Giraffe Stag Beetle (Kaiyodo - Collection of Natural History)

Walkaround of the giraffe stag beetle, Prosopocoilus giraffa (Olivier, 1789) by Kaiyodo Collection of Natural History, No. 1 (year unknown). I became aware of this figure thanks to Brett, who stumbled upon it on YAJ. It was very expensive, but it's hard to not pursue a Kaiyodo figure. According to Beetle Guy, there were several others in the set (which I am sure he will list and/or illustrate in this post). This species is the largest member of its genus and is distributed from India to Indonesia. It is commonly made by Japanese manufacturers (especially Sega).

The figure is a resin model kit. It comes in 21 pieces: head + pronotum; remainder of thorax + abdomen; 6 legs (minus tarsi); 6 tarsi; 2 antennae; 2 labial palps; 2 maxillary palps; a pair of galae. The tarsi are silver metal and the galae are essentially a wire brush; everything else is black resin. The attatchment points are all smooth; there are no pegs, holes, etc for attachment. As such, glue or another adhesive is necessary for assembly.

The two main body pieces are very heavy. I had to use a two-part epoxy to secure them (especially since the attatchment points were smooth). I also used the epoxy to attach the metal tarsi to the legs. The legs and mouthparts were attached with super glue. Because the species is naturally black, the only painting I did was the eyes, which I made grey. After the glue dried, I cleaned up excess glue with ethyl acetate and used satin varnish to protect the painted eyes and additional securing of the appendages.

The final product is 19.5 centimeters (including mandibles, but not legs), and the kit is advertised as being 2:1. It is a very large and impressive model! Because of the size, expense, and difficulties with securing parts I probably will not pursue others in this series, unless they represent unique or rarely-made species (of course, that's easy to say now...I give in easily...).

On to pics:

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final product:

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alongside the boxed DeAgostini figure (which is molded from an actual specimen) and the Sega DX figure:

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Great figurine again :)

Impressive beetle

Have you found new models of this series ?

Kikimalou wrote:

Impressive beetle

Have you found new models of this series ?

No, but I haven't been actively looking either. There is only one that is a unique species.

Which one ?

Kikimalou wrote:

Which one ?

I don't remember, some green cetoniine scarab (it would be a unique species figure - just can't remember what it is)