Blaine's Synoptic Animal Collection

Arboreum Artwork

Cruel Blaine, I dream of this Sunda colugo

Caracal wrote:

these Arboreum figurines are great!
About oryx, I prefer the Papo one in spite of its too big size but I have the both..
About alpaca, this one seems to be good and not too big..

I like the sculpt and pose of the Papo gemsbok, but they really missed the boat with the paint application. It's an easy fix, but I prefer not to alter figures if I can help it.

I am updating my protozoa and plankton here. Historically, these were on 'Bug of the Day' but now limiting that to arthropods only. With the Ayano Katayama acrylic figures, I thought I would update all of my protozoa and plankton, or better put, the non-Opisthkonta eukaryotes (eukaryotes other than animals and fungi). Using the classifications by Adl and colleagues in recent publications.

Please note, this is a side track, and this is not my October focus group, so there will be more posts as the month goes on.

Supergroup Archaeplastida:

Chloroplastida (green algae)

Chlorophyta: Chlorophyceae

Pedastrium sp. (Ikimon - Science Techni Colour)
Pedastrium sp. (Ayano Katayama)
Scenedesmus sp. (Ikimon - Science Techni Colour)
Volvox sp. (Ikimon - Science Techni Colour)
Volvox sp. (SO-TA)
Volvox sp. (Ayano Katayama)

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Chlorophyta: Zygnematophyceae

Closterium moniliferum (Takara Tomy A.R.T.S.)
Closterium sp. (Ikimon - Science Techni Colour)
Closterium sp. (SO-TA)
Closterium sp. (Ayano Katayama)
Spirogyra sp. (Takara Tomy A.R.T.S.)

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Supergroup SAR (Stamenopiles-Alveolata-Rhizaria):

Alveolata: Dinoflagellata (dinoflagellates)

Noctiluca scintillans (Epoch)
Noctiluca scintillans (Ikimon - Science Techni Colour)

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Alveolata: Ciliophora (ciliates)

Heterotrichida (heterotrichs)

Stentor sp. (SO-TA)

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Oligophymenophorea: Peniculia (peniculids)

Paramecium bursaria (Ikimon - Science Techni Colour)
Paramecium caudatum (Epoch)
Paramecium caudatum (Takara Tomy A.R.T.S.)
Paramecium sp. (Ayano Katayama)

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Oligophymenophorea: Peretrichia (peretrichs)

Vorticella nebulifera (Epoch)

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Supergroup Excavata (flagellates):

Discoba: Euglenozoa: Euglenales

Euglena gracilis (Kaiyodo)
Euglena gracilis (SO-TA)
Euglena sp. (Ikimon - Science Techni Colour)
Lepocinclis acus (Epoch)
Lepocinclis acus (Takara Tomy A.R.T.S.)

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Supergroup Amoebozoa (amebas)

Lobosa: Tubulinea: Euamoebida

Amoeba proteus (Epoch)
Amoeba proteus (Ayano Katayama)
Chaos carolinense (WizKids)

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These are fascinating figures! I especially like the Epoch Paramecium caudatum.

I love your microorganisms figures. They're so unique!

I love the little Stentor! I'm surprised that a few of these have been made more than once. Count on Japan for the good stuff, huh?

Very interesting models.

..and so beautiful!

Thanks everyone!!!

The October focus group is the mollusks. Like with miscellaneous birds last month, I will do a pic or two every several days or week or so.

Let's start with the bivalves (note, size is not so much a concern with me when it comes to invertebrates):

1. striped venus clam, Chamelea gallina (AAA)
2. Pacific oyster, Magallana gigas (Kitan Club)
3. oyster, Magallana sp. (AAA)
probably just another M. gigas,
4. Japanese hard clam, Meretrix lusoria (Kaiyodo)
5. blue (common) mussel, Mytilus edulis (AAA)

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Here is the same shot, but with the Kitan Club oyster open (I think this oyster will be my next Blog post...)

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I've thought a out grabbing some AAA mollusks, now I think I need to sometime. Great photos of great models!

Looks huge

With your new synoptric philosophy, your collection  is the most eclectic I know, I'm impressed

I think you can already open a new Natural History museum!

Caracal wrote:

I think you can already open a new Natural History museum!

I agree with you, Christophe.

These models are very ineteresting, especially the AAA.

A lot happened since I posted here.
First let me tell you that you acquired lots of fabulous figures. I enjoy the diversity of birds when Japanese brands are used.
Curiously I also replaced my Papo gemsbok with the later Schleich version as I did the exact same with the great kudu. I like the Papo figures but maybe I was not so confortable with their sizes.
You have the Mountain goat from the Schleich Wildlife Mountain Animals set. It is far nicer than the CollectA versions and I believe it won't be easy for you to find the retired Safari figure. It is a pity that sending figures overseas is so expensive or we could make a little partnership once I'd love to get the mouflon from that set.
I enjoy that your choice for a sable antelope is the Mojö Fun figure and I hope you can find a wisent for your collection, I have both Schleich and Bullyland. :)

bmathison1972 wrote:

5. laughing kookaburra, Dacelo novaeguineae (Safari Ltd.)
I must admit, I was really struggling with a kookaburra figure. I liked the morphology of the Safari figure, but worried it was too big. The S&N figure seemed to be a better size, but I wasn't crazy about the sculpt (among other things, the beak appears too short). The Bandai figure seems to be a mix of the laughing and blue-winged kookaburras, and with bright pink feet! I finally decided on the Safari figure. It is a bit big (compared to the kingfishers here) but honestly it's not so big as I feared. I think I made the right choice (and thanks to the STS community for helping me decide).

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I'mglad you bought the Safri Ltd one. I don't think it is too big, Kookaburra are really bigger than kingfishers, the Safari Ltd is absolutely not to scale with the others, it is too small.

me too :). Yes the scales are better than I had predicted. They didn't need to be perfect scale.

With your pics I can see the new Safari Ltd birds are smaller than in the past, it is a very bad news for my bank account

Yes, the new birds have a nice size:)

Kikimalou wrote:

With your pics I can see the new Safari Ltd birds are smaller than in the past, it is a very bad news for my bank account

A lot of those smaller Safari birds are mostly from the their Backyard Birds TOOB, so they are smaller, but in line with related species in the Wings of the World Series

bmathison1972 wrote:

Kikimalou wrote:

With your pics I can see the new Safari Ltd birds are smaller than in the past, it is a very bad news for my bank account

A lot of those smaller Safari birds are mostly from the their Backyard Birds TOOB, so they are smaller, but in line with related species in the Wings of the World Series

I was not talking about the Backyard Birds TOOB, I thought the Mocking bird, the rainbow lorikeet or the Kookaburra were bigger but indeed they fit well with Kaiyodo birds.  The Toob birds too but I expected that.

Kikimalou wrote:

bmathison1972 wrote:

Kikimalou wrote:

With your pics I can see the new Safari Ltd birds are smaller than in the past, it is a very bad news for my bank account

A lot of those smaller Safari birds are mostly from the their Backyard Birds TOOB, so they are smaller, but in line with related species in the Wings of the World Series

I was not talking about the Backyard Birds TOOB, I thought the Mocking bird, the rainbow lorikeet or the Kookaburra were bigger but indeed they fit well with Kaiyodo birds.  The Toob birds too but I expected that.

Gotcha! Yes the lorikeet was smaller than expected which I was grateful for.

Caracal wrote:

I think you can already open a new Natural History museum!

That's exactly what I see my collection as, my own little Natural History museum LOL

Continuing with the mollusks, today we are looking at one of my favorite groups of animals, the Gastropoda.

Terrestrial snails and slugs:
1. air-breathing land snail, Euhadra amaliae (Kaiyodo)
2. air-breathing land snail, Euhadra peliomphala (Kitan Club)
3. shining Leptopoma, Leptopoma vitreum (Kaiyodo)
4. garden slug, Ambigolimax valentianus (Takara Tomy A.R.T.S.)

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Marine snails:
1. false fusus, Hemifusus tuba (AAA)
2. Japanese Babylon snail, Babylonia japonica (AAA)
3. scaly-foot snail, Chrysomallon suamiferum(Ikimon)
4. Beyrich's slit-shell, Mikaotrochus beyrichii (Epoch)
5. emperor slit-shell, Mikaotrochus hirasei (Kaiyodo)
6. panther cowrie, Cypraea pantherina (Safari LTD)
This could represent either this species or the tiger cowrie, C. tigris; my assignment is my personal choice.

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Sea slugs (nudibranchs).
This group is no stranger to figure form. Play Visions, Yujin, and Kitan Club all released sets of 8-10 species. Getting complete sets is hard, so I will probably add to this slowly over time.

These three are propped up on various bases:
1. sea angel, Clione limacina (Takara Tomy A.R.T.S.)
2. predatory nudibranch, Tyrannodoris luteolineata (Agatsuma Entertainment)
3. hooded nudibranch, Melibe viridis (syn. M. japonica) (Agatsuma Entertainment)

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These eight species are all small figures from various Nature Techni Colour sets by Kitan Club or Ikimon:
1. blue angel, Glaucus atlanticus
2. Kunei's sea slug, Goniobranchus kunei
3. Bullock's nudibranch, Hypselodoria bullocki
4. blue dorid, Hypselodoria festiva
5. celestial phyllidia, Phyllidia coelestis
6. elegant phyllidia, Phyllidia elegans
7. black-and-white sea slug, Trapania naeva
8. red-spot nudibranch, Ardeadoris cruenta

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I really like these gorgeous out-of-the-ordinary creatures, some will integrate my images and underwater collection too.
Congratulations Blaine