Recent acquisitions

[sbell]

Those are fantastic Sean; Are these the mini or large models? I might have to consider the catfish and ray!

They're the minis. I decided that getting the painted ones was worth the expense, instead of paying the same for unpainted large models.

He has a living fossil fish series in the works right now... Queensland lungfish and coelacanth are already made, bowfin, bichir and ropefish are on the way.
And I convinced him that an American or African lungfish should be added too, since there's only been one time either of those was made.

We'll see what I do when those come out.

and no breakage during shipping?

Just two catfish barbels. But they epoxied on nicely and you can't tell!

[Isidro]

Long time without adding new figures to my collection, hence adding posts to this thread. But this week I received a marvelous parcel from my friend @RtasVadumee. He and me are in similar stage, having both the feeling of completism and no need to enlarge anymore our collections. However, there is still some figures that I wanted like mad, even if my enthusiasm for collecting decreased considerably compared with years before.

As in previous occasions, we also did a figure swap this time. I ask certain figures and pay with other figures. In my case, homemade figures. They are not so perfect as branded ones, but they represent rarely made or unique taxa, that's why they succeed.

And that's what I send to him:



A yellow sponge, Aplysina fistularis, my third time doing this sponge, because the second one resulted too small for my friend. I hope this time he likes the size.

Here the sponge with companions:


A common stilt, Himantopus himantopus. Having done an avocet as surprise for him, he requested me for an stilt as he saw both species together often during his childhood. He added a base to the avocet fearing fragility, so this time I did directly the stilt with a base. I used a novelty technique for me, silicone for imitate the transparent surface of running water. Not sure if I'm pleased with the result.

Here the stilt with companions:


And by last, a sea lamprey, Petromyzon marinus, as a whole Class of vertebrates that my friend had unrepresented in his collection. I used, as in my Old Wife, transparent plastic for the fins, painted over. The mouth is not very detailed but is still recognizable as the sucker of a lamprey.

Here the lamprey with companions:


And here, with a victim:

[Isidro]

But these are not my "recent acquisitions" (will be his once the parcel arrives), so what additions must put here in this thread? That's what he sent me in exchange:

1. The Kaiyodo "Reptiles lounge" Marine iguana. Not many reptile options for scale-conciousness collectors fitting more or less with large mammals, but this is one of them. The figure is nearly perfect and shows the vivid colours of a courting male (only some subspecies have this feature, most of the 7 subespecies doesn't change or have minimal changes from the normal black colour when breeding season arrives). The tail must be assembled, but the joint is completely unobtrusive. Of course, once finished the photographic session I cut the pegs under each feet and repainted over the cuts, as I did with the Galapagos land iguana before.



Here is released in the volcanic shores of the Galapagos where it will feast on seaweeds.

 

Sizewise it fits perfectly with my other two iguana species:


A giant tortoise looks with curiosity at the iguana. The tortoise do not visit the shores often, so it find marine iguanas a bit fascinating.
The iguana don't care at all, as far as the tortoise don't decide to step in it.


Then, a land iguana that observed the scene appear. My dear cousin, these seaweeds that you're eating looks tasty... I wonder if they're better than the prickly pear fruits I'm used to. Let me enjoy with you!


Are you kidding me? These are MY seaweeds and this is MY territory! Gett outta there bastard lizard!


(Territorial bloddy disputes are common amongst male iguanas, including Galapagos land iguana, but I'm not sure if marine iguanas do the same, they seems quite sociable. So maybe the last scene is surrealistic. But at least is very iguana-like behaviour) 

[Isidro]

And that is not all. 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 https://modellpferdeversand.de/ 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. @Advicot 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 (this coincided with his disappareance from forums), and meanwhile, my friend Rtas discovered the mythical tapir for sale at an Italian online shop. I replied that I was pending from Adam's sending, 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 Adam's tapir never will arrive and accepted from Rtas that he buy the tapir in the Italian shop. It's a shopt 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 Rtas'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 tag doesn't include a "quick fact" about the animal as other Safari figures does. Maybe that is related with the year of production, being a feature added later.

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.

Here released into the wild:




Notice the tiny crab spider (almost in scale with the tapir haha) that got out of the flower, frightened by the passing of the hooved beast.


Perissodactyl meeting in Sumatra! And both from Safari LTD!


Be cautious, not all Sumatran animals are so friendly! (I'm not proud of this photo, visually is a bit ugly and the tiger looks as tiny as a domestic cat)


And here, my TTT (three tapirs together) showing that the Safari Malayan tapir is absolutely PERFECT sizewise, much more bulkier and chunky than the Brazilian tapir and slightly bigger than the Baird's as it happens in real life!
   

[EpicRaptorMan]

Mojo Golden Eagle
Mojo Perentie
Secretary Bird (I think CollectA)
Yujin Soft-Shelled Turtle
Kaiyodo Tarsier
Kaiyodo Vampire Squid
Agastume Vampire Squid
CollectA Black-faced Spoonbill
Papo Grey Heron
Papo White Stork
Safari Ltd. Grey Reef Shark
 

[bmathison1972]

I got the Papo 2022 great tit in today; I'll photograph it when the remaining CollectA 2022 figures (enroute) show up [unless it comes up randomly for the Museum before then...]

[EpicRaptorMan]

Gharial
Guanaco
Great Grey Owl
Humphead Wrasse

[RtasVadumee]

Hi,

The stilt and lamprey previously mentionned by Isidro are in their new home.

The stilt reunited with its avocet friend and other birds of my childhood holidays in the salt marshes :



And the lamprey chose the poor tilefish as its new "host" in my display. Sorry Tyler...

[SerAndrew]

Wow! Are you naming all the animals in your collection?
In that case, who's Dorothy?

[JimoAi]

Hi,

The stilt and lamprey previously mentionned by Isidro are in their new home.

The stilt reunited with its avocet friend and other birds of my childhood holidays in the salt marshes :



And the lamprey chose the poor tilefish as its new "host" in my display. Sorry Tyler...

Sheesh that kelp grouper is hard to obtain!

[Isidro]

I'm grateful that you share your newcomers with the world

[JimoAi]

My newest additions

[bmathison1972]

Very nice, @JimoAi - I have the fish and ankylosaur myself .

Here are mine 2022 figures that have arrived in the last week or two:

CollectA: Paraceratherium, green tree python, and green iguana; the iguana will replace my Safari WS figure (but that's OK, because the 2022 Safari anaconda will replace the CollectA one - fair trade LOL    )

Papo: great tit; this is the last Papo 2022 I wanted to get. Combined with the Furuta Japanese tit (formerly a subspecies of great tit), I can now have a nice pair of tits

Takara: from the 2022 Insect Wars collection (apparently an off-shoot of B.I.G. Insects), the migratory locust (actually in the migratory color phase!!!) and a Mexican fireleg tarantula. The ID on the spider is my own, but it's a pretty good likeness (and would represent a NEW species in toy form!)

[bmathison1972]

Volume three of the Private Specimen of a Lepidopterist Acrylic Mascot collection by Ikimon (Science Techni Colour). These are essentially photographs of butterflies encased in acrylic. The ventral side has the image of the ventral side of the insect, so they are accurate on both sides.
Seven species (*) are new in figure form; left to right, top to bottom:

Papilio gambrisius*   
Morpho godarti (Godart's morpho)*
Delias fasciata*
Gonepteryx aspasia (lesser brimstone)*
Cephonodes hylas (coffee bean hawkmoth)*
Agrias narcissus   
Erasmia pulchella nipponica (burnet moth)
Ornithoptera priamus (common birdwing)
Caligo beltrao (purple owl)*
Bhutanitis thaidina (Chinese three-tailed swallowtail)*

I store my flat butterfly figures in Riker mounts, so these take up no additional space!

[EpicRaptorMan]

Schleich Yak, Schleich Texas Longhorn, Papo Gharial, Schleich Mandrill (M+F), Schleich Black Bear, CollectA Giant Eland calf (I got the adult and Bongo adult/baby so I had to).


I am looking for the Papo Magpie, Safari Ltd Striped Skunk, Salmon Shark, Safari Ltd N.American Porcupine, CollectA Amur Leopard.

[bmathison1972]

Schleich Yak, Schleich Texas Longhorn, Papo Gharial, Schleich Mandrill (M+F), Schleich Black Bear, CollectA Giant Eland calf (I got the adult and Bongo adult/baby so I had to).


I am looking for the Papo Magpie, Safari Ltd Striped Skunk, Salmon Shark, Safari Ltd N.American Porcupine, CollectA Amur Leopard.

THose are nice and good ideas; I personally would suggest the 2012 Schleich striped skunk if you can find it. It's small (like Schleich's small mammals usually are), but the paint job is better than Safari (or CollectA)

[EpicRaptorMan]

@bmathison1972 I already have the CollectA skunk...and am a bit disappointed in it so that's why I'm looking to replace it.

But I will take a look into the Schleich one.

[EpicRaptorMan]

@bmathison1972 sorry for the double post...but is that the Schleich Skunk 14672 or 41456?

41456 is from a box set and looks better than 14672 which is from 2012–2015

[bmathison1972]

@bmathison1972 sorry for the double post...but is that the Schleich Skunk 14672 or 41456?

41456 is from a box set and looks better than 14672 which is from 2012–2015

I am referring to 14672:

https://toyanimal.info/wiki/Schleich_14672_Skunk

The Box Set one is also very nice but much harder to find

[JimoAi]

Got an enlargement of the Colorata eagle ray (Safari LTD IC size) which will do until someone makes a proper figure which I've waited FOREVER + the best new dominion creature