Not all anatomical models are created equal. It's something of a bug-a-boo for people like me who want and need a good "average" model to refer to. You'd think a good quality model would be all that's needed, but no. Instead, I'm becoming a collector of models because they all seem to have their good and bad points. Here's an example -- below is a good quality skull model purchased from Sawbones Orthopaedic and Medical Models (my first skull model and the one that set me on my search for an "average" model). Note the severely protruding maxilla and nasal bone. I'm guessing this is not a caucasion skull, but the Sawbones company doesn't specify the ethnicity and markets this skull simply as "Full Skull, Normal Anatomy" --

Here's my recent ecorche' model purchase, which better reflects the skulls I see pictured in anatomy books. The maxilla and nasal bone are much less pronounced. The flaw in this skull is on the other side (not pictured here) where the zygomatic arch has been curiously removed --

This guy below is from a 33.5-inch (half-size) full skeleton model purchased from www.skeletonmodels.com. Not a bad model comparatively, but the ramus of the mandible is unusually thick. Everytime I look at it I want to get a knife and scrape it down to size. I'm guessing it's thick like that just to make the model stable and reduce the possibility of breakage. But in doing so, they've deviated from normal anatomy, and so I've nicknamed this model, "Massive jaw Jim" --

Here's a skull from another full skeleton model -- this one is an 18" tall model that's supposed to be very accurate, designed by Leon Schlossberg from Johns Hopkins University Press, but it has it's share of flaws and inaccuracies like all the rest (not least of which is the very small size of the model itself). The most flat-faced of all the models I have, with a very pointy chin. But because of the tiny size and the ill-fitting plastic parts (not to mention a few other gross inaccuracies) I rarely refer to this model while working -