This is the only *complete* disarticulated full skeleton I've been able to find for under $500, and I was expecting it to be rather poor quality, but since I plan to use it for an exercise in assembling a skeleton from the bones, with the risk of damaging parts in the process, I didn't want to spend a lot. If you are looking for an affordable, complete and well-detailed set of bones & major structural cartilage, you will probably like this product.
Good points:
+ Low price. Only Anatomical Chart Company's is lower, but their skeleton lacks several parts, as noted below.
+ The bones are quite well-detailed. They are cast in a hard plastic or PVC, not the soft melty PVC that 3B Scientific uses.
+ The skull is really, really well made. It actually makes the rest of the skeleton look a bit shabby in comparison. The calvarium is held on by magnets, not fragile little hooks, and the jaw articulation includes cartilage and springs mounted where the masseter muscles are.
+ This set includes all the intervertebral discs and the pubic symphysis in clear rubber (but see below), as well as the hyoid bone. This is in marked contrast to the disarticulated skeletons made by 3B Scientific (no discs) and Anatomical Chart Company (no discs, pubic symphysis, or hyoid!).
+ While all the bones came lumped together (except the tiny hand & foot bones, which were each in their own bags), the ribs and intervertebral discs are subtly numbered so you can figure out which ones go where (but the vertebrae themselves aren't).
+ The coccyx is a separate bone from the sacrum, which to me is a plus.
+ The skeleton came with a very nice color embossed poster of the skeletal system. (Unfortunately it got a little extra embossed—that is, dented—in shipping, but oh well!)
Bad points, mostly minor:
The right femur is obviously cast from a bad or misaligned mold—the head of the femur has a ridge going round instead of being a smooth ball. I may be able to file this down, but it's an unfortunate flaw in an otherwise nice product.
The foraminae of the cervical vertebrae, where the vertebral artery runs, are filled in with plastic. This is the only real detail flaw I've noted, and I can probably drill them open.
While the intervertebral discs are numbered, my set had a couple of duplicates—several #2s, but no #1 or #3. The #2s seem to fit fine in the first 3 spots, however. There was also no #7, but two #6s.
The vertebrae aren't numbered, as far as I can tell, so it was an exercise figuring out the order. Similarly the hand & foot bones aren't marked in any way so you have to figure out which little bit belongs to which finger or toe.
Odd points:
• Although the vetebral bodies are solid, the intervertebral discs have holes in the middle. Hey, at least you get them with this set!
• The last two bones of the little toes are fused on both the left & right foot. Maybe their model had fused bones, or maybe they did that in manufacturing because the bones are just so darn small.
• The scapulae are surprisingly small compared to other (articulated) skeleton models I've seen, and the ribs much thinner. I suspect that the makers of those other models made the ribs bigger so that they will hold up better. For me, this is a small problem as I won't be able to drill holes as large as I wanted to in the ribs. Probably not an issue for you!
Alternatives I've found under $1000 (yes, that's three zeros) are:
• Anatomical Chart Co. Full Disarticulated Budget Skeleton With Skull Item #: CHA5/1: Selling for about $110 on Amazon as I write this review, but does not include the hyoid bone, any intervertebral discs, nor the pubic symphysis.
• 3B Scientific A05/1 Disarticulated Full Human Skeleton: A shocking $310 from Amazon—more expensive than their articulated models! Includes hyoid and pubic symphysis, but no intervetrabral discs.
• Denoyer-Geppert disarticulated skeletons: Not available on Amazon as I write this review, and costing $500 and up from the maker. They include lots of extras that you may or may not want, such as both hands & feet disarticulated *plus* one of each strung on wire or nylon, and study kits. You can find these skeletons at http://www.denoyer.com/ and http://www.gtsimulators.com/ (discount reseller).There are a few bad ones but for the price its great. I'm in ontology and im always using it right now I even have my skull on my desk as decoration as well. Definitely refer people.
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