Tamiya 28501 Fukuiraptor: the dinosaur that put Fukui on the modeling map

When Tamiya put a Fukuiraptor in the catalog, the first question was obvious: why this dinosaur, and not a T. rex or a Velociraptor everyone already knows? The answer starts at a construction site in Fukui in 1989. A worker building a dam noticed bones in the rock, took them to the local museum, and one of Japan’s most important paleontological finds of the 20th century began there. The Kitadani Formation did not yield only Fukuiraptor: Fukuisaurus, Fukuititan, Fukuivenator and other Early Cretaceous organisms, about 120 million years old, came out of the same beds.

The scientific name Fukuiraptor kitadaniensis arrived in 2000: the first new Japanese carnivorous dinosaur species to receive a formal name. “Thief of Fukui,” plus a reference to Kitadani. The type specimen is 4.7 meters long, but researchers treat it as not fully grown. Sharp teeth, large front claws, long hind legs: a megaraptoran theropod, not a dromaeosaurid like Velociraptor. Tamiya, which has long tied kits to local culture, chose this animal for the Clic Loc 1/35 series, with consulting from Dinosaur Institute, Ltd. and supervision by Soki Hattori (Fukui Prefectural University / Fukui Prefectural Dinosaur Museum).

Item 28501 is snap-together, 118 mm long, with a slide-molded head, crisp claws, a display base and human silhouettes for scale. It is not a racing kit. It is a desk model for people who want to understand the animal, not just assemble it. Tamiya says so plainly: the more you know about Fukuiraptor, the more interesting the model becomes. That is why they published a Q&A with paleontologists, not just a product sheet.

On the habitat, the official sources are clear: 120 million years ago the area was a low fluvial region with meandering rivers and ponds, a few degrees warmer than today, with ferns, cycads and conifers. Wet and dry seasons, no snow. On color, Tamiya does not invent: fossils keep no pigment. You can look at living reptiles and birds, at the environment, and decide. Some modelers stay with dull browns and greens; others go brighter. Both are fair, because nobody can tell you what a 120-million-year-old animal looked like.

What makes this kit special is not the parts list. It is the fact that a dinosaur found in a Fukui quarry ends up in a Tamiya box and, from there, on desks of people who may never have heard of Fukui. Before Kitadani, the prefecture was known for other things. Now, when Japanese dinosaurs come up, the thought goes there. A 118 mm plastic model as a bridge between a 1989 worksite and modeling today: that, more than the measurements, is the story.