The molding and casting facility at the Wyoming Dinosaur Center allows our staff to create detailed reproductions of the fossils using materials that are lighter and more stable than the original bone. Many fossils are quite fragile and fragmentary upon discovery, and more often than not, dinosaur skeletons are incomplete due to erosion, decay, scavenging, and how the much of the animal was buried. Molding and casting allows WDC personnel to “fill in the gaps” when we are mounting a specimen for display.The molds are made out silicone which has been poured around the external surface of the bone. The silicone conforms to the shape of the bone and picks up the surface detail of the fossil. For small fossils, top and bottom molds are made around the specimen and then the bone is removed. The halves of the mold are then fit together with a spout left open for pouring the cast material into the empty mold. For larger molds, hard plastic overmolds hold the silicone around the shape of the fossil.

The Wyoming Dinosaur Center uses plastic and expanding plastic foam to create our casts from the silicone molds. The plastic is light, strong, and shapeable; all three of these properties help when we are mounting a dinosaur that is missing portions of the skeleton. The smaller bones are poured in solid plastic, and the larger pieces are poured using expanding plastic foam. This reduces the weight of the larger pieces, while reproducing the exact shape and surface of the fossil.

Aside from producing large casts for mounted specimens, our molding and casting facility also produces individual reproductions of the unique and interesting specimens that we have discovered at our dig sites. Teeth, claws, toes and skull elements from several species, as well as other reproductions, are available for purchase at the WDC gift shop and at our online store.