A real, " River Monster "

Growing up in rural southern Illinois, I was fortunate enough to always be within a short walking or biking distance of a nice creek, pond or lake. Being that I've always been fascinated with reptiles and amphibians, (my first career dream was to become a herpetologist) I was in a great region to learn about such creatures from my daily adventures into the local waterways. As an adult, I still very much enjoy embarking down a dirty oil-lease road that leads to a muddy floodplain in search of creatures that live life in the local river systems. Many times as I walk through the creeks or drive by a marshy area I imagine a massive, lumbering behemoth of a creature out of time; intently plodding through shallow water in search of a meal. It's long and narrow head, raking side to side through the water in search of fish. It's scythe like forelimb claws eager to grasp a slimy, thrashing fish meal. I imagine a Suchomimus. A creature that lived many millions of years ago; a real River Monster.


I imagine the creature exactly as paleo artist, Charlie Mc Grady sculpted it. Charlie actually depicted the scene after the Suchomimus successfully pulled a gargantuan, prehistoric alligator gar type fish out of the waters, and is rightfully enjoying the spoils of it's efforts with the fish disemboweled on the slippery banks of a rocky waterway. But I always enjoy imagining the hunt. I first saw Charlie's sculpture of this 1/12 scale Suchomimus at a model kit convention called Wonderfest in Louisville, KY; maybe it was 2002 or so. Anyway, it wasn't until a few years ago that I purchased a resin casting of the piece from Charlie. Keep in mind that it's 36" long, 1/12 scale. Holding the resin kit is like holding a medium sized Iguana, imagine the proportions of the full-sized creature that lived in what is now Africa, many millions of years ago? 


  I'll leave you with some nice photos of  unpainted resin casting





   

          

 
   

Painted by Steve Riojas