1/32 scale animals

So lucky that these PNSO work nicely with Britains. They're not defintely bad although the Britains rhino is clearly superior.
Back to your sea lions, obviously you can use yours as a fur seal female, they are hard to tell but the long snout of the Britains figure do not help too much because it is clearly supposed to be for a sea lion. It seems I want to keep you busy finding more species.

Very interesting finds Rogerpgvg, I am very happily surprised by the Buffalo and croc. The rhino is really too odd for my taste.

Roger wrote:

This topic is getting quite useful and it is great to have Christophe and other experts adding here.
Sea lions were very popular in the past, not because of zoos but mainly because they were used extensively in circus shows. The animals used in these shows were mainly California sea lion females but they were always announced as seals. Even today, when someone sees a sea lion, it is usual to call them seals. The naming is not correct but also not completely wrong. They are otariids or also known as eared seals. It may be not exactly a mistake from Britains but just a marketing decision.

I am loving these posts too Roger with the other Roger (pgvg) providing fascinating animal figures to keep this section moving along nicely and Christophe adding his wisdom. Keep it up.

Thanks for the encouragement to show some figures. Let me show a real fur seal (even though it is a bit too large for 1:32 scale). Here is the Kaiyodo Enoshima Aquarium Northern fur seal:
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It’s perhaps not such a well-known Kaiyodo figure, but it’s very beautiful. It’s difficult to capture in photos, but the 3D model gives a very convincing illusion of motion. According to Wikipedia, male fur seals can reach a maximum length of 210 cm and females can reach 150 cm. The Kaiyodo is a female, because males have a thicker neck. Measured over the tummy, she is 4.6/147 cm, but her real size is larger because she is bent, so a bit too large for 1:32 scale. Here she is with a Britains fur sea … uhh sea lion:
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And here on the bottlecap, just to prove she really is a fur seal
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Ok, the Kaiyodo is a fur seal and the Britains can be a female fur seal.

After all, in French, a sea lion is an "otarie" (Otarie de Californie) and a fur seal is another "otarie" (Otarie à fourrure). A seal is called "phoque" which is a completely different kind of animal.

All are pinnipeds of course. nevertheless, Sea lion and Fur seal are Otariddae and seals are Phocidae.

The French names follow the taxonomy better than the English names. And as Rogério says, sea lions are often referred to as seals (even in the US where they exist, I believe), so I am beginning to believe that Britains may indeed have been confused too.

Do you know whether the Starlux Barbary sheep (mouflon), rocky mountain goat, baboon and nilgai are 1:32 scale?

I will do the job but I have no hope with the baboon, I'll tell you soon

The Starlux Cassowary (5cm tall) could be an average 1/32 Southern cassowary

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Very beautiful fur seal! Yes, with a good fur seal being compared directly with the britains sea lion, it turns even clearer what they are in fact. The Britains a sea lion as mentioned and the bottlecap a fur seal with its more blunt snout and really very long flippers. The way eyes are positioned also help. Though, as Christophe told, we are talking about closely related animals and very similar in appearance too. In my country none of these is called a seal and it is correct. The fur seal would translate to sea wolf while the sea lion is called the same as in English.

Interestingly, the 1974 catalogue translates the seal to "phoque" in French and "Seehund" in German (no Portuguese). Thanks for the cassowary; it is a "useful" animal to have, because there aren't many 1/32 scale birds.

Interesting read. Your dedication is applaudable.

Wilorvise wrote:

Interesting read. Your dedication is applaudable.

Hopefully, this topic will get other collectors interested in 1:32 scale animals. I am amazed how many there are. I have a lot of fun finding the figures, because it requires me to search many, often not the most well-known, brands and I learn quite a bit about the animals (especially about their size, of course).

The blackbirds may be the smallest 1:32 scale animals ever produced. I need to look out for them. Were they part of the floral garden series?

Christophe, if my measurements in photos are correct, then the barbary sheep and mountain goat are 1:32 scale, but the baboon isn't (as you already said). I haven't been able to work out the size of the Nilgai.

rogerpgvg wrote:

The blackbirds may be the smallest 1:32 scale animals ever produced. I need to look out for them. Were they part of the floral garden series?

Yes, the birds were part of Britains Floral Garden series and there were doves available as well.

rogerpgvg wrote:

Christophe, if my measurements in photos are correct, then the barbary sheep and mountain goat are 1:32 scale, but the baboon isn't (as you already said). I haven't been able to work out the size of the Nilgai.

Roger, I will measure them in real tomorrow, with a few others maybe... I can't do it faster

By the way, I looked at the Preiser catalogue and maybe there is something for you HERE.

Don't worry, there is no hurry. I am very grateful for all the figures that you have shown in this topic. I wouldn't even have started collecting non-Britains animals if it hadn't been for your posts. I should say that I nearly have all the Bandais that you introduced at the beginning of this topic. I'll show them at some point, but they are in a long queue.

Chris, I didn't know about the doves. More to find ...

Well, I missed my Nilgaï... I have to unboxed a lot of models....

For the others, some hits: Starlux Barbary sheep, Rocky mountain goat (small), domestic yak are 1/32. The Maned wolf is maybe 1mm too tall...

Some miss: Starlux thylacine and Collared peccary are too big.

Thanks a lot, Christophe (don't worry about the Nilgai). I've seen some of these for sale, let's see whether I can get them. It's good that Starlux often makes figures in two sizes; more chance one is in 1/32 scale. But also confusing to work out what their sizes are. 

Another confusion brand: Hausser Elastolin. Am I right in thinking that many of the 54 mm figures were also produced as 70 mm figures?

Starlux made only a few figures in two sizes and Hausser Elastolin produced two plastic series, one in 54mm and the other in 70mm. Nevertheless, the 70mm were hard plastic (Starlux style) and teh 54mm were "hard" as Britains, even on pics it is often possible to recognize the scale.

A couple of French animals have jumped the long queue to be introduced here. First, the very beautiful Starlux okapi:
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Talking about his size is a bit like discussing the canvas size of a Van Gogh painting. But it has to be done . He has a shoulder height of 4.5/144 cm. San Diego Zoo says male okapis are 140-155 cm (the horns indicate he is male), Animal Diversity Web and Wikipedia say okapis’ height is about 150 cm. Below he is with the Britains and Colorata okapis, which are both 4.6/147 cm. But as you can see in the photo, the Starlux okapi is longer (about 7.3/234 cm head+body length). Perhaps better proportioned than a real okapi . Still, probably within the size of a real okapi (Animal Diversity Web and Wikipedia say 2.5 m, although Animal Files says 2-2.2 m).
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I also found this lovely triplet of Clairet tigers:
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Perhaps not entirely realistic, but certainly artistic. Technical details (shoulder heights): Standing tiger 2.9/93 cm, sitting tiger 3.1/99 cm. Here with the Britains tigers:
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I got some more Starlux, but that’s for another time, they can’t all jump the queue. Sadly, a parcel with the kudus, mountain goat and cassowary got lost in the post. The mail delivery service even claims I have signed for the delivery

I love that okapi, that's such a wonderful figure! French figures are often very stylized but when they're good, they are really outstanding. The long bodies is characteristic from these two French companies, Clairet tends to be over exagerated in that regard. Though, they also have some masterpieces in my opinion, namely the wildebeest.
That's really disapointing when a parcel gets lost.

A cruel scene in my 1:32 wildlife reserve!
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The Komodo dragons are tearing the buffalo apart:
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When I bought these dragons, I had no idea what they were, but I have since discovered that they were produced by Epoch. The dragons come in three different shapes (closed mouth, open mouth, tongue out) and they either have blood on their face or not, so 6 different versions in total. Each comes with part of the buffalo: the head, middle part or bum. I got four of the six dragons as you can see:
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The dragon with tongue out is 8.2/262 cm long and the other two are 8/256 cm. Referring to the Guiness Book of Records, Wikipedia says that the average male is 259 cm and the average female is 229 cm. They have just finished their meal and they are after their next one:
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Wonderful scenes of some creatures monitoring the beef quality. I had no idea about these Epoch figures.

That set is great! I would have it just to freak people out.

Thanks, Rogério and pipsxlch. They are quite small, so they don't scare me too much