Show us yours: TAPIRS

Many brands make tapirs, and all are really lovely.
Congrast

Lovely figures of my favourite animal

Thanks for the kind words everyone! This trio is quickly becoming some of my favourite figures in my collection. Now I normally don't collect juvenile specimens, but I just had to get the Schleich juvenile tapir. While too big for the new Schleich Malayan, it displays very well with the Safari figure.
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On another note; I plan to get the "new" brown Mojo Tapir to represent the Amazonian tapir, with the original grey one representing the Columbian tapir.
However as noted by many, the new paint deco lacks the distinct white cheeks of the species. Does anyone have any recommendations for white-colour marker pens that are compatible with plastic figurines? I'd like to do some minor customization to re-add the white cheeks + white tipped ears & trunk.
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I think you'd get on better with paint than marker pens, as someone experienced with both for different reasons!
The white paint pens we use at work are very fluid and it would be impossibly to gently add the colour a little at a time - it'd be a pure white blob with harsh outlines and not enough control. Also, they're not water-soluble, so there's no easy way to remove any mistakes or take it off if you didn't like how it looked (in fact, we use industrial graffiti remover spray, which would also strip off the brown original paint)
Acrylic paint, smudged on very very thinly with a brush or cotton bud, looks much more subtle, and would blend better with factory finish paintwork. You just keep adding faint layers til it looks white enough. The kind you get in pound shops, or the kiddie craft section, would be fine for a minor bit of customisation with just white, no need to track down the expensive high quality model paints.
And it wipes off easily if you go wrong - I've often just licked my thumb and rubbed off a bit of paint which wasn't going quite how I wanted it, as long as you catch it while it's wet you can clean back to the original paint and try again.

George wrote:

I think you'd get on better with paint than marker pens, as someone experienced with both for different reasons!
The white paint pens we use at work are very fluid and it would be impossibly to gently add the colour a little at a time - it'd be a pure white blob with harsh outlines and not enough control. Also, they're not water-soluble, so there's no easy way to remove any mistakes or take it off if you didn't like how it looked (in fact, we use industrial graffiti remover spray, which would also strip off the brown original paint)
Acrylic paint, smudged on very very thinly with a brush or cotton bud, looks much more subtle, and would blend better with factory finish paintwork. You just keep adding faint layers til it looks white enough. The kind you get in pound shops, or the kiddie craft section, would be fine for a minor bit of customisation with just white, no need to track down the expensive high quality model paints.
And it wipes off easily if you go wrong - I've often just licked my thumb and rubbed off a bit of paint which wasn't going quite how I wanted it, as long as you catch it while it's wet you can clean back to the original paint and try again.

Thank you for sharing your experience! In the past, I mainly use alcohol-based markers like Copic markers for my minor touch-ups. The benefit of them being water resistant. If I wanted to correct a mistake, or achieve more subtle colours, I'd dab the area with a tissue/cotton bud that had been lightly soaked with rubbing alcohol.

Definitely open to trying acrylic paints though, but will also have to explore options for matte paint sealers/varnish. Are there any particular brands of paint or varnish you recommend? Or does any random one from the arts n crafts store work well for touch-ups like the ones I'm trying to achieve?

Acrylic, once it's dry, is water resistant too, that's why it's so ideal for figures. You can even give them a gentle wipe over if they get dirty, as long as you're not soaking for hours or really scrubbing at it, the paint stays on just fine.

Personally, I never use sealer or varnish. I've just never found the need for it - my paint doesn't rub or peel or fade or attract dirt or....whatever's supposed to happen without sealer I've got custom painted horses which have lasted fifteen years of occasional handling, outdoor photoshoots, wrapping up to take to shows, playing accidental dominoes with their shelfmates, wiping with a damp cloth if they get fly poo or much dust on them...and their paint's still fine.

I use Citadel paints by Games Workshop, but only cos I do full repaints with shaded and blended paintwork, so I have most shades of colour I might need and can just dip into those for touchups too. It's expensive per pot, though, and you'd only need a tiny bit, so I'd go with poundland-style acrylics instead - either the 'art' ones in little metal tubes where you get a set of colours for £1, or the bigger squeezy plastic tubes for £1 each that are usually in the kids section. I use them for painting my background scenery stuff and they're ok, not nice enough for full repaints as they don't cover very thoroughly and take longer to dry, but for a small amount of added white shading like you're planning, they'd do just fine.

Nothing too exciting, but I'm happy to acquire the new brown repaint of the Mojo Tapir. They work great as a pair, as well as representing different subspecies of T. terrestris. I'm using the original grey to represent the Columbian Tapir "T. t. colombianus"; while the brown one will be used to represent the Amazon Tapir "T. t. terrestris". I'd like to get a third figure to represent the Chaqueños tapir "T. t. spegazzinii", but I neither have the skill nor resources to properly capture the unique features of the subspecies (the fading brown-grey coat is definitely a challenge to replicate).

As for the Kabomani Tapir... the Mojo sculpt is too large, and certain features of the head prevent it from being able to represent the elusive little tapir in my collection.
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Happy couple!

Very nice! I was skeptical about getting the Mojo brown version but after seeing your photos I think I’ll add it to my collection. Congrats!

They are beautyful

newcomer

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Wonderful tapir !!! He looks SO friendly
What material is it ?

SUSANNE wrote:

Wonderful tapir !!! He looks SO friendly
What material is it ?

Thank you, same material like Major brands

F. Fischer

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A great odlie

Thank you