Playmobil 70348 zoo viewing platform

[Eplay]

I bought 4 boxes of the 70348 zoo viewing platform set in a sale. I was really excited about it because I have plans to make a big asian zoo. I initially bought the 4852 Asian zoo set for the beatiful torii gate, but now I really like the set as a whole: the bamboo fences, the dark grey rocks and fences and the animals of course. The set and the animal enclosures are only a bit small for my taste, so I’m planning an upgrade.

With the 70348 zoo viewing platform set I was excited because the fences have that Asian vibe and at all the pictures they look white which would match beautifully with the Asian zoo. But apparently they are not white, but light grey 

For all the sets of this zoo serie I already didn’t understand why the rocks of the support pillars are a dark grey, but the rocks with the grass and water are a light grey. But apparently they have added an lighter light grey to the set in the form of the platform fences. 

It looks like they have changed the rock colours to one colour in the limited edition zoo sets 71190, 71191 and 71292. But I’m still a bit disappointed with my not so white fences (the new bright yellow ones don’t look better).

I’m thinking about painting the fences white, but I don’t think the result is going to look pretty as the material is a bit flexible. Does anyone have experience in this?

[GrahamB]

Given how intricate those fences are, painting them might be a challenge! I would suggest using a spray paint, sparingly, perhaps letting the paint dry after the first spray, building up coverage in stages. It's a good idea to apply a plastic primer coat first, but in this case that might make the paint layer too thick. Perhaps experiment on one piece and if it's not successful, you could replace that piece with a part from DS (Playmobil Plus, spare parts service) and put up with the light grey colour.

[tahra]

I bought several of those as parts - cheaper than the set. Rocks I have.

It is a prime example of the lengths they go to to make things NOT work - the measurements are all off.   Still.. they are BEAUTIFUL, and (if I live long enough) they will make a gorgeous path.. somewhere.

[Eplay]

Thanks Graham, I think I will try it on one when I find some good paint. For now I’m hoping geobra will release a future set with white fences. (Yes I’m very hopeful, just like I’m hoping that they will produce the building, bridge and pavilion of the new ayuma set 71030 in the same red and white as the asian zoo )

I bought several of those as parts - cheaper than the set. Rocks I have.

I was thinking about that too, but I found the set on sale really cheap

Still.. they are BEAUTIFUL, and (if I live long enough) they will make a gorgeous path.. somewhere.

I want to order 2 of the stairs from the children’s zoo to see if I can combine them and make a lower path.

[playmovictorian]

This is a lovely set 

[Eplay]

For now I’ve accepted the light grey colour. It doesn’t look terrible when you combine it.

I found some cheap zoo keepers with a lovely print on marktplaats (Dutch eBay), so now I’ve started building my zoo keepers army 
I’m not a fan of the sunglasses of the original ( https://playmodb.org/cgi-bin/showpart.pl?partnum=30-00-6434), so I’ve made them more culturally diverse. All the original zookeepers from the last zoo sets have a Caucasian skin tone with only the shop/entry lady having a dark tan skin tone. That is really disappointing. Finding arms for the clicky I made with the brown skin tone is hard. I found this guy:
https://playmodb.org/cgi-bin/showpart.pl?partnum=30-00-6392
But the sleeves are a little bit darker. I think I’m going to try arms with white rolled up shirt sleeves if I can get my hands on them.
The green and the beige are really hard to match. Let me know if you have any recommendations.

[Pynedor]

Even though the colour of the fences doesn't match the white you were looking for, I agree that they still look fine!

For the arms, have you looked at firefighters? Is that shade of tan the same that is used with them? For example, if the colour matches, the arms from the figure in Set 70488 or from the figure in Set 70649 might work well, if you'd be alright with long sleeves (and possibly with removing some of the printing).

[Eplay]

Thanks! That could be a good match. It looks like the vest and pants are the same mold.

[tahra]

I think I’m going to try arms with white rolled up shirt sleeves if I can get my hands on them.

If you mean for the black guy, I thing only the odd fat guy on the Asterix advent ship has them. I was meaning to use them on those U... promos.. I was going to get them from the box.... I was surprised there weren't any

[Eplay]

If you mean for the black guy, I thing only the odd fat guy on the Asterix advent ship has them. I was meaning to use them on those U... promos.. I was going to get them from the box.... I was surprised there weren't any

Yes, I saw someone on marktplaats selling him, but a bit expensive for only the arms. That belly is really weird looking.

If you disassemble a key chain figure, which parts are still usable? Is there an iron pin going though the head and hair? Is the head still usable?