Disappointed with some of the Safari figurines I received

Hello,

Last week I ordered some of Safari figurines. They're really difficult to find in Spain (impossible I'll say) and I bought them on ebay.

Of course I was guided with the pictures of the Safari web. But, what a disappointment when I received the figures. At least 3 of them the painting is very different from the ones of the web!!! and the packaging (I don't know if that's the correct word) is not good. There are a kind of plastic between the legs of some animals that is not well-sized - or well adjusted-, and the legs become too separated.
I have to say too that there are another ones, like amebelodon, the manatee ant the Arabian orix that are really beautiful.

My list of objections:

- coyote: after remove the plastic between the legs seems the animal is ice skating The painting of the face seems a cartoon, different from the Safari web one because there are no degraded colours take a look:

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- snow leopard: the same about the face. The detail is not the same of the one of the picture:

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- grizzly bear. Take a look to the painting of the fur in the web and the colour of my figure. It have no texture. Maybe is a problem on the photo, but I think not:

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Now I will repaint some of them, I suppose, but what to do with the legs? Is it safe to use the dryer to arrange the legs position?

I'm sorry some of your new models were disappointing Joan, it is horrible when that happens, catalogue pictures can be terribly misleading sometimes.
You could try the hair dryer technique with the coyote's legs, it might work, but see what others say first.

Sorry about your problem Joan
I don't think that you could solve the coyote's problem with a hairdryer, it looks that legs are widely set in body, if you use a dryer and make paws closer to each other - you will just bend the legs and make them arched, it won't work on elbow area

Sorry to hear that you were so disapointed. Ohh, it hurts so much when one has looked forward to the package, and then...

I agree with Robert. Unfortunately that is the way it is made .
The plastic "thing" they stand in is there to keep it that way. Papo has them also.

It seems that the one who painted your figueres has been very lavish with the eyeliner...but I still think they are wonderful figueres

Try to take a look tomorrow, perhaps you like them better then. Especially the bear is gorgeous, I think

Anyway, - CONGRATULATIONS with your new Safari-figueres. At least some of them were great and no disappointment

Thank you friends for your words in that sad moments
fortunately I think can be fixed. I tried to move coyote's legs and the result is not bad. I put the legs in the correct position with some strings and pieces of wood, I applied the air dryer and now, I suppose I must wait but I don't know how many time will be necessary for the figure. Any idea?
Tomorrow (or maybe tonight if my son go to bed soon ) I will begin painting.
Kindest regards!

Joan, I'm also sorry with your disapointment! But this is something usual in collectors life, I think! :)
I love some of my Safari figures but the finish touch is really poor in most part of them. It looks they try to work faster than other brands, in finish touch they have surely the last place in main brands! The bear is a great sculpting, I already had it in my hands and I think it is a nice figure.
Some of us are learning that Safari updates often the paintwork and older versions are really poor, they also updates the pictures of the catalogues but if the old version is available they will send you that one.
This is not great for the brand. Another question is that Safari retouch the pictures of the catalogue because they know that it is important to sell, but CollectA also makes it and unless in 2010 catalogue retouched pictures are worst than the figures.

See the elk, the same figure in 2010 and 2011 catalogues.

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I know what you meant, Joan. As you know, I collect horses, and some of the Safari models looks really beautiful in the catalogue. I´m lucky because there´s a shop near my home where I can find some (very few) Safari models, so I was able to have a look. What a dissapointing thing was to discover most of the models weren´t as beautiful as in the catalogue! Oh, they really know how to photograph them, with the correct angle to hide the anatomical deffects. So now I look for pics of all possible angles before buying any Safari figurine without having seen it myself.

I was going to send yo a message about the legs correction, but I see you solved it great :) I can´t wait to see your repaintings!

Abu Rai wrote:

Thank you friends for your words in that sad moments
fortunately I think can be fixed. I tried to move coyote's legs and the result is not bad. I put the legs in the correct position with some strings and pieces of wood, I applied the air dryer and now, I suppose I must wait but I don't know how many time will be necessary for the figure. Any idea?
Tomorrow (or maybe tonight if my son go to bed soon ) I will begin painting.
Kindest regards!

the best is to put the coyote in very very cold water( with ice ) after bending

Thank you Silvia and Roger, Now I know that about Safari.
Thanks for the tip Christophe, I will try that this evening :)

Kikimalou wrote:

the best is to put the coyote in very very cold water( with ice ) after bending

Ice! What a great idea :)

I have tried to bend multiple figurines and most return to their initial pose.

One of my friend bended Schleich lioness (turned her head) by heating her near the candle, which is much hotter than the air from hairdryer, and then put her in cold water. The lioness keeps her new pose for 1,5 year now :)

Most, not all!

Maybe it depends on the material

Wildheart wrote:

I have tried to bend multiple figurines and most return to their initial pose.

NOT..NOT...MY procedure is:

I put water to hot, up to a boil.
In other vessel ,I put water, with enough ices.
then I put into the boiling water, part of the animal I want to bend,
I wait 25 seconds.
in a fast-moving,out animal, hold the folded ,and put in water with ice. I wait other 25 seconds.
I repaired
all my animals.
The Most dificult animal was "noah pals"

Don´t you burn yourself when touching the boiled part? Doesn´t the rubber get deformed where you aply pressure in order to bend it?

What I do is, put the hair dryer on the model until the plastic is bendable, then when I get it into the position I want I put it under cold water for a few seconds.

Hi Joan! You are not alone in your disappointment! It,s good known problem - on the brand site we see the best painting of models... My grizzly model has painting like your figurine.

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Thank you for your tips friends! I think I'll try the hot water - cold water sistem. But is itnecessary to boil the water or only very hot ? One think that surprised me when I try to work with the hair dryer is that the painting was OK, I thought that something horrible will happen
And thank you for your words Sergey, I'm not so alone now

I used the same method as Harriet on some CollectAs and Schleichs and they returned to their original pose...

Wildheart wrote:

I used the same method as Harriet on some CollectAs and Schleichs and they returned to their original pose...

all the one's I've done so far have kept their pose

Hi Joan! it happens to my grizzly bear too! the catalogue look so good with different layer of depth of same colour. But when I saw it I nearly fainted and realised the colour is just too flat.

SyLoBe wrote:

Don´t you burn yourself when touching the boiled part? Doesn´t the rubber get deformed where you aply pressure in order to bend it?

I let the water boil. I use tweezers to place the animal in the water.
I put my fingers in cold water before bending the animal and so prevent burning.
Press and hold the animal in cold water to harden, it is necessary in large animals, because the weight can bend your legs and it fall.

The paint never fail, either in animals of famous brands or made ​​in china.

Hey Sergey, I like how you have the Papo bears sparring. Have you thought about repainting one brown, to have a "brown phase" black bear?