A's New-Ray animal sets (geese added 10-25-19)

The cheetah was painted like a leopard; maybe a hybrid ;-)

This ocean life set has great quality

I like especially, the bear.

landrover wrote:

This ocean life set has great quality

I like especially, the bear.

Thank you :)

Nice bear (with a very intent expression), and cute sea lions. I've never seen those before.

Thanks Andy

A few re-made pictures:

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Thanks Andy! Actually those are very good figures! Bear are very recognizable to the species level. Especially these American black bears are very good with their typical snout and big ears. The mountain goat is a remarkable piece with that sumptuous pose. I added them on TAI, now only mountain sheep and fallow deers are missing from these sets.

I agree the black bears are quite nice. The open mouths add interest: the sitting bear has a sort of "classic" feel to it, like an older illustration or taxidermy mount. The standing bear has big feet for understandable reasons, but has an overall good pose. I think the mountain goat could be even greater if it stood a little less steeply, though it has a strong presence. Most important is its accurate head sculpt, clearly that of a mountain goat and not a goat.

Here are the others (I know the white-tails and pronghorn are already on the wiki but I had them out at the same time so included them here):
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Very nice

Great! Now we have another beautiful gallery page on New-Ray section that could be seen here! The white-tail family is very good. On the other hand the mountain sheep doesn't look really like a bighorn, could it be another species?

Very nice sets! New-Ray seems like they keep improving all the time.

Roger wrote:

Great! Now we have another beautiful gallery page on New-Ray section that could be seen here! The white-tail family is very good. On the other hand the mountain sheep doesn't look really like a bighorn, could it be another species?

Thanks for adding them, Roger. Since it is packaged with the pronghorn and mountain goat, I am sure the ram is meant to be a bighorn. I think the sculpture is just a little "off" compared to the other two, a bit stouter and bigger-headed, maybe. Sometime I hope to make some adjustments to mine and see what can be made of it.



My news is, finally, the addition of some of the ducks sets! The site had only one mallard group in stock but I got a couple extra of the other set for a good price.

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It's worth taking a closer look at one of the joys of these "cheap" toys- the beautiful backdrops in the boxes. It looks like a paradise for ducks (too bad the plastic is glued to it):

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The two groups:
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Overall the sculpting on these is top-notch. The flying ducks are really graceful. The painting is okay. Doing justice to a duck's colors would definitely increase production difficulties and cost. One negative: two of the base posts broke as I was unpacking them, and will have to be glued (I'm pretty careful, so I think it was a weakness in the two posts).

Next, I was curious about identification for these. Here is a brightened/sharpened image showing two of interest:

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The mallard on the right has a funny-shaped head, right? I thought this was strange considering the other three mallards aren't like this. Now, here are photos of ring-necked ducks:

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The head shape is almost a perfect match. Also, this is the only figure of the four that doesn't have the distinctive curled tail feathers of a mallard drake. So, in my mind, this is a ring-necked duck masquerading as a mallard.

Lastly, the two ducks alongside the wood ducks. On the wiki they are included as American wigeons, and two small images of this species do appear on the packaging. The green stripes fit this, as do the lanceolate feathers (appearing on the swimming, but not the flying, figure). However, American wigeons have bills that look different- relatively smaller or shorter, that, along with their head shape, gives them a somewhat different appearance:

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Because of this, I think the best fit is a green-winged teal. This matches the green stripe and feather shapes, along with the bill size/shape:

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If you disregard the stripe/paint, these could work as blue-winged teal or other types of ducks as well. So, I'm quite happy with them, and excited by their potential for repainting.

Interesting Andy :)

Andy, congratulations for getting your new New-Ray! Yes, they are nicely sculpted, good size and poses but quite fragile. They tend to bend easily too. I am surprised with your trained eye. Judging based on colors is not easy for me due to my poor sight but I ahve to agree completely about the different head shape and the lack of the detail on duck tail. I see TAI pictures are from Susanne and some of my own editing, though, none of us have identifyied the species, I guess. We found it through the forum if I am not wrong. We could even later redefine it if needed.

Here's a new addition from my slow-motion hunt for New-Ray game birds. I found this pheasant set locally. It was exciting to see these pheasants in person. Though it is a hunting set with accessories, it was a good value just for the birds.

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A nice backdrop and colorful illustration that reminds me of some of the packages from when I was little:

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The pheasants are really well sculpted in four poses. Note the differently positioned feet and separated tips of the tail feathers. The coloring is okay, but repainting would bring out their full potential. I only wish there was a hen included.

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The turkey has detailed feather sculpting. Strangely, the beak seems too long. The red color makes it look like the snood but I think there needs to be better differentiation in this part of the sculpture.

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The three mallards are smaller than the duck-specific sets and the flying one shares the same pose as its larger counterpart. The other two have heads that seem a bit small, but they are nice, and almost appear to be moving.

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Finally, the hunters and accessories are surprisingly well done. The blind is interesting- under the paint, the sculpture is detailed, including the support poles/structure. I'm not sure that my plastic animals appreciate having hunters around- a repaint could turn them into Jurassic Park workers to go with my old figures. In the last image, he's trying his hand as a field researcher, but the ducks don't seem to care for that, either…

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In addition to this find, I ordered the Canada geese online. That essentially completes my search for these figures! Goose pictures are imminent.

I really like these bird figurines

widukind wrote:

I really like these bird figurines

That makes two of us, Andreas! Pheasants (and wild geese) don't get much representation as figures, so it's a special treat to see multiple poses in the same style. I was wondering how well these pheasants would lend themselves to customization into other species- I think it could require a lot changes in most cases.



Here are the geese.   I'm very pleased to finally add some Canada geese to my menagerie. They (and the pheasants above) have poorer paint applications than the ones shown on the wiki, but still capture the essence of the real animals' colors. The goose that appears to be making a water landing doesn't necessarily need a stand, but I will probably make a small hole so it can fit on the other figures' stands. I love the open mouth pose on the swimming goose- with that mouth and neck posture you can almost hear it calling.

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With the two duck sets, and next to Papo and Schleich acquaintances:

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Some impromptu scenes including the Kaiyodo mallards (female is another recently acquired jewel):

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Just for fun, with a digital filter added:

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I now have my most wanted New-Ray figures. The next goal will be repainting some of them. Thanks for looking!

Very nice goose set, it is so nice to see someting different from the "always here" mallard ducks. Thank you for showing Andy.

These canadian gooses are excellent

Thanks guys.

Christophe, it's funny, in real life around here both mallards and Canada geese are "always here" birds, but it's sure not the case in the world of figurines. And of course, many of the most common toy species are endangered populations in life. Actually, the regional geese here have their own interesting story concerning abundance: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

I bought the New Ray Canada goose set so I can have one for my Synoptic Collection (gave the rest to stargatedalek). But now Safari has one in their Great Lakes TOOB!!! I will decide when I see the latter. The only way I'd probably keep the New Ray figure is if the TOOB figure is too small. I was told the great blue heron is 5.2 cm; if the goose is the same that should suffice (a little small compared to other waterfowl, but not overwhelmingly so)

is really pleasant to see these sets presented as you do. ItYou make them look even better than they are and all extra pictures are very useful. Thanks Andy!

Wonderful sets. .New Ray has some great models and sometimes doesn't get enough credit for their models.

Thanks for the comments.

Blaine, I'm also looking forward to finding out the size of the toob figure. If you wanted, if one is smaller you could call it a cackling goose ,  or one could be painted into another Branta species. Though, based on the toob picture that version's morphology seems even more specific to the Canada goose.

Are these this year's Tractor Supply or Rural King offerings? They're really nice.

The glamour shots of the geese... love how you did it! I would have never thought of using foil for the water, and it works wonderfully!