Koniminiatures' recent acquisitions

Thank you Paige & Florian!

Eeeek    I missed alll these fabulous news   
Those fish are absolutely stunning ! Each one is a little wonder, - but together this crowd is stunning   

Tex's halter is awesome ! How you make these tiny things so perfect is completely beyond me   

Thankyou for these fantastic photoes. I am surely going back again and again to enjoy    

Thank you, Susanne! That longhorn I got from you is the pride of my cattle herd now. He rather stands out in the crowd of meek Friesians and Simmentals, the exotic beast he is.. And I couldn't leave Tex without a bit of bling - he's a flashy fellow, after all.. The halter's far from perfect, though - but perhaps practice makes ..better? More irritated? Cross-eyed, at least?   

I think the fish are really cool, too, and look most neat in groups. So much colour! Odd shapes! Interesting ethologies and evolutionary paths! As with that longhorn, I am very grateful to the folks who helped me come by those fish.

Well, I'm back again, after another bout of absence. Let's play catch up:

Earlier in the summer, I got these beauties all the way from the US from Paige, who went to a lot of trouble hunting them down for me. Thank you very much for your help, Paige! I never thought I'd be able to find the Little Busters cows, but here they are, doing a spot of mountain climbing with the re-released Schleich Angus bull and new Spanish bull.

Of course I had to craft a silly little halter for each:

I was also able to get the new Kaiyodo Microcosmos set of planktic organisms (from left to right protozoan Euglena gracilis; gazami crab (Portunus trituberculatus) larva; spear squid (Loligo bleekeri) paralarva; fairy shrimp (Branchinella kugenumaensis) female; common water flea (Daphnia pulex)) as well as the secret Noro giant water flea (Leptodora kindtii) and set-exclusive non-albino rock catfish (Silurus lithophilus) from the 2014 Capsule Q Museum Animals of Japan part 5 - Lake Biwa set. The Noro is apparently the largest animal gashapon Kaiyodo have produced. One can see its internal organs through its carapace - the species is famous for being so transparent it's nearly impossible to detect in the wild but for the shadow it casts.

Similarly, the Noro's main prey, the Daphnia and the Euglena of the Microcosmos set have had their internal organs and organelles made observable by having half of their respective carapaces and pellicles created removable. Like so:

Moving on to slightly larger beasts again, here's a draught horse resin by Lynn Fraley, sent to me (as a surprise gift, no less..!) and customized by a friend abroad; a CollectA Tennessee Walking Horse I've been resculpting on and off for so long that it feels like a new model to me too now that I've finally got it ready for paint (which is my excuse for including it in the shot); the Jean Höfler nanny goat Anna sent me a while back that I forgot to include last; and a handsome Britains Ltd. deer from Phil. Thank you to all of you for these (and myself for getting my act together with that TWH, finally..)!

Going larger yet, in species if not model size, here are more Britains cattle (and one endearing Britains copy) from Phil, plus a lone Schleich Holstein bull I picked up on my travels:

And, finally, the last of the figurine backlog - a Chinese dobermann amputee; a very ill if well sculpted CF Pet Puzzle bulldog; a Britains gnu I got from Taos a while ago already but neglected to include before (thank you, Taos!); a splendid Invicta Triceratops from Phil again; plus the new, scrawny Schleich crocodile baby.

Lastly, some individual shots and a random altogether one (because yay, I got new plants and tools, too!):

Very nice additions, Lea! I think those cows are great  Hurray for Paige!
And the horses, wow I just love them! And I guess Carola love specially the drafter too  
Congartulations on your excellent newbies!

Congratulations Lea!!!     I really love your halters as always,   they are not silly, it give something special to the figures  

Congrats on all of your newbies! The cattle look especially happy.    

Thank you for the comments, Jonas, Álvaro and Paige!

Elros Alvar wrote:

I really love your halters  as always,   they are not silly, it give something special to the figures  

That is very kind of you to say - and it is sort of why I create the accessories, I guess; in a mildly infantile expression of appreciation for each figurine. "Welcome, new addition - here's something just for you!" Also, they're just fun to make, of course, and oft help me dodge work awhile.

Congratulations! I love the AR, and your TWH CM. And that Euglena is awesome! I'm a biology geek, and that kind of stuff really interests me.

Thanks, LeeAnn! I, too, am rather into Euglena & co. there - if more with a layman's wonder than actual, knowledgeable geekdom. In the two little tanks in the background of the last picture I've for a long while now had two vigorous populations of Daphnia and miscellaneous Copepods going - the one with phytoplankton cultures supplying their main nutrition, the other supplemented from the outside. Now with the Kaiyodo models, I've been spending silly amounts of time staring at the little buggers trying to distinguish organs and functions. If only they kept still for a moment!

With my enthusiasm renewed by the models now, I've even been pondering on starting another culture of fairy or even clam shrimp, too. Both have proven fiddly, fiddly keepers, though, so I suspect it might be better for all concerned if I just stuck to marveling at my model version of the Branchinella..

Well, I definitely wouldn't claim to be a knowledgeable bio geek. Very cool you have your own little ecosystem thriving in your own home.

Congrats Lea !!!!
you always have rare additions !!

Great to see you around again, Lea   You have always very extradordinary additions   

koniminiatures wrote:

Of course I had to craft a silly little halter for each:
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

That is one nifty halter - makes him look really badass   ! Maybe someting like this can go for horses too   

jonesee wrote:

And the horses, wow I just love them! And I guess Carola love specially the drafter too  
Congartulations on your excellent newbies!

You are completely right Jonas   That is a very lovely mold! I wish such beauties would also be seen in the more common plastic brands  

OMG that's one fit bull indeed. 
I am just now starting to think about a new collection.... Bulls.
Big bad ass black bulls.   

Carola wrote:

jonesee wrote:

And the horses, wow I just love them! And I guess Carola love specially the drafter too  
Congartulations on your excellent newbies!

You are completely right Jonas   That is a very lovely mold! I wish such beauties would also be seen in the more common plastic brands  

     

koniminiatures wrote:

Thank you for the comments, Jonas, Álvaro and Paige!

Elros Alvar wrote:

I really love your halters  as always,   they are not silly, it give something special to the figures  

That is very kind of you to say - and it is sort of why I create the accessories, I guess; in a mildly infantile expression of appreciation for each figurine. "Welcome, new addition - here's something just for you!" Also, they're just fun to make, of course, and oft help me dodge work awhile.

Yes, I also do objects and things for my favourite new additions,I have lot of fun with it.  
but they really look beautiful with a halter,   I want to get more asap   

Wow, Lea, there are too many things I'm bowled over by to comment on all of them. Fantastic new additions!! (That Britains Gnu is so lovely; it's always been one of my favorite Britains figures.)

I think the halters are actually kind of gorgeous. The one on the Schleich Spanish Bull is just lovely. Such a pleasure to look through these pictures. Thank you!

Wow, I love the remake of the TWH you did. He needs a bigger photo shoot ! I still have the ASB remake you sold several years ago if you remember

Lea, what a salade! Surely the triceratops looks the more delicious of them all with its pleasant vegetable appearance! Actually I love it! though, among all these great figures, I shouldn't tell you I am impressed with one of them but I really do! Your remake of CollectA TWH looks incredible, we must see more of it. I also feel, trhough your comments, that you know you performed a great work but you don't want to show your feeling...
I have that gnu and deer and I love them but now I am only interested in Tennessee derivatives!

Thank you all for the many comments! The Spanish bull is indeed a pretty badass sculpt, with or without the halter - I can only recommend starting a prospect bull collection with it, Dutch Bear!

Carola wrote:

That is one nifty halter - makes him look really badass   ! Maybe someting like this can go for horses too   
...
You are completely right Jonas   That is a very lovely mold! I wish such beauties would also be seen in the more common plastic brands  

Something like it can definitely go on horses, too, Carola. Actually, even that particular bull halter (plus all the other ones shown & the one below) are up for trades/sale ([You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]).. Just thought I'd mention it in case someone wants to bling up their beasts a bit.  As for the Fraley resin.. well, we do have the very reasonable Deborah McDermott sculpts in the CollectA lines already, and Breyer has been increasingly using skilled equine artists (along with some blander choices, of course) for their mass-produced models' sculpts. It's a start, eh?

Álvaro, crafting tack for models is indeed surprisingly fun ..perhaps more fun than it should be for me, though; I have a bad habit of procrastinating by doing it. I magically start crafting halters instead of studying or doing real work once I'm seated at my desk. Incidentally, here's what I dodged work with today  :

Phil - I too like that gnu a great deal! It's an astoundingly graceful and intricate sculpt for a "mere" childrens' toy. Thank you for your compliment on the halters - I'm glad you don't find them detracting from the models!

Phexedrine wrote:

Wow, I love the remake of the TWH you did. He needs a bigger photo shoot ! I still have the ASB remake you sold several years ago if you remember

Thank you! I shall oblige your wish just below - but what is this I hear about an old ASB custom? I cannot for the life of me recall which one it might have been. I'd love to see what's become of it in your hands, though, if you have any photographs to show - you've got me quite curious now. I've been away from the forum awhile and don't recall you from before - so either I'm going senile proper, or you're maybe new(ish) on the forum? (In which case - hello, uh, again!  ) I must have missed your collection/additions thread(s) if you've got such up. Have you perchance shown the CM ASB in one of those?

Roger wrote:

Your remake of CollectA TWH looks incredible, we must see more of it. I also feel, trhough your comments, that you know you performed a great work but you don't want to show your feeling... I have that gnu and deer and I love them but now I am only interested in Tennessee derivatives!

Thank you for the kind words! Below are more shots of the poor blighter for your amusement. I wouldn't say I've done anything great with him, but perhaps less sloppily than my usual. He still needs to be cleaned up in a few areas; have custom cast weight shoes fitted on; and some additional veins and whisker bumps added - but other than that (and the lack of colour of course..), here he is:


The model has had its rubbery ears, legs & hips sculpted mostly anew; the back lengthened (by sawing the figurine in half completely & re-attaching); the original tail obviously replaced with a resculpted one tied-up and set (surgically cut into & bent double on itself - something done in the US for sheer fashion). Mid-customization, he looked like a spider-horse mutant:

When next you see him, he'll probably be all painted up already. It might take a while, but I'll post a few shots of him on the forum again once I have him finished.

The halter is awesome   Oh and this guy here..  Beautiful!

koniminiatures wrote:

Phexedrine wrote:

Wow, I love the remake of the TWH you did. He needs a bigger photo shoot ! I still have the ASB remake you sold several years ago if you remember

Thank you! I shall oblige your wish just below - but what is this I hear about an old ASB custom? I cannot for the life of me recall which one it might have been. I'd love to see what's become of it in your hands, though, if you have any photographs to show - you've got me quite curious now. I've been away from the forum awhile and don't recall you from before - so either I'm going senile proper, or you're maybe new(ish) on the forum? (In which case - hello, uh, again!  ) I must have missed your collection/additions thread(s) if you've got such up. Have you perchance shown the CM ASB in one of those?

The TWH is really wonderful, you have a feel of biomecanics that not a lot of people in the hobby have. Kudos seriously   
As for the ASB, it's a mare you started from a Rejoice model, actually I have her prepped and ready for oils, there's a picture of her in my work thread just before I finished her prep work :

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You are of course credited as the main customizer of this lil gem. I bought her a few years ago, after seeing her on the Finnish model horse forum. I remember using google translate as I only speak French, English and a bit of German   The translation was epic in itself.

I tend to gravitate more in the French model horse community albeit coming over here sometimes as I collect other hoofed beast (cloven hoofed ones and surprinsingly now dogs and other animals who serve as props) so that is why you didn't remember me. Anyway I'm a big follower of your work and if you might have some custom work for sale, I'd be all ears.

Amazing remake Lea!!!! Wow!! I love all the details and expression of this work     

It is really good! Thanks for extra pictures and don't forget to share with us pictures when repainted, even if you take a long time to do it!

I love this custom! All those details! I'd love to commission you one day, if you accept those of course