4852 - Asian Animal Enclosure

[Tiermann]

could you have fit the right hand fence so the cross bar is on the inside ?

The rocks, are they normal ones or some new system?  This waterfall and cave would look so good in a natural setting or maybe even with the new Cave people but only if the tabs and gate hinge area are camouflage-able

No the fence pieces have clips on one side and bars on the other, so to connect to the gate one side must be upside down. You could probably use a fence post connector to change that but it might look awkward.

The low rocks for the fencing have curved slots in them. The big rocks for the waterfall have one rockies connector at the bottom but it's set up a bit to connect to the waterfall base piece. The side clip could probably be camouflaged using plants or other rocks. The large bridge over the top of the gate is standard rockies style and the tops of the waterfall wall pieces have a rockies size hole at each end.

[playmofire]

Great review, Tim, with excellent photos and very informative text.  Thank you.   

It's a shame about the new walls having no back and maybe Playmobil have missed a trick here.

The new zoo keeper is great, the uniform is a very attractive and professional design and the young lady herself is attractive too.

I like the new waterfall - very neat use of the clear plastic water.

The new rock layout with the cave is very interesting too.  Would the cave part be of interest to the tigers to shelter in from the sun?  If so, could the enclosure be expanded to take two rock formations or can the fencing be extended round the back of the rock formation so the cave part is accessible to the tigers?

Finally, a technical question - the base and the backdrop to the pictures, Tim - photoshop or real?

[Rasputin]

Thanks for the extra info   

[Tiermann]

I've tried flipping the second rock formation around so the cave would be on the inside. It worked ok-ish but made the space a bit narrower. You could definitely add another of these formations to increase the size or otherwise alter things so the cave could be available to the tigers.



The one side doesn't connect properly but that can be easily hidden. It would have been nice if they had made the connections on both ends of the rock piece the same so it could be more versatile.



Base and backdrop - real, I didn't use any photoshop in the images except to adjust the lighting up a little since it was done inside under the room fluorescent bulbs.

[Skywalker]

....after you did such a great job with the backdrop it is just a few clicks to change to background with photoshop...

[playmofire]

Thanks for the information, Tim.  The base you used looks very good indeed.

Thanks, too, for the photo with the extra rock formation with the cave showing.  It looks good and adds an extra bit of authenticity with the cub coming out of the cave to see what's going on.  It's a pity that the Playmobil designers didn't think of this when designing the fixings.  Maybe they'll read this thread and look at the picture and do a bit of revision to the piece.

[Justindo]

Thanks for the review, Tim.

This looks to be a very nice zoo.  The Asian architectural elements are quite nice and the waterfall looks really good.  I'm not sure if that bamboo fence would be enough to keep the tiger contained, though.