Dunkleosteus Model: Gorgeous New One from PNSO

 

Review: PNSO Dunkleosteus

PSNO is a scientific art shop in China, and their new Dunk is certainly a work of art. This vinyl model, just over 25 cm (~10 inches), was created at approximately 1/24 scale (PNSO does not specify). It's wonderfully organic-looking: suspend it in a fish tank, and people who don’t know fish well may assume it’s one of the live inhabitants.  The head, in particular, is a terrific piece of work. The head tilts up while the lower jaw swings down, offering a more realistic simulation of the Dunk’s feeding mechanism than any other model.

The paint job is lovely and believable. The subtly textured skin, with larger wrinkles where they should be, is another feature making this look like a moving, living animal.  The surface texture is carried all over the model, with no skimping on the underside, and the armor, muscles, and other structures under the skin look realistic as well.

The fins are ok, given that we don’t know their exact shape or location on the living animal. I think the pectoral fins look just a few millimeters too far forward, but there are other models and illustrations showing them like this.  The pecs also have a plausible near-triangular look instead of the weird coelacanth-like shapes we see on some models. I think the sharklike tail is almost right, just a bit unbalanced. I would have made the upper lobe a little shorter vertically and the lower lobe slightly  larger and stouter.  EDIT: I've been informed by a paleontologist Christian Klug that fossils from Morocco show the dorsal fin starts right behind the pectoral girdle, so it SHOULD be further forward.  

A unique thing is that this model, being vinyl and sturdy and thus suitable as a toy as well as a collectible, has a backstory. Its name (the sex is not given) is Zaha. Zaha, the text tells us in first person, is about 6 m long and considers itself, justifiably, the invincible ruler of the seas. It wonders, though, why its friends (it's odd to imagine a Dunk with friends) are getting fewer.

This is a magnificent addition to the fleet of Dunks available today.  It may be my new favorite among all the vinyl models.