Titanosaur

American Museum of Natural History New York City, NY | 2016

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.