'Something special': Massive T. rex snow sculpture towers over Labrador City

This isn't your average snowman.

Instead, Brian Brace has decided to construct a spectacular Tyrannosaurus rex snow sculpture of gigantic proportions.

The dino stands more than five metres high on Brace's Labrador City property, near the intersection of Amherst and Hudson.

The sculpture was carved out of five tonnes of compacted snow and crafted by Brace, with the help of family and friends, by constructing metal scaffolding to climb the height.

Even though we're going through a correction in the local economy, I kind of wanted to build something special.- Brian Brace

And of course, a lot of snow.

"There's a field across the street so we used a loader to fill it up cause if you have salt and stuff and sand in the snow it deteriorates the sculpture really fast," Brace said.

This massive dinosaur is a first for Brace, who said he has never made a snow sculpture before.

Considering the proportions of the project, it has been a large labour of love for him.

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"I'm not sure the hours, but me and my team have been working on it quite a bit, with me doing most of the sculpting," Brace said.

And it hasn't all been easy.

It's taken some trial and error to get it right, meaning the sculpting has been a design-as-you-go process.

"The first layer of the form collapsed so we had to re-engineer," Brace said.

Still work to be done

Brace plans to give the T. rex some colour before it's done by using food colouring — a lot of food colouring — and a spray gun to paint it.

It's been a learning experience, I tell ya, because it fell apart the first time.- Brian Brace

"We're doing testing now just to see how much, it'll probably be a gallon or so I guess," said Brace.

As of Thursday the sculpture is still under construction, but Brace anticipates to be finished it by next week — if the weather co-operates.

"It's been a learning experience, I tell ya, because it fell apart the first time," he said.

The community response has been huge, and Brace said the level of interest has him already planning for next year.

"It's quite wonderful actually, even though we're going through a correction in the local economy I kind of wanted to build something special," Brace said.

"People are coming by with coffees and words of encouragement, it's just been great."