1/32 scale animals

Let’s continue the Bandaï Australasian story. Despite being very small, the red pandas (no 7) are too large for 1:32 scale, which is unfortunate, as they are very cute. And the water buffalos (no 8 ) are too small. The next ones in 1:32 scale are the Himalayan bears (no 9):
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The adult is 2.5/80 cm at the shoulder and has a 4.4/141 cm head and body length. Wikipedia and Bears of the World say that they measure from 140-170 cm from nose to tail. Here they are with my only other Himalayan bear, the Britains, one of the very few metal figures I have:
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Bandaï made a complete axis (or chital) deer family:
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The male is 2.8/90 cm at the shoulder and the female is 2.7/86 cm. Male axis deer are substantially larger than females and Wikipedia says that males reach nearly 90 cm and females 70 cm. Is the female too large for 1:32 scale? Graf & Nichols (1966, J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc) reported that the largest male had a shoulder height of 100 cm and a hind foot length of 43 cm while the largest female had a hind foot of 40 cm. Unfortunately, they didn’t report the female’s shoulder height, but if the male/female hind foot proportions are the same as their shoulder height proportions, then the largest female would be 93 cm at the shoulder. Perhaps 86 cm is possible for a female.

I have one other chital, the Colorata:
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Numbers 11-14, the dromedaries, sambar deer, Kemp ridley turtles and Australian sea lions aren’t 1:32, which takes us to number 15, the Western grey kangaroos:
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Great-looking kangaroos, I think. The male has a head-and-body length of 3.8/122 cm and the female is 4.0/128 cm. Yom-Tov (2008, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society) reports that males’ head-and-body length is 99-130 cm and females are 83- 110 cm. The male is fine for 1:32 scale, but unfortunately the female isn’t. And she can’t pretend that she is male. Still, much closer to 1:32 scale than the Britains kangaroos:
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It is possible that the Britains are meant to be red kangaroos, but they are even too large for that.
Another favourite of mine are the Tasmanian devils:
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Small species such as these are very rare in 1:32 scale, and I am very happy that Bandaï made them. Wikipedia says that males have an average head-and-body length of 65 cm and females 57 cm. The devil with open mouth is 2.1/67 cm and the devil with closed mouth is 2.0/64 cm, so they are both fine as males. I don’t have any other Tasmanian devils. Let’s compare them with a fox, the Safari Good Luck Mini (shoulder height 1.4/45 cm):
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The koalas, a mother and baby, have a head+body length of respectively 2.7/86 and 1.9/61 cm. Wikipedia says that koalas have a head+body length between 60 and 85 cm. They could be a male and female, as males are larger than females. But the female doesn’t want to be on the male’s back:
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However, their grey colour suggests that they are the smaller Northern koala subspecies. The Australian Koala Foundation says that Northern koala males have a length of 67.4-73.6 cm and females are 64.8-72.3 cm, so that would make the adult too large, even for a male. Here they are with a koala sold by the Zoorasia Yokohama Zoo, which is very slightly smaller at 2.5/80 cm:
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Again, the colour suggests that it is a Northern koala; size-wise it would only be OK as a male Southern koala in 1:32 scale.

There are two “secrets”. They are called secrets because the boxes show the names and photos of all figures except the secrets. (Although in a way, all figures are secret, because none of the boxes shows which figure is inside.) The secrets are a white tiger with cub and a crested ibis with chick. Apart from their colour, the white tigers are the same as the non-melanistic tigers. White tigers are usually very large, so I don’t think the adult can be considered 1:32 scale. The cub is useable in this scale, but I don’t have a white parent for the poor baby. Just another baby to play with:
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But the Eikoh tiger is happy to adopt him:
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And finally, the crested ibis, which is the hardest to find.
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The adult is too large, but the chick doesn’t really look any different from the adult, and sizewise, I think it can be used as an adult. A bit hard to measure, but its length (along the curve in its neck) is about 2.2/70 cm. Bird Research News (2011) reports that the total length of males is 772.1±33.4mm and that of females is 731.0±27.2mm (very precise!), so it could be a small female. One of the smallest figures I have. Here with another small bird, the Safari Good Luck Mini kiwi:
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Great adds to your collection Roger

For my part, the Bandai kangaroos are with my Tasmanian devils on the 1/30 shelf, the Chital are on the 1/35 shelf and the Moon bears and her baby on the 1/40 shelf.
Unfortunately for methe Ibis baby disappeared during my move.

It is a challenge to find most of these small animals in that scale. You are working now with extreme miniatures and you're building something special. It won't take long and you'll need a microscope. I think from this lot the most exciting are the Tasmanian devils, I was not expecting to see these at your scale. :)

Wonderful post, very interesting, and so many lovely models!!
I especially love the deer and the Britains kangaroo- I'm always so annoyed with myself for losing the little joey, I always loved this pair when I was younger!

Kikimalou wrote:

For my part, the Bandai kangaroos are with my Tasmanian devils on the 1/30 shelf, the Chital are on the 1/35 shelf and the Moon bears and her baby on the 1/40 shelf.

No 1/32 shelf

The chitals may be better on your 1/30 shelf, as they are quite large in 1/32 scale.

Roger wrote:

It won't take long and you'll need a microscope.

Yes, I am becoming far-sighted and I need reading glasses. My photos are useful for seeing the details.

Bonnie wrote:

I especially love the deer and the Britains kangaroo- I'm always so annoyed with myself for losing the little joey, I always loved this pair when I was younger!

I forgot to mention the joey - certainly useable as a young kangaroo in 1/32 scale. Because it is so small, it gets lost easily. The Bandai female also has a great joey.

Great models Roger
I also especially like the Tasmanian devils and I had no idea that Bandai made them also.
Congratulations for your 1/32 newcommers :)

Thank you Kosta. I got these Bandais a while ago, but I am collecting too fast and can't keep up with my collecting in this topic.

New shelf display:
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Very civilized, with a portal of giraffes in the middle.

Beautiful shelf display, all wonderfully spaced out and perfectly to scale!
I can see a stunning glossy Breyer I think back left, and my eyes were also drawn to the wonderful tiger to the right!
And the gorgeous little chickens and sheep- and what looks to me to be two tiny badgers!

Very nice. And beautieful rareties between :)

Thanks, everyone!

Bonnie wrote:

I can see a stunning glossy Breyer I think back left, and my eyes were also drawn to the wonderful tiger to the right!
And the gorgeous little chickens and sheep- and what looks to me to be two tiny badgers!

Unfortunately, I can't upload large-scale photos with servimg that would allow you to zoom in more. The animals left back are okapis; Ania, Starlux and Colorata from left to right. The tigers are Britains (early version) and Kaiyodo (Wild Rush). The sheep are Britains and the chickens (and a duck) are Kaiyodo. Tiny as they are, you did identify the badgers correctly. They are made by "Holly Loves Toys/HLT".

rogerpgvg wrote:

Thanks, everyone!

Bonnie wrote:

I can see a stunning glossy Breyer I think back left, and my eyes were also drawn to the wonderful tiger to the right!
And the gorgeous little chickens and sheep- and what looks to me to be two tiny badgers!

Unfortunately, I can't upload large-scale photos with servimg that would allow you to zoom in more. The animals left back are okapis; Ania, Starlux and Colorata from left to right. The tigers are Britains (early version) and Kaiyodo (Wild Rush). The sheep are Britains and the chickens (and a duck) are Kaiyodo. Tiny as they are, you did identify the badgers correctly. They are made by "Holly Loves Toys/HLT".

Thank you so much for the information!

what a wonderful display!

if you don't mind I have so many questions about the makes! (and then I have to spend some time reading this whole thread!)

what make is the Oryx ?

and the mama pig lying down and her tiny babies ?

and the large giraffe, left hand one (I think the other 2 giraffes are Britains and a Hong Kong one?)

is the hartebeest Starlux ?

and what is the grey animal on the right hand side infront of the cassowary ?
thank you

rogerpgvg wrote:

New shelf display:
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what is the big cat and make in the left hand corner ?

they all look amazing!

rogerpgvg wrote:

I like comparison photos of the same or related species, but I am away from most of my collection at the moment, so I can’t take very comprehensive comparison pictures. Instead, I’ll show you some animals of the small collection I took with me.

The great thing about a collection in the same scale are in fact the between-species comparisons. Although individual models in 1:32 scale may not always be as good as the more common larger models, together, as a complete display, I believe they are more realistic. Here is what I have on my shelf right now:
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Sorry, you may have to click on it to see the full size and the photo isn’t as sharp as I’d like to have it, as I don’t have a tripod here. It’s a more-or-less random collection, but mainly land-based animals that I collected a while ago, including a few of my favourites.

found it

oh! another wonderful collection!

can you please let me know the make of the Beaver ?

and the leopard beside it ?

and the okapi on the right - ah found it, it's a Starlux

thank you

rogerpgvg wrote:

Sorry, I have my collection spread out between two different places and I don't have a Papo elephant here. I have a shelf comparison photo that may help:
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While you are here Christophe, do you know whether the Starlux WWF okapi, gorilla and hartebeest are 1:32 scale? When I find them, they will probably be expensive so I'd only buy them if they are in this scale.

Great to meet another 1/32 scale collector!

The oryx is from Eikoh, the sow with piglets from the Kaiyodo Hokkaido Ranch series. I think the sow is 1/32, but it's considerably bigger than the Britains pigs and I need to research it more. The adult giraffes are an Eikoh (Animal Infinity) and an early Britains (and also the later Britains with moveable neck). The hartebeest is indeed a Starlux. The grey animal on the right is a dog . I don't know anything else about it, but it looks like it might be a keeshond. No one on the Forum has managed to identify the brand.

In the final photo you showed, the beaver is from Hausser Elastolin. Quite rare, but I think Stripedhyena has one for trade/sale. And the leopard is an Amur leopard from the Colorata Palearctic and Nearctic Regions box.

Most of the Japanese brands are quite easy to find via Brettnj on the forum, although they are expensive compared to Britains. For the vintage brands, Ebay France and Germany are usually the best places.

thank you very much
all your animals are lovely!

Yotsuba&! is a Japanese manga series, in which a 5-year old girl (Yotsuba) learns about the world around her. The stories are about Yotsuba & something or someone! hence Yotsuba&! (pronounced as Yotsuba to). In 2006, a picture book “Yotsuba & Monochrome Animals” was published, and in 2012 Kaiyodo produced figures of Yotsuba and the monochrome animals she met (I think 11 animals). As you might expect from Kaiyodo, they are very beautiful figures, three of which are 1:32 scale: a Holstein cow, a zebra and a Malayan tapir.
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A Holstein cow is one of the 1:32 scale figures. It has a shoulder height of 4.2/134 cm. Pennstate Extension has growth charts for heifers’ withers heights at 24 months, when they usually reach their maximum height. At 24-months, half of all heifers are larger than 135 cm and half are smaller, so 134 cm is quite an average height.
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All three animals can stand freely without the base. Note that the cow’s udder isn’t painted, because it’s monochrome.
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This is Yotsuba with the cow in the book, I think learning to drinking milk (not my photo):
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Here we have Yotsuba’s cow with a few Britains Friesian/Holstein cows. The Britains cow has a shoulder height of 4.2/134 cm and the bull is 4.0/128 cm. Both are possible as 1:32 scale, though the bull is quite small.
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Yotsuba also meets a zebra, a Grant’s zebra I suppose:
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The zebra is 4.2/138 cm at the shoulder. Wikipedia says that Grant’s zebras are 120-140 cm and Furstenburg (2009) says 130 cm. OK for a large male Grant’s, I think. Here he is with a Britains and the Kaiyodo Wild Rush zebras, both smaller but also within 1:32 scale range (3.8/122 cm).
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This is Yotsuba with the zebra in the book. As you can see, the Kaiyodo figures are very similar to the drawings in the book, but they look realistic at the same time.
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And finally, the Malayan tapir:
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Its shoulder height is 3.5/112 cm and a head plus body length of 7.7/247 cm. I have found it difficult to find out what the real size of Malayan tapirs is. Wikipedia and several other sources (which probably took the information from Wikipedia) say that the Malayan tapir is the largest tapir with a head and body length of 1.8 to 2.5 m and a height of 0.9 to 1.1 m. But Wikipedia also says that the Baird’s tapir has the same length and a height of up to 1.2, even though it is supposed to be smaller. And [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] shows a table with the sizes of all tapirs that says that Malayan tapirs have a head and body length of 250-300 cm and a height of 100-130 cm. They refer to Medici (2011, Handbook of Mammals of the World Vol. 2. Hoofed Mammals), but I don’t have this book to check it. 300 x 130 cm is enormous, so I am a bit sceptical. In any case, even using the smaller Wikipedia sizes, Yotsuba’s tapir is within the given length range and only very slightly above the maximum shoulder height.

The tapir isn’t 100% monochrome:
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Here is a comparison with the Britains Malayan tapir, which is 3.2/102 cm at the shoulder and has a head and body length of 6.4/205 cm. Its shoulder height is within the range of both Wikipedia and libguides.com but its length is only within the Wikipedia range.
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such beautiful models! and great to see a comparison with Britains, thank you

rogerpgvg wrote:

Yotsuba&! is a Japanese manga series, in which a 5-year old girl (Yotsuba) learns about the world around her. The stories are about Yotsuba & something or someone! hence Yotsuba&! (pronounced as Yotsuba to). In 2006, a picture book “Yotsuba & Monochrome Animals” was published, and in 2012 Kaiyodo produced figures of Yotsuba and the monochrome animals she met (I think 11 animals). As you might expect from Kaiyodo, they are very beautiful figures, three of which are 1:32 scale: a Holstein cow, a zebra and a Malayan tapir.
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Here we have Yotsuba’s cow with a few Britains Friesian/Holstein cows. The Britains cow has a shoulder height of 4.2/134 cm and the bull is 4.0/128 cm. Both are possible as 1:32 scale, though the bull is quite small.
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The zebra is 4.2/138 cm at the shoulder. Wikipedia says that Grant’s zebras are 120-140 cm and Furstenburg (2009) says 130 cm. OK for a large male Grant’s, I think. Here he is with a Britains and the Kaiyodo Wild Rush zebras, both smaller but also within 1:32 scale range (3.8/122 cm).
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I love how those look! Something about their texture is very pleasing. Also love that they mirror their illustrations. :)

I enjoy all the research you're doing to find figures at your favorite scale. It seems you often can find a few in many sets and series. Those could pass unnoticed but here you are showing your "monochrome" models. I enjoy particularly the tapir but it is another animal I am crazy about. Yes, tapirs can be quite large and heavy guys but those maximum numbers seem exaggerated even if it is known that some specimens can grow a little over the average sizes.

I have never heard of this brand, so it was so interesting reading all about it!
These models are so beautiful, with a lovely unique style- they are so perfect that they almost look as though they are 3D animated animals, it reminds me very much of CGI animation!
Thank you so much for sharing them!

Thanks, everyone! The texture is indeed very nice. I think they are made of PVC, like the Britains and Wild Rush zebra, but it is smoother and the paint seems to be more "in" the plastic rather than on top of it. It's interesting that Kaiyodo used different plastics (sometimes resin) and paint techniques for different series.