Recent acquisitions

[bmathison1972]

I received the Skillcraft Insect Kit yesterday (didnt realize I had to paint it myself...). Anyway pics someday when I get it done. Im more interested in the insects that attach to the base (esp the mosquito and giant water bug) than I am the anatomy model.

[brontodocus]

I received the Skillcraft Insect Kit yesterday (didnt realize I had to paint it myself...). Anyway pics someday when I get it done. Im more interested in the insects that attach to the base (esp the mosquito and giant water bug) than I am the anatomy model.

Congrats, Blaine! I got the kit two months ago. Haven't finished the small insects, yet, but this is what I made of the cricket anatomy model (I painted it to look like Gryllus campestris and made many corrections, especially to the tarsi, modified the tympanal organs, and I added ocelli) which I think is really worth the effort:

[bmathison1972]

looks great...I'll send you mine for painting LOL.

Seriously, what do you use, acrylic paints? I was always a pen-and-ink artist, was never good at painting

[brontodocus]

looks great...I'll send you mine for painting LOL.

Seriously, what do you use, acrylic paints? I was always a pen-and-ink artist, was never good at painting

Thanks, Blaine! Yes, I used acrylics. I often use pigment pens for details, too, but not this time.

[bmathison1972]

I found the attached piece in a art/jewelry store in New Orleans this weekend. Normally I do not collect 'art' pieces (unless very realistic) but when I saw the color pattern on this grasshopper it screamed 'Dactylotum bicolor'. It is not painted, but rather made from colored polymer clay. It has a safety-pin like attachment to be worn as jewelry and is about 3" or so [dont have it with me to measure right now]

It is from the Joyce Fritz Studio in Wisconsin. I think the line is called 'Yipes!'.

[sbell]

Just got more stuff from Japan to feed my collection addiction (thanks Brett!).



Among other things, a few Capsule Q Museum figures, some Capsule aquarium figures, a few Yujin figures, more of the Takara sharks (another 6-gill! Secret eating goblin shark! Broken peg for a frilled shark...) and some more Kaiyodo Marine Reptiles & Triceratops figures--including 2 of the 'rare' green version. Most of these came from a single bulk lot from YAJ, but the CapsuleQ and Capsule Aquarium ones came directly from Brett (other than the Pitta bird, only my second Kaiyodo bird figure...). The mudskipper was a figure I've tried to find for a reasonable price for a while now.

Several of these are doubles for me, so I will likely be putting them up for sale/trade soon.

The lot also came with some other things--a bunch of Kaiyodo (?) Japanese fighter planes and two odd animals--a put-together salmon (made by Bandai) and an attack turtle...


Fish & Turtle close up:


In action:

[bmathison1972]

Today I received more Mushi King beetles by Sega. This is a set of 6 from 2003. I have another set of 6 (different species) that, like these, are attached to a base resembling wood. There is also a large set from 2008 that are not attached to a base (I also have this set).
I said I wasnt going to make an effort to go after more of these scarabaeoids that are just more variations of species seen many times over, but I love figures attached to a base/substrate/habitat.

The species in this set are:
1) Prosopocoilus giraffa
2) Chalcosoma caucasus
3) Dynastes hercules
4) Prosopocoilus sp. cf. dissimilis (?)
5) Allotopus rosenbergi
6) Allomyrina dichotoma

[brontodocus]

Congrats, Blaine & Sean!
The Dactylotum bicolor body looks great and it's amazing that it's made from different colours of polymer clay. If only they made better legs for it. Really, I'd try to get one myself if the legs were not just some twisted wire.
The Sega MushiKing beetles are nice, I wonder how many of those MushiKing sets there are, actually. Isn't there also some kind of game series or something like that?

In action:

Aaah! Don't lose your head, little red-eared slider!

[bmathison1972]

Congrats, Blaine & Sean!
The Dactylotum bicolor body looks great and it's amazing that it's made from different colours of polymer clay. If only they made better legs for it. Really, I'd try to get one myself if the legs were not just some twisted wire.
The Sega MushiKing beetles are nice, I wonder how many of those MushiKing sets there are, actually. Isn't there also some kind of game series or something like that?

Yes I believe MushiKing is a pokemon-like card game, but the toy animals are realistic (at least the beetles/insects).

BTW I was thinking of buying a gashapon-like grasshopper (maybe the Yujin locust) and painting its legs for the rainbow grasshopper . Actually I probably wouldnt do that--I dont like altering figures, but I have to agree the legs are the downside of this hopper. Still the body and color won out for me, and its size is perfect for the gashapon/yowie figures.

[bmathison1972]

a couple new FameMaster 4D puzzle figures, the longhorned beetle and flower mantid.

I always assumed (from pictures) that the cerambycid was Rosalia lesnei, but now that I have the figure I believe it is a Tetraopes, possible the North American T. tetrophthalmus.

The mantid is trickier; doing online searches I believe it is a Creobroter sp., maybe C. gemmatus?

BTW if you are wondering where the second antenna of the cerambycid is, it is drying. It came broken  . I have an inquiry to the ebay seller, but in the meantime I am trying to repair it with Plastruct...it's awfully slender though for cementing...grrrr 

[brontodocus]

a couple new FameMaster 4D puzzle figures, the longhorned beetle and flower mantid.

I always assumed (from pictures) that the cerambycid was Rosalia lesnei, but now that I have the figure I believe it is a Tetraopes, possible the North American T. tetrophthalmus.

The mantid is trickier; doing online searches I believe it is a Creobroter sp., maybe C. gemmatus?

BTW if you are wondering where the second antenna of the cerambycid is, it is drying. It came broken  . I have an inquiry to the ebay seller, but in the meantime I am trying to repair it with Plastruct...it's awfully slender though for cementing...grrrr 

Congrats, Blaine (sorry for the broken antenna, though)! The cerambycid - well, while the body proportions seem more similar to Rosalia lesnei, the paint job would indeed suggest Tetraopes tetrophthalmus, instead. I believe the flower mantis represents Theopropus elegans, very similar to Creobroter, but the patch on the front wing and hindwing colour match better. Of all mantodeans I've seen this is the one with the strongest sexual dimorphism according to size (even stronger than in Hymenopus coronatus which I've been rearing two decades ago), females are approx. 2.5 times as long as males and proportionally more massive, too. Both figures are brilliant! was this from a seller in South Korea?

[sbell]

After eventually getting the centipede, the mantis has always been one I would like to get my hands on. Someday.

It's a shame that FameMaster never really got their feet in the right doors, market-wise. They couldn't seem to decide if they were toys, puzzles or models, and never seemed to know how to present them in any way. The most recent ones I saw were the boxed ones sold by TedcoToys. They describe themselves as no-glue, no-paint models.

Apparently the big problem was always an inability to get stores to figure out how to merchandise; they are hard to sell without hands-on activity, so not especially great for large toy stores.

[bmathison1972]

After eventually getting the centipede, the mantis has always been one I would like to get my hands on. Someday.

It's a shame that FameMaster never really got their feet in the right doors, market-wise. They couldn't seem to decide if they were toys, puzzles or models, and never seemed to know how to present them in any way. The most recent ones I saw were the boxed ones sold by TedcoToys. They describe themselves as no-glue, no-paint models.

Apparently the big problem was always an inability to get stores to figure out how to merchandise; they are hard to sell without hands-on activity, so not especially great for large toy stores.

Sean-exactly. I initally avoided FameMaster as I saw them as 'puzzles' but when you break it down, the concept isnt much different then just being big gashapon figures! And frankly, they are amazingly detailed animals!

Andre-in addition to color, the pronotal shape of the cerambycid supports a Tetraopes over Rosalia (notice the lateral projections)

[stargatedalek]

safari Monterey Bay beluga
Sadly its plagued with strange colour marks, and they don't come off (easily). A large and heavy figure and strange marks or not I'm glad to have it.
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safari Monterey Bay thresher shark
There's something about this shark I love, perhaps its the sculpting of its face.
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AAA cuttlefish
This was the real surprise today, I hadn't known AAA made cephalopod casts. I mean, they even made casts of mushrooms, so I can't say its really a shock that they did some cephalopods. I have sneak previews of Valves next hit series, left for cephalopod.
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[/spoiler]

spider-y thing-y
I have literally no clue what this is meant to be or why it exists, but its host of novelties has already given me what I paid for it in fun. The legs are pose-able and all of it aside from the abdomen is made of hard plastic. The abdomen is made of soft rubber and squeezing it will cause "insect guts" to pop out into view (they slide back in when you release). Pressing the uh... things? on its back causes the two palps to move independently and if you have it turned on will also make a generic shreaking sound and cause the eyes to light up. The only labeling on it aside from the "on / off" is "ToyQuest", a brand I'm unfamiliar with.
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[brontodocus]

Congrats, stargatedalek!  I once bought several MBA figures which looked scratched and dirty. Rubbing the figures with a paper towel with ethanol helped, although the Beluga Whale was the hardest to get clean...

[radioactive347]

That spider is weird

[Jetoar]

Awesome acquisitions, they are my last.



Of a flea market



My girlfriend christmas present´s

[bmathison1972]

Buggies for Blaine

1) orange-tip butterfly, Anthocharis cardamines (Kaiyodo, Birdtales Series 1)--I actually already had this figure, but mine was lacking the base with the scientific name

2) lady beetle, Coccinella hasegawai (Kaiyodo, Capsule Q Animatales - Mountain Animals, Series 8.)--I have one coming from Brett too--I accidentally ordered this from both my contacts so will have an extra.

3) crayfish, Procambrus clarkii (Takara TOMY A.R.T.S., 22nd Anniversary set)--much larger than the Kaiyodo/Yujin crayfish, almost rivaling a Safari Hidden Kingdom Figure. This is a really cool figure!

4) longhorned beetle, Batocera lineolata (Takara TOMY A.R.T.S.)

5) Japanese hornet, Vespa mandarina (Sabuardo, released with winged beetles I declined to get for the moment--too many damn large scarabaeoid figures...)

[brontodocus]

Congrats, Jetoar & Blaine! The legs of the Subarudo Giant Hornet look perfect, was the figure like this when you received it? Mine had bent legs which required some hot water treatment but the result still wasn't like your figure.

[bmathison1972]

Congrats, Jetoar & Blaine! The legs of the Subarudo Giant Hornet look perfect, was the figure like this when you received it? Mine had bent legs which required some hot water treatment but the result still wasn't like your figure.

mine was spanking new, and the legs were still in the mould/brace; as such they were in perfect condition. Ive seen pics of this wasp online and the figure looked gangly, possibly with similar leg issues, but I really like my figure.