Spinosaurus
One of my largest builds, this two foot long Spinosaurus is highly detailed, scientifically accurate, and well articulated and constructed. Eating up perhaps more than two thousand parts, this model weighs over three pounds, but I welcomed the challenge because Spinosaurus is my favorite dinosaur.
The head was key for me to replicate. I made sure to use a translucent part, a light saber blade in fact, for the eye, and I approximated Spinosaurus's head crest. As well, it was important for me to make the mouth close, covering many of the teeth, so I made this the focus. The shape of the head turned out quite well, accurately portraying the crocodile-like features of the dinosaur.
Spinosaurus is notable among therapods for its long and muscular arms. I made sure to portray three digits and to replicate the extra long claw Spinosaurus had on its third finger. These arms are well built and have articulation in the shoulder, elbow, and wrist.
The legs of my Spinosaurus may be proportionally too long, for the animal had reduced hind limbs compared to other therapods, but they are still small and lightly built on my model. Any extra bulk I gave to the legs encourages the idea that Spinosaurus was a biped, which is a conclusion supported by recent studies, and better facilitates the physics of the model. The legs have hip, knee, and slight ankle articulation.
I wanted to represent the fin-like tail of Spinosaurus described in 2020. This is one of the major aquatic features of the animal that I wanted to include.
The iconic Spinosaurus sail I built has a technic frame, one brick deep, with plates attached at both sides. This part of the model is technically unfinished; in the future, I would like to add plenty of one by one round tiles to smooth off this area while also adding scaly texture.
My Spinosaurus does fit in, to some degree, with the large scale official LEGO Tyrannosaurus that was produced for set 75936. If the two builds were to scale, Spinosaurus would be noticeably bigger, for my model is about the same length as LEGO's Tyrannosaurus, albeit heavier, and Spinosaurus certainly was the bigger animal. However, I do think this accentuates the unique proportions of Spinosaurus; notice that its hip is lower than the hip of Tyrannosaurus and that its arms are larger.
Here is a pose, using the leg articulation in particular. Overall, I am quite satisfied with my Spinosaurus build, though it is undeniably a work in progress, being my most recent MOC. I will probably add small tiles, such as the newer quarter round one by ones, all over this model to give it a more organic look. Still, I love the shape I came up with, and the build, particularly in the body, is quite stable.