Go behind the scenes of our upcoming marine exhibition Moana – My Ocean to see our life size sharks being created in a Miramar workshop.

“If you’re someone that’s surprised to hear there are sharks in the Hauraki Gulf then you don’t know Auckland.”

So says shark expert Clinton Duffy, a marine scientist with the Department of Conservation and one of a team of scientists and technical specialists that have contributed to Auckland Museum’s major new marine exhibition Moana – My Ocean.

In the first of these “behind the scenes” blogs for Moana – My Ocean we’re giving you a look at the model-making process that went into creating four life-size shark replicas that appear in the Hauraki Gulf section of the exhibition, alongside real shark specimens and large scale 2-D illustrations.

The incredibly realistic specimen models created especially for Moana – My Ocean are of a Great White, Mako, Thresher and Bronze Whaler.

Wellington-based company Human Dynamo Workshop took on the challenge of creating these models and has spent three months perfecting the form and detail of each one to give visitors a true sense of what they’d see if they came face-to-face with these incredible animals.

Modelling a mako shark

Co-Director Sue Dorrington described the project as being at the “demanding end of model making” because the sharks have to be scientifically true to type.

Last month we went behind the scenes to film the shark making in progress at Human Dynamo’s fabrication facilities in Miramar Wellington.

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