists.

We sent out a crew to join researchers from the ROM and volunteers to help remove the flesh from the bones of the whale carcasses – a process known as flensing. Although a messy (and smelly) job, the bones were eventually recovered and transported back to our headquarters. The bones have since been placed in shipping containers and covered in cow manure to break down the remaining flesh and to prepare for exhibit. ROM researchers are also preserving the 180 kg heart of the blue whale for scientific study and museum display.

The ROM blue whale skeleton mount was unveiled in March 217 as the centre piece of “Out of the Depths: The Blue Whale Story”. The Memorial University blue whale skeleton is anticipated to be installed in 2019.

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–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.

RCI was contracted to prepare, mount, and install three large sauropod specimens for display at the Rhinegeist Brewery and the Dinosaur Hall at the Cincinnati Museum Center. We prepared, conserved, and fabricated custom external armatures for a Galeamopus, juvenile Diplodocus, and an Apatosaurus. The Galeamopus went on temporary display at Rhinegeist Brewery and then was packed and relocated to the museum. The museum only had the cervical vertebrae of the Apatosaurus, as such, we fabricated a steel frame to demonstrate the rest of the specimen’s skeleton.

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A Prized Dinosaur Skeleton

Rare Dinosaur on Display at Rhinegeist

In early September 2021, a deceased blue whale was spotted floating by Crystal Crescent Beach, south of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. Canadian Coast Guard, Marine Animal Rescue Society (MARS), and the Department of Fisheries and Oceans were notified of its presence along the beach. The next day, the 82-foot-long carcass had washed ashore. MARS Responders assessed the whale and collected valuable samples for research while exploring removal options for the whale.

Our Skeleton Crew travelled to Nova Scotia to collect the blue whale’s skeleton. They worked to remove the skeleton and prepare the carcass for removal with MARS, DFO, and Kiersten Runté a Dalhousie University Student from the Faculty of Marine Biology.

Honouring and respecting the fact that the blue whale washed up onto Crystal Crescent Beach, which is on lands in Nova Scotia, unceded territory of Mi’kma’ki, the crew was fortunate enough to have a member of the local Mi’kmaq community come out to perform a smudging ceremony for the whale before it was prepared for removal.

“Before we started on Wednesday, a family from the Mi’kmaq community (a woman, her husband and 8-year-old daughter) came and did a really beautiful ceremony to send off the whale and lay her spirit to rest. They did a whole smudging ceremony that everyone took part in and then smudged the whale and left a tobacco tie as a gift to the whale that was tied to its tail end. It was really beautiful, and then right as they ended, two massive eagles flew over the whole length of the whale and then just watched over it for a while before taking off together. It was breathtaking.” – Kiersten Runté, Dalhousie University Faculty of Marine Biology

This blue whale’s carcass provided excellent samples to MARS and DFO for insight and research. The skeleton was transported back to RCI for preparation for future mounting. Its skeleton will potentially serve a display in a museum for education on the importance of conservation of oceans, wildlife, and endangered species such as the magnificent blue whale, as well as climate change and the impact it has on different endangered species.

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In July of 2016, this project involved mounting and installing these two Dryptosaurus skeleton casts. They are posed in a fierce fighting pose, based on Charles R. Knight’s famous ‘Leaping Laelaps’ painting of 1897. Dryptosaurus is a distant and somewhat smaller relative of Tyrannosaurus rex and was the first partially-complete skeleton of a carnivorous theropod dinosaur in North America. They are now currently on display at the New Jersey State Museum in Trenton.

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Dryptosaurus Skeletal Mount

Mistaken Point is home to the world’s oldest, largest and best preserved examples of Ediacaran life forms, representing the earliest known complex multicellular organisms in the fossil record. We were contracted by the Royal Ontario Museum and the Government of Newfoundland to produce life size casts that precisely replicate the surface of the rock face housing the 565-million year old Ediacaran fossils. These are the largest reproductions of abundant Ediacaran fossils anywhere in the world and are intended for scientific and educational purposes.

After much discussion and negotiation amongst the partners of the project, we sent a crew of 6 employees to Mistaken Point. Equipment was flown in by helicopter while the crew trekked in and out of the Geological Reserve on foot daily. For the most part, Mother Nature was kind during our 8-day stay on the rock surface. Towards the end of the week, however, she decided to test our endurance with relentless wind, rain, and cold temperatures. In the end, we were able to complete our intended goal of molding 750 square feet of rock surface, leaving behind no trace of our workmanship. Back at our facility, the daunting task of heavy 750 square foot mold and producing a full surface replication of the internationally important and irreplaceable Mistaken Point rock surface began. From the mold, a gel coat and fiberglass replica was produced. From this master replication, a series of smaller sections were reproduced for the Portugal Cove South visitor centre, Royal Ontario Museum, Queen’s University, Johnson GeoCentre, and the University of Oxford.

In 2023 our “Exploration Exhibits” went on display at Science North in Sudbury, Ontario. Exploration Exhibits allows people from all over the world to walk among these ancient giants and uncover the mysteries of prehistoric times.

This exhibit was called “Dinosaur Discoveries: A Passport Through Time”. It was available to visit from February 18 until September 4, 2023 at Science North and Dynamic Earth. this was their first dinosaur exhibition since 2013. This special exhibition at Science North and Dynamic Earth included many different skeleton casts from our Exploration Exhibits.

During this event you would be able to explore the science of many well-known dinosaurs, such as the Tyrannosaurus Rex, along with newly discovered dinosaur species. Discover the special adaptations that made these creatures larger than life and the factors that may have contributed to their extinction.

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Exploration Exhibits 

Dinosaur Discoveries being made at Science North

We collected and mounted twelve Canadian whale skeletons on behalf of the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM). The skeletons are currently showcased in their mammal galleries.

We received a call from the ROM on November 5th, 2001 asking if we could help assist in retrieving a right whale. The whale had died in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and washed up on the east shore of Magdelan Island. The Department of Fisheries and Oceans instructed us on flensing the whale – the process of removing flesh from bones. With the help of a back-hoe, the skeleton was flensed, put into a container, and shipped back to our shop. The skeleton was then buried in a bed of horse manure and left to naturally deflesh and degrease.

Since then, we have retrieved a sperm whale and a fin whale. The fin whale was challenging to retrieve. It was found close to Sydney, Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia approximately 60 feet from shore. The whale was completely inaccessible with any vehicle or heavy equipment. We walked all of our equipment 10 km to the site and suited up in chest waders and windbreakers with custom-made flensing knives in hand. We cut 4 feet square sections of flesh off of the 56-foot long animal. In three days, we managed to remove all of the flesh around the ribs and vertebrae. On the fourth day, we were warned of an impending storm that could possibly wash the rest of the whale out to the ocean. Concerned that we would not have enough time to flense the head or tail on site before the storm, we dragged the head and tail tethered on a 50’ line with a fishing boat into the closest harbour. The waves were 10 feet high by the time we reached the harbour. We arrived in Forchu Bay (a little sea sick) at 11pm, with the head and tail safely in tow. The next morning, the bones and remaining carcass were hoisted into a container with a crane and trucked back to our shop.

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 the summers of 1998 and 1999, we travelled to Scotland, Switzerland, Italy, Hawaii and within the continental U.S. to mold geological formations for the American Museum of Natural History’s new geology hall. All of the molding for this project occurred on site. Once the molds were complete, they were shipped back to our shop for casting. The largest land peel that we molded and cast was 35 feet high x 35 feet long. The completed casts were then cut into manageable pieces for ease of transport and installation. We take pride in producing seamless work and all of the seams were finished in situ at the museum. The metal columns that support the peels were also produced in our shop.

No matter how much planning is done in advance, there’s always a chance that something unexpected can occur. On July 12th, 1998 we left for Siccar Point, Scotland planning to make a mold of a site on the Hutton Unconformity that was accessible with 40 feet ladders. When we arrived, a more representative sample of the formation had been found, which was close to the planned site. The new site just happened to be located on a cliff face 80 feet above the North Sea! To access the site, we had to build a working platform that was anchored to the ground on top of the cliff. Steel for the platform and ground anchors and climbing gear needed to access the site were purchased locally. Once the platform and ground anchors were built, the molding crew belayed to the site. Rubber was measured out, mixed, and tossed over the cliff in lidded 5 gallon pails to workers on the platform. Once the mold was completed, we hired local riggers to help us lift the mold to flat ground. The mold was then shipped back to our shop for casting. By the time we were finished molding the new site, we had only added one week to our trip.

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This project consisted of creating eight dioramas which represented natural regions and formations specific to the state of Indiana. The environments included molding and casting a cave and crevice and fabricating rock work, trees, plants, and water. In order to access the Megenity cave job site, we had to spelunk 200 feet into a cave with all of our materials and supplies. After passing through several narrow passage ways, we made a descent down a 20 foot vertical shaft filled with 5 feet of water. We took a mold of the lower section of the shaft which involved applying three layers of rubber to the cave wall. Back in our shop, detailed measurements of the cave were taken with laser instruments to create a support jacket for the mold. Once the mold was completed, it was cut into manageable pieces and carried out of the cave.

We fabricated stylized “snapshots” of regions specific to Indiana that involved recreations of Tipton Till Plain in the spring, Grand Prairie and the Kankakee Marsh in the summer, Shawnee Hills in the fall, and Big Rivers in the winter. The majority of the plants and trees were made by hand and the prairie grasses were grown over an entire summer at our shop and were then preserved and painted.

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Crew making mold of rock cut

For the original Jurassic Park movie, RCI built skeletons of Tyrannosaurus rex and Alamosaurus in the main rotunda of the visitor center. This led to RCI funding, designing and building the traveling exhibit based on Jurassic Park, which went on a very successful tour throughout North America for many years. The exhibit opened in conjunction with the movie at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City.

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We were commissioned to sculpt, mold, and cast in bronze three life-size fleshed out Mastodon specimens for the Indiana State Museum and Purdue University in Fort Wayne. We worked with paleontologists from the museum and university to ensure anatomical accuracy of the model. We began the project by sculpting 1/10 scale maquettes. The maquettes were used as a guide to construct the full-size model. The full size models were made from Styrofoam and oil based clay. Once they were complete, they were then molded in silicone rubber and fibreglass. These molds were used to produce wax casts and sand molds for bronze casting. The bronze casting, assembly, finishing, chasing and patinating were all completed in our own production facility.

Mastodons lived in Nova Scotia on and off for more than 70,000 years. This project was completed for the Nova Scotia Museum of Natural History in Halifax, we did the mounting and finishing of the Mastodon skeleton cast that would eventually make its way all around the East Coast. Mastodon fossils are rare to find in Nova Scotia. Only a handful of sites have been discovered with confirmed remains. Here are some up close and behind the scene looks at the mounting and finishing of the Mastodon skeleton cast.

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A Chinese Archaeology institute invited RCI to China to take molds of a poem carved  into the rock about 300 years ago. The carving was located in the area that was to be  flooded by the Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze river. RCI was the only international organization included in the massive undertaking to preserve ancient artifacts found in the cradle of Chinese civilization.

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Saving the Cultural Relics of the Three Gorges

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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In the summer of 2010, our theming crew was commissioned to build a 50-foot high flame spewing volcano and 3 rivers flowing from waterfalls at Dinosaur Adventure Golf below the Ferris wheel on Clifton Hill, Niagara Falls for HOCO entertainment. This job involved sculpting and stamping rockwork, bending rebar armatures, custom shaped steel frames and applying a layer of mesh and concrete scratch coat. We then apply sculpted or stamped concrete embossed with real rock impressions or textures to create an authentic surface. The piece is then stained and/or painted. The volcano allows golfers to play directly through our hand crafted, realistically eerie, cavernous volcanic interior on their way to the 18th hole. All of this is spread out over a massive 70,000 square foot playing surface, and populated by 50 astonishingly realistic and life-sized dinosaurs, many which loom over 30 feet high. Clifton has been transformed into the hub of the major tourist district, second only to the Falls.

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This project involved dismantling, moving, cleaning, consolidating, and remounting and reinstalling 11 skeletons and 37 skeletal plaques in their new museum. The specimens that were remounted included: Mammoth, Mastodon, Smilodon, Dire Wolf, Cave Bear, Irish Elk, Moa, Kritosaurus, Titanothere, Eryops, and Edaphosaurus. We had also been given the responsibility to move the world renowned Hitchcock ichnology collection which is comprised of 240 trackways of various sizes. They were moved from their existing display and remounted in the new trackway hall. The largest of these trackways was 10 metres long and weighed well over 1000 kg.

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We were commissioned by the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) to remount many of their fossil specimens for the newly constructed east Crystal in the Temerty Galleries. This project involved dismantling, moving, cleaning, consolidating, and remounting 23 original fossil skeletons with hand forged external armatures, relocating 21 mammal skeletons, and moving 9 various sized mammal and dinosaur skeletons to storage. The specimens that were remounted included: Corythosaurus, Lameosaurus, Protoceratops, Allosaurus, Albertosaurus, Stegosaurus, Camptosaurus, Smilodon, Holmesina, Brontothere, Eremotherium, Toxodon, Castoroides, Desmostyle, Marauchenia, Phenacodus, Chasmosaurus, Ornithomimid, Parasaurolophus, Prosaurolphus, Gryposaurus, Edmontosaurus, and Maiasaura.

Barosaurus

The dream was for the centrepiece of the new dinosaur hall to be a sauropod (long necked, long tailed, quadrupedal dinosaur). Upon investigation for a specimen to fill this requirement, fate stepped in and almost by accident, it was discovered that the ROM had 50% of a Barosaurus in their collection that had not been catalogued but was identified by Jack McIntosh in the early 1980’s. It is the largest dinosaur ever displayed in Canada and the only Barosaurus the world build with actual fossils. The skeleton is from the Morrison Formation, and was collected by the Carnegie Museum from what is now Dinosaur National Monument, Utah, in the early part of the 20th century. The skeleton was acquired by the ROM in 1962 through a trade organized by former ROM Curator Dr. Gordon Edmund with the intention of installing it in the 1970 dinosaur gallery renovation. Due to a lack of space, the Barosaurus did not make it into the 1970 gallery. After Dr. Edmund retired in 1990, its story was forgotten and all of its pieces were separated on different shelves and in different drawers in the ROM’s collection room. Mounting this massive sauropod brought Dr. Edmund’ 40 year-old dream to reality, but unfortunately only after his passing. To recognize his vision, the museum affectionately nicknamed the specimen “Gordo” in his honour.

The skeleton includes four massive neck vertebrae, a complete set of vertebrae from the back, 14 tail vertebrae, both upper arm bones, both thigh bones, a lower leg, and various other pieces. The entire assembled skeleton is approximately 27 metres in length, and when alive, the animal would have weighed as much as 15 tonnes. The RCI staff worked tirelessly preparing, consolidating, reconstructing, building armatures, and assembling the skeleton in an extremely short 8-week period. Owner of RCI, Peter May, worked closely with paleontologist Dr. David Evans to assure the size and articulation of fossil and sculpted skeletons. “Gordo” is currently on display, in all its grandeur, at the ROM in Toronto, Ontario.

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In 2012, we were awarded a contract to develop the complete skeleton of “Scotty”, a massive T. rex specimen that rivals “Sue” in size. The skeleton was discovered in 1991 in the badlands of Saskatchewan near the town of East End. After years of painstaking preparation, the skeleton was ready to be mounted. “Scotty” is one of the more complete T. rex skeletons and is the most complete skeleton ever found in Canada. We took molds from the existing bones and reconstructed the missing elements so that the entire skeleton could be exhibited at the museum in East End. The complete skeleton was on exhibit on the museum’s spring opening day in May 2013.

We were commissioned to sculpt, mold, cast, print, and install seven life size fleshed-out dinosaurs for the Canadian Museum of Nature’s new galleries. We worked with paleontologists from the museum to ensure anatomical accuracy of the dinosaurs. We began by sculpting 1/10 scale maquettes. The maquettes were used as a guide to construct the full-size model. The full-size model was made from Styrofoam and plasticine and once completed, it was molded and cast in fibreglass. The fibreglass sections were then assembled, seamed, and painted. When the models were installed in 2005, the diorama included four herding Chasmosaurs defending their youngest member from two prowling Daspletosaurs in a Cretaceous setting.

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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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In 2014, the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History awarded RCI with a multi-faceted, 5-year project to redevelop the National Fossil Hall. RCI recently completed this project, which included the conservation, cleaning, and re-mounting of over 50 specimens. The Smithsonian has entrusted us with conserving and preserving the specimens on site here in Trenton. It is something the Smithsonian does not typically allow. What makes this possible is our museum-grade storage facilities with climate control, upgraded security, skilled technicians, and conservation lab.

Deep Time opened to the public in June 2019. The 5-year overhaul was a huge undertaking. We worked on the majority of the Smithsonian’s dinosaur and prehistoric mammal collections. Some of the specimens include MOR 555 (the Nation’s T-Rex) in a dynamic pose chomping on the head of a Triceratops. We also worked on a Tylosaurus, Diplodocus, Camarasaurus, Stegosaurus, Xiphactinus, Edmontosaurus, Mastodon, Mammoth, Eremotherium, Thescelosaurus, Allosaurus and many more. Many of the specimens were freed from plaster mounts, others still had matrix on them.

The first skeleton we completed was arguably the star of the collection: the 66 million-year-old; 10:5 metre-long Tyrannosaurus rex “Nation’s T-rex.” This specimen is one of the most complete T-rex skeletons ever discovered, with 130 original bones, it still required the casting of an additional 96 bones, including the skull, which was too fragile to exhibit. Fossils and casts are all held together by more than 1,000 feet of steel that pushes the total weight beyond 4,000 pounds – close to 2 tons.

Working with priceless fossils, such as the T-Rex, involves meticulous care and attention. First, we cleaned and consolidated the fossil material, systematically going through each element, making sure there aren’t any cracks that could give out as the individual elements are being handled. Once the prep work was completed, the skeleton was pieced together beginning with the hips, followed by the vertebrae leading up towards the neck, the tail, ribs, arms and the hind feet.

If the skeletons of this exhibit were casts, then their supporting armatures could be hidden within their bones. But Fossil bones are heavier than casts and can be very brittle. We implemented a cradle system that is both delicate and strong. The toughest challenge is bending the steel accurately onto the original fossil material. This project offered our blacksmith and metalworking team the opportunity to show their technical expertise. One of the additional requirements was that to facilitate ongoing scientific examination, the steel armatures needed to allow specific bones, such as the arms, to be easily removed without dissembling the entire mount.

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In the summer of 2020, we were sent the bones of a Baptanodon, and a Plioplatecarpus for prep, mounting, cleaning and installation. These were from The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis for their Mission Jurassic project to renovate their Dinosphere with more bones coming from the “Jurassic Mile”. In November/December of 2021, our skeleton crew were finally able to install the new-species Sauropod for the Giants of the Jurassic stage, as well as a giant ammonite, Archaelon, Elasmosaurus, Baptanodon and Plioplatecarpus fossils in Monsters of the Mesozoic Seas. The New and Improved Dinosphere opened in March 2022 and has been a centerpiece of The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis. This was a monumental project for RCI and we had an incredible time working on it with TCMIndy over those 2 years.

We visited The Children’s Museum to get the stage ready for the sauropods to be installed in the “Giants of the Jurassic” section. These bones were so big that we needed to fabricate and install a specially-designed platform to hold them. We also had to make sure that it fit perfectly with the armatures and that it carefully cradled each fossil. Finally, we also sculpted and painted the surrounding rockwork to look like the riverbed we imagine that sauropods would have walked through, including their footprints!

To learn more please read:

Enter the Dinosphere

Dinosphere Expansion 

Dinosphere Exhibits 

In March of 2020 The Yale Peabody Museum was closed to the public, allowing for the building of new conservation, classrooms and collection areas, and the addition of 50% more gallery space. The Yale Peabody Museum, is set to reopen in 2024 after its major renovations. The Yale University announced a $160 million gift to renovate the Peabody Museum and over the summer of 2023.The expansion provides additional space for the Peabody’s collection of 14 million objects, fossils, meteorites, and anthropological artifacts, as well as new research spaces, classrooms equipped with the latest audio-visual technology, and a new education center for K-12 students. Our Skeleton Crew had to remount and re-pose a lot of different specimens including:

The first Brontosaurs (meaning “thunder lizard”) ever discovered at the Yale Peabody Museum. The steel frame for Brontosaurus has been re-installed in the BURKE HALL OF DINOSAURS and adorned with the sauropod’s massive pelvis, leg bones, and dorsal vertebrae. Each individual fossil is supported by its own, independent armature. The look of Brontosaurus has changed dramatically since it was last on display in 2019. Its pose and posture have been updated to reflect the latest paleontological research and its tail is significantly longer.

The Archelon ischyros skeleton was also in need of refurbishing and remounting. It is considered to be the largest turtle to ever exist. This colossal sea creature bore gear-shaped bones, functioning as stomach bone plates that defended against threats from below. Interestingly, the skeleton displays a missing right lower flipper, with evidence suggesting this was due to an incident in its early life.

The Irish elk (Megaloceros giganteus) was reinstalled in a pose that brings its massive antlers, spanning nearly ten feet across, down to eye level. This charging posture will allow visitors to appreciate both the scale of its most recognizable feature and the robust neck vertebrae that supported it.

The Otisville Mastodon, which is roughly 11,000 years old and over ten feet tall, has returned to the Peabody after more than three years in Canada being cleaned, prepared, and remounted.

This was a very long project, and the final timeline of the job took over 3 full years. but in January of 2023, the new exhibitions begin to take shape as specimens and artifacts were installed into their new galleries. Our skeleton crew had to refurbish, remount and repose several of the Peabody’s historic skeletons as the museum’s building undergoes a transformative renovation. When the Peabody reopens in March 26 2024, visitors will see the fossils positioned in more dynamic and scientifically accurate poses. “I am delighted to see the Yale Peabody Museum open after undergoing a comprehensive renovation that makes it better able to serve members of the Yale community, K-12 students from our home city, and visitors from the region and beyond,” said Yale President Peter Salovey.

Click here to learn more:

Yales iconic dinosaurs get a new look
Yale Peabody to reopen march 26
Yale Peabody (Deer oh deer) 
About Renovation
Youtube: Journey of the Peabody Fossils

When the American Museum of Natural History decided to replace their Barosaurus with something even more monumental, RCI was retained to cast and mount a new gigantic species of Titanousaur discovered in Argentina in 2012.

First, the fossil remains of the previously unknown giant herbivore were scanned in 3d in Argentina to create a mold, then a lightweight fiberglass cast was built over a period of six months, stuffed with foam to hold its shape and held together by an internal system of steel bars. The mount was carefully constructed in Trenton, following the exacting measurements and digital models of the room where the dinosaur would be displayed. By the beginning of January 2016, the Titanosaur was ready for transport to New York for installation in The Wallach Orientation Center but paleontologists had made a last minute reappraisal of the skull, and it had to be recast– reduced in size by more than a quarter of its length. The sheer size of the Titanousaur brought its share of challenges. At 122 feet long and 70 feet high, it barely fit the height of the room – even when it was posed with bent legs. Moreover, the 9-foot-long, 9-foot-wide pelvis barely fit through the garage doors, and required four roustabouts (old-fashioned hand-cranked cranes) to lift it as the museum space was too tight for a conventional crane. The placement of the skull- which extends out of the gallery doorway, was another technical issue, as it needed to be at least nine and a half feet high to avoid contact with visitors.

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There’s a new dinosaur on the block

How to Mount a Titanosaur

In 2016, the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) purchased a recently discovered fossil specimen of a new ankylosaurus species from the Campanian Judith River Formation of Montana. Zuul crurivastator had not yet been described and remained in large jacketed blocks. The ROM did not have the capability to fully prepare the main block, weighing 37,000 lbs. due to its size, weight, and amount of fossil preparation required. RCI was contracted to prepare the main block for display. We uncovered the majority of the skeleton’s main body on one side. We then flipped the block over and prepared out the other side, unveiling a nearly complete keratin impression of its armour, spikes, and some skin. Our trained preparation team allowed us to prepare this specimen within a very tight deadline without compromising any of the fossil’s integrity. Additionally, our expertise with heavy machinery and mounting allowed us to handle such a large piece and create a secure and stable mount for display.

When we began preparation, It was unclear exactly how much fossil was in the matrix block. Early investigation hinted at a substantial amount of skeletal and skin fossilization. Main preparation began in February 2018 with the goal to have the fossil on display by mid-December 2018. The ROM additionally wanted scans and molds prepared in the hope of developing a traveling show. The skeletal side was prepared out and it was molded. There was still a substantial amount of rock underneath. The weight and size of the block exceeded the maximum capabilities of the building and gallery at the ROM.

We calculated an estimated area where excess matrix existed. We fabricated a steel structure and home-built rope saw to cut a substantial amount of matrix away from the bottom. Once completed, the block needed to be jacketed and flipped over. We installed a crane overtop the block and used chain falls to flip the block, which weighed 15,000 lbs. at the time. Preparation then began on the other side.

This side revealed an amazing fossilized skin surface. RCI preparators finished the block for display reducing the size and weight to make it possible to bring the specimen in the museum space. We took a mold of this side of the block and we fabricated an armature to move and display the specimen. The zuul exhibit was a huge success. The fossil has since been brought back to RCI for temporary storage.

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