The wonderful gnu from Britains :-)

There are lots of gret animal models from Britains, but one of them stands out : The gnu !
Most of the other wild animals just stand, but the gnu is full of motion and has an abuntance of details
Also, he is one of the few, which clearly is a male

So I have made a small walkaround of him, - hope you share my fascination for this little guy





















Look at the mane that falls to two sides !

very good walkaround af a good piece. At the end of seventies, animal replicas had already increased in realism and poses even at this small scale from Britain as from Starlux and other brands..

Oh my, he's very good for a 43 year old figure

Thanks, guys

Advicot wrote:

Oh my, he's very good for a 43 year old figure

Yes, indeed
So little a thing to design !

Imagine, they didn't have computers or lazers or whatever smart suff they have now to make models or help making extremely detailed moulds

Nice pics of a powerful figure

A lovely figure. I am quite fond of gnus, though I don't collect them really. I only have 10 I think...

In my opinion, the wildlife animals that Britains introduced in the 1970s are particularly good. This gnu is certainly one of them.

Congratulations Susanne, This is a great acquisition for your collection.

Very oportune and interesting walk around. It is a joy for me to see a model like this one, that I also own, being tributed with your excellent pictures!

rogerpgvg wrote:

In my opinion, the wildlife animals that Britains introduced in the 1970s are particularly good. This gnu is certainly one of them.

That's also my opinion but Britains, despite being very competent with the sculpts of their models, was very conservative regarding poses. This gnu added that important detail of a dynamic pose in an excellent and detailed sculpt. This model works also perfectly to represent those famous wildebeest migrations that delight the crocodiles. More you get, better.

Yes, that's right, but towards the end of the 70s, several Britains wildlife animals became more animated. The gnu is an example, but also the African rhino and bull elephant. It's a shame that they were the last wildlife animals they made.

The Britains gnu is fairly rare. Probably too many crocodiles.

Oh, NO !!!

I must put the crocodile in another shelf  IMMEDIATELY

That's not a problem, I have the Britains croc with moveable jaws and I can hold its mouth just with a single hair bobble.

Roger wrote:

That's not a problem, I have the Britains croc with moveable jaws and I can hold its mouth just with a single hair bobble.

Great idea

Yes, hes a wonderful model .I have a few myself and some have slight colour variations.

I really like this Britains model.. for sure one of my favorite models of this brand.
..which I still don`t have ... but , one day ..
And I am not surprised , that you decided to make a walk around of it :)
It is model , with wonderful vintage style and in a same time, with so atractive pose, and with great details.
Thank you dear Susanne for presenting this lovely model, with your great photos to us

Thankyou, guys

Kosta, I hope you find it soon

An excellent walk-a-round Susanne.

Yes, this Gnu was part of a new vision for Britains animals where they were moulded in animated poses.

Britains first issued their Zoo animals in plastic from 1960. Most of these were derived from the hollow-cast Zoo series issued in the 1930's. However, from 1960 new poses were introduced that did not have any relationship to the older 1930's designs, for example, the lion, the gorillas, and notably the young giraffe. This young giraffe bucked the trend in that the replacement, issued in 1971, was less animated.

Also there was a move away from Zoo to Wildlife and to reflect this change animals had to have some form of motion/animation. The last Britains catalogue to have Zoo only was released in 1971. Coincidentally, 1971 was the year in which Britains announced their Safari Land-Rover and if one wanted animals to go with this model they needed to be moulded in animated poses!

From 1972 Britains used the 'Wild Life Animal Models' title in that catalogue and 'Zoo' title was dropped from this range.  

However, in the 1975 Britains catalogue the range was headed 'Wild Life & Zoo Models'. Perhaps these new animated wildlife animals were slow to be developed as most in this catalogue were still static poses as befits a zoo enclosure.

The last wildlife animal released by Britains is mentioned by Roger, the wonderfully animated elephant, was in 1981. Then in 1998 this range was deleted from the Britains catalogue.

Britains current owners are Tomy and nothing suggests that these Britains wildlife figures will ever be produced again.

very Interesting Chris.

landrover wrote:

very Interesting Chris.

Very nice walk-a-round Susanne. It´s one of the best gnu models I know.

Thankyou, dear Yvette :flower:

And thankyou very much for all the great info , Chris