Britains African Black Rhino charging

"Look out!"

Just what is coming over the horizon?


Look out! by Chris*4, on Flickr

A real need to be afraid!


Britains African Black Rhino charging 1 by Chris*4, on Flickr


Britains African Black Rhino charging 2 by Chris*4, on Flickr


Britains African Black Rhino charging 3 by Chris*4, on Flickr

"Phew he has just gone right on by!"


Britains African Black Rhino charging 4 by Chris*4, on Flickr

This model was number 1320 in the Britains Wild Life line. It was Issued in 1979 and withdrawn in 1998. One of the last animal figures introduced in this famous range.

Modelled by Ron Cameron the African Black Rhinoceros was made in PVC plastic. Mr Cameron suspended in miniature the classic pose of this animal charging with perfection.

Marked on the belly area "BRITAINS LTD ENGLAND © 1979.

Chris

Chris, that is a little cruel! That's my most wanted Britains figure and you're showing here such great figures!!!
Thanks for showing them, for funny presentation and additional information. I don't know why it is not very common once it is a recent Britains.

Roger wrote:

Chris, that is a little cruel! That's my most wanted Britains figure and you're showing here such great figures!!!
Thanks for showing them, for funny presentation and additional information. I don't know why it is not very common once it is a recent Britains.

Hi Roger

I agree this rhino is a hard one to find. Bought this one a few years ago for £1.50! Glad to present these images and information to fellow collectors. Wanted this post to be a little different and inject a bit of humour.

BTW the human figure in the first photo is the Native Guide from the Britains LWB Safari Land-Rover issued in 1971 and deleted in 1974. The Native Guide was not available as a separate item.

Chris

Such precious models and great photoes

I LOVE it when pictures tell a story.

Thankyou very much for sharing

Also a wonderful animal!! Congrats again

Oh he's so beautiful! I don't think I've seen this model before.

Great figure! I truly love mine(Which I bought at a speciality toy store at the mall in 85')!
As I always refer to Britains, holding a very dear and special place in my heart, not only because they are a beautiful animal figure line, plus my first, but because for the most part(Unlike today's figure lines) they are in "relative scale"!

Chris Sweetman wrote:

Roger wrote:

Chris, that is a little cruel! That's my most wanted Britains figure and you're showing here such great figures!!!
Thanks for showing them, for funny presentation and additional information. I don't know why it is not very common once it is a recent Britains.

Hi Roger

I agree this rhino is a hard one to find. Bought this one a few years ago for £1.50! Glad to present these images and information to fellow collectors. Wanted this post to be a little different and inject a bit of humour.

BTW the human figure in the first photo is the Native Guide from the Britains LWB Safari Land-Rover issued in 1971 and deleted in 1974. The Native Guide was not available as a separate item.

Chris

Thanks again Chris! The pictures are really great and the first with the native guide resulted also fantastic! Nice to know that it is also a Britains figure!
I wish to see more great topics from you with these great vintage animals!

SUSANNE wrote:

Such precious models and great photoes

I LOVE it when pictures tell a story.

Thankyou very much for sharing

You are welcome Susanne. I am glad you liked this style of presentation.

widukind wrote:

Also a wonderful animal!! Congrats again

Thank you Andreas.

HKHollinstone wrote:

Oh he's so beautiful! I don't think I've seen this model before.

I have lots of Britains catalogues where it is illustrated but this was the first one I saw in the plastic Harriet. With that low price I didn't hesitate and before I knew it was in my collection.

baltimore zoo wrote:

Great figure! I truly love mine(Which I bought at a speciality toy store at the mall in 85')!
As I always refer to Britains, holding a very dear and special place in my heart, not only because they are a beautiful animal figure line, plus my first, but because for the most part(Unlike today's figure lines) they are in "relative scale"!

Relative scale is what I was brought up on too. For this reason Britains ranks as one of my favourite manufacturers.

Roger wrote:

Chris Sweetman wrote:

Roger wrote:

Chris, that is a little cruel! That's my most wanted Britains figure and you're showing here such great figures!!!
Thanks for showing them, for funny presentation and additional information. I don't know why it is not very common once it is a recent Britains.

Hi Roger

I agree this rhino is a hard one to find. Bought this one a few years ago for £1.50! Glad to present these images and information to fellow collectors. Wanted this post to be a little different and inject a bit of humour.

BTW the human figure in the first photo is the Native Guide from the Britains LWB Safari Land-Rover issued in 1971 and deleted in 1974. The Native Guide was not available as a separate item.

Chris

Thanks again Chris! The pictures are really great and the first with the native guide resulted also fantastic! Nice to know that it is also a Britains figure!
I wish to see more great topics from you with these great vintage animals!

Thanks again Roger I like the first image also. But is doesn't show the rhino very well! However, it was a great way to introduce the Native Guide figure.

As they say: "Watch this space" for more vintage animals.

Wonderful post Chris! Thank you for the excellent pictures. And of course the Rhinoceros itself...Wow. Just an amazing, lovely work. The only Britains I own is a plastic Hippo and her calf, but I think they are both gorgeous and there are numerous britains figures I'd love to own. This Black Rhino is particularly impressive. I'm hoping that sometime in the not-too-distant future, Roger will be posting some pictures of his own copy.

Thanks again Chris! I always enjoy your posts a great deal and look forward to some more pictures of vintage animals.

Yes, Chris! Because of the "relative scale" of Britains, and the fact that all the figures look descent when placed together in a display, unlike all the brands today.
One would think, one of these companies, would at least try to do it!

baltimore zoo wrote:

Yes, Chris! Because of the "relative scale" of Britains, and the fact that all the figures look descent when placed together in a display, unlike all the brands today.
One would think, one of these companies, would at least try to do it!

There is one company that is producing their plastic figures in "relative scales" - Preiser.

They offer their figures in a variety of scales which include: 1:87th, 1:43rd and 1:22nd. The latter scale are former 70mm Elastolin poses made in hard plastic. They are very expensive compared to the other German and French companies products.

Currently Preiser offer four sets of 1:43rd scale farm animals and again the majority of the poses are based on former 40mm Elastolin ones. Unfortunately, at present Preiser do not have any plans to include wild animals in this scale.

1:87th is a railway scale popular in Europe and one that Preiser has produced figure sets in for many years. Again since the early 1980's they have used former Elastolin poses to add variety in these sets.

Currently, Preiser's offerings in 1:32nd scale do not include any animals.

Hope this helps.

scot(t) wrote:

Wonderful post Chris! Thank you for the excellent pictures. And of course the Rhinoceros itself...Wow. Just an amazing, lovely work. The only Britains I own is a plastic Hippo and her calf, but I think they are both gorgeous and there are numerous britains figures I'd love to own. This Black Rhino is particularly impressive. I'm hoping that sometime in the not-too-distant future, Roger will be posting some pictures of his own copy.

Thanks again Chris! I always enjoy your posts a great deal and look forward to some more pictures of vintage animals.

Thanks Scott glad you are finding these posts interesting and informative. I recently purchased a hippo calf and I am on the look out for it's mum! Still need to add a few animals to complete my Britains/Herald collection. Unfortunately, I gave away my childhood collection of Britains animals when we moved house back in 1980. So I will always have a soft spot for Britains animals and a passion about spreading this enthusiasm to others.

You are right about PREISER Chris , they are very expensive because they are not exactly "toys" but "model-making" items.

BRITAINS was THE "in scale" company and it would be nice to see something like this again... I guess it is only a dream

Thank you for showing this black rhino It is still a lesson for moden makers

Thanks Chris. Just wish Papo or Safari would...

what a nice candidate fpor a repaint,..the ugly light grey of the horns etc.,....
Hope to find a rubbed one some day.

PeGe wrote:

what a nice candidate fpor a repaint,..the ugly light grey of the horns etc.,....
Hope to find a rubbed one some day.

Philipp, all Britains are good candidats for repaintings! We like to collect the figures as they are but a collection of repainted Britains would be fantastic! Is not hard to find them almost unpainted and relatively cheap. I wished I was talented as you are!

Chris, I like the fact that the rhino is almost not fvisible in the first picture, the opposite would be great to, to see the rhino on focus and the native guide out of focus.

PeGe wrote:

what a nice candidate fpor a repaint,..the ugly light grey of the horns etc.,....
Hope to find a rubbed one some day.

May be but this one is staying as it is.

Good luck PeGe in your quest to find one in less than mint condition.

Roger wrote:

Chris, I like the fact that the rhino is almost not fvisible in the first picture, the opposite would be great to, to see the rhino on focus and the native guide out of focus.

Roger, this is a good idea and one scene I will consider next time I set up my camera.

Wow it's a gorgeous figure

Pictures are brilliant, of course! Though, I want to point that the fact that we barely see the paws of this model, contributes also to a more realistic look. Maybe that's the least appealing part of this great sculpt. Have they painted it in a subtle different way and it would look real.

Advicot wrote:

Wow it's a gorgeous figure

Thank you Adam. This is one of my favourite toy animal figures.

Roger wrote:

Pictures are brilliant, of course! Though, I want to point that the fact that we barely see the paws of this model, contributes also to a more realistic look. Maybe that's the least appealing part of this great sculpt. Have they painted it in a subtle different way and it would look real.

Many thanks Rogério. Regarding the actual figure one must remember that at the time it was produced the advanced painting techniques that are available today were in their infancy. Plus this was only a toy for children to play with and never meant to be an item for collectors.

When I see this rhino and other late issue Britains I just wonder why they put the effort in with the definition of the animal's muscles, skin wrinkles, even the ribs in this particular figure. All this plus the animated pose that captures the essence of the animal just perfectly.

Wonderful pictures and this model is also among my favourites!