New In-Box Review: Dunkleosteus

This is a newly released kit from Paleocraft Models. Its the Devonian terror Dunklosteus who swam the prehistoric waters 370-360 million years ago. This placoderm weighed in at a ton, and measured close to 20 ft. long, like a killer whale of his day. They died off at the transition betwen the Devonian and the Carboniferous and left no descendents. Fossils of this monster have been found in North America, Poland, Belgium and Morocco.

The Dunkleosteus kit measures in at 15.5 inches long which works out to about a 1:20th scale. The kit comes in 7 pieces: the body, the lower jaw and four fins. A resin coral reef and wooden bases completes the picture. As typical with any Paleocraft kit it is an excellent work of sculptor Sean Cooper. The model is in a cream color odorless resin, and shows absolutely no bubbles and only the minimum of seams. Cleanup should be completed in no time. The only down side I had to my kit was that despite Sean's excellent job of wrapping and packing the model for shipment the last 5cm of the tail was snapped off. Looking closely there was a huge bubble that formed in the resin in the area and as a matter of fact the whole tip was hollow. But it snapped off cleanly and it should be quick work to fill the bubble and pin the tail back on. Pics show the kit and the snapped off area.