Rtas' main collection

I remember you presenting your penguins and that you missed the king penguin. It is however somewhat surprising that the next in your wish list are species that you already have. I believe the Science and Nature little penguin is a decent and very affordable figure. Safari's chinstrap penguin despite being textureless, is also an interesting model. The Happy Kin Toys Adèle penguin is a little miracle, considering the average quality of this manufacturer and notice the pair of eggs, typical from the survival strategy of this species. Obviously I can suggest a myriad of top quality Japanese penguins instead!

Roger, that's because I still do not know much about most of these brands and figures. Thank you for making me discover them ! I also joined this forum for that !

Pardo, I am wondering, do you travel especially for zoos and museums or do you travel a lot and just take the opportunity to visit them ?

I have many penguins in my collection from these species: 1 adelie 5 African, 1 chinstrap, 8 emperor, 2 Gentoo, 3 Humboldt, 2 king, 1 little blue, 2 rockhopper and 1 yellow-eyed.

From 2016-2020 I had African penguin fever as I got all 5 of them. I had an idea that I was going to make an enclosure for them but I never got round to it. My hope is more chinstraps are made and adelies. I am after the Japanese penguin figures but I am struggling to find them.

IV Birds and reptiles

B) Birds

9) Ratites

Species : Southern cassowary, emu, Okarito kiwi, ostrich
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Figures on this picture (from left to right) :
- CollectA 88651 Southern Cassowary (2014-still in production)
- Mojo 387163 Emu (2013-still in production)
- CollectA 88731 Kiwi (2015-still in production)
- Schleich 14744 Ostrich (2015-2019)
- Schleich 42247 Ostrich Nest (2015-still in production)
- Schleich 14398 Ostrich Chick (2009-2013)

Fun facts :
- I got the CollectA cassowary while I was in a "CollectA fever", before knowing about the Safari model which has no base and a better painted face. Now I regret my choice
- I have been hesitating a lot over choosing the Mojo or Southland Replicas emu. I finally went for the Mojo one, since I was already ordering several Mojo figures and I could save on shipping. But recently, one of our newest members, SerAndrew, sent me several pictures of the Southland emu and it was looking much better than my Mojo, especially next to the Schleich ostrich : Southland's emu is longer and higher than Mojo's but not as bulky and as a consequence, it fits much better with Schleich's last ostrich. Now, I regret this purchase too
- I hope, one day, I will have something precious enough to trade it for one of Adam's female ostriches.
- One of my worst nightmare is to break the beak of the CollectA kiwi. I dreamt about it a few times and it was always horrible.
- I remember buying the two ostrich chicks in a small independant shop far away from my hometown. I had woken up at 4 am to take a train to go there. I bought one ostrich chick (along with many other fantastic and much more exciting figures !) and left the shop. Then I had a walk in that small village and went to a pet shop to buy a gift for my dog. While I was doing so, I thought it would be nicer to have two chicks, so I came back to the shop and bought the second one.
- I ordered the emu, the cassowary and the kiwi from my favourite Ebay seller. I bought the ostrich and the ostrich nest set with the younger chick in my Schleich favourite shop. I found the two older chicks during one of my most successful figure hunts !
- I have seen emus, southern cassowaries and ostriches in zoos but I have never seen a kiwi.

Update : Were added to the collection
- Southlands Replicas 00017 Emu Male (2018-still in production)
- Safari 225429 Cassowary (2016-still in production)
- Schleich 14610 Ostrich Male (2010-2013)
- A custom Schleich 14744 Ostrich repainted as a female
For further information, please check the addition topics.
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They're all beautiful models. I wouldn't regret for any of them.

RtasVadumee wrote:

Roger, that's because I still do not know much about most of these brands and figures. Thank you for making me discover them ! I also joined this forum for that !

Pardo, I am wondering, do you travel especially for zoos and museums or do you travel a lot and just take the opportunity to visit them ?

A mixture of both things but mainly the first one. My mother is old and can't travel alone. She chooses destinations based on availability from offers and opportunities. Often she invites me to a travel a year if I help her with assitance. Then I only pay for the things I want to visit. And in every place in the world, the only things I want to visit are zoos, botanical gardens, natural history museums and the wild

Adam, really penguin figures would look pretty cool if many of them are put together in a colony! I'm also after a yellow-eyed penguin, not sure if to choose Colorata that is better finished or Yowies that doesn't have a base and it's enough decent. This is my favourite penguin species since ever, and it's the most endangered one so it's a shame that no zoo in the world keep them

Rtas, nice raties. I don't have none ratite in my collection yet. It's lovely how the male ostrich cares for it's siblings despite being two different generations

CollectA cassowary is enough good, tough. I always had the Safari one on my wishlist but CollectA is decent. You can have both, they fit perfectly to each other (exact same size).
Strange nightmares have you If you're afraid of breaking thin parts, you should check the beard of my homemade douc langur or the cirrhus of my homemade Splendid toadfish!
Ostriches, emus and cassowaries are common in zoos. Kiwis are much rarer. This gap was also missing into my zoolist until last year, when I saw my first alive kiwi

The yellow eyed penguin that is in my collection is not Colorata nor is it Yowies, its a generic penguin but has yellowish colours round and near its eyes. I originally hesitated about adding it as a yellow eyed but I have3 now reached my conclusion.

What would you trade or pay me for a female ostrich? (If I want to that is) I am ever so curious. By the way the CollectA ostrich chicks are nice (come in walking and sitting) and are the size of your two duplicate chicks.

My ratites include (I can't post photos as I am away from my collection) common ostriches, southern cassowaries, okarito kiwi, southern island brown kiwi and emus.

Obviously you know I do not agree with you but that is because the way I built my collection is not to fit with a certain brand or size.
CollectA cassowary is an excellent figure, at least as great as the Safari counterpart. Mojö emu is also as good as Southlands. Fortunately all these four are excellent figures and even the sizes are more or less all the same. I'd regret, as an animal lover and enthusiast of this hobby, if my collection of ratites was confined to ostriches only. Schleich, for almost 20 years, the only ratites they introduced in their series, were all ostriches, 4 generations of males, a few chicks and an egg. The only Schleich male ostrich I consider minimally comparable in realism with all other ratites you're showing, it is exactly the figure in your picture. The previous model is more appealing but less accurate and the earlier ones do not belong to the same league.

I understand your nightmares about broken bills, I also fear to break some figures, especially the composition models and even if most I own are already in not very good condition due to its age.
By the way, here is my Lineol ostrich.

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Roger and spacelab, I think you misunderstood what I said. I do not regret having a cassowary or an emu in my collection, I just would have probably preferred the Southland emu and the safari cassowary instead of those I have. Not only because of their size (their are exactly the same size as their counterparts) but because I feel like they look more like real ones.

Pardo, where did you see the kiwi ?

Adam, indeed, I like CollectA ostrich chicks, I may add one or two one day.
Unfortunately, I have nothing precious enough to offer you in exchange for your female ostrich. I will make you a financial offer by PM.

I just have this kiwi and I am interested by the Safari Cassoary because of its colours and its lack of base!..

RtasVadumee wrote:

Pardo, where did you see the kiwi ?

Franklin Park zoo :)

IV Birds and reptiles

B) Birds

10) Other birds

a) Dodo

Species : Dodo
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Figure on this picture : Papo 50064 Dodo (2008-2013)

Fun facts :
- With the exception of a few dinosaurs and prehistoric mammals, the Dodo is one of my two only extinct species (the other one is the thylacine).
- I have no idea when, where and how I bought this figure. I just remember it was long after my childhood but long before I started collecting again. I just got it because I found it fun to have a dodo figure and it has been on my desk for many years now.
- Curiously, I don't think I have ever seen a dodo

b) Kingfisher

Species : Common kingfisher
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Figure on this picture : Papo 50246 Common Kingfisher (2019-still in production)

Fun facts :
- I hesitated a lot before buying it, because of its size obviously. Then I realised it was an important species and it would not have been possible to make an even smaller figure, and since I had already plenty of small oversized animals, I chose to add it to my collection.
- I bought it in my usual Papo shop.
- I have seen and photographed kingfishers in the wild.

c) Raven

Species : Common raven
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Figure on this picture : Schleich 14241 Common Raven (2001-2004)

Fun facts :
- The raven is my only passerine figure.
- I have it from my childhood.
- I have seen common ravens in the wild.

Nice birds too

I have the Papo dodo in my unofficial collection. I got the Papo kingfisher on my birthday last year with its real life counterpart of a different species. The Schleich raven is a figure that I would like to pair up with my Safari figure, but finding it is another matter.

Considering the amount of birds you've watched, I had some hope that you have seen a dodo or even a moa! Maybe you're trying to find them watching the sky and you know they do not fly. You can find a few malnourished dodos on Natural History museums and they are very pacific creatures. To be fair, I am glad you decided to include a dodo in your collection and you did it when your collecting fever was low. It is also interesting to see the kingfisher, better a somewhat large one than none. Don't expect to see this bird being released often. I have the raven, not yet the kingfisher and my dodo is Safari's, the Papo version is with my niece. :)

Adam, do you mean you had a REAL kingfisher pet for your birthday ?!

Roger, I don't even think I have ever seen a malnourished dodo in a natural history museum  But surely Pardo has

I also would like to add a great auk to my collection but none of the three on TAI would suit I am afraid.

I did get a real kingfisher, but he was taxidermy. In my room I have my book collection, animal figure collection, taxidermy collection, feather collection and bone collection.

I have enough pets as it is and I don't think a new duck is coming any time soon.

I'm very much attached to these birds, as I love the myth of Alcyone and Ceyx. I even named an album I did back in the early 90's after them. In Greece we still call them Alcyones.

So you also make music yourself or did you just produce the album for another artist ?

Adam, I had a stuffed puffin but he got rotten by small worms so I had to throw it away.

How did your puffin get rotten by small worms? Did you store it in a damp place?

I have small beetles in my flat, they laid eggs in my puffin and it got rotten from inside...

I actually have a lot of insects in my flat, especially silverfishes, a disgusting bug I have a phobia of. That's one of the reasons why I hate my flat and do not feel good at all in it...

How yucky, silverfish are very disgusting as they wriggle around, which makes my skin crawl.

RtasVadumee wrote:

I have small beetles in my flat, they laid eggs in my puffin and it got rotten from inside....

Carpet beetles?

Yes, exactly Kostas !