Miniature Animal Figure Collection
- Thread starter ollielloyd
- Start date
I quite like that lionfish, very cool!I thought I had posted a photo on this thread of my (very small) collection, but it was actually on a different thread. But here it is below:
I don't collect them with any purpose - I just buy what I like the look of - so I don't care about scale or anything like that. I gave away a lot of my lesser ones which I didn't want any more.
Had a new figure arrive today, another Yowie. I was browsing through the pages of various Yowie offerings on Ebay, and came across a Horned Guan for only $2.80 plus a couple bucks shipping and went "why not." I'd been skeptical of whether I wanted the figure knowing the varying sculpt/paint quality from Yowie, but at that price I figured it was worth a shot. I was pleasantly surprised to discover the figure is better than it usually appears in photos, the detail and paint job are pretty good. The legs and tail being a solid block is a bit disappointing, and the base is rather large compared to the figure, but otherwise not bad at all.
(Much as I tried, the head looks worse than it actually does, for whatever odd reason.)
(Much as I tried, the head looks worse than it actually does, for whatever odd reason.)
Attachments
I just wish many of their figures were a bit bigger and better sculpted/painted...
Kakapo
Well-Known Member
Well, most of their figures are greatly oversized for my taste, including the horned guan (I did a smaller homemade one). For large animals however, size can be tiny. That's the problem of doing every species at similar size, they must match inside the chocolate!
But I agree that the sculpt and paint could be better. However, the USA yowies are already a great improvement in this respect compared to UK Yowies and overall AUS Yowies.
My favourite Yowes are the fossa, silky sifaka, Andean mountain cat and giant cuttlefish. These are the ones in my wishlist, as they match the size I want for my collection. However getting USA Yowies from Europe is very difficult and exceedenly expensive due to shipping costs.
But I agree that the sculpt and paint could be better. However, the USA yowies are already a great improvement in this respect compared to UK Yowies and overall AUS Yowies.
My favourite Yowes are the fossa, silky sifaka, Andean mountain cat and giant cuttlefish. These are the ones in my wishlist, as they match the size I want for my collection. However getting USA Yowies from Europe is very difficult and exceedenly expensive due to shipping costs.
And vice versa, I found a company with Southlands Red Kangaroo still in stock over in Italy for about $9 USD, but shipping and tariffs was going to be about $40! I think to date the only figures I've gotten from Europe are the two you did for me, it's just more than I'm willing to pay to ship over here on a general basis. Though I have multiple figures ordered from Canada, Australia, HK, South Korea, and Japan because I can get reasonable shipping!
Sounds like a long few years worth of trajectory .. Glad he's made it!
Eitherway,
I recently splurged a bit of money on a new assortment of Schleich's figures...
Of which I doubt that the majority are interesting to most ZooChatters given my increasing interest in collecting horses over wild fauna.
Here's a image of the new bunch!
Ignore my Burgers' sun bear plush, it's cute but not part of the collection..
The new additions are;
- Raccoon 14828 not the prettiest raccoon model out there, in fact I prefer my raccoon models (Raccoon 14624 and 14625 the three playing cubs) with their paintjob being more dark and more to my liking of a raccoon. I got this raccoon partially cause my friends and I are your average trash panda appreciaters and is somewhat a symbol of our friendship.
- Fennec fox 14845 was a cute pick-up that honestly, is too adorable NOT to bring home.. If there's one of these staring at your with those massive cute eyes in the shelves, how do you not give in.. after all, a green tagged Schleich's is only a few euros, somewhere between 3 or 4 I can't remember.
- Hammerhead shark 14835 is a really neat model in my opinion. I now have two fish in my collection, both sharks, the other being the Great White (14700). A fine addition to my collection as a certain General might say.
Now onto the ones that are probably the least ZooChat interesting;
- Giganotosaurus 15010 truth to be told, I bought this figurine with the upcoming Jurassic World Dominion movie in mind... I like the flashy colors and the pose makes it not super awkward to place on my shelf. Personally I don't mind inaccurate dinosaur models as I personally think that keeping a bit of inaccuracy adds to the mystery that I like about dinosaurs. We don't 100% know what they look like, so I won't pretend like I know how they looked, so I won't look for the most accurate models for my collection, I just collect the pretty flashy colored ones. In this sense I am very much a child I guess.
- Pura Raza Espanoñola mare and stallion 13922 13923 really just love how the horses look and pretty horses go home with me.
- Tinker or Cob stallion 13831 Draft horses like painted horses are my favorites of horses, so a tinker makes a nice addition to my Clydesdale in collecting draft horses.
I found all of these at 2 neat stores I recently discovered, one of which also sells non-schleichs brands... And I have to say, there's some very nice figurines in that mix.. Might have to think about giving up my Schleich's-only run so far.
I also counted my collection, or did a attempt at least. With the current new additions I got 140 (if I didn't miss one or two) pieces (incl. a few dupes, sets from Bayala counting as 1 and a dinosaur pack).
A question I've been wondering for a while now, do you fellas leave on your items tags? Given it will make the figure keep its value? Or do you remove any tags as it's for personal collecting/joy anyways? I personally don't mind the tags, and somewhere find it aesthetically pleasing.
Some of you may be interested in this collection: Yowie collection lot of 19 figures | eBay
As others have said, postage is expensive, but as there are 19 models, the cost per item isn't as bad as it could be.
As others have said, postage is expensive, but as there are 19 models, the cost per item isn't as bad as it could be.
Trans rights baby.Sounds like a long few years worth of trajectory .. Glad he's made it!
Eitherway,
I recently splurged a bit of money on a new assortment of Schleich's figures...
Of which I doubt that the majority are interesting to most ZooChatters given my increasing interest in collecting horses over wild fauna.
Here's a image of the new bunch!
Ignore my Burgers' sun bear plush, it's cute but not part of the collection..
The new additions are;
- Raccoon 14828 not the prettiest raccoon model out there, in fact I prefer my raccoon models (Raccoon 14624 and 14625 the three playing cubs) with their paintjob being more dark and more to my liking of a raccoon. I got this raccoon partially cause my friends and I are your average trash panda appreciaters and is somewhat a symbol of our friendship.
- Fennec fox 14845 was a cute pick-up that honestly, is too adorable NOT to bring home.. If there's one of these staring at your with those massive cute eyes in the shelves, how do you not give in.. after all, a green tagged Schleich's is only a few euros, somewhere between 3 or 4 I can't remember.
- Hammerhead shark 14835 is a really neat model in my opinion. I now have two fish in my collection, both sharks, the other being the Great White (14700). A fine addition to my collection as a certain General might say.
Now onto the ones that are probably the least ZooChat interesting;
- Giganotosaurus 15010 truth to be told, I bought this figurine with the upcoming Jurassic World Dominion movie in mind... I like the flashy colors and the pose makes it not super awkward to place on my shelf. Personally I don't mind inaccurate dinosaur models as I personally think that keeping a bit of inaccuracy adds to the mystery that I like about dinosaurs. We don't 100% know what they look like, so I won't pretend like I know how they looked, so I won't look for the most accurate models for my collection, I just collect the pretty flashy colored ones. In this sense I am very much a child I guess.
- Pura Raza Espanoñola mare and stallion 13922 13923 really just love how the horses look and pretty horses go home with me.
- Tinker or Cob stallion 13831 Draft horses like painted horses are my favorites of horses, so a tinker makes a nice addition to my Clydesdale in collecting draft horses.
I found all of these at 2 neat stores I recently discovered, one of which also sells non-schleichs brands... And I have to say, there's some very nice figurines in that mix.. Might have to think about giving up my Schleich's-only run so far.
I also counted my collection, or did a attempt at least. With the current new additions I got 140 (if I didn't miss one or two) pieces (incl. a few dupes, sets from Bayala counting as 1 and a dinosaur pack).
A question I've been wondering for a while now, do you fellas leave on your items tags? Given it will make the figure keep its value? Or do you remove any tags as it's for personal collecting/joy anyways? I personally don't mind the tags, and somewhere find it aesthetically pleasing.
Kakapo
Well-Known Member
My newest additions:
Electric eel (Electrophorus electricus) by Kaiyodo:
My Amazonian fishes growing, now one more member welcome to the family
I obtained it by exchange with a collector friend. We also did a move that I found fun and nice, introducing the surprise element. I would send him a surprise homemade figure, and in return he send me a surprise branded figure of my taste.
That's the surprise figure I've made for him, the European avocet (Recurvirostra avosetta):
Here in his collection already, with branded waders. He added a base for fear of breaking.
And that's what he sent me in return: the unbeatable Papo cougar (Puma concolor).
It fits very well with other iconic USA animals:
While it have a decent paintjob, it could be done even better. I repainted slightly the head.
Before:
After:
Electric eel (Electrophorus electricus) by Kaiyodo:
My Amazonian fishes growing, now one more member welcome to the family
I obtained it by exchange with a collector friend. We also did a move that I found fun and nice, introducing the surprise element. I would send him a surprise homemade figure, and in return he send me a surprise branded figure of my taste.
That's the surprise figure I've made for him, the European avocet (Recurvirostra avosetta):
Here in his collection already, with branded waders. He added a base for fear of breaking.
And that's what he sent me in return: the unbeatable Papo cougar (Puma concolor).
It fits very well with other iconic USA animals:
While it have a decent paintjob, it could be done even better. I repainted slightly the head.
Before:
After:
New My newest additions:
Electric eel (Electrophorus electricus) by Kaiyodo:
Somehow I was unaware of the existence of this figure, I shall have to keep an eye out for one!
I too have been busy collecting, and recieved 15 figures in the mail today! 
There will also be a lot to see from me over the next few weeks as well. What might be going on? You'll have to wait and see!
Additionally with the arrival of the box I am now well over the 300 figure mark!
But for now, here's the 16 most recent additions. (No I didn't mess up, I picked up a figure locally before the arrival of the box.
)
CollectA's Chiru or Tibetan Antelope
Papo's Gray Heron
CollectA's Blackbuck
CollectA's Springbok
A very recent release, the Schleich Slow Loris
A lucky snag of Safari's retired Eagle Owl
Papo's Great Cormorant, surprisingly iridescent
Papo Red Squirrel
Papo's Mountain Lion, displaying superb camouflage
Papo's Mole making a rare above-ground appearance
There will also be a lot to see from me over the next few weeks as well. What might be going on? You'll have to wait and see!
Additionally with the arrival of the box I am now well over the 300 figure mark!
But for now, here's the 16 most recent additions. (No I didn't mess up, I picked up a figure locally before the arrival of the box.
)CollectA's Chiru or Tibetan Antelope
Papo's Gray Heron
CollectA's Blackbuck
CollectA's Springbok
A very recent release, the Schleich Slow Loris
A lucky snag of Safari's retired Eagle Owl
Papo's Great Cormorant, surprisingly iridescent
Papo Red Squirrel
Papo's Mountain Lion, displaying superb camouflage
Papo's Mole making a rare above-ground appearance
Attachments
Careful little Emu chick, it's a big world out there! But dad's got things covered
CollectA's Somali Wild Ass
CollectA's Waterbuck checking out the paparazzi
CollectA's Pere David's Deer
And a pair of creatures woefully out of habitat, Papo's Sailfish and Safari's Sand Tiger Shark
That concludes the update, for now...
CollectA's Somali Wild Ass
CollectA's Waterbuck checking out the paparazzi
CollectA's Pere David's Deer
And a pair of creatures woefully out of habitat, Papo's Sailfish and Safari's Sand Tiger Shark
That concludes the update, for now...
Attachments
Kakapo
Well-Known Member
That's wonderful, my friend Great Argus!
Many of these are figures I have From the ones I don't, I would not mind to have the sand tiger shark, tough I have absolutely no room for one more shark (even smaller ones) and I still need the CollectA's basking...
And what a casuality that we got the Papo cougar more or less at same time!
Many of these are figures I have
From the ones I don't, I would not mind to have the sand tiger shark, tough I have absolutely no room for one more shark (even smaller ones) and I still need the CollectA's basking...And what a casuality that we got the Papo cougar more or less at same time!
Many of these are figures I have
Then you make room amirite
Beautiful Electric Eel and fantastic avocet!My newest additions:
Electric eel (Electrophorus electricus) by Kaiyodo:
My Amazonian fishes growing, now one more member welcome to the family
I obtained it by exchange with a collector friend. We also did a move that I found fun and nice, introducing the surprise element. I would send him a surprise homemade figure, and in return he send me a surprise branded figure of my taste.
That's the surprise figure I've made for him, the European avocet (Recurvirostra avosetta):
Here in his collection already, with branded waders. He added a base for fear of breaking.
And that's what he sent me in return: the unbeatable Papo cougar (Puma concolor).
It fits very well with other iconic USA animals:
While it have a decent paintjob, it could be done even better. I repainted slightly the head.
Before:
After:
If you don't mind me asking, do you have any tips for sculpting birds? I'm making a few and tips would be greatly appreciated. I'm using oven-bake clay rather than air dry if that matters. So far, I've done a Nordmann's Greenshank and a Black Bittern (paintjob on this one isn't quite finished yet).
Kakapo
Well-Known Member
If you use an oven-bake clay, birds are more difficult because of the legs. These thin parts tend to blend during baking and become hard in this position at the end of the process, so make sure you fix very well the position of the toes (or do birds on bases). It happened in my jabiru, that fortunately stays upright just with the back toes uplifted, and also happened in my red-necked avocet in which I had to add crude paste below soles for stability (as in the time I did it I had no air-drying paste).
It's SuperSculpey? That's the baking paste I have experience with...
It's SuperSculpey? That's the baking paste I have experience with...
Thanks! I've been getting around the leg issue by baking the legs as separate pieces lying flat, then gluing them to the body after baking. As for type of clay, I'm using Sculpey III and Sculpey Premo.
Kakapo
Well-Known Member
Long time without adding new figures to my collection, hence adding posts to this thread. But this week I received a marvelous parcel. As in previous occasions, we did a figure swap. That's what I send to my friend:
And that's what he sent me in exchange:
1. The Kaiyodo "Reptiles lounge" Marine iguana:
Sizewise it fits perfectly with my other two iguana species:
With some Galapagos Islands companions:
The other figure that came in the package is... nothing less that the Holy Grail of my collection. This is a figure that I discovered for sale at an online shop, I think Modellpferdeversand and I planned to add it some day to my collection, but at this time my collection was small and still many figures was pending to add, so with the big purchases to the shop for my birthday and Epiphany I chosed other models instead. By the time I was about to select the tapir, it has disappeared from the shop. I had the hope of find it in any other online shop, but failed to do. Then, somebody offered the tapir for trade in the forums, but being from North America the shipping costs were excessive to me. An UK member bought it instead, and started a deal with me, planning to exchange the tapir and the Yowies fossa for another figures. All was settled nicely and I ended giving him my adress but he never gave me his adress, the replies became more and more sporadic and sometimes lasting months, and meanwhile, another friend discovered the mythical tapir for sale at an Italian online shop. I replied that I was pending the sending from the first friend, but having passed almost two years since the start of our deal I had little hope for the tapir to materialize but as every time we talked he kept the promise to send me I was unsure about to buy the Italian one or not. Finally I decided that the reserved tapir never will arrive and accepted the acquisition of the Italian shop tapir. It's a shop where he already bought once and he had bad experiences, and this time, it was even worst. The shop dealer treated him very badly, from accousing him to have a false phone number (which is untrue) to insulting and threatening him. What a marvelous way to keep your customs! I will not link the website here because they don't deserve any publicity, but there are not many Italian animal figurine shops so it's easy to know what I'm talking about. Despite all this, the tapir finally arrived to my friend's home (he bought two, one for him and one for me), and I finally can have the mythical SAFARI MALAYAN TAPIR in my collection!!!
The Safari tapir is, in my opinion, undoubtely the best Malayan tapir figurine ever done. The facial expression is perfect and the leg proportions are superb, the white lines around hooves added a lot of realism. The available Malayans currently are all disappointing: the CollectA is just a Baird's tapir with a new coat, the new Schleich is tiny and the old Schleich is a bit ugly, slim, long-faced and have white feet. The old Papo tapir is also retired and was quite good, but the Safari is even better.
And here, my TTT (three tapirs together):
And that's what he sent me in exchange:
1. The Kaiyodo "Reptiles lounge" Marine iguana:
Sizewise it fits perfectly with my other two iguana species:
With some Galapagos Islands companions:
The other figure that came in the package is... nothing less that the Holy Grail of my collection. This is a figure that I discovered for sale at an online shop, I think Modellpferdeversand and I planned to add it some day to my collection, but at this time my collection was small and still many figures was pending to add, so with the big purchases to the shop for my birthday and Epiphany I chosed other models instead. By the time I was about to select the tapir, it has disappeared from the shop. I had the hope of find it in any other online shop, but failed to do. Then, somebody offered the tapir for trade in the forums, but being from North America the shipping costs were excessive to me. An UK member bought it instead, and started a deal with me, planning to exchange the tapir and the Yowies fossa for another figures. All was settled nicely and I ended giving him my adress but he never gave me his adress, the replies became more and more sporadic and sometimes lasting months, and meanwhile, another friend discovered the mythical tapir for sale at an Italian online shop. I replied that I was pending the sending from the first friend, but having passed almost two years since the start of our deal I had little hope for the tapir to materialize but as every time we talked he kept the promise to send me I was unsure about to buy the Italian one or not. Finally I decided that the reserved tapir never will arrive and accepted the acquisition of the Italian shop tapir. It's a shop where he already bought once and he had bad experiences, and this time, it was even worst. The shop dealer treated him very badly, from accousing him to have a false phone number (which is untrue) to insulting and threatening him. What a marvelous way to keep your customs! I will not link the website here because they don't deserve any publicity, but there are not many Italian animal figurine shops so it's easy to know what I'm talking about. Despite all this, the tapir finally arrived to my friend's home (he bought two, one for him and one for me), and I finally can have the mythical SAFARI MALAYAN TAPIR in my collection!!!
The Safari tapir is, in my opinion, undoubtely the best Malayan tapir figurine ever done. The facial expression is perfect and the leg proportions are superb, the white lines around hooves added a lot of realism. The available Malayans currently are all disappointing: the CollectA is just a Baird's tapir with a new coat, the new Schleich is tiny and the old Schleich is a bit ugly, slim, long-faced and have white feet. The old Papo tapir is also retired and was quite good, but the Safari is even better.
And here, my TTT (three tapirs together):