Leyster's Collection (updated 13/09/24)

[Gothmog the Baryonyx]

Oh its that big is it? I was just thinking on buying it this weekend. £60 posted to the UK not including customs fees. But I was hoping for 1:18 at smallest. That is quite massive, which to be fair ot does look. Beautiful model.

Also I forgot to comment when you posted the little Acrocanthosaurus to say thank you for sharing all you figures, ot really doe make for nice pleasant reading.

[Leyster]

Oh its that big is it? I was just thinking on buying it this weekend. £60 posted to the UK not including customs fees. But I was hoping for 1:18 at smallest. That is quite massive, which to be fair ot does look. Beautiful model.

Also I forgot to comment when you posted the little Acrocanthosaurus to say thank you for sharing all you figures, ot really doe make for nice pleasant reading.

Yes, it's quite big, it's as long as the Papo Baryonyx, though less massively built. I was surprised too when I scaled it, but after all Irritator was a quite small animal. I'm glad you find this thread interesting, I might not have the most extensive collection, but I try to make scrolling worthwhile

Binomial name: Majungasaurus crenatissimus Deperet, 1896
Classification: Dinosauria>Theropoda>Neotheropoda>Averostra>Ceratosauria>Neoceratosauria>Abelisauroidea>Abelisauridae>Majungasaurinae
Time: Maastrichtian (Late Cretaceous)
Formation: Maevarano Formation (present day Madagascar)
Manifacturer and date of release: Vitae, 2017
Sculptor: Cheung Chung Tat
Scale: 1:23 for FMNH PR 2100.

Sadly this model is based on the popular but probably incorrect "sausage" Majungasaurus by Scott Hartman. Majungasaurus is still supposed to have short legs, but the current restoration shows a more stocky and powerfully built creature. Maybe the weakest Vitae, but I like its colours. A pity that the base is quite useless because it has no pegs or even footprints to insert the feet, and the model is more stable without it. The Sinoceratops, released in the same period, had a much nicer base. Oh well, at least I got the version with the cycads. I love the cycads.

[SidB]

Yes, cycads, agreed. We need more cycads.

[Leyster]

Yes, cycads, agreed. We need more cycads.

Prehistoric plants are so underrated.

Binomial name: Beipiaosaurus inexpectus Xu et al. 1999
Classification: Dinosauria->Theropoda->Neotheropoda->Averostra->Tetanurae->Coelurosauria->Tyrannoraptora->Maniraptoromorpha->Neocoelurosauria->Maniraptoriformes->Maniraptora->Therizinosauria->Therizinosauroidea
Time: Aptian (early Cretaceous)
Formation: Jianshangou Beds of the Yixian Formation (present day China)
Manifacturer and date of release: Carnegie Collection of the Safari LTD, 2006
Sculptor: Forest Rogers
Scale: 1:11 based on IVPP 11559

Since this and others more or less 1:10 models are exposed on a different shelf, I kinda forgot to photograph them early on. The coat of feathers, way thinner than in modern restorations, gives the impression of representing a much derived therizinosaurid. Also I'm not too sure about the proportions.

[Leyster]

Binomial name: Wuerhosaurus homheni Dong, 1973
Classification: Dinosauria->Ornithischia->Genasauria->Thyreophora->Stegosauria->Stegosaurinae
Time: Aptian/Albian (Early Cretaceous)
Formation: Tugulu Group (present-day China)
Manifacturer and date of release: Vitae, 2018
Sculptor: Cheung Chung Tat
Scale: apparently 1:58, but I was unable to obtain the ilium measurement and had to calculate it from a Tracy Ford drawing, and I'm told he's not the most trustworthy author. If anyone has Wuherosaurus measurements, please let me know.

I'm not entirely sure about the shoulder spikes (even if Galton & Upchurch chapter in "The Dinosauria 2nd Edition" mentions them) and the plate is broken so we don't know the exact shape, and I would have preferred the hindlimb to have the correct number of claws (but kudos for putting four fingers as it should be).

[Leyster]

Binomial name: "Chilantaisaurus" zheziangensis Dong 1979
Classification: Dinosauria->Theropoda->Neotheropoda->Averostra->Tetanurae->?*
Time: Santonian (Late Cretaceous)
Formation: Tangshang Formation (present day China)
Manifacturer and date of release: Vitae, 2018
Sculptor: Cheung Chung Tat
Scale: 1:26 for known elements of ZhM V.001 (it would NOT have looked like this)

*currently there is disagreement about the philogenetic position of Chilantaisaurus. And "Chilantaisaurus" zheziangensis is probably not a Chilantaisaurus, anyway. See below.

The scaling of this models require further explanation. I, as many, was initially puzzled by the proposed 1:35 scale for this model: Chilantaisaurus tashuikouensis has a 119 cm femur and a 58 cm humerus (one of the biggest humeri among theropods, excluding things like Therizinosaurus and Deinocheirus) and there is no way for the model to be 1:35. Browsing the Dino-Soar Studio Facebook page, I found this statue, which I already knew, of whom the Vitae model appears to be a resized version. More interesting are its measurements, that I previously didn't consider: the statue is 1:6 and 1 meter long, meaning it represents a 6 meters long animal. That was quite strange considering the bones we know of Chilantaisaurus tashuikouensis. Then I saw that the model was exposed in the Zhejiang Natural History Museum; in the same region was fond another theropod, "Chilantaisaurus" zheziangensis, assigned to Chilantaisaurus, but that appears to be a therizinosaurid. The bones indicate a 5 meters long animal, way closer to the extimates given by both the statue and the Vitae model. Could it be that the model represents, instead of Chilantaisaurus tashuikouensis, "Chilantaisaurus" zheziangensis, represented as a miniature version of a "best guessed Chilantaisaurus"? To me it looks like the best explanation.
Note too that the Vitae model appears to be based on Scott Hartman's version of Neovenator, a restoration probably incorrect because it was made when Megaraptorans were considered Neovenatorids and therefore uses Megaraptorans such as Australovenator to fill the gaps. Since megaraptorans are probably coelurosaurs, more modern restorations of Neovenator use other carcharodontosaurids.
Thanks to @Mattyonyx for helping me reason down this thing.

[Halichoeres]

That's interesting, and makes a certain amount of sense. It was odd to me that this came in at such a small scale for C. tashuikouensis, when most Vitae dinosaurs are either at or above their stated scale.

[SidB]

I'm surprised that the sculptor didn't know this. It does explain why the piece seems to be such an anomaly, size-wise,  in their line-up of figures.

[Leyster]

That's interesting, and makes a certain amount of sense. It was odd to me that this came in at such a small scale for C. tashuikouensis, when most Vitae dinosaurs are either at or above their stated scale.

Indeed. I do not claim that this interpretation is correct, but to me it looks like it makes a lot of sense, expecially considering the statue.

I'm surprised that the sculptor didn't know this. It does explain why the piece seems to be such an anomaly, size-wise,  in their line-up of figures.

I think that Cheung Chung Tat simply sculpts what his client at the Zhejiang Museum asks him to.

Binomial name: Dilong paradoxus Xu et al. 2004
Classification: Dinosauria->Theropoda->Neotheropoda->Averostra->Tetanurae->Coelurosauria->Tyrannoraptora->Tyrannosauroidea->Pantyrannosauria
Time: Aptian (Early Cretaceous)
Formation: Jianshangou Bed of Yixian Formation (present day China)
Manifacturer and date of release: Carnegie Collection of the Safari LTD, 2006
Sculptor: Forest Rogers
Scale: 1:10 for IVPP V14243

[Leyster]

Binomial name: Zhejiangosaurus lishuiensis Lü et al. 2007
Classification: Dinosauria->Ornithischia->Genasauria->Thyreophora->Ankylosauria->Nodosauridae
Time: Cenomanian (Late Cretaceous)
Formation: Chaochuan Formation (present-day China)
Manifacturer and date of release: Vitae, 2018
Sculptor: Cheung Chung Tat
Scale: 1:25 based on ZMNH M8718


Another little gem by Vitae, it appears to be almost exactly based on Paul's Gastonia, which might not be the best choice since Thompson et al. (2008) found Zhejiangosaurus closer to the "core" nodosaurids like Sauropelta than to Polacanthinae. Still, if someone needs a Polacanthinae, it's probably the best one available. It also has a simple but nice colouration.

[Halichoeres]

I like both of these, even if the Zhejiangosaurus works better as some other taxon

[Patrx]

Having returned to activity here on the forum after something of an unplanned hiatus, I'm just now finding and taking in this excellent thread. Really marvelous collection here!

[Leyster]

Having returned to activity here on the forum after something of an unplanned hiatus, I'm just now finding and taking in this excellent thread. Really marvelous collection here!

Thank you very much, I'm a big fan of your collection's photography!


Binomial name: Zhejiangopterus linhaiensis Cai & Feng, 1994
Classification: Pterosauria->Macronychoptera->Novialoidea->Breviquartossa->Pterodactylomorpha->Caelidracones->Pterodactyloidea->Lophocratia->Eupterodactyloidea->Ornithocheiroidea->Tapejaroidea->Azhdarchoidea->Azhdarchidae
Time: Campanian (Late Cretaceous)
Formation: Tangshang Formation (present day China)
Manifacturer and date of release: Vitae, 2018
Sculptor: Cheung Chung Tat
Scale: 1:20


The only pterosaur in my "true" collection, atl least for now...

[Shonisaurus]

My congratulations on your publications, photographs and acquisitions. I've been missing a lot since then. Without a doubt the Zhejianopterus is a figure on the part of Vitae. I hope that soon that company will make more figures of prehistoric animals not dinosaurs like that one.

It is appreciated that Vitae focuses on making many figures of Asian dinosaurs and specifically Chinese on most occasions, with the exception of the giganotosaurus. His obscure figures are well appreciated in my collection.

[Leyster]

My congratulations on your publications, photographs and acquisitions. I've been missing a lot since then.

Thank you!


Binomial name: Jinyunpelta sinensis  Zheng et al. 2018
Classification: Dinosauria->Ornithischia->Genasauria->Thyreophora->Ankylosauria->Ankylosauridae->Ankylosaurinae
Time: Albian? Cenomanian? (early-late Cretaceous)
Formation: Shuhong Quarry of the Liangtoutang Formation Formation (present day USA and Canada)
Manifacturer and date of release: Vitae, 2020
Sculptor: Cheung Chung Tat
Scale: 1:20 for ZMNH M8960


I was very tempted to get the red version, just to break the trend of the brown coloured ankylosaurus, but at the end I settled for the standard version because it resembles the statue exposed at the Zhejiang Museum.

And, since we're talking about Ankylosaurids, here you can read my review of the PNSO Ankylosaurus. It's in italian, but a translator will do the work.

[SidB]

Thank you for the link to the very informative PNSO Ankylosaurus review, your level of detail and handling/presentation of this data is as thorough and impressive as always. Perhaps I'm stretching the realm of possibility, but I make the excuse that the PNSO specimen is suffering from a partially damaged and healed tail club to account for its depression, though obviously that wasn't the direct intent of the sculptor, of course. The translator wasn't working terribly well this morning, but the full sense of what you were communicating did emerge.

[Leyster]

Thank you for the link to the very informative PNSO Ankylosaurus review, your level of detail and handling/presentation of this data is as thorough and impressive as always. Perhaps I'm stretching the realm of possibility, but I make the excuse that the PNSO specimen is suffering from a partially damaged and healed tail club to account for its depression, though obviously that wasn't the direct intent of the sculptor, of course. The translator wasn't working terribly well this morning, but the full sense of what you were communicating did emerge.

Thank you for reading it, I'm glad it was appreciated. Maybe the high amount of latin terms didn't work too weel with the translator. If the donward tail bothers you, I think you can easily solve it heating the tail with an hairdryer, putting it in place and then freezing it with cold water 

[Patrx]

That Jinyunpelta is really adorable, somehow.

If the donward tail bothers you, I think you can easily solve it heating the tail with an hairdryer, putting it in place and then freezing it with cold water 

Yes! I keep meaning to do that with mine, but haven't gotten around to it yet.

[Megalosaurus]

I love the way you are docummenting every single picture.

[Leyster]

That Jinyunpelta is really adorable, somehow.

Yes, it looks so happy! 

I love the way you are docummenting every single picture.

Thank you! Glad you like it!

Binomial name: "Tiantaiosaurus sifengensis/Tiantaisaurus sifengensis" (nomen nudum)
Classification:  Dinosauria->Theropoda->Neotheropoda->Averostra->Tetanurae->Coelurosauria->Tyrannoraptora->Maniraptoromorpha->Neocoelurosauria->Maniraptoriformes->Maniraptora->Therizinosauria->Therizinosauroidea->?
Time: Albian/Cenomanian (early - late Cretaceous)
Formation: Laijia Formation (present day China)
Manifacturer and date of release: Vitae, 2020
Sculptor: Cheung Chung Tat
Scale: ? I was unable to obtain measurements

The lack of informations about this animal is frustrating, but anyway this is one of the best Therizinosauridae available, even considering it a generic therizinosaurid. I think the sculpture was modelled after Alxasaurus?
I had to get both colour variants, of course. They're both equally amazing!