As I wrote previously, 1978 was a boom year for dinosaur plastic models, and this seems to be related to the "Great Dinosaur Exhibition" held at Expo Land in Osaka from July of that year. This exhibition was the first full-scale dinosaur exhibition in Japan, featuring complete skeletons of large dinosaurs such as Tarbosaurus and Saurolophus, numerous theropods, and the well-known pterosaur Sordes with traces of fur, all from the collection of the Soviet Academy of Sciences. From February of the following year, the exhibition moved to the National Museum of Nature and Science in Ueno and ran until May. During this period, there seemed to be a small dinosaur boom. In February 1978, Nippon TV's "Subarashii Sekai Ryoko" (Wonderful World Travels) broadcast a five-week special titled "Dinosaur Kingdom." In July, Bungeishunju Deluxe published a special issue, "Dinosaurs 200 Million Years," and dinosaur features also appeared in magazines such as "Kagaku Asahi," "Shonen Magazine," and "Shonen Jump."

In January of that same year, 1978, the publisher Gakken (Gakushu Kenkyusha) released a series of serious dinosaur plastic models, a clear departure from the toy-like models that had come before. This was the "Dinosaur Skeleton Model" series (Photos 1, 2, 3, 4).

Photo 1

Photo 2

Photo 3

Photo 4

Putting aside the troublesome points that the material is soft and paint doesn't adhere well (the Stegosaurus in the photo is painted, but the paint peels off if touched firmly), the quality is still admirable even by today's standards, and it only cost 400 yen! In fact, this series was originally a supplementary teaching material for the magazines "Kagaku 5-nen" and "Kagaku 6-nen" (Science for 5th Grade, Science for 6th Grade), and has been included as a supplement several times since then, up to the present day. Although I don't know the exact year it first appeared, a Stegosaurus existed in 1976 (Photo 5, Yahoo Auctions image), and more recently, the February 2007 issue of "Kagaku 5-nen" also included a Stegosaurus.

Photo 5

Impressively, it has been renewed in a modern style, with its tail raised and spikes horizontal (Photo 6). There is another type of Brachiosaurus as a supplement (Photo 7), but for some reason, it is not sold individually. I have the 1988 version (Photo 8) at my house, which is a treasured item I received as a souvenir from the late editor-in-chief, Mr. Inoue, when my room was featured in the dinosaur-specialized magazine "Kyoryugaku Saizensen" (Gakken). Photo 9 shows the 1980 version, which I missed out on getting through Yahoo Auctions. Gakken also released three 1/35 scale dinosaur skeleton models, sculpted by Kazunari Araki, in 2006.

Photo 6

Photo 7

Photo 8

Photo 9

And then 1981. This year, a Chinese dinosaur exhibition was held, where dinosaurs like Mamenchisaurus made their debut. Amidst this, Tamiya released its 1/35 dinosaur series. At that time, Tamiya boasted unparalleled accuracy and precision in scale models, particularly military ones, making it difficult for other manufacturers to keep up. So, it's unreasonable to say that expectations shouldn't have been high for dinosaurs released by such a Tamiya in a unified scale. And the result was the Tyrannosaurus foot I showed you last time!
At the time, I lost the motivation to build this T-Rex straight out of the box and ended up modifying it. This time, I tried building it without any alterations (Photo 10). Oh dear... the rough molding of the skin, the round cross-section of the body, and even some of the teeth are surprisingly curved forward. On top of that, the description in the instruction manual is also incorrect. It's clear that an ignorant sculptor, underestimating dinosaurs, created this without any research. Even the horizontal posture I modified in my youth as a small act of rebellion ended up a pathetic result (Photo 11, left). I'd like to blame the poor original model, but seeing the magnificently modified one on the right in Photo 11, I can only remain silent. This is a piece I acquired from a model shop's display window that I used to frequent. The artist used putty, and the legs, surface molding, and face barely retain any of the original form. I don't know the creator, but they must have been a highly skilled modeler and a dinosaur enthusiast.
My first impression upon opening the box of the Stego in Photo 12 was that it looked like a wooden bear carving. The Triceratops was the most decent of the bunch, and it was featured in the August issue of "Model Art" that year, becoming the second dinosaur article in a model magazine.

Tamiya released the "Dinosaur World Series" starting in 1993 to redeem its reputation, and it continues to this day. However, for some reason, this old dinosaur series is also still sold with its original packaging (the only difference being the waste separation mark) and instruction manual (I wish they at least corrected the Diplodocus (from Russia) — Diplodocu-skaya?!).
...It's a mystery.

Photo 10

Photo 11

Photo 12