Kikimalou's "Scale" collection - 1/18 shelves - Updated May 13 2023

Thank you Kostas, OmegaZero and Leyster

As promised, I invite you to continue visiting my Mainstream by scale collection.
for this second exhibition we are not going very far since it is the 1/18 scale, the one that is immediately lower than 1/15.
It is also smaller in size: 82 models against 119. Although less numerous, the inhabitants of this scale also have a lot of charm. There are even a few VIPs from modern collections.

I take this opportunity to talk about "problems" that arise when you want to display your miniatures by scale.
The first is how to present animals of the same scale on a shelf: Geographically? "taxonomically"? "as it comes"? "artistically"?...
The question is not settled even if I favor a rather geographical approach. In fact everything depends on the number of models on a scale, if there are only 15 models the "artistic" answer imposes itself. If there are many like at 1/15 the geographical exposure is then easy to implement.

At 1/18 it is already less simple. Even if the geographical approach is possible, it forces choices to be made.
I'll take the example of the Colorata Sea Turtles, it's a beautiful set (the photo is below) but the turtles are not strictly to scale between them. the Loggerhead and leatherback turtles could reach 1/25 scale. On the other hand, the Olive Ridley Turtle reaches a maximum scale of 1/18. As I want to keep them all together, the only possible scale is 1/18 with a large Olive Ridley and small Loggerhead and leatherback turtles. This is the choice I made but it makes me want to add another leatherback that can act as a large individual on another shelf.

Colorata Galapagos green turtle, Green sea turtle, Hawksbill sea turtle, Leatherback sea turtle, Loggerhead sea turtle, Olive ridley sea turtle.
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And then there is the loneliness, some animals are isolated from others geographically, at 1/18 it is the Barbary sheep, the Guanaco and the Magnificent frigatebird. Displaying in scale means you have at least two things in the same scale or it is meaningless.

Papo Guanaco & Bandai Magnificent frigate-bird
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Of course in a display we can always put the guanaco and the Frigatebird with the South American fauna, even if the other species are typical of the Amazonian forest. However, I would really like to find a good puma at 1/18 to accompany the Guanaco.

For the Barbary sheep, we can of course stick it to the African fauna even if it is separated from the others by an immense desert. For this one I found two solutions in the 1/15 scale. There are two Striped Hyena there and the Jasman is also compatible at 1/18. As for the Barbary sheep, its scale can vary from 1/14.5 to 1/18.3. So what to do? Add a small Barbary sheep to the four 1/15 North Western Africa animals? Add a large 1/18 scale Striped Hyena? I haven't decided yet.

Jasman Striped hyena & CollectA Barbary sheep
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A similar question with the sealife, some models are small enough to be exhibited at 1/20 as well as at 1/18. So what to do? As all 1/20 are compatible with 1/18 scale, I decided to put them all together because it looks better like that.

Kitan Club Short-tailed albatross, Safari Ltd Atlantic goliath grouper, Schleich Blue shark, Discovery science Birdbeak dogfish, Yujin Olive ridley sea turtle, My Favorite Animals Goblin shark, Sfari Ltd Bull Shark and Ikimon Frilled shark.
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At 1/18 there are also some Freshwater models, even if they are not all from the same continent, I prefer to display them together rather than with a howler monkey or a giant panda.


Colorata 2004 Queensland Lungfish, CBIOV Yangtze Finless Porpoise cow & calf, Colorata 2011 Pirarucu and CollectA Ganges River Dolphin
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Angola
Mojo Giant sable, Papo Lioness and young Lion
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East african savannah
Papo Lioness with cub, Schleich King cheetah, CollectA Defassa waterbuck, Kaiyodo WR Shoebill
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Ethiopia
Schleich Warthog, Jasmin Olive baboon, CollectA Mountain Nyala and Kaiyodo WR Serval
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Europe
Schleich White stork, CollectA Brown bear, Hausser elastolin European polecat , Mojo Spanish fighting bull , Schleich European beaver
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India
CollectA Nilgai, PV Northern plains gray langur, Schleich Sloth bear
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Himalaya and Tibetan plateau
JMA Himalayan Bharal, CollectA Markhor, Papo Tibetan blue bear, CollectA Himalayan thar
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China
Schleich Giant panda, Kaiyodo Reeves's muntjac
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South-eastern Asia
CollectA Saola, Papo Tiger, Colorata Orang-utan and Yujin Asian water monitor
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Oceania
Southlands Replicas and Papo Emus, CollectA Common wombat and Kaiyodo Royal penguin.
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Antarctic ocean
Adélie penguin, King penguin and Gentoo penguin
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Brazilian rainforest
Kabaya Hyacinth macaw, Safari Ltd jaguar, PV Howler monkey, PV Cuvier's dwarf caiman, Kaiyodo Tamandua, Colorata Giant anteater and Furuta Giant armadillo
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California
Kaiyodo Californian condor, Hausser Elastolin Rocky mountain goat and Mojo Californian sealion
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Our dear departed, before KT
Safari Ltd Leptoceratops, Papo & Kinto favorite Dimetrodons, Kaiyodo Eurypterus, Kaiyodo Xenacanthus, Kaiyodo Psittacosaurus and Kaiyodo Ichthyostega
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A few more picture for fun

The Bears family
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The Kitties
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Hooves and horns
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Wild goats
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A few more Wild goats
1/18 could be the ”Wild goats” scale, unfortunately some species aren’t present. I promised to Rogério to show a comparison pic so here we are.
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Anna’s... ... Lucky you!
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Who made this bear? Nice degradé painting work!
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Yay, what a wonderful 1/18 collection! I love how rich your Brazilian forest is
Of course, group photos are my favorite, yay, yay, yay!
The panda with muntjac look like good friends, they are adorable
And what a super group of wild goats!
And the Colorata turtles collection is stunning

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] the Tibetan bear is painted by me

Such a stunning array of models! This is such an interesting scale and I loved looking through all your photos of them, I think my favourites have to be the big cats, they really are such wonderful figures!

Wow, stunning photographs and seeing animals of different species (and companies) to scale is always exciting!

Ana wrote:

Yay, what a wonderful 1/18 collection! I love how rich your Brazilian forest is  
Of course, group photos are my favorite, yay, yay, yay!
The panda with muntjac look like good friends, they are adorable
And what a super group of wild goats!
And the Colorata turtles collection is stunning

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] the Tibetan bear is painted by me  

Anna, you know I've already lost two of your bongos? And I'm sure not for lack of speed (but someone was faster than me)! I hope the third one that goes on sale (if it happens...) is for me because if not I'm going to end up hating that figure

*Did you also do any reconstruction on the bear?

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] Thank you for loving them and thanks you for your help

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] The big cats thank you very much

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] Thank you Blaine I'm very pleased to please you

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] The bear was indeed rebuilt by Anna before painting

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I just had to scroll through the images again they're so amazing!

Splendid photos again

The tibetan bear is splendid

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] beautiful piece, thanks for the images :)

Thank you for sharing so useful and beautiful pictures of your 1/18 scale collection!

Who made this wonderful mouflon on the top right please?

I was expecting you to open a different topic to each scale where you would show later additions but it is more than fine like this.
This is a superb topic with formidable and useful pictures.
I'm surprised of seeing here some figures I thought they were 1:15 scale but I haven't measured them precisely to get a consistent idea. For example, I never thought the Papo lioness or the CollectA waterbuck could enter a 1:18 scale. It shows how your job is important to me and now I need to rethink which scale fits better my intentions of having a part of my collection at a certain scale or at least to put some focus into a certain scale which covers a generous number of good replicas of iconic species.
Even if felines are certainly one of my favorite animal groups, it is your goat family the group I like most in this last batch of photos.

Kikimalou wrote:

And then there is the loneliness, some animals are isolated from others geographically, at 1/18 it is the Barbary sheep, the Guanaco and the Magnificent frigatebird. Displaying in scale means you have at least two things in the same scale or it is meaningless.

Papo Guanaco & Bandai Magnificent frigate-bird
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Kitan Club Short-tailed albatross, Safari Ltd Atlantic goliath grouper, Schleich Blue shark, Discovery science Birdbeak dogfish, Yujin Olive ridley sea turtle, My Favorite Animals Goblin shark, Sfari Ltd Bull Shark and Ikimon Frilled shark.
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At 1/18 there are also some Freshwater models, even if they are not all from the same continent, I prefer to display them together rather than with a howler monkey or a giant panda.


Colorata 2004 Queensland Lungfish, CBIOV Yangtze Finless Porpoise cow & calf, Colorata 2011 Pirarucu and CollectA Ganges River Dolphin
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China
Schleich Giant panda, Kaiyodo Reeves's muntjac
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Our dear departed, before KT
Safari Ltd Leptoceratops, Papo & Kinto favorite Dimetrodons, Kaiyodo Eurypterus, Kaiyodo Xenacanthus, Kaiyodo Psittacosaurus and Kaiyodo Ichthyostega
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It is great to see these gatherings again Christophe!
I'm surprised with the size of some of these animals, I had no idea they were so big in real life.

The guanaco and frigate bird look good together! Both very lovely models. The pose of the frigate bird is really nice.
I think if you have many scales in your collection, then it makes more sense to see some comparisons otherwise it can be meaningless if you are looking at them thru a 'real life' lens.
Maybe that's why for me, with my mainly 1/32nd scale, anything outside that size immediately looks 'out of place' to me as everything is already in scale.

I'm quite astounded by the many varieties of scales available in fact!
For a scale collector then one would have to be choosy who you would let in to your collection (if you are not counting babies and juveniles).


I love that frilled shark! All these look so good together, especially with the albatross above!

When I saw the pirarucu I immediately thought it was an arrowana! and then googled to see that they are from the same family. That is a very nice model.


What a happy photo of the panda and muntjac! Both are smiling love it!

and oh!! I cannot believe how cute the Kaiyodo Psittacosaurus family is! I've never seen this figure before, and I absolutely love it. It's on my wish list now. Those 7 babies

Kikimalou wrote:

A few more Wild goats
1/18 could be the ”Wild goats” scale, unfortunately some species aren’t present. I promised to Rogério to show a comparison pic so here we are.
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these wild goats are amazing! love them all

and the bear painted by Anna is superb, especially the glint in his eyes in the 2nd photo

Kikimalou wrote:

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those eyes! just superb - glinting away

These were such beautiful photos! I love seeing how different brands compare with one another. I don't pay much attention to scale when I collect, but it looks so pleasing to see different species in the same scale next to each other. Sometimes I forget the actual size of these species

Those Colorata sea turtles are gorgeous, and that goblin shark is amazing! I didn't know CBIOV had Yangtze Finless Porpoises... I have to look into those I love cetaceans!

Like others my favorite images are the group photos!

Amazing collection

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] Great Blaine    Since I do the same regularly with your musuem, I guess we are scrolling together  

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] Thanks Fernando, yes this bear is awesome

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] You're welcome  

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] Anna made this Transcarpian urial. It is beautiful and it could be a 1/18 small animal. It is in the second pic to please Rogério and you will find it when I will show the 1/22 scale

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[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] Sorry my friend, macaques are disappointing animals. I considered the option of opening a topic for each scale but my solution still seemed more reasonable to me. Nothing will prevent me from returning to the scales already presented when changes occur. Now if everyone prefers multiple topics, it is still possible to do so. Just tell me  

Papo lioness scale is between 1/16,6 and 1/21. Papo roaring Lion is between 1/15,5 and 1/20. This is the scale for hieght at shoulders measurement. The Papo females are just a bit longer than the male and both heads have the same size. In real life, even if males are not far bigger than females, they have a bigger head and aren't smaller. So I let the Papo females as 1/18 medium animals and the male as a 1/20 huge lion.

With a 120 to 136cm heigt at shoulders, ColelctA Defassa waterbuck scale is between 1/17 and 1/19,4. CollectA has produced a very nice Waterbuck but it seems as strong as an eland, hence your impression that he fats more than 1/15. Waterbucks are big and strong antelopes but definitely not as big as an eland.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] Collecting "seriously" by scale brings its share of surprises. Many things that we believe to be obvious vanish when we start to compare, it's the end of the realm of certainties.
For example most collectors consider the Britains Ltd Platypus to be 1/32 and the Noah's Pals ones to be 1/25. After measurement, I installed the Noah's Pals at 1/15 and the Britains at 1/25 1/22.
It may seem strange but the fact of organizing my mainstream collection by scales led me to abandon the famous 1/32. I use 1/30 and 1/35 instead.
When I buy a model Im' not exactly sure on what shelf it will spend it's life. The surprise effect is part of the fun  

I like very much the frilled shark and the marine inhabitants of the 1/18 floor. I hope this part will grow.

I have loved the Pirarucus since my first visit to Beauval Zoo. Seeing these giants evolve in the middle of the manatee pool was a defining experience for me. First of all I found these animals wonderful and then their size impressed me, they really played on par with the manatees. This meeting had a lot to do with my choice to exhibit my little friends by scale.
Now I'm waiting to welcome the Kinto Favorite Pirarucu to embellish another shelf

This nice Psittacosaurus mother was made by Kaiyodo for the 2004 Dino expo in Japan. It is a bit outdated now without quills but is is still so lovely.  

And for goats, bears and so many other things I'm very happy and proud to have our Anna as a good friend for more than 13 years now.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] Thank you for the Sea turtles    And thank you to notice my beautiful Goblin shark. I was very surprised that no one told me about it.
For the Yangtse river dolphins, CBIOV also produced a bull.

Well you are some to tell me you prefer group photos... I can't see something else in this topic


SO I HAVE ANOTHER QUESTION FOR ALL OF YOU. DO YOU PREFER A SINGLE TOPIC OR ONE TOPIC FOR EACH SCALE ?

Thank you Christophe!

.. and I personaly would prefer one topic for each scale! :)

Christophe, thanks for clearing it up about the scales. I often don't get measurements correctly. So, these topics are very useful for a lazy croc.
The fact you put these animals to a smaller scale is not disappointing, it is just surprising.
Disappointing is that I have to find another larger lioness if my choice is 1/15 scale. You're helping me to take a correct decision since I trust you completly.
I think the waterbuck pose, besides the bulkiness, with its neck held vertically and its long horns pointing upwards, give the impression it is a much larger model than it actually is.
I enjoy the platypus example, could you please remind me its size? I know it is larger than the 8mm and 1 cm Willy used to mention, maybe 1 inch.
Since you asked, I also prefer an individual topic for each scale. It will help us to see which figures fit at a glance without needing to read everything again and it will also help collectors searching for a topic about a specific scale.
Nevertheless, if it is more reasonable to you and more confortable to show everything in a single topic, it is fine for me.

Alain voted
Rogério voted

About 1/15 Lions I would put my hope on Safari Ltd ones.

About Platypus, total lengh is supposed to be between 38cm and 60cm with average females at 43cm and average males at 50cm.

Britains is 2,5cm and we don't know the gender so scale could vary between 1/15,2 and 1/24 , yes sir so a big average female would be 1/18 and an average male 1/20. I decide mine was a big male at 1/22 scale. far from the 1/32 isn't it ?

Noah's Pals male is 3,5cm long so he could be an average 1/14 platypus or a big 1/17 one.
Noah's Pals female is 2,8cm long so she could be a small 1/13,6 platypus or an average 1/15,4 one.
1/15 is the perfect scale to show them together and we are far from 1/25.

Nice to know about those platypuses, my smallest one is the Southlands which is marketed at 1:12 scale but since it is a female, it is even slightly large for that scale and there's no way to put it for 1:15. Noah's Pals seem to have a perfect size but they are not as detailed as the Southlands. Though, I like Pedro and Pamela and I'll consider getting them. So Mr. Britains is 1 inch and not 1 cm. Yes, it is big for 1:32 scale but I believe made it as small as they could.
Do you know the scale of the CollectA current lion? It seems to be around 1:16 but I might be wrong again. I will study the Safari models then.

I don't remember the Southlands one was a female. Do you still have a catalogue or something. If it is a female she must go on a 1/8 shelf or 1/9 for a big female. As a male he could join the 1/9 family as average or the 1/10 as a really big one.
I don't think the CollectA lion is big enough to be at 1/15 but it's just a feeling, I don't have it.

I think I have a slight preference for one big topic with all scales. But either way it's fine and scale comparison topics with lovely group photos are some of my favourite for sure.

Kikimalou wrote:

I don't remember the Southlands one was a female. Do you still have a catalogue or something. If it is a female she must go on a 1/8 shelf or 1/9 for a big female. As a male he could join the 1/9 family as average or the 1/10 as a really big one.
I don't think the CollectA lion is big enough to be at 1/15 but it's just a feeling, I don't have it.

I have the CollectA lion and I will remember to take measurements to check its scale.
I don't think a Southlands Catalogue exists. We got the gender information from online shops or directly from Facebook. Most, if not all Southlands Replicas have a gender. Tasmanian devil, wombat or dingo are males, koala and platypus are females. It is a weird choice for the platypus since they needed to do it at a larger scale for being so small.
Notice the Facebook post refering to it using the feminine gender. Whilst it is common for Latin languages when the names of the animals are feminine nouns, there's no reason to use the feminine gender in English language, unless you know it is a female.