Collectible Dinosaur Figure Made of Soft Material
A PVC figure of Quetzalcoatlus, one of the largest known pterosaurs, with a wingspan of about 11 m. Its collectible size makes it enjoyable both for play and display.
Quetzalcoatlus
Classification: Pterosauria / Pterodactyloidea / Azhdarchidae
Size: Total length10〜11meters
Period: Late Cretaceous
Quetzalcoatlus was one of the largest pterosaurs known and lived during the Late Cretaceous. Its bones were hollow to reduce weight, and although it stood about as tall as a modern giraffe, it is thought to have weighed much less. Footprints suggest it walked on all fours and launched into flight from a quadrupedal stance, pushing off powerfully with its long forelimbs in a motion similar to a pole vaulter.
Interview with Supervisor Kazunari Araki
- Quetzalcoatlus, one of the largest known pterosaurs, has joined the Soft Model series. Mr. Araki, what are your impressions of Quetzalcoatlus?
- Quetzalcoatlus was larger than a small airplane. It is astonishing to think that an animal of this size could fly, and I find myself wondering how it took to the air.
- What aspects of sculpting Quetzalcoatlus were challenging, and are there any details you would especially like people to notice?
- Unlike Pteranodon, it had no rear head crest for balance, and unlike Rhamphorhynchus, it had no tail vane for steering. I sculpted it while imagining an animal over 10 m across gliding effortlessly through the sky.
- What image inspired the pose?
- Recent museum displays and figures of Quetzalcoatlus often show it landing, so I deliberately chose a flying pose similar to that of Pteranodon.
- The Quetzalcoatlus Soft Model uses bright yellow and brown as its base colors, giving it a different character from Pteranodon. What image or concept inspired this choice, and were there any modern animals you used as references?
- Because it is such a large animal, I avoided overly flashy colors overall, but gave the beak bright yellow and orange tones inspired by birds of South America.
- Finally,Quetzalcoatlus About the Soft ModelPlease share your comments.。
- Without a head crest or tail vane, it is intriguing to wonder how such a large animal flew. Recent reconstructions show surprisingly small wings, raising the question of whether it could fly at all. For this Soft Model, I used wing proportions similar to those of Pteranodon and other pterosaurs thought to have been capable of flight.
Supervisor Profile
Kazunari Araki
One of Japan's leading dinosaur model artists, he creates dinosaur reconstruction models for natural history museums and master models for dinosaur encyclopedias and other publications.