Photo by Rebecca Barnett | The Roanoke Times. At 4DD Studios on Shenandoah Avenue, Walter Street works on Ann Glover's "Trojan Dog" sculpture. The sculpture, originally wood and intended for temporary display, is being recast in foam core and hard plastic for permanent display on Memorial Avenue in Grandin Village.

Residents of Roanoke’s Raleigh Court neighborhood might be wondering what happened to the stylized giant dog that sat by the Memorial Avenue firehouse.

“I get calls all the time about, what happened to the dog?” said Susan Jennings, Roanoke’s arts and culture coordinator.

That big dog will be returning, in a new, improved incarnation. Lately, the new version of the sculpture keeps company with a Pegasus. A giant model of a human heart. A gargoyle.

This wonderland of curious objects is 4DD Studios, which hides inside a plain warehouse along Shenandoah Avenue Northwest, across from Varney Inc. electrical company.

Founded by Bedford County fabricator Clinton Hatcher, 4DD makes custom three-dimensional objects out of foam, plastic and other materials.

“We’re a resource for fabricating unusual items,” Hatcher said.

Their creations have ended up in the backyards and garages of well-heeled customers — and in places like the Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center and the Pentagon.

The first piece 4DD created, when Hatcher started the business six years ago in Goodview, was the life-size memorial to Ruby the Tiger at Mill Mountain Zoo.

The latest animal to receive the 4DD treatment is Roanoke sculptor Ann Glover’s “Trojan Dog.”

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