Re: crafts project -- advice sought

["Cunningham, Betty" <bcunning@nssi.com>]

 >a) Is it scientifically accurate/acceptable to show the tail
    >of a Tyrannosaurus Rex bent around and along side it's 
    >body?
    no.  Why don't you stop trying to do a side view and 
    switch to a front view? The head looks especially fierce 
    this way. And it fits vertically better.
    
 >b) Is it scientifically accurate/acceptable to show a
    >Tyrannosaurus Rex "running", i.e., bent over with its 
    >head/neck extended horizontally and it's legs in a "running" 
    >position?
    depends. Farlow, et all (you're welcome) suggest that T rex 
    mearly walked much faster with an extended stride.  If you 
    want to include the latest and greatest, try that.  If you 
    listen to Bakker, they ran and leaped, and did jumping jacks, 
    and-oh, all that other stuff.  If you wanna make it 'cool' 
    try it like the run in JP.(low and straight out)
    
 >c) Is it scientifically accurate/acceptable to show the tail of
    >a Brachiosaur bent around and along side its body?
    sort of, mostly the end was that flexible, the rest seems to have been 
    rather heavily re-inforced.  Again, try a front or rear view to create 
    vertical-ness.
    
 >d) Is it scientifically accurate/acceptable to show the neck and
    >head a Brachiosaur bent in any of the following positions -- 
    >looking over to one side, looking behind it, or head/neck 
    >extended as if "running"?
    probably, except the running part.  They could certainly 
    extend the head forwards, but many argue about whether the 
    heart would allow changes in pressure that swinging the head 
    about might cause.
     
 >e) Do you know where can I find a scientifically accurate
    >rendition (either a 2-D picture or 3-D model) of?
    by rendition, do you mean restoration?  Or bones 
    only?
    
    >i) ankylosaur
     Winter 1995 Dinosaur Report-art by Greg Paul
    
    >ii) dimetrodon
    not sure-there is a very nice cast in the Academy of Science in San
    Francisco (of Howard the Duck fame-the museum, not the cast)
   
    >iii) duck-bill dinosaur
    Digging Dinosaurs-by Lessem and Horner (I think)
  
 >f) I've chosen the following dinosaurs so far, based partly on
    >familiarity and partly on their having widely differing 
    >silhouettes so that when reduced to the size of a fork 
    >handle, they can still be distinguished from each other.  
    >Can you recommend any others with really distinctive shapes?
   
   if you are doing prehistoric animals not excluding the plesiosaurs and 
   pteradactyls, why not an ichthyosaur?