As I write this, I'm just back from my one-item bucket list trip of a lifetime the Chicago Field Museum, the best museum in the nation/ continent/ world. I got to spend a day there, which was just enough to cover most of the good stuff, and of course, I planned on bringing at least one dino home. Naturally, the actual result ended up being the most outdated and proportionately most expensive stuff they had, because what's the fun in writing about paleo stuff that's actually good? To kick things off, here's a few pics from the museum.
For the backstory, it turns out these machines are from the 1960s, which in hindsight was obvious from the dinos themselves. Per the fountain of all knowledge Wikipedia, the machines were developed and patented by John H. "Tike" Miller as a sort of analog-era 3D printer. They could create a toy/ souvenir/ thingy on the spot by injecting hot plastic into a mold. The final product was a hollow, lightweight object that could be produced in under a minute, originally from a choice of two sculpts per machine. In 1962, working machines were put in service by the Automated Retailers of America (now Aramark). In their finest hour, the machines became part of the Sinclair Oil Dinoland exhibit at the 1964 World's Fair, featuring fabulously dated versions of T. rex, Triceratops, Stegosaurus, Ankylosaurus, Corythosaurus and Brontosaurus (see also the 1964 Fair ultimate website, my title not theirs). Alas, the machines were withdrawn from service by 1971, but soon got a new lease on life as at least two companies started buying up machines, molds and parts. Needless to say, they remain in service to this day. As I discovered, at least four are at the Field Museum. Here's more pics of the product.
"Knowing me, knowing you, it's the best that we can do... Oh coprolite, we're older than ABBA."
Of these two, the first one I got was the sauropod/ Brontosaurus, marked Apatosaurus on the base. I had seen a video of one of the machines before, so I tried this one out right at the start of the tour. The dino came out quite hot, and I believe I put him in a travel bag before he cooled down. Unfortunately, that meant I had to carry him around in a travel bag while regularly checking whether he had imploded in the meantime. As it turned out, the only real condition issue was what initially looked like a series of scratches on the right hind leg. in the following days, I discovered that this was really a thin film I could peel away, to reveal what had to be air pockets in the plastic. Here's a detail shot where this should be visible.
Later in the day, I gave in and paid for the T. rex. By then, I had worked out that the things are supposed to be held while they cool (upside down by official instructions!), so he came out better. I think there are signs of the air pockets, and on very close inspection I found a promising hairline fracture in the base. Speaking of, here's how the undersides looked after my best efforts to remove flash and extra protrusions.
All in all, the Brontosaurus/ Apatosaurus is still good enough even now. His tail drags, and the legs seem to be edging toward the sprawling lizard posture that lingered into at least the early 1900s, yet he is upright, presumably on land, in a dynamic pose that makes him look reasonably sensitive and alert. The Rex, on the other hand, is goofy even by 1950s/ '60s standards (though maybe not quite as much as the original
Marx Tyrannosaurus), but still somewhat interesting. Meanwhile, I looked into the other machines. One was just a gorilla, so I saved my money. But then I got back to a machine that was quite different, offering a clearly modern sculpt of
Quetzalcoatlus. Here's a few pics of him.
To give further context and perspective, here's a scale shot of the Rex with the
Truckstop Queen and
Sidekick Carl. Pretty much as expected, he's a lot taller than Carl, still quite a bit shorter than Kate. Of course, the odds are relatively high that female tyrannosaurs were bigger.
I know it looks like I propped up Carl against the dino, but they really aren't even that close together.
I then decided to pose them with their near-contemporary Marx counterparts, the "potbelly" rex and the Brontosaurus (first featured back in the
patchisaurs post). That did yield some surprises. The hollow Sinclair dinos are definitely larger overall, which undoubtedly improved their appeal at the time. However, the Marx Brontosaurus is still about the same length. So, still awesome!
And that's enough for me to wrap this up, though I have plenty more material from the museum and the trip. To wind down, here's a few shots of the actual gift shop.
Wait, how did I not get this one???
That's all for now, more to come!
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