Pad-printed figures

On Schleich webpage (Schleich Q&A "How is a figure created - from the idea to the figure?") it is said that some of the larger patterns are not hand painted:

Quote :

Each individual figure is hand-painted. The only exceptions are large-area patterns, such as the brown spot pattern of a giraffe figure, which are applied using the pad-printing procedure.

Does anyone know (or can guess) which other animals besides giraffes are not fully hand-painted? And have they done this from the beginning or when did they start using pad-printing? :)

I wouldn't be surprised if zebras and leopards are printed this way to make them consistent.

CollectA zebras are printed, each one's identical to the next, but not Schleich - my zebras have slightly different stripes to photos I've seen online, and if you look at collectors' own photos of each zebra on google or sales sites, they're different to each other too.

Here's a quick example, check the two babies side by side : [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
Or the four in this ebay listing :
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Roughly the same, but enough variety that you can tell it's a human hand copying a prototype pattern, not a print applied

Very interesting indeed

Yes, so interesting, I never knew this!

For sure the Schleich latest jaguar is pad-printed, all individuals have the same inaccuracies in the rosettes. Very good ones in the flanks but smashed ones in the back. The latest Female Cheetah also is pad-printed, all individuals lack spots in the lower side of one of the flanks and not in the other.