@Miniaturezoo954
I must say that I am totally amazed by your project! I have never heard about anything even close to it. What an absolutely fantastic idea! You simply MUST keep us continually updated when you start setting up the model - PLEASE show us as many pictures as possible! And please show us pictures of the primate house as soon as you get it delievered.
What is the scale you are using? Don´t think you have mentioned that?
@Miniaturezoo954: thank you for the nice comments on my zoo reviews. I, like many others, am incredibly curious in your apparently massive project. If you've spent $80,000 dollars on it then the attention to detail must be amazing. How old are you Danny? I can't wait until later this year when you start to put all of your pieces together.
@Miniaturezoo954
By the way, I see now that you have indirectly told us about the scale used in the project, since you mention about the figurines that "...the average human is 4 inches tall...".
Dear Dan, you are right about the scale, is a little unique, i try my best to stay faithfull to it, but realistic like most large scales, not everything is in scale, i look at it like this, if it looks realistic enough, then i can work with it. The dollhouse scale of 1:12 uses figures of 5 inches, me in the other hand use 3/4 scale 1:16 so you were right on the money. The problem is that when you get into this large scales, what is realistic and what is not, becomes confusing, an example, than banyan tree is a giant, but in true scale it probably would have been much taller, and wider, but this is just not possible, same case with the buildings etc, everything could, would have been much bigger.
The smaller items are the ones to me that seem to be very well in scale, and then i run into my next problem the small birds, my zoological stock on birds is really large since i enjoy them a great deal in real zoos, so for detail reasons, and to be able to make certain species, for small birds the scale goes up a bit to 1:12, or 5 inches, not much, but the necessary for you to appreciate the detail in this gorgeous figures. I will take a couple of pics of some species, for you to see how detailed they are, i have a bird collection that rivals that of any zoo, and still have about 200 species more in a list that with time i will have made, the issue is that now all of this species are custom made and it comes about 40usd per bird, only small species, large birds are much more expensive, like the pair of King vultures that i will receive in a couple of weeks cost about 200 usd, the custom figures become really expensive but they are my favorite, since most are unique, and the artist makes them from pics i send him, so the pose is also unique.
Dear snowleopard: thank you, it is my pleasure, yes the project is a quite ambitious, and that becomes a problem at times, but i wouldn't want it any different, when i'm finish with it, i would love nothing more than for the attention to detail to be spectacular, it will take time and many hours of work to make everything blend in, but eventually just like real life zoos, it will take shape, too bad, that i can't buy small plants and trees, and let them grow with time, much like the tropical america area of miami metrozoo (no pun intended), i will keep you up to date, and as soon as i get the first large building i will take pics and post them here.
Dear snowleopard i did not answer your question about my age i'm 27, and i bet there is members of all ages in this forum, am i right? i spend about 4 to 6 hours a day in zoo related activities, like online research, field research, and a lot of dreaming and drawing, i get an idea like every other minute, but most never see the light of day, only the real good ones.
Hopefully i can get some real good info and advice from you, since your experiences must be very different in some cases than mines, so would love to share info.
Dear snowleopard i did not answer your question about my age i'm 27, and i bet there is members of all ages in this forum, am i right? i spend about 4 to 6 hours a day in zoo related activities, like online research, field research, and a lot of dreaming and drawing, i get an idea like every other minute, but most never see the light of day, only the real good ones.
Hopefully i can get some real good info and advice from you, since your experiences must be very different in some cases than mines, so would love to share info.
Thanks for the info on my scale question. I checked up the German Schleich company that you menttioned you have bought figurines from. Would you care to mention other sources for your supply? Which artist/company is making your primate house model? Does the artist/company have a web page?
I am very fascinated and thrilled by the concept of "models" - like it a lot. I love to watch architectural models, landscape models etc. Please promise to keep us updated in every possible way about your incredible and unique project!
You can count on it Dan, not only would i keep you guys informed, but i will ask for your help from time to time as for the designed of the buildings, sadly the artist that makes me the structures does not have a website, he should, but he is a very simple men, extremely talented, and i can't wait to see his work on this building, as far as other makers of animals, a huge bulk of my collection comes from japan as well, companies like colorata, and kaiyodo, and for the last couple of years i have been very involved in the custom work for a couple talented individuals again with no real website or reference catalog, i do a lot of research and attend many fairs etc, to find the talent in the areas i need, my landscape artist is Marilyn lauffer, she is in my and many others opinions North America's finest miniature landscape artist, her strong point, are magestic trees, so real you think your eyes are playing a trick on you, i currently have on order with her two large species:
pohutukawa tree: a new zealand species
african baobab: the specimen that i have order from her, will be with foliage, and extremely large, in the future i will want one without foliage as well.
I was also lucky enough, that on a trip to japan i found a store that sold a very large collection of tropical plants in miniature, and in the 1:12 scale, so as you probably imagined, i bought as many as i could, i regret not buying the entire store, but my capital did not allowed it, still i was able to come out with close to 200 species, and lots of doubles, i remember i went back the next day to the same store for more of them, after sitting in the hotel room staring at the ones i bought, a very large collection of tropical asia, tropical america and tropical africa species.
Because of the extensive collection of tropical species i have been able to put together, my zoo will have a sub-tropical feel much like San diego, but a layout much similar to antwerp or even Berlin to a degree, This will create a challenge for cold climate animals, Sometime in the future i will like to have an aquarium building built for the zoo (together with a reptile building) this would be a massive structure, and for what i have draw and calculated already would have to come in 6 different parts for me to able to carry it, for this structure i have in mind a different artist, an extremely talented carpenter from Cuba, who is a relative, and will arrive in the states for good, this year, i have already talked about it with him, and he will assist me with this great project, since it will be the largest of any other building, what i have in mind is a 6 piece gigantic structure (still not sure how big, depending on available space) that will combine, an aquarium, the zoo entrance, a gift shop, a restaurant, and a reptile building, of course this is still in a very early stage of planing so, everything could change.
One thing i love about some european zoos, is the mixing of very old, historical arquitectural buildings, with some very modern installations in the park, the primate building i will be getting is got that old world, historical look, and the massive aquarium, entrance, etc project i want it to be a futuristic, magestic structure: like the valencia aquarium comes to mind, or the sydney opera house, but about 4 different buildings, coming in 6 separate parts, that when together seem like one set. That is why i will have to use the cuban carpenter for this job, since a project this massive using my current artist, would be impossible because of cost, for me of course. I will need the help of the most experienced members (those of you who want to be a part of the designing project) to help me come up with a good design, for this structure, i want something modern, but something that could be of this earth, not a science fiction movie. I allways envisioned the structure with a pearl color, and lots of windows, large glass (similar material) pannels, and a very detailed interior, and exterior, since the actual views of real people will be mostly from outside, imagine how can include, Orcas, dolphins, walruses and many other species in this building, and make it look realistic (you would be able to see this exihbits from inside the building) and practical (we need to see them from outside) it will be a big challenge, but that is yet to come, i just plan in advance a lot, especially with a project this big.
