Plastic/ Resin/ China?

This was just a general question to ask whether anyone collects models that are not plastic along with their plastic ones? I've noticed that most people seem to collect plastic, and this is certainly the material most commonly seen on TAW, and that led me to a second question- why is plastic the most common material collected? It's probably because it is the most widespread/ cheapest- but I just wanted to know everyones' thoughts! I have seen many resin and China dogs but I rarely see them in anyone's collection, and I'm sure there are many resin animals that are better sculpts than lots of plastic ones. Maybe it's a way to limit what you add to your collection? (There are so many resin and China dogs I sometimes wonder whether I should stay with plastic, but that would mean missing lots of beautiful models!)

I occasionally buy resin sculptures, but not many. That's for a couple of reasons: 1) resin figures tend to be more expensive and 2) they tend to be more fragile. It's really disheartening when an expensive figure suffers an injury in shipping, during a move, etc.

Oh yes I forgot about them being fragile, and of course that must be a real problem during shipping. Thanks for sharing your opinion though, it's always interesting to hear as I'm still deciding whether to add actively collect resin dogs too!

I had some china models, but for a period I also had my darling Siamese cats, and they put an end to that
The only china models they newer "accidentally" pushed on the floor were two models of ...Siamese cats

And wooden models, - various puppies have eaten them, - I also had a couple of beautyful Canadian bone models, which my mom's dog mistook for a nice chewing bones

One reason I collect plastic models is that there are so many, and such variety.
And even if Fidda has chewed up quite a few, they are sturdy and easy to send and to store.
But most of all : I love plastic models because they are TOYS  
I don't care if they are perfect, realistic looking animals, I love them because they are charming and collecting them is a really crazy for an adult    

How funny that the two siamese cats were the only two that yours didn't break!
And I'm well aware of dogs chewing up wood, our table leg has now been completely cut in two from various puppies over the years!
And I certainly agree about the sturdiness of plastic, and the variety and also how many of them are charming toys!
There are some crazy brightly coloured, big eyed plastic dogs out there, but part of the fun is the variety in a collection!

I did collect both.... Country Artist, NorthLight, Border fine artist etc. And i still search for models on Ebay sometime....
Stopt collecting when my parents needed more help, but i do like the search for that one special....

Oh I've heard of those brands, and they do make some lovely dogs!
And I completely agree, many specials among them!

Jetty wrote:

I did collect both.... Country Artist, NorthLight, Border fine artist etc. And i still search for models on Ebay sometime....
Stopt collecting when my parents needed more help,  but i do like the search for that one special....
 

I googeled those brands , - and WOW, they are fantastic.
Bu I am sure that if I just LOOKED at some of those, something or somebody would fall on it, trip over it , drop it on the floor, og lightning would hit it, or...

I have a few polystone figures from Kaiyodo. Just checked it and polystone is indeed very fragile. I didn't realise, I should be careful.

That's so interesting, I've never heard of polystone!
It's always nice to have a variety of materials in a collection!

I like all materials but I tend to go to the plastic figures as many of our friends that posted previously. I second Halichoeres words. However, if you check my collection of foxes, yo u’ll find that I have figures from different materials and a few of my favorites are not made of plastic.

Thank you so much for your opinion Roger, and it definitely seems plastic is the most popular!
But it's so useful to know that you also collect some foxes from different materials, because like me you try to collect any figures from a species and so I think I'll also keep adding resin/ china dogs to the collection!

Plastic is my main go-to material. But I also have some polystone, ceramic and resin animals.
Little Critterz are little ceramic animals that are beautifully made! And many beautiful species as well.
I have a little fox statue of a mother fox jumping, with a pup next to her and a little mouse as prey.
I have a fox from Beswick, big beautiful red fox I bought on a vacation in Valkenburg.
And I can't forget my resin Kaiyodo Aquatales orca, bottlenose dolphin, jellyfish and napoleon wrasse <3

My Border Collie collection has all kinds of materials, wood, plastic, felt, metal, ceramic and polystone.
As long as it represents a nice looking BC dog, I will take it haha.

Ohh I've just looked up Little Critterz and their dogs are ! Oh yes and Beswick have made some beautiful models and a border collie collection!! How wonderful ! And I completely agree, there are many many nice dog models in so many materials, which is why I came to asking this question!
Thank you very much for your opinion!

I only collect plastic or a little rubber. The resin figures are often really artworks. But too many and sometimes too expensive. I also like the homemade figures. But after the offer of Berlinzoo i stopped that. Sooooooooooooooooooooooo many beautieful figures. The prices was high but it was artworks. But i can not choose only a few, i want than all. But my wallet only wanted 2-3.

I definitely agree with you, resin figures are beautiful but there are so so many to choose from and they're generally quite expensive!
So like you, I think I'll mostly focus on plastic! Thank you for sharing your view, it's always helpful to know what other collectors think!

I have a couple Onyx (made from a gemstone) animals like a dolphin and fox, as well as some wooden animals, like a hedgehog, cat, dog, rhino etc

I also have an elephant made from Vesuvius' ash, which my friend got me in 2017, as I rarely go on holiday abroad

I do have a couple of Resin Figures on my wishlist (Naturally Adorkable figures)

An elephant made from Vesuvius' ash ! And the Onyx models sound really interesting too! Thanks for sharing! It seems that plastic is definitely the most popular, but there are many other materials with some lovely figures so I'll definitely keep with this variety!

Yeah, when I get back to my collection I'll put a pic on here of the elephant, it's only 10 cm or so

Yes that would be very interesting!

In a word - Yes!  I collect them all!  In fact approximately 1/8 of my Noah's Ark collection are made from some material other than one of the vast varieties of plastic.  I haven't added animals to Noah's Ark in several years; I stopped adding when I realized old Noah would need a ship the size of one of the modern cruise liners for all of the animals!  LOL!

I started collecting plastic toy animals and very hard to get toys in the days back then.. Plastic was easy to play with, without breaking them easily and I used to create stories (like puppet shows and also with an audience of other kids) with the toy animal figures. Over decades preserving these toy animals from my childhood became a priority and then developed into a love to create my own small animal kingdom..and I became more focused on collecting different species of animals. I collect stone, wood, resin figures of animals too. I would prefer a collection of resin over plastic but the cost factor keeps my collection majorly plastic (I observe that plastic figures are getting more expensive these days) .

I began to collect plastic animals from my youth but rapidly extand my collection to German composition animals, French and English hollowcast lead, a few aluminium too.
I also add one resin, some craftmen and craftwomen production ( mostly STS members ) and a few 3D printing from shapeways and Tams7prairie.

Very interesting to hear everyone's views- thank you!
Your collection of Noah's Ark animals sounds wonderful Jennypurr!
I agree with you James, resin is wonderful and there are some really realistic models, but price does come in and also some are quite fragile!
And Christophe your collection sounds very interesting and varied- with aluminium and composition So many materials, I think I will be tempted to collect dogs from all of them!
Thank you everyone!

Bonnie, I have to add that my love for animals and collecting figures wouldn't have grown if not for the nature Books I came across and I read as a child.. My books on natural history are my favorite collections .. I also collect few wildlife patches that are stitched by artists... These can be sewn onto jackets, caps, backpacks