I was looking at Playmobil circus sets and getting confused about the different curved fences which exist. Now I have sorted it out, so I thought I would share what I found…
There are
five circus sets with curved fences 3517x (released in 1978), 3727 (1991), 4061 (2003), 4233 (2007) and 7004 (unknown year) have curved fences.
There are three designs of the basic fence, but 8 different pieces altogether. There are two white fences, with different sized bars and a grey fence.
3727 and 3517x have
white fences with
narrower horizontal bars (about 7.5 mm wide). There are two different types of fence, 30 03 611 Cage side, curved (white) x6 and 30 45 664 Cage side (curved) with doorframe (white) x2. 3727 has a door to fit one frame (thanks Daniela!), 3517x has two doors, one in each frame
4061 has
white fences with
wider horizontal bars (about 9.5 mm wide). There are three different types of fence, 30 09 4980 Cage side, curved (white) x6, 30 09 4990 Cage side, curved, with opening for tunnel (white) x 1 and 30 45 0450 Cage side (curved) with doorframe (white) x1.
Here are the two fence widths side by side, 4061 on the left and 3727/3517x on the right. Maybe the fence was redesigned to make it stronger.
4233 has
grey fences which are quite different from the earlier ones. There are three different fences (six ‘plain’, one with a doorway for humans and one with a low doorway for the animals to enter; part number 30 51 5080 for all 8 pieces).
I am not sure about 7004 (white fences). My guess would be that this one has the wider bars, like 4061 as it was released later.
Here are all 8 fence pieces: plain fence on the top row, human doorway fence on the second row and animal doorway piece on the third row.
Nothing earth-shattering here, but a few more grains of detail for the student of PM minutiae!
Oh, the thicker and thinner white fences DO fit together, so if you have a mixture you can still make a circular enclosure!
