1/32 scale animals

Roger wrote:

So cool! Lolong is a great name for a large crocodile, it it was small maybe Shoshort could work too.  

Roger wrote:

It is not that easy to distinguish a saltwater from a Nile. The scutes on neck are the best way but it is not so efficient when using toys.
Also, the Australian guys tend to be bronze, while the African use to be greenish but they're so variable in color.
The Animals of Australia croc hybridized with a platypus, I guess.

Except for the Phidal, all my saltwater crocs have a a cream-coloured mouth, whereas my Nile crocs have a red mouth, but I don't know whether that is a distinguishing feature.

Kikimalou wrote:

I only have the Colorata guy and I agree with you, the forelegs are too thick.

The Ania is very fine and of course more alive, even if the Colorata pose is a very "real life all day long" pose

The Ania is very tempting of course, the thing that bothers me is the screw at the joint, is it as visible in real life as in your photos?

It's no better in real life. The "screw" isn't the most visible thing. The gap at the top of the head is more obvious, especially when the mouth is closed. It doesn't bother me too much, but I can imagine that it would bother other people. I posted a few more photos [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] It is quite surprising that for a company that prides itself for its articulated animal figures, Ania isn't very good at hiding the hinges, joints and moving mechanisms. I even wonder whether they are so proud of them that they try to make them as visible as possible.

rogerpgvg wrote:

Except for the Phidal, all my saltwater crocs have a a cream-coloured mouth, whereas my Nile crocs have a red mouth, but I don't know whether that is a distinguishing feature.

I tried to research about it but honestly I can't find anything. I suspect it is just a coincidence but it is quite interesting.

Thanks for trying to find out. When I search for images with crocodiles with an open mouth on the web, then I see that the saltwater crocs indeed tend to have a cream-coloured mouth. However, the Nile crocs also seem to have a cream-coloured mouth. What colour is your mouth? If it is red, then you aren't a real croc .

Indeed real Nile crocs have cream-coloured mouth, it is funny yours are lipsticked. I think you already shown them but I can't remember the page of this big topic.

rogerpgvg wrote:

Thanks for trying to find out. When I search for images with crocodiles with an open mouth on the web, then I see that the saltwater crocs indeed tend to have a cream-coloured mouth. However, the Nile crocs also seem to have a cream-coloured mouth. What colour is your mouth? If it is red, then you aren't a real croc .

My mouth?
I can't see the inside of my mouth and when I use a mirror my long nose obstructs it. I'm not a crocodile anyway, I am a sarcosuchus so I belong to a different category.

Kikimalou wrote:

Indeed real Nile crocs have cream-coloured mouth, it is funny yours are lipsticked. I think you already shown them but I can't remember the page of this big topic.

You can find Nile crocodiles on pages 3 and 20.

Kikimalou wrote:

Indeed real Nile crocs have cream-coloured mouth, it is funny yours are lipsticked. I think you already shown them but I can't remember the page of this big topic.

The Britains Nile crocodile with open mouth has a red mouth. I thought the Ania too, but I was wrong: it has a cream-coloured mouth. Instead, it is the Ania saltwater croc that has a pink tongue.

Maybe some interesting figures for you in 1:32 (54 mm scale).
Have to be painted, unfortunately.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Something a bit different this time: foals. I have too many horses to do a comparison, but foals, that’s possible. I’ll focus on just three brands: Britains, Ertl and Breyer. Most vintage companies made foals in 1:32 scale, but my collection of foals from these brands is too limited to do a meaningful comparison. All three brands made their foals in various colours; I’ll stick to a single colour just to make this post more manageable.

Let’s start with the Britains:
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

From left to right, we have:
- Scratching foal (1956-60), made in brown, white or black
- Colt standing (early version, 1956-70), made in brown, white or black
- Suffolk foal lying (1958-71), made in brown or white
- Colt lying (1971-2002), made in brown, white (until 1992) or black (until 1992)
- Colt standing (late version, 1970-92), made in brown, white or black
- Foal (1993-2008, 2020-now), made in brown or black. Probably a Thoroughbred foal, because it was sold with Thoroughbred horses

Next, we have the Ertl foals from the “Collectible Animals” series from 1995:
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

From left to right:
- Percheron
- Tennessee Walker
- Quarter Horse (also used for Paint and Colorado Ranger)
- Appaloosa (also used for Morgan, Palomino, Mustang, Arabian, Lipizzaner and American Saddle)
- Standardbred (also used for Thoroughbred)
- Clydesdale (Also used for Brabant and Norman Cob)
- Shetland

The Ertl adult horses tend to be rather large for 1:32 scale, but their foals are relatively small, so they work very well in this scale.

Finally, the Breyer foals:
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

- Scrambling foal (2000)
- Cantering foal (2000)
- Scratching foal (2000)
- Standing foal (2006)
- Lying foal (2007)
- Trotting foal (2000)
- Thoroughbred lying foal (1975)
- Thoroughbred standing foal (1975)

Breyer made all these foals in many colours. In 2020, Breyer also introduced the “Frisky foal” and “Playful foal”, but they have so far only been sold as special runs.

Rather than giving you all the measurements, let’s just say that all foals are usable for 1:32 scale; it just depends on how old you assume they are. Let’s have a look how they compare in size.

First, the lying foals:
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

All have quite a similar size. The Britains later lying foal has the longest neck and the Breyer later lying foal has the longest legs:
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Two scratching foals:
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

The Breyer standing foal has the highest hip height of all foals in this post (4.0/128 cm). Its pose may have been inspired by the Britains.

Lots of standing foals:
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

As we can see, the Breyer standing foals are the largest and this is true for all Breyer foals. Except for the appropriately small Shetland pony (2.6/83 cm), the Britains thoroughbred foal from 1993 is the smallest at 3.2/102 cm.

Quite a few running/trotting/cantering foals:
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Some random comparisons. Sorry, I couldn't stop taking photos:
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

As I mentioned, the Breyer foals are quite large. Still, they look fine with the larger Britains horses, the Welsh Cob and Thoroughbred:
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

But not so good with the smaller Britains horses such as the Arabian (4.5/144 cm hip height) and Holstein (4.4/141 cm) horses:
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Or with the Britains Percheron and Hunter horses (both 4.6/147 cm hip height):
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

The smaller Ertl horses are better with the Britains. Here we have the Ertl Percherons with the Britains Percheron:
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

The Britains is rather too small for a Percheron and doesn’t look like one either. The Ertl (5.7/182 cm) completely dwarfs it. Still, sizewise the Ertl foal looks perfectly fine with the Britains.

A beautiful pair:
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

They might look like mare and foal, but the Britains is a Shire Horse while the foal is a Clydesdale.

The Ertl Shetlands with a Britains:
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Shetlands can have quite a wide size range, so they are all fine for 1:32 scale.

Melekh wrote:

Maybe some interesting figures for you in 1:32 (54 mm scale).
Have to be painted, unfortunately.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Thank you, they look great! Painting isn't one of my talents and not something I enjoy much. I bought some Mininature unpainted figures years ago and still haven't painted them. Who know, perhaps one day ...

I needed to read this post twice and I think it was not enough. That's all so interesting and informative.
Foals allow a wider range of sizes since different ones can represent different ages.
Also, it is not a problem when a foal is almost as tall as a adult horse. Foals are often very tall but with a more delicate conformation.
I've spent my time on forum surprised with how similar are the Britains and the Breyer scratching foals and for the first time I figured out how different they are.
I continue convinced the Britains model served as inspiration but everything is different on Breyer's rendition.
Another fantastic aspect is that you have foals of very different kinds of horses.
Clydesdales and Shires are very similar horse breeds, it is traditional in this hobby to see the same modls being used interchangeably for both breeds. Though, I think the reason why your Shire works so nicely with your Clydesdale foal is because the Britains Shire has the white on legs extending up a little more than it is usual for a Shire what gives to it a more Clydesdale appearance.

Roger wrote:

I needed to read this post twice and I think it was not enough. That's all so interesting and informative.
Foals allow a wider range of sizes since different ones can represent different ages.
Also, it is not a problem when a foal is almost as tall as a adult horse. Foals are often very tall but with a more delicate conformation.

That's true, although the Breyers look quite young for their age. The problem though is more with the Britains adults, which are pony size (under 14.2 hands, 147 cm).

Roger wrote:

Clydesdales and Shires are very similar horse breeds,  it is traditional in this hobby to see the same modls being used interchangeably for both breeds. Though, I think the reason why your Shire works so nicely with your Clydesdale foal is because the Britains Shire has the white on legs extending up a little more than it is usual for a Shire what gives to it a more Clydesdale appearance.

Until 1997, the Britains Shire horses didn't have white stockings. These earlier Britains Shires are more common than those with white stockings.

It is wonderful to watch all these foals.
Sorry, I don`t comment often, but I really enjoy watching this great topic Roger.
Thank you for making it :)

so much information to digest! I can't believe there are so many different foals out there?!

Actually I have heard of ERTL but I had no idea that they had animals. This has opened my eyes to a whole new world. I'm not even sure I have any ERTL figures in my collection. This will be something for me to investigate now:)

Thank you for this comprehensive comparison Roger - must have taken you ages to take all those pics and then write a brief for each one?

I definitely have a few favourites from all the ones here.
The Breyers are just so darn cute with their cute faces and long long legs and fun playful poses. The Britains are a bit more 'serious' compared to them. And the ERTL seem to be in between these.
I like the Sheltlands in ERTL.
And so it's not actually a case of just liking a pose or a brand - there are all the colours to choose from for your foal to be in!
Plus the fact that they are teeny tiny at 1/32nd - so cute to hold in your fingers and admire their beauty.
I think this is a big 'squee' factor


Are these all the foals you have Roger, or just some of them ? I'm curious, haha!
I've never seen so many ever

Impressive post Roger, full of good pics and information

Hats off and congratulations for your gigantic work

Thank you, Kosta and Christophe!

sunny wrote:

Actually I have heard of ERTL but I had no idea that they had animals. This has opened my eyes to a whole new world. I'm not even sure I have any ERTL figures in my collection. This will be something for me to investigate now:)

The Ertls aren't common in the UK; I had to get mine imported from the US.

sunny wrote:

Are these all the foals you have Roger, or just some of them ? I'm curious, haha!
I've never seen so many ever

Uh, no, I am afraid I have many more , in many different colours.

rogerpgvg wrote:

Thank you, Kosta and Christophe!

sunny wrote:

Actually I have heard of ERTL but I had no idea that they had animals. This has opened my eyes to a whole new world. I'm not even sure I have any ERTL figures in my collection. This will be something for me to investigate now:)

The Ertls aren't common in the UK; I had to get mine imported from the US.

sunny wrote:

Are these all the foals you have Roger, or just some of them ? I'm curious, haha!
I've never seen so many ever

Uh, no, I am afraid I have many more , in many different colours.

ah okay, thank you Roger, that's why I didn't recognize any of them!

oh! how super - you have lots more foals ha ha, what a delight

- one day I will take pics of all my foals for you to see. I don't have sooo many and I think you may have/seen all the models already

It would be great to see your foals. There are lots of other 1/32 scale foals by other brands (mainly vintage), so it is likely that there are quite a few that I don't have. And I don't have all colours of the Breyer foals.

Very interesting postures comparisons pictures!

Thanks, Alain, glad it is useful for readers of this topic.

A while ago, I showed you the “young” giraffe from the Takara TOMY A.R.T.S. Zoozoozoo series:
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

As I mentioned, the Zoozoozoo sleeping poses are often unnatural, but I found two more that are both natural and 1:32 scale. One is the tiger:
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Its legs are quite thick, making it look a bit toyish, but it has a very interesting, uncommon pose. Its head+body length is 5.9/189 cm. Karanth (2003) found that male Bengal tigers had a head+body length of 183-211 cm and females were 164-193 cm. Here we have lazy tigers from Eikoh, Clairet, Hausser Elastolin and Zoozoozoo:
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Colour- and sizewise, it is most similar to the Hausser Elastolin lying tiger:
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

There is also a sleeping polar bear in the Zoozoozoo range, but because it is a gashapon figure that has to fit into a capsule, it consists of two parts, and when put together, the seam between them over the hips is rather disturbing. I therefore instead bought a Zoozoozoo knock-off, which is made as a single piece. It is a fridge magnet and is made of a very hard resin instead of PVC.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

You might think that polar bears don’t sleep in this way, but they do:
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Well, sometimes they do. It is 6.2/198 cm in head+body length. It’s a small polar bear, but possible. Derocher and Wiig (2002) found that female polar bears in Svalbard had a 175-210 cm head+body length and adult males were 200-245 cm. However, polar bears in other regions tend to be larger. For example, Rode et al. (2020) found that the maximum head+body length of polar bears around the seas of Alaska was 275 cm.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

I love this bear!
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Colorata also sells a tired polar bear, in their Wild Bears box. It comes with a very cute cub:
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

The adult is much larger than the Zoozoozoo bear, 8.0/256 cm in head+body length. It is rather large for a female polar bear, but who says it can’t be male? The 1:32 scale reserve is a gender-equal society where males also take care of their young. I haven’t shown this bear here yet, so a few more photos:
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

And a picture of all my Zoozoozoo animals:
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

rogerpgvg wrote:

Colorata also sells a tired polar bear, in their Wild Bears box. It comes with a very cute cub:
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]



And a picture of all my Zoozoozoo animals:
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

beautiful, congratulations Roger, I love them all!
the giraffe has an amazing pose
the polar bear cub is so cute. It's great that is is separate and can be placed anywhere, and your resin polar bear is very gorgeous. I love that figure and that unusual pose.
and the tiger cub is very cute!

Everything is so quite now

Could you show us the Polar bears with most active ones ?

I love the Zoozoozoo series. I even like the fact they're not ultra realistic but they're always nice pieces.
I wonder how difficult is to find a warm bed when you are a polar bear.
Also, if you want a male polar bear for parental care, it is better dad is tired or asleep.

Thank you, Annette. Glad you like them too.

Kikimalou wrote:

Could you show us the Polar bears with most active ones ?

Yes, I will when I am back with this part of my collection. Due to my wife's and my work, we live in two places and my collection is spread out between two places.

Roger wrote:

I wonder how difficult is to find a warm bed when you are a polar bear.

Finding any bed in the Arctic is probably difficult.

Here is the Zoozoozoo polar bear with his less lazy friends:
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

From let to right: Britains, Kaiyodo, Zoozoozoo, Clairet.

And here is the Colorata, who has got the same friends:
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Since you mention lazy, this photo is pure morning madness.
I can see clearly the kid desperated asking mom to take him to the elementarctic school.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]