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The cast of the T. rex skeleton was shipped to us in a twelve-foot wooden crate. Of course, the first step in assembling the skeleton was unpacking all 300-odd bones, a task performed here with great aplomb by Principal Museum Scientist Mark Goodwin (left) and then Museum Director Dr. Jere Lipps (right).
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Each cast of each bone had to be washed, tooled, and painted by hand, a task done by UC undergraduate Tina Athena Trakadas (in this picture) and by the entire crew.
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The skeleton's pose was worked out in the laboratory with a model before actual construction began. Each cast of the fossil was then cut and drilled to accommodate an internal framework of steel tubing. This was fabricated in the workshop and then assembled in place.
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Mark Goodwin welds the frame.
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Bob Cooper, of Industrial Light and Magic, and Mark Goodwin position the tibia and fibula.
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Mark prepares to mount the skull. As bone after bone is added, the skeleton begins to take shape.
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T. rex begins to attract attention from building inhabitants and passers-by.
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Finished! Tyrannosaurus rex keeps watch over the Wallace Atrium of the Valley Life Sciences Building.
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And there's more — over the head of Tyrannosaurus rex glides the skeleton of Pteranodon, a pterosaur or flying
reptile. The Pteranodon was assembled in the preparation laboratory and is seen here as the crew prepares to hang it from the ceiling.
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Expo Home
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Meet T. rex
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T. rex Art
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