Corythosaurus (Carnegie Collection by Safari ltd)

Buy on

Buy on

Corythosaurus was a lambiosaurine hadrosaur that lived during the Campanian in the Late Cretaceous about 75 million years ago. Its bones were discovered in Canada and the USA. It belongs to the same general group of dinosaurs as its slightly more popular cousin, Parasaurolophus. This particular dinosaur is also known for supplying skin imprints which can be seen at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City.

This has always been one of my all time favorite models that Carnegie released. It is one of its older models yet it still remains to be strikingly accurate. The first thing I would like to point out about this guy’s posture. It’s on all fours, which is what is believed to be the way most duck-billed dinosaurs travelled, only rising on two legs to run quickly or reach higher vegetation while feeding. The exact pose itself is as if the animal is getting ready to rise up and bolt away from some unseen Albertosaurus or Daspletosaurus. This effect is strengthened by the fact that its head is turned slightly to the side as if to keep an eye on its pursuer while it makes its escape. Another more obvious plus about the pose is the fact that the tail is held out above the ground like it should be. Unfortunately Carnegie’s version of the related Parasaurolophus is in a bipedal pose and fall’s victim to the dreaded “tripod” look with its tail inaccurately supporting it against the ground.

The second thing I love about this model is the beautiful coloration. It has a base color of a neat greenish yellow with dark green pattern on top. The underbelly is a soft teal. The bill and finger/toenails are greenish brown. The crest itself is bluish teal with the dark green bars going down the sides. It manages to be beautiful enough to not be too dull, yet it’s not too flashy or unrealistic looking at the same time. When this guy is standing up on the display mountain with all the other Carnegie dinosaurs, its unique color catches the eye fairly quickly. Sometimes Carnegie puts less than pleasurable patterns on their dinosaurs but this one manages to pull the look of very nicely.

The detail is good. The skin is more pebbly than wrinkly which matches what the fossilized skin imprints discovered are like. As you get towards the underside it becomes smooth. The detail on the head itself is accurate. It has the small beak in front of a long horse-like muzzle (which has cheeks of course) which leads to the base of the jaw itself which is rather round and prominent. The front feet could use some more detail with regards to texture and paint but all other things considered, its fine.

All in all I think this is one of the best hadrosaur models out there. As far as Corythosaurus models go specifically, I have not seen one better than this. It’s accurate, beautifully painted, and it’s relatively cheap/available on the market. Great model.

The figure is 21 cm long.

Available from Safari.com (here) and Amazon.com (here)