For the Rhoetosaurus, life-sized is pretty big – the sauropod is estimated to have weighed at least 20 metric tons, with a length of 14 to 17 meters. Such a reproduction would undoubtedly be a popular attraction, but building it won’t be a quick process. The dinosaur would be modeled using photographs of its skeleton and built using a combination of 3D printing and CNC machining. The construction is estimated to take about two years.
While it may not be a household name in most of the world, the Rhoetosaurus is pretty popular in Australia, as it was the country’s first named dinosaur. The dinosaur’s bones, which currently reside at the Queensland Museum, were discovered in 1924 near the small town of Roma, which hopes to attract visitors with the 3D printed replica.“It’s a long time to get to a big dinosaur, so fingers crossed we can actually create something this large,” says Dr. Scott Hocknull, senior geosciences curator at the Queensland Museum.
“Regional communities have an interest in tourism but it is also a great way of taking people from the city to show them the outback that is different to what they are normally seeing,” says Dr. Hocknull, who has long championed 3D printing as a way to bring people close to things they otherwise wouldn’t have access to. “Just imagine being able to walk up close to one of these things … because it’s a replica, because it’s something you could potentially touch, kids can get a really direct engaging, exciting experience, by seeing these things close up.”
I can attest to that; one of my favorite local attractions as a child was Steggie, a large stegosaurus statue outside the Cleveland Museum of Natural History. Kids were encouraged to climb on Steggie, and we certainly did; most people I know have at least one picture of themselves as children sitting on the dinosaur’s back. He was a popular attraction for both natives and visitors, and he got me excited about going to the museum, which my parents would have had to drag me to otherwise. I imagine that the prospect of seeing a life-sized, realistic dinosaur like the one the Queensland Museum is proposing will have a similar effect on people who otherwise wouldn’t think to visit the area.
“We really are well and truly using new technology to bring these dinosaurs back to life,” Dr. Hocknull adds. “Short of having DNA, it is the closest you can get to having a real dinosaur.”
Let us know if you happen to pay a visit to this museum when this large print is complete. Discuss in the Life-Size 3D Printed Dinosaur forum on 3DPB.com.
Images: Queensland Museum