Britains Herald Water Buffalo

Britains Water Buffalo 2 by Chris*4, on Flickr


Britains Water Buffalo 1 by Chris*4, on Flickr

This model was number 1356 in the Britains Zoo line. It was Issued in 1962 and withdrawn in 1969. Not a very long production run when compared to other animals released in a similar period. This plastic version was a re-work from the original lead hollow-cast model which was introduced in 1931. You need a bit of luck to find one nowadays with it's tail. This is easily damaged and most playworn examples are missing their tails completely. The horns were originally painted a cream/ivory colour but this has worn away on this example.

I bought this one recently at a local toy fair. It was in a box with other Britains animals and luckily when I pulled it out it still had it's tail. A minor miracle!

Just love the way Britains/Herald obtained a neat texture to their animals. I managed to get this detail in both photos.

Chris

Congratulation for the model and the pics

Mine has grey horns too, maybe BRITAINS produced some without painted horns ?

Kikimalou wrote:

Congratulation for the model and the pics

Mine has grey horns too, maybe BRITAINS produced some without painted horns ?

Thank you Christophe. And it is possible that Britains in the late 1960's would omit colours to keep costs in check. They certainly did this in the 1950's when the number of colours used on cowboys etc.... went down from seven to four. On my example there doesn't look like there is any evidence of the horns being painted.

Chris

Your fantastic pictures give a lot of justice to this great sculpting!
I love it although it is sized more like a domesticated specimen.
I hope a modern brand makes this animal, unless as nice as Britains did but only with a richer painting.
I'm not attached to brand ditactures but I love Britains!

A wonderful model!! I have a copy and yours looks really better!!

Ah, but she's beautiful!

I remember when this model was released, the military modelling buffs were ecstatic .... able to make all sorts of exotic gun-teams.....

I spent some happy days converting these Water Buffaloes into Ankole Cattle, and I seem to remember someone laboriously turning some into pack-yaks!

Thanks for re-awakening the memories!


Lesley.
Castlerigg.

Roger wrote:

Your fantastic pictures give a lot of justice to this great sculpting!
I love it although it is sized more like a domesticated specimen.
I hope a modern brand makes this animal, unless as nice as Britains did but only with a richer painting.
I'm not attached to brand ditactures but I love Britains!

Many thanks Roger. Let us hope that a truly wild water buffalo makes an appearance shortly.

widukind wrote:

A wonderful model!! I have a copy and yours looks really better!!

Andreas, I bet your model is equally as good as this one. You are being too kind.

castlerigg wrote:

Ah, but she's beautiful!

I remember when this model was released, the military modelling buffs were ecstatic .... able to make all sorts of exotic gun-teams.....

I spent some happy days converting these Water Buffaloes into Ankole Cattle, and I seem to remember someone laboriously turning some into pack-yaks!

Thanks for re-awakening the memories!


Lesley.
Castlerigg.

You are welcome Lesley. Looks like Britains had a gun team draft animal in mind when they selected this pose. Her neck is in such an ideal position to accept the yoke. Of course if they were thinking about this in 1931 then this may be the reason why they selected the domesticated variety. A gun team pulled by wild water buffaloes would be a cause for concern for both the enemy and the driving team!

Do you have any examples of your conversions into Ankole cattlle. If you do I would love to see them.

Chris

Beautyful pictures of a great little model

And very interesting to hear about the background

SUSANNE wrote:

Beautyful pictures of a great little model

And very interesting to hear about the background

Thank you Susanne. Glad you like the images and information.

Chris

Congratulations Chris, that was a great find! I have one that used to be my father's, without the tail though. I remember it falling off, it was really thin where it joined the body and just came off in my hands one day.

Really nice pictures Chris! I've always loved this Britains model and would like to get it. In part, however, it's because I just want a model of an Asian Water Buffalo so very much. I'm hoping one of the modern companies comes to their senses and released one this coming year.

HKHollinstone wrote:

Congratulations Chris, that was a great find! I have one that used to be my father's, without the tail though. I remember it falling off, it was really thin where it joined the body and just came off in my hands one day.

Unfortunately, Harriet tail loss is a common occurrence with this model. You are right in saying that the join between the tail and the body is very weak. Perhaps this weakness was a reason why this model's production run was shorter than most of Britains other Zoo models. This example was the first one I found with a tail still intact.

Chris

Congrats Chris!

scot(t) wrote:

Really nice pictures Chris! I've always loved this Britains model and would like to get it. In part, however, it's because I just want a model of an Asian Water Buffalo so very much. I'm hoping one of the modern companies comes to their senses and released one this coming year.

Thank you Scott. This model is a hard one to find complete even in Britain.

I don't no why current manufacturers have neglected to include this species in their ranges. A wild version would be appreciated. However, with the domesticated variety popular as a draft animal in it's home territory this could lead to it being used in sets pulling a variety of vehicles and farming implements.

Chris

ken yeo wrote:

Congrats Chris!

Thank you Ken.

Chris

widukind wrote:

A wonderful model!! I have a copy and yours looks really better!!

Andreas, I bet your model is equally as good as this one. You are being too kind.



here is my

Thank you Andreas. This looks a nice one too.

Chris

Thank you

One more variation on theme - Rae 1972 (presented as Indian Buffalo Cow):


Inspiration by Britain buffalo is easy visible... (photo taken from mobile, I am sorry for the poor quality)

Thanks Jarda for providing another example of where an animal figure has been "inspired" by a Britains model.

Small wonder why Britains eventually succumbed to copies of their work being sold at vastly cheaper prices. In the UK these copies were a much smaller scale than the Britains originals and sold in bags containing a dozen or so animals at cheap prices. The header card stating something like "safari animals" and "made in Hong Kong". The pack only would have the British distributers name and not the manufacturers one. Typically they were sold in "Woolworths" stores and by market traders.

Today theses copies provide another avenue of interest to collectors. I have several of varying quality and will include these in future posts.

The PRIOR copy

I like all