By MIKE CORN

mcorn@dailynews.net

The clock is ticking. But no one has panicked -- yet.

That likely will come Friday, on the eve of the opening of what very well could be the biggest exhibit ever for the world-famous Sternberg Museum of Natural History.

Greg Walters, in fact, already is planning his version of "Night at the Museum." But it won't be a night of frivolity when the exhibits come to life and parade around the great hall.

Walters, Sternberg's exhibits director, will be spending Friday night -- and Saturday morning -- putting the final touches on T. rex cetera: Dinosaurs and Other Monsters of the Mesozoic.

That's because the massive display will open to the public at 9 a.m. Saturday. Walters plans to leave -- after his overnight stay -- sometime after the exhibit opens.

This is no simple display, considering it contains more than 70 fossil cast reproductions that are in the private collection of a Kentucky collector.

It will be the first time -- ever -- the reproductions will be together in a single exhibit.

It is something of a coup for Sternberg to get the collection, and have the ability to display it for the next 10 months.

The collection is anchored by two huge displays, so big in fact, they could not fit inside the Hansen Gallery where the bulk of the exhibit will be.

"The problem we have with them is ceiling height," he said.

As a result, they have been placed outside the gallery, in the hallway, if you will, where there is room. School children from Cimarron on Wednesday were wowed by the sheer size of Stan the Tyrannosaurus rex and an Archelon, a giant sea turtle.

Stan is the second most complete T. rex ever discovered. The first, of course, is Sue -- of "A T. rex Named Sue" exhibit that graced the halls of Sternberg for a short two months in 2001.

Sue's short stint at Sternberg brought more than 100,000 people. Of course, she had celebrity status after the federal government seized her from her collectors, who eventually faced criminal charges. Sue also was auctioned off by Sotheby's, fetching $8.4 million. She now is on permanent display at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago.

Both Stan and Sue were excavated by the Black Hills Institute of Geological Research, located in Hill City, S.D.

As well, the Archelon -- perhaps Walters' favorite -- was excavated by Black Hills. A sea turtle, it stretches 17 feet from "flipper tip to flipper tip," Walters said.

Stan impresses Walters, but he uses it to explain why Sternberg uses replicas rather than the true fossilized remains of dinosaurs. The sheer weight of such a fossil, he said, would crash through the floor. As well, the original fossil would require external mounts.

"You're able to get a more lifelike exhibit with casts," he said.

The fossils come from the private collection of Dr. Jack Hankla, a Danbury, Ky., dentist who became interested in paleontology and fossil collection.

In addition to the fossil casts that will be on display at Sternberg, Hankla owns land in Wyoming, purchased so he and his son, John, can go fossil hunting.

His son is a graduate student in Colorado, doing research in paleontology.

T. rex cetera -- just the name of the display and not to be confused with scientific names of dinosaurs -- will outlive Sue's appearance.

And Walters hopes it will outpace Sue's attendance record.

It should, he thinks.

Sue was a single cast of a T. rex, along with nine interactive displays.

"This show has 40 complete skeletons, plus 35 other things," he said.

The display will span the Mesozoic era, the three geologic eras when dinosaurs roamed the earth. It includes the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous.

Dinosaurs, however, are not the only items on display.

There will be marine reptiles, the long- and short-necked plesiosaurs that made the Cretaceous-era inland sea famous, and there will be flying reptiles, the pteranodons, that Kansas is famous for.

There will be a velociraptor -- made famous and a bit larger than real life in "Jurassic Park." But the Utahraptor, a larger and more ferocious relative also will be on display.

Some of Sternberg's collection also will be on display, complementing the casts that came from Hankla's collection.

Standing out will be the Niobrarasaurus -- Kansas' very own dinosaur -- that will greet visitors into the display.

"It's never been on display before," Walters said.

T. rex cetera: Dinosaurs and Other Monsters of the Mesozoic will open to the public at 9 a.m. Saturday at Sternberg Museum of Natural History. It will remain on display through March 29.

Sternberg is open from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and from 1 to 7 p.m. Sunday. The museum is closed Mondays.

Admission is $6 for adults and $4 for youth ages 4 to 12 and anyone older than 60. Memberships are available at various levels.

Those memberships provide free admission to Sternberg and 250 other museums worldwide.