Collection of African animals in scale ?

[micmic]

Hello,

I'm thinking about starting a collection of the most iconic African (land) animals, in scale. Obviously the largest animal would be the African bush elephant and for the smallest one I'm thinking something like a bat-eared fox or thereabouts (I think anything smaller than that wouldn't match the scale of the bigger guys).

The problem is I don't know which scale to start with so that I would have the best chances of finding (now or in the future) the most animals. I've also noticed that many companies don't mention the scale of their figurines, just their dimensions. This is of course more accurate, but it means I'd have to do more calculations every time I'm thinking about buying an animal.

I'm thinking about 100 or so animals. I don't expect to immediately find 100 african animals in scale, but I'd like to start with one elephant and one rather small African animal (honey badger? dik-dik? bat-eared fox?) so that I will have a good measure of the two extremes.

So, my question is: Which is the scale I should focus on and can you suggest a pair of an elephant and a small animal that are in scale ?

Thanks!

[Isidro]

I tend to collect at around 1:20 scale for most large land mammals,that is pretty much of which western brands does with their megafauna such as ungulates and big cats. However you will struggle a lot to find a well done elephant at 1:20 scale: most, if not all, are smaller, and the same with giraffes. You also will struggle to find a honey badger or a bat-eared fox at 1:20, all tend to be larger. By the way, AFAIK no decent realistic bat-eared fox has been made or is available today by western brands, at any scale.


I will give you a series of ideas of African animals and scales from what I extracted from my own collection:

CollectA common hippopotamus (latest version with mouth open): 1:24
Schleich gemsbok: 1:22
Mojo Fun quagga: 1:21 to 1:23
Kaiyodo Wild Rush serval: 1:21
CollectA giant eland: 1:15 to 1:22
CollectA African wild ass: 1:20
CollectA scimitar-horned oryx: 1:20
CollectA Grevy's zebra: 1:19 to 1:21
CollectA black-backed jackal: 1:19
CollectA red river hog: 1:10 to 1:15
Papo great cormorant: 1:12
CollectA diana monkey: 1:8

[micmic]

I tend to collect at around 1:20 scale for most large land mammals,that is pretty much of which western brands does with their megafauna such as ungulates and big cats. However you will struggle a lot to find a well done elephant at 1:20 scale: most, if not all, are smaller, and the same with giraffes. You also will struggle to find a honey badger or a bat-eared fox at 1:20, all tend to be larger. By the way, AFAIK no decent realistic bat-eared fox has been made or is available today by western brands, at any scale.

Thanks. That's what I've been thinking, that I'll have to compromise either at the top or at the bottom of the range. Even if I get a Kaiyodo Mega Sofubi elephant (which is reportedly 1:15, very nice and very expensive), there's no giraffe at this scale that I know of. And maybe it would also be hard to find a good selection of big cats and antelopes at 1:15.

Somehow the 1:15 looks the best for such a project though.

[NSD Bashe]

There seem to have been many small figures made of meerkats, perhaps that would be an easy small iconic African animal to start with?

https://toyanimal.info/wiki/Meerkat

[bmathison1972]

Earlier this week I posted the CollectA common ostrich on my daily Museum thread, and it calculated at 1:17-1:21 in scale

The most 'popular' scales are 1:24 and 1:32. 1:24 will get you the Noah's Pals animals and many standards. 1:32 will get you Britains and probably many Japanese 'gashapon' figures.

From what I have seen, 1:15-1:20 will give you a good variety!

[bmathison1972]

Other African animals from my recent 'Museum' posts:

Schleich 2016 great white pelican (also in Africa) is 1:14-1:17
CollectA recent mountain gorilla is about 1:24
Schleich 2012 white stork is 1:11.5-1:14
Safari Ltd 2016 (1997) African bush elephant 1:35-1:44
Colorata South African penguin: 1:12-1:14
Papo reticulated giraffe: 1:27-1:36

[micmic]

There seem to have been many small figures made of meerkats, perhaps that would be an easy small iconic African animal to start with?

I have thought about meerkats too but it seems a little difficult to find a meerkat that is 1:15 or smaller. Its body (without tail) would have to be about 2cm for it to be 1:15. Yes, an elephant with shoulder height of about 25cm would go well with a meerkat with body length of 2cm but while the former can possibly be found, I'm not sure about the latter.

[NSD Bashe]

what about the Safari Good Luck Mini meerkat?

https://toyanimal.info/wiki/Safari_343822_Meerkat

[micmic]

what about the Safari Good Luck Mini meerkat?

I looked into that one but it appears to be 4cm, twice as big as it should for an 1:15 scale.

[NSD Bashe]

These look closer to that size, if they're of interest...

https://www.ebay.com/itm/382594377914?hash=item591466e8ba:g:dJsAAOSwl95bxkv0&amdata=enc%3AAQAHAAAAoLZgv5lCWpvTozvlHEViQNN0Q%2FVB6K8alq83%2BVh7T%2FHCrI1iXhWebqMrY3iQJK2IGi8XX9EdMnybmCJ022ERPPquj6ivUCIESAAsWnVDieZJMOAafIkmyhuoZXx1o61O4zIHvJUqcvGLfe4JGGIm0xks2neJK%2B8fNOsaoNndruk%2FH%2BNwl6n5uPxsAtBI2EMOwct%2BPtVpaME%2FkmpogNDPWWM%3D%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR_T4p_CuYQ

you can find a couple similar ones with the query "dollhouse meerkat" or "tiny meerkat"

[sphyrna18]

When I measured the Safari Good Luck Mini Meerkat, I believe I came up with a scale of around 1:14.  I think I based this on snout-body length, which I think is around 2cm , but I don't remember now.  Most Good Luck Minis are around 2.5cm total size, and the "dollhouse" figures are just the Good Luck Minis.  So essentially, the total height of the Meerkat Good Luck Mini figure when standing is 2.5cm.  Regardless, I have mine displayed with my 1:15 scale figures.  Further, the Safari Ltd. Vanishing Wild African Elephant and Reticulated Giraffe figures are 1:15, and they are pretty routinely found on eBay. So you have the very largest land animals all the way down to some of the absolute smallest all in 1:15 scale.

[micmic]

Thanks, those look promising. This is where I'll start then