Learning Resources Skeleton Model, Miniature Model, Easy to Manipulate, 41-Piece Model, Ages 8+

I bought this little skeleton to help me review bone parts for Anatomy and Physiology. I didn't want to spend much money because the class and all the required textbooks already had cost a lot. I was impressed with the amount of detail. While it is certainly not like the full scale models, you can make out most if not all of the little bone parts (the condyles and the tubercles, even the crista gali and sella turcica) You kinda have to know what you are looking for, but that's why its good for review. I actually took the red and blue markings off the one half of the skeleton with nail polish remover(I dont know what they were for anyway!) Then I repainted each bone on one half and each bone part on the other half. It was like a 3D coloring book. As a study tool, it is worth the money. My kids (4 and 6) like him too, but I do not think it is sturdy enough for children or as a toy. Mine falls apart pretty easily with any movement. I though about glueing him together when I'm done.

It's small, like a toy. The way it's made doesn't allow the limbs to have full range of motion, but it has some movement. I'm studying Kinesiology, so I'm more curious about movement. What I really want is a full size skeleton with full range of motion, but those are super expensive. This little skeleton will have to do for now. For $15, it's cute enough to keep on your study desk to help with memorizing the major bones of the body. It makes a basic study buddy or a cute desk decoration.The pieces are very small and a bit fragile. I read some poor reviews on pieces breaking, so I was very careful when unpackaging and assembling. Nothing broke and it turned out just fine. It's a fun little thing to assemble.

The first thing that should be noted is: for a desktop-compatible-sized skeleton, this guy is amazing. He's got a lot of anatomical correctness to him, his pelvis is male (if you want a female, I recommend you look for a separate female pelvis as it's very hard to find a female skeleton model), his ribcage can come apart at least three different ways, and his spinal detail is incredible. I bought him for a drawing reference as it can be hard to locate a full-size skeleton or keep one in your room as they take up a lot of space.For my money, this guy was more than worth the cost. Now, there are some serious flaws with it: his hands lack thumbs. Yes, there are no thumbs on this skeleton. Whoever designed him either forgot to shorten the digits of the hands to accurately represent fingers or decided it wasn't important. Either way, while an inconvenience, it's not horrible to work around, there are plenty of skeletal hand references available. Despite the hand issue, his feet are pretty accurate. The next biggest flaw is how the lower arms connect to the upper. The upper arms settle nicely with the shoulder blades, but the lower arms hang very awkwardly in front of him when on his stand, and turn outwards, which is not representational to the human skeleton at all. This then turns his hands into the wrong position as well.The stand is plastic, though relatively well-made considering, but don't expect it to hold up well if you plan on being rough with it or disassembling it regularly. The jaw moves which is a plus, and they even put the sinuses inside the skull so you can see where they are. I did have to take an X-Acto blade to some connective prongs, as the molding spilled out or over in a few places, but it was easy to fix and they lock together well. Overall, this was a great buy, and he's a valuable addition to any desktop.

I ordered nearly all of the human anatomy set from this brand and this skeleton was the first one I assembled. The left clavicle popped out as I was assembling it, so now he’s got a permanent sternoclavicular luxation.I think the biggest issue of all though is that both his hands and feet have an extra phalange. Thumbs should only have 2, but there was definitely 3 on EVERY single digit. The plastic is thin enough that I just took a small pair of scissors to them to cut one off, but if you’re looking for this as a learning tool rather than an office decoration, keep this in mind.I was pleasantly surprised at some of the landmarks being present, especially the accuracy of the skull sutures!I also think I’ll have to do something funky to the stand in order for it to actually work, because right now it’s toppling over.But for the price, this is decent.

Sure, the thing is inexpensive. That said, it's cheaply built, extremely lightweight, and the brace that's supposed to hold the model up constantly falls. The base isn't heavy enough to hold down a Post-It note, let alone keep the skeleton from falling. I've remedied that by adding a couple of loops of masking tape to the bottom but I feel like I shouldn't have to do that. The slightest jostle or breeze (read: don't breathe on or near it within a 1m radius) knocks it over. I'm tellin' ya - the base weighs less than the model itself.I bought this as a reference for portrait drawings so I'm probably not the one to ask if it's 100 percent accurate but based on my prior education in various sciences, it seems to be pretty reliable. There are areas of the skeleton that are fused where it shouldn't be and you can easily see the seams from whatever mold this was popped out from. Oh, and it bends where it shouldn't and in other places where it should, it won't budge (posing is out of the question unless you weigh it down with something, which totally negates my uses for it).It's extremely easy to assemble and pretty foolproof. Even after all of the times this thing has fallen off of my drafting table (I'm an enthusiastic artist, I guess, LOL), it's still intact. That said, if you're looking for a decent model that will hold up over the years, I'd save the scratch until you can buy something a bit more sturdy. I'm rather bummed out because I was really hoping this would be adequate reference for my purposes but I'm going to have to heed my own advice and get a better model.