1:20, the best scale?

Hi from Spain.

I always love making animal little replicas. I started to do it when I was really a little boy using colored plasticine. Now I have just re-started to make my own collection using mainly sculpey and epoxy clays.  I have chosen the scale of 1:20 for my models because I think it is the best option for collectosrs. As you can see, it can cover huge  animals as an African Bush Elephant bull, which is close to 25 centimeters large, as well as small species like, for instance, The flat-headed cat (Prionailurus planiceps), which is  about 3.5 centimeters including tail.

I am very happy to joint this fantastic group where I have just started to learn a lot.

Thanks you all.

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It is hard to choose the best scale, it always depends of the collection. The best scale for a series of whales is surelynot the best for a series of insects. Though, I believe 1:20 scale is the best for a collection of more common land mammals.
As you can see on forum, most artists work in 1:22 scale or 1:20, What supports clearly your choice.
We are also glad that you decided to join our community and that you started showing your works. From what I can see, it seems you have a lot of fantastic figures to show.. so feel free and enjoy!

Roger had already perfectly answered so... Welcome on STS

Hello, Mgarat, and a WARM wellcome here, from chilly Denmark  

I am so completely in love with that elephant ! Woooow
As an extra bonus, in the photo it look like his skin is bending to your thumb  

Amazing that you can make an elephant and a rat cat in the same scale !

I look very much forward to see what else you made    

Welcome on forum!
You made some wonderful replicas! The elephant is especially beautiful!
I think 1:20 is very good scale for land mammals indeed.
If you would like to make also more birds probably 1:12 would give you more possibilities. But for the hoofed mammals 1:20 is really perfect choice

Welcome
I defenitly want to see more from your (so far   ) great sculptures    

SUSANNE wrote:

Amazing that you can make an elephant and a rat in the same scale !

This could be a defamation . There is a small different between a rat and a cat
But maybe the "R" and the "C" are just nearby on your keyboard

SUSANNE wrote:

Amazing that you can make an elephant and a rat cat in the same scale !

Every comment wellcomed. thanks for them.

However, perhaps the photo was not good enough. I hope this one be much better:



In fact it is not a rat, but an unusual member of the cat family, Flat-headed cat (Prionailurus planiceps), bearing a strong resemblance to the civets, which are not cats, but members of the Viverridae family.

Ups, sorry ! Wrong spelling

But now I see this tiny beauty much better, - what an adorable little kitty
And not only beautyful, quite interesting also, as seen here
I never heard about it before, - we always lern something new in this forum

Thanks to you all: Roger, Christophe, Anna, Bonobo and Susanne for your kind comments and recommendations!

Scale has been the biggest deterrent of me collecting animal figures. I grew up with Britain zoo and farm animals which are in pretty much "relative scale" to each other when displayed together. I understand Roger's good point about whale and insect scale, but I still prefer all the figures that I would display together (Ex: For a Zoo/Jungle/Farm display) are in "relative scale" (The 1:20 or 1:22. Sorry, can't remember which scale Papo big cats are?). So for instance I love Papo apes, but Papo Gibbon way to large to display with/next to the Papo Gorilla and Orang figures, in terms of scale. I know there are some collectors that don't care about scale because they just want figure diversity(As many animals figs as possible) or using that example they don't care that the Papo gibbon doesn't fit scale wise in their zoo/jungle display. That's why I really like my action figures I collect, such as NECA Planet/Dawn Apes and DC Collectibles Arkham figures (Solomon Grundy, Killer Croc & Clayface are much much much bigger than the other normal sized 6.5" to 7" figures in the Arkham series). They all look excellent when displayed together! So again, I just prefer my display to look more realistic with animal figures in scale, because when there's such an obvious mix in "relative scale" it deters me from buying those figures and I def don't like it looks! As an example, Safari Wildlife Wonders Asian elephant is a great elephant to use with Papo tigers : )

baltimore zoo wrote:

Scale has been the biggest deterrent of me collecting animal figures. I grew up with Britain zoo and farm animals which are in pretty much "relative scale" to each other when displayed together. I understand Roger's good point about whale and insect scale, but I still prefer all the figures that I would display together (Ex: For a Zoo/Jungle/Farm display) are in "relative scale" (The 1:20 or 1:22. Sorry, can't remember which scale Papo big cats are?). So for instance I love Papo apes, but Papo Gibbon way to large to display with/next to the Papo Gorilla and Orang figures, in terms of scale. I know there are some collectors that don't care about scale because they just want figure diversity(As many animals figs as possible) or using that example they don't care that the Papo gibbon doesn't fit scale wise in their zoo/jungle display. That's why I really like my action figures I collect, such as NECA Planet/Dawn Apes and DC Collectibles Arkham figures (Solomon Grundy, Killer Croc & Clayface are much much much bigger than the other normal sized 6.5" to 7" figures in the Arkham series). They all look excellent when displayed together! So again, I just prefer my display to look more realistic with animal figures in scale, because when there's such an obvious mix in "relative scale" it deters me from buying those figures and I def don't like it looks! As an example, Safari Wildlife Wonders Asian elephant is a great elephant to use with Papo tigers : )

Hello Balty, I was really missing your scale discussions. :)
I hope my interpellations don't work as deterrent to your activity on forum.
Papo big cats are usually placed at 1:15 scale.

Yeah, as I said I just think figures look def without a doubt more uniform and aesthetically pleasing when they are closer in size as to "relative scale" as possible. I get it with insects and whales...(Esp insects...lol), but actually a sperm whale that would be closer to 20" would be fine. Check out the Hasbro Jurassic World t-rex and Indominus rex figures sizes, consumers/collectors buy them even thoigh they're pretty good size! But you do understand what I said as an example with the Papo apes, that the gibbon would look out of place in a display together. Of course you could never deter me, I love this forum! Seeing so many passionate collectors is awesome! Like I said I've been focusing on the NECA apes and Arkham figures. As for animals figures, this year I only got the Standing Polar and Roaring Tiger from Papo, the collectA Smilodon and their Orang. For me kind of a disappointing year for animal figs but have very pleased with NECA Apes and Arkham series. I hope 2016 will have better selection for animal figs! Still would like a Papo: Siberian tiger (lying down similar to their female tiger/w cubs), Lying position Male lion, more apes and reptiles. Safari LTD WW Indian rhino (WW version of their wildlife series) and CollectA, a resting Striped Hyena to go with the nice standing one they did. Oh, thanks for letting me know about the Papo big cat scale!

baltimore zoo wrote:

Yeah, as I said I just think figures look def without a doubt more uniform and aesthetically pleasing when they are closer in size as to "relative scale" as possible. I get it with insects and whales...(Esp insects...lol), but actually a sperm whale that would be closer to 20" would be fine. Check out the Hasbro Jurassic World t-rex and Indominus rex figures sizes, consumers/collectors buy them even thoigh they're pretty good size! But you do understand what I said as an example with the Papo apes, that the gibbon would look out of place in a display together. Of course you could never deter me, I love this forum! Seeing so many passionate collectors is awesome! Like I said I've been focusing on the NECA apes and Arkham figures. As for animals figures, this year I only got the Standing Polar and Roaring Tiger from Papo, the collectA Smilodon and their Orang. For me kind of a disappointing year for animal figs but have very pleased with NECA Apes and Arkham series. I hope 2016 will have better selection for animal figs! Still would like a Papo: Siberian tiger (lying down similar to their female tiger/w cubs), Lying position Male lion, more apes and reptiles. Safari LTD WW Indian rhino (WW version of their wildlife series) and CollectA, a resting Striped Hyena to go with the nice standing one they did. Oh, thanks for letting me know about the Papo big cat scale!

You're welcome Balty and it is great to know that you still love this forum.
You acquired 4 very nice figures and you keep very coerent with your wishes. :)
I truly believe that Papo will release in next years a lying lioness but not a lying male lion. The WW figure of Safari for 2016 is a moose. Maybe Papo have something for you in 2016, their releases are not known yet.
I understand you, I also love figures working in the same scale and that's one of the reasons why I love my Britains. Though we know major brands won't do it with their regular series, unless they open some new collections in a particular scale as they did in the past. :)