1940’s zooscape

Dear members,
I have been working on a zoo project whilst I have been doing a university degree at the same time in lockdown.
I have seen this picture from Brighton toy museum it shows a zoo layout made in the 1940’s for lead figures it was made by Britains Ltd. I have tried to find a photo of it or any kind of real version but so far I have not found anything except this photo.



Cool isn’t it. It’s a zoo plan that can be taken apart and rearranged in different ways.

So I started to make it myself.



















Here is a them all together as it might of looked from the original drawings. It made to the same size but the Bear cave is a bit bigger.







Thanks for looking Phil

Phil, absolutely professional, what a project!
It is also a perffect way to use the available time.
Good luck with your university degree and thanks for sharing something so special with us.

It is wonderful !! !

Everything fits , everything is perfect down to every little plant
Gosh ! I can't even imagine how you did it

It must be good to make something beautyful while studying

Thank you for your kind words

Wonderful zoo!!!! I must go to the Toy Museum in Brighton as I live quite near it!

That is just so clever! Interesting how the design for the tapir enclosures seem to have been used as the design the Britains pig sties too! Are you planning on creating your own extensions??

It is so wonderful, must have taken so much time but definitely worth it to make something so beautiful at the end!

Great work! The tapir and wild boar houses look very similar to authentic ones that I've seen. I suppose you tried to make them similar? The waved roofs are great, very nice detail; I don't think the authentic houses have them.

Thanks for the compliments.
It was difficult to work off the original drawings they weren’t very detailed so I had to use some artistic license.
I had originally made flat roofs but the corrugated effect gave some detail to the whole thing . Most piece are sparse and have low features. So I tried  to use brighter colours  than I thought they would of used. As seen in these




I would love to go to the Brighton toy museum too. I think I will not get there for a long time with the lockdowns. Maybe next year?

Very beautiful job!

Thank you Caracal.

Very impressive goatherder. Seems surprising that there are no photographs on the net for any of the old Britains Zoo animal enclosures only advertising drawings from a contemporary catalogue.

Hi Chris,
Thank you for the compliment. It is strange that there is no other record of this anywhere on the net. Maybe I’ll contact the museum itself.

Goatherder - you could try a nice line to Adrian Little (at Mercator Trading) he has handled a lot of this stuff over the years and may have pictures, most of it was made for Britains by third parties, notably Hugar and W. Horton, while Joytoy and others made larger sets (with Britains in mind), there is a Hugar book kicking around, he may be able to help you with that too.

H

Thanks Hugh

Hi Hugh,

Thanks for the message. I will contact your man Adrian, to see if he has an more information. I like your blog btw.
Thanks
Phil

Thanks Phil - I try!

smallscaleworld wrote:

Goatherder - you could try a nice line to Adrian Little (at Mercator Trading) he has handled a lot of this stuff over the years and may have pictures, most of it was made for Britains by third parties, notably Hugar and  W. Horton, while Joytoy and others made larger sets (with Britains in mind), there is a Hugar book kicking around, he may be able to help you with that too.

H

Hugh I forgotten about the Hugar book:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Illustrated-History-Hugar-Paul-Brookes/dp/0956187927

Unfortunately, currently unavailable on Amazon but one of the images has the information about the Hugar link with Britains prewar Zoo series.

Basically, these zoo enclosures were made by Hugar and introduced into the Britians zoo series under 'Zoological Displays' in 1940 but restrictions on toy manufacture meant they were withdrawn in 1941. Consequently, very few were made and are now extremely rare.

The Hugar book is written by Paul Brookes and he specialises in this sort of thing. I have his book which details the history of the Kemlow/Mastermodels and it is extremely thorough.

Hi Folks,
Thanks for that information. I have asked  a chap called Adrian( Thanks Hugh) from a site called fake figures, his link is here this might be of interest https://www.fakefigures.com

He has been very helpful and has given me a few more pieces of information. With the promise of more to come.

But here are some tiny bits of information I was able to put together.

The Zoo base is Britains, made by Hugar. Britains didn't make their own bases and buildings, pre WW2 it was Hugar, post WW2 probably Amersham Toys, definitely not Hugar post WW2.
The particularly interesting aspect of this zoo base is that it is an asbestos tile, not a wooden base, which is what every other Hugar base Adrian has seen, has been made of. 
This is the photos from fakefigures.com









I think the rocks look Ike they are made from cork bark. The paint looks like it’s been mixed with sand or sawdust to give it texture?

This is the drawing from Brighton toy museum



This is my 2021 version



I post more information soon

Beauuutifull!!

Really interesting informations and what a nice site.

Thanks guys,

Here is some
Information on the polar bear pool
This is the drawing from Brighton toy museum website




Here is the Drawing from the Hugar book.



Here is the photo.




Here is my 2021 version

What a great looking replica. It is something that I have thought of recreating.

Thanks
I have a new one nearly ready.