Dinosaur Modeller: Rader 1/18 Baryonyx.

With my special interest in Dinosaur remains discovered in England, heightened when I´ve been fossil-hunting myself in the very clay-pit where the type-specimen fossils of this animal were found, Jon Rader´s Baryonyx kit was a "must" for me. He lists it as a 1/20th scale kit, but animals don´t come in fixed standard sizes so I have no qualms about calling it 1/18 to fit in with the rest of my collection. In contrast to some of the heftier reconstructions of "heavy claw", Jon portrays a very lean and svelte animal with quite a heron-like quality to his "Fisher King". I re-skinned my kit, making the speckled colouring easier to achieve.

Fossilised fish-remains and a juvenile iguanodont bone were found in the gut cavity of the holotype-specimen, suggesting that Baryonyx may have had quite a generalised diet. I´ve attempted to portray an animal that has found an indeterminate meal at the water´s edge and is moving away to a safer spot before gulping it down. Gloss varnish roughly applied to the snout, arms and legs represents wet skin and water droplets, indicating that the beast has recently left the water behind it.