In the mid-1980s, when Kaiyodo started releasing its dinosaur series, there was one book that is believed to have profoundly influenced Kaiyodo's dinosaur sculptors, including Mr. Araki. It was "THE DINOSAURS," an art collection by American illustrator William Stout (Photo 1). The dinosaurs depicted in it were "art" that set them apart from previous restoration drawings. They incorporated the latest theories of the time (such as cheek pouches for ornithischians), had proportions that reflected their skeletons, emphasized muscle movement and skin wrinkles, were active and full of life, and sometimes even conveyed expressions. Kaiyodo, aiming to elevate models to art, seemed to have been greatly influenced. They even obtained Stout's permission to 3D model his illustrations and used them on the cover of their company magazine, "Artpla," for a special dinosaur issue (Photo 2).
* "THE DINOSAURS" was translated and published in Japan in 1993 by Miki Shobo under the title "Kyoryu no Sekai" (World of Dinosaurs).

This time, following Mr. Araki's previous work, this is a photo collection selected from Kaiyodo's early dinosaur kits that were released. (Names in parentheses are of the原型製作者, honorifics omitted)
The sculptors other than Mr. Araki mostly specialized in kaiju (monster) sculpting, so a wild and free range of dinosaur styles are all here. Stout-style dinosaurs, dinosaurs that look like they stepped out of old encyclopedias, and dinosaurs that look like they're about to breathe fire are all mixed together, making Kaiyodo's early dinosaur series a wonderfully broad, varied, and enjoyable lineup. Moreover, each of them boasted super detailed craftsmanship, unique to garage kits. During this period, I bought expensive and time-consuming garage kits one after another as they were released, diligently continued to build them, and chuckled to myself as I gazed at the increasing number of dinosaurs on my shelf.

*All except 13, 17, and 21 are 1/35 scale

Mr. Araki began serializing his dinosaur model production articles, "Harishi Kazu-yan's Dinosaurs!", in the inaugural issue of the model magazine "Model Graphics" in November 1984. It is no exaggeration to say that this column, which continued until 2001, albeit with title changes along the way, became the foundation of Japan's dinosaur sculpting world today.

Next time, we plan to introduce Kaiyodo's later "Dinoland Series" featuring Shinobu Matsumura, and garage kits from other manufacturers from the 90s.