Created in partnership with Enjoy Illinois and the Illinois Obscura Society. 

Benld, Illinois seems like an improbable place for sauropods, raptors and Dracorex hogwartsias to roam. However, the bucolic 1,500-person town is home to Charlie McGrady’s Studio, which works with paleontologists to produce very accurate reproductions of dinosaurs using fiberglass and precise sculpting, texturing and painting techniques.

Their tagline is “For All Your Dinosaur Needs,” and that really says it all.

These are not your giant orange T-Rexes from the miniature golf course: these guys are enormous and detailed enough to make you wonder if they’re breathing. The finished product often finds its way into museums, such as the pterodactyl that flies over Sue the T-Rex’s head at the Field Museum in Chicago. The video above provides a rare peek into the world of Illinois’s finest dino studio. 

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