A massive stainless steel T-rex will call Penticton home next year.
Image Credit: SUBMITTED/Kevin Stone
August 02, 2021 - 7:00 AM
Penticton’s no Jurassic Park but that's not stopping a 15,000 pound T-rex from settling down in the community.
Kevin Stone, from the Chilliwack area, has always been fascinated with monsters. Always a fan of drawing, air brushing and being creative, Stone put aside his dreams of being an artist to raise a family and worked as a welder.
Then in 2004, he managed to blend his dreams and career together by creating one-of-a-kind stainless steel sculptures that are now showcased across North America.
His latest project, the chrome T-rex, will be nestled on private property but Okanagan residents will be able to see the massive creature up on a mountain when they look out across the beach in front of Salty’s Beach House in Penticton.
The owner of the statue lives in the Cayman Islands but has a property in Penticton.
“It’s been a lifelong dream of his to have a giant chrome T-rex,” Stone said. “You’ll be able to boat in front of it on the water in front of his property so it’ll be quite visible.”
It’s currently one of the biggest and most expensive project he’s done, he said. It’ll take him roughly 20 months to complete and will stand between 25 to 35 feet tall and 50 feet long, he said.
“Getting to do the king of all dinosaurs, the T-rex, and getting to do it out of such an amazing material like stainless steel, it’s awesome, I couldn’t ask for a better project,” he said.
He’s hoping to have the dinosaur's head completed in time for the Big Boys Toys exhibition show in Las Vegas in November. Afterwards, he’ll construct the frame using a mobile platform on wheels over the winter and he’ll build the inner structure to hold all the skin in early spring.
“By this time next year, I should be skinning the dinosaur,” he said. “There’s lots of polishing and lots of work to do in that process.”
One of his other favorite projects was a 50-foot tall eagle he created for Dolly Parton down in Tennessee, he said.
To see more of Stone’s work, visit his social media channels or his website.
Kevin Stone created this eagle for Dolly Parton's Dollywood in 2011.
Image Credit: SUBMITTED/Kevin Stone
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