---
title: "CFDC uses 3D printing to reconstruct 9-metre Styxosaurus skeleton"
url: https://www.voxelmatters.com/cfdc-uses-3d-printing-to-reconstruct-9-metre-styxosaurus-skeleton/
date: 2026-03-08
modified: 2026-03-08
lang: en
author: "Joseph Caron-Dawe"
description: "A small team of four at the Canadian Fossil Discovery Centre (CFDC) in Morden, Manitoba, is making an extensive effort to reconstruct a 9-metre Styxosaurus skeleton using 3D printing technology..."
categories:
  - "3D Modeling"
  - "3D Printing Processes"
  - "3D Scanning and Metrology"
  - "Case Studies"
tags:
  - "future"
image: https://www.voxelmatters.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/CFDC-Lab-Technician-Gerry-Peters-Volunteer-Ted-Nelson-and-CFDC-Executive-Director-Adolfo-Cuetara-e1772927947616-640x400.jpg
word_count: 428
---

# CFDC uses 3D printing to reconstruct 9-metre Styxosaurus skeleton

A small team of four at the [Canadian Fossil Discovery Centre (CFDC)](https://discoverfossils.com/) in Morden, Manitoba, is making an extensive effort to [reconstruct a 9-metre Styxosaurus skeleton using 3D printing technology](https://www.voxelmatters.com/opalized-dinosaur-fossil-studied-using-3d-printing-technology/) – running five machines continuously for three months to date to produce the hundreds of components required.

The specimen, a long-necked marine plesiosaur unearthed in 1983 on a farm near Miami, Manitoba, had spent nearly five decades in the museum's storage. The CFDC holds the largest collection of marine reptile fossils in Canada.

## A multi-stage digital workflow

The reconstruction relies on three types of [software to scan fossil pieces](https://www.voxelmatters.com/thor-3d-introduces-new-scanning-software/), identify missing elements, digitally rebuild those parts, and prepare files for printing. Scanned files required conversion into a printer-compatible format before production could begin.

![Canadian Fossil Discovery Centre uses 3D printing to reconstruct 9-metre Styxosaurus skeleton](https://www.voxelmatters.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/Ted-Nelson-a-volunteer-at-the-Canadian-Fossil-Discovery-Centre-with-a-3D-printer-340x255.webp)Ted Nelson, one of the volunteers at the Canadian Fossil Discovery Centre

“Once you have all of that, then you have to put it all together,” stated Adolfo Cuetara, Executive Director of the CFDC. “That requires a lot of steel work with welding and putting bracket supports inside the bones to be able to put the skeleton together, and then another long process is to do the textures and the colours to imitate the original bones in the skeleton.”

Installing the completed skeleton has presented additional logistical constraints, as the specimen's size exceeded the museum's available workspace. The team designed a corner-mount solution to accommodate it.

“I think it's going to be a very spectacular display at the end,” Cuetara said.

## An in-house model other museums avoid

The CFDC conducted the reconstruction entirely in-house — a practice Cuetara said was rare even among national institutions. External reconstruction services were estimated to cost approximately $120,000. 

![Canadian Fossil Discovery Centre uses 3D printing to reconstruct 9-metre Styxosaurus skeleton](https://www.voxelmatters.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/Ted-Nelson-stands-with-fossils-at-the-Canadian-Fossil-Discovery-Centre-340x255.webp)Nelson with fossils at the CFDC

The CFDC team consists of two employees and two volunteers: lab technician Gerry Peters and volunteer Will Kalinowski handle texturing and painting, while volunteer Ted Nelson manages 3D printing workflows, and Cuetara oversees design, welding, and structural support.

Nelson, whose background spans geology and computer science, described the scope of the work as “all-encompassing and consuming. I spend an enormous amount of time on it, but I enjoy it. It's a good thing to do to keep your mind nimble”.

“We want to reconstruct and to display our own specimens, and that's why we acquire all this equipment, and why we are making this huge effort,” added Cuetara.

The team plans to unveil the completed Styxosaurus in late March or early April, pending final installation in a glass display case with a painted backdrop and interpretive panels.