Tamiya 1/35 Triceratops Eurycephalus

Triceratops ranks among the most beloved types of dinosaurs.  The Triceratops has a reputation for being a docile herbivore, but it could easily defend itself when necessary.  The three horns and bony neck ridge of Triceratops would have made Tyrannosaurus think twice about picking a fight.  The scientific consensus tells us that Triceratops was one of the most recent dinosaurs to evolve, with its oldest fossils dating to just five million years before the dinosaurs went extinct.

Most readers of this site are familiar with Tamiya’s line of 1/35 scale armor.  Perhaps Tamiya was motivated to add nature’s prehistoric battle tanks to the product line, as their dinosaur kits are molded in the same scale.

 Triceratops is a simple kit, consisting of fifteen parts molded in light gray styrene.  Surface texturing on the dinosaur’s skin is decent, but there’s a lot of room for the builder to get creative.  Tamiya doesn’t provide scales on the skin, aside from a few random lumps.  Details like toenails and pupils in the eyes will also need to be provided by the builder.

 Assembly should be pretty straightforward.  The seams where the limbs attach to the body will likely need the most attention. 

Dinosaur kits are a fun diversion from building models of planes, tanks and cars.  No IPMS judge can fault you for your choice of paints or your use of weathering.  A dinosaur kit is a canvas on which your imagination can run wild.  It can be a quick and relaxing build, or the basis for a very detailed, lifelike replica.

 How does Tamiya’s Triceratops stack up to other dino kits on the market?  The only thing I can compare it to is my fond memories of the Lindberg (ex-Pyro) Dimetrodon, which I built with my father back when I was a boy.  In comparison, the Tamiya kit is more realistic in its appearance, and avoids the hollow head and empty mouth of the Lindberg kit.

 Tamiya’s Triceratops, at 1/35 scale, is a bit smaller than the dino kits from other manufacturers.  In that sense, it probably won’t look as impressive in the eyes of the younger builders who make up the kit’s target audience.  Still, it’s a nicely molded and inexpensive kit that promises a different experience from the models people are used to building. 

1. “Triceratops.”  Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triceratops

2. Jenkins, Ian & Adrian Chesterman.  The Big Golden Book of Dinosaurs.  Golden Books, 2000.

3. Numerous other beautifully-illustrated dinosaur books that consumed my free time during my childhood

Mark Soppet

October 2008