My new (retired) additions

SUSANNE wrote:

Gosh, it is a long time I enjoyed your wonderful photos

Let me go back to the repainted Haflinger-mom and her foal. That mare is fantastic, and her glossy summer coat fits extremely well to the more fuzzy fur of her young foal, lying in the green grass

The other ones that catch my eye is the dressage riders and the arena ! I adore the old Schleich rider - set, but the set you made with the CollectA horse, Bully lady, and hand made tack is out of this world

Congratulations with all those "Specials" !!!
And thankyou for the lovely photos ! They make it such a joy to watch your models...not to forget the little, furry calf standing in winter grass up to his sturdy, little calf-knees  

Thank you very much Susanne!
I'm happy you enjoy my photos of these additions. I love the repainted Haflinger, she is probably my favourite one among repaints in my herd, though it's hard to chose one. I was happy when she came and when I realized she fits to the foal. The handmade dressage tack is made by the same artist, who repainted the Haflinger and other reapaints in my collection. She definitely is very talented. Recently I commissioned new Percheron mare repaint to my conga, she will be bay snowflake Noriker

congrats

Hi there, I'm so sorry for inactivity, but I was so busy because of my studies and new job at the university.
I was able to take photos of my additions, but had no time to pick the best among them and edited them. But FINALLY I managed to.

These are even my last year additions from December - from pre-Christmas package Yvette sent me, with two models from magazine and some extras.
Here we go:

First model was Andalusian filly in chestnut. I don't like the mould at all, but it is lovely in this colour.
Her neck is bothering me probably the most, way too strong for a foal.

I guess they really tried to define her profile, but her face seems to me kinda elongated and her eyes are too big. I'm thinking about a mother for her, maybe the Lusitano from box stable could fit to her?

Second model from the magazine was the rearing Mini Shetty in grey:

I would appreciate proper painting, it is quite plain, it would be much better with some shading, especially on stallion's parts (it seems to me they don't want to drag children's attention to this area). He is quite lovely from the frontal view, as his eyes look smaller from that angle:


Yvette sent me some bonuses - she offered me some of her double figurines.
So I got this stunning dog:

It is the Great Münsterländer from 2000.

I like the anatomy and especially the paintwork. It really gives the impression of tiny black spots mixed in white fur.
Together with my Irish Setter they make nice pair of hounds.

I would like to add also the German Wire-haired Pointer to them.

I also got these cute kids:

They have the playful, cheeky expression of real kids...

...and very good proportions of regular goat kids - the recent Schleich kids are rather mini kids to me (brown one and the one with bell).

Here they're with their foster mother, which is also very nice goat replica.

The next model Yvette gave was my holy grail by Schleich, the beautiful Holsteiner mare, which I always adored but was never fortunate enough to buy.

I was very happy that I get her, and in very good condition.

I already showed her and she placed! She is highly valued among Czech collectors.

Look at that beautiful face, with realistic eyes, I wish Schleich has done more horses with eyes like that.

And there was even another model, a surprise, and with Christmas approaching, I really felt its magic. (But with packages from Yvette, you can have Christmas several times during year   ).
It was my second Appaloosa stallion/gelding from 2003. I like the mould, he was my first warmblood by Schleich.

The new one from Yvette is on the left. He is made in Germany, while my first is made in China.

There are some notable differences, the German one has better mottling on his mouth and is lighter.

And he has exceptional hoof striping! Unfortunately he is in body condition - he has broken leg, several scratches, blue spots in his blanket. So I will repaint him, I already stripped off his blanket and primed him, hopefully he will be finished till my first international model horse show in Poland next weekend
But I will definitely keep this blue dot he has on his hoof.


So those were some of my last models from 2017, later I second-hand bought this old "Schimmel" from a Czech collector, together with repainted Stablemate.


I hope I will be able to update the thread with my January additions soon.

Marvellous photos of interesting figures.

Congrats.

It is good to see you posting here again your very beautiful pictures! I hope everything is doing well with your studies and new job.
The mini Shetty is probably the most interesting of the Magazine figures. I love the Holsteiner, I had one in the past but found a new owner to it, it is a very beautiful horse in my opinion. About the blue dot on Appaloosa, I believe you know it is an official Schleich manufacturing marking. Well, boxes with Yvette's perfume have always a special smell.

Congrats on your Hanoverian placing! Lovely additions all around.

Congratulations

Hi, thank you all for your lovely comments! @landrover @Roger @Wilorvise @widukind

As for the blue dot - I've heard it's something like those circles with month and year in which a model was made. My very first Schleich - border collie - has this blue dot, as well as few others - about 3 or 4. That's why I'm not going to hide it under repaint. Quite a lot of my horses (and a cow and goats) have glossy dot under their left foreleg.

So I finally managed to edit photos and share my January additions from Yvette. She helped me get some Exclusives:

The black Tinker mare from Schleich official website. Some of Czech collectors were complaining, that she is way too plain. But I actually like the idea of solid Tinker, not all of them are spotted. And the black colour fits the mould better than the regular one I guess.

Her markings are quite properly painted and her eyes don't look too big.

But the previous mare is much better - much much better proportions and anatomy. She was my first mare by Schleich, I had never seen an equine figurine with udder before, so I was very lucky when I got her.

The other "special" was Trakehner in supposed-to-be buckskin colour.

Well, I bought this one just because I love buckskins, but this is just orange! Plus that neck I hate... So I found him a new home. I must say that I was quite disappointed with quality of these specials, the strange greyish Hanoverian, very simple bay pinto without black points, Arab stallion just as from advent calender and this "Orangehner".. they can't compete with Müller's edition from the past. Plus some of them are even available in online store in my country - what is exclusive about them then?

Here you can see a comparison with buckskin mare by Maia & Borges - she is also kinda orange, but at least she has some creamish undertones.

The third special was a foal from magazine, called Storm - a character from Horse Club:
It has striking dark bay/black bay colour. And some blue braids.. at least they are blue, not pink. I saw some real foals with colourful bands on their tiny braids. But this one has them dipped in blue (not just the bands) and not all of them, only few. It looks odd to me. The other foals were even worse though, with weird dots and streaks, one of them was just white grey to fit to the adult character. What is a nonsense.
Anyway, I keep this one as a filly as it is genderless. And I had to get her a mother.

So I bought a show jumping set and sold the rider and the tack and keep the mare.

They look quite good together, in their black bay colour (I hate the mare's shoulder).

Yvette gave me some bonus ponies!

This tiny lovely creature, a Dartmoor pony foal.

I have no mother for it, but Mirabelle, the riding pony mare looks like a good foster mother.

Here it is meeting a cousin from Shetland family.

The other gift was a Falabella mare.

She was always on my wishlist and I really love her.

What a beautiful blanket!

She is so small, she almost can walk under the bellies of gentle giants

I also got some doggies, I will share them later.
See ya!

congrats

widukind wrote:

congrats

Thank you!

Very nice horses and pictures! I don't really know what turns a figure exclusive but I know what turns it special, namely everything that comes from Yvette.
By the way, I've read along these years, many horse enthusiasts complaining from the way buckskin horses are painted. I am referring to those mass produced, of course. Could you give me an example of a buckskin horse figure you really like the way it is factory painted?

Roger wrote:

Very nice horses and pictures! I don't really know what turns a figure exclusive but I know what turns it special, namely everything that comes from Yvette.
By the way, I've read along these years, many horse enthusiasts complaining from the way buckskin horses are painted. I am referring to those mass produced, of course. Could you give me an example of a buckskin horse figure you really like the way it is factory painted?

Hi Roger, thank you very much for your comment! I absolutely agree that all horses from Yvette are special, especially the gifted ones.
But I wasn't sure about the Trakehner when she has offered me to order him for me. I literally hate his ginarmous neck, so I ordered him just because of buckskin, but he turned out orange. He would ended stored in box, so I let him go to a new home, where he is hopefully shown on a shelf.
As for the buckskin color, I guess you're right about factory finish usualy used and collectors' complaints. I don't understand why it is so complicated.
So I did little research to find some nice examples. First horse is Buttercream, BreyerFest 2009 SR. He is very nice buttermilk buckskin: http://www.modelequus.com/equus/images/breyer/trad_adults/idocus/buckskin/btacs3163l.jpg but as it is limited to 1250 pieces, it is sort of limited production rather than mass. So here are also some regular runs:
Classics buckskin paint: http://www.identifyyourbreyer.com/images/940y.jpg
Stablemates Andalusian: http://www.identifyyourbreyer.com/images/059980and.jpg or this old Appaloosa (from 1998): http://www.identifyyourbreyer.com/images/5601App98.jpg
This one has also very nice shade of buttermilk buckskin (but is also sort of special run): http://www.identifyyourbreyer.com/images/09118.jpg
As these are produced by company focused on horses, I tried to search also the major, rubber ones.
I like CollectA's buckskin Lusitano: http://toyanimal.info//images/2/21/CollectA88501.jpg (also that one made by Schleich has very nice colour). Schleich Akhal-Teke stallion is nice example of buckskin and I also quite like the rearing Mini Shetty and Bullyland Trakehner gelding (not sure if he is really supposed to be a buckskin, but he is quite nice)

Thanks a lot for your very interesting reply. I enjoyed a lot watching the given examples and I agree they look great! About mass paintwork, I only know that it is not always easy to get the correct color, they use a limited number of colors and they have to play with them, they often also do not result as expected, I've heard of some grey turning green, brown turning red, etc. Maybe someone directly related with the industry could give us a better explanation.

Roger wrote:

Thanks a lot for your very interesting reply. I enjoyed a lot watching the given examples and I agree they look great! About mass paintwork, I only know that it is not always easy to get the correct color, they use a limited number of colors and they have to play with them, they often also do not result as expected, I've heard of some grey turning green, brown turning red, etc. Maybe someone directly related with the industry could give us a better explanation.

Hi again and sorry for delayed reply.
What an interesting information, I haven't realized they have to mix the final colour from limited amount of basic colours, it's like traditional painting. And I've actually seen some bays which were rather red or orange. I would definitely like to hear or read experience of someone who is working in the industry.

Hi, I hope you all had nice Christmas with new additions to you collections under the Christmas tree.
I get some, but I'm here to finally share my last acquisitions from January, I'm way too much behind.

I got these three from Yvette.

On the left, almost invisible on the black background, is the female Pug:

I'm not a fond of brachycephalic breeds, but she is rather lovely.

With her companion, Bullyland Frenchie.

Next one is the lovely Wire Fox Terrier.

I remember he was on my wishlist since released in 2005. (or rather re-released in this colour, as the mould is older).

His raised head makes him looks upwards...

..like he would be listening to his master...

...or begging for something, for an aport perhaps?

The third doggie is West Highland White Terrier.

Compared to the Fox Terrier he seems to me bit toyish, maybe due to white dots in his eyes.
I was thinking about naming him after Yvette's dog Balu, as both are small fluffy and white
And here are my three little terriers:

I guess I really need the Airdale Terrier as a pack leader.

Later I second-hand bought these two "giants":


Sitting Bernese Mountain Dog, such a nice sculpt!


I already had the standing one, I'm not sure if it was intention, but the difference between male and female are evident:

The standing one is more robust with larger head.

The Great Dane is also quite sturdy:


I really like his fawn colour with nice details such as lighter tones around flanks:


Here compared to the later Great Dane, in different scale. She is more elegant and not that heavy looking. I wish they would in scale.


What I do like on these old dogs are sculpted irises in their eyes. It gives them quite deep gaze.


Here is my pack of the "gentle giants", I only miss the newer standing St. Bernard who was released with the lying down one.


Happy New Year to you all! Woof!

You've got really wonderful dog figures! Your presentation is also very good. About the great Dane, although I tend to like better the old Schleich dogs, I confess I like better the newer version in this breed. I also agree that a brand so conservative as Schleich shouldn't change so dramatically the scale of their dogs. There isn't anything innovative on it. However, I understand that they tried to make their dogs more in scale with their horse sets once the old 1:12 scale dogs were more adjusted to dollhouses.

Thank you, Andreas and Rogério!
I also understand why they changed to the new horse- and people- fitting scale of their dogs, but honestly, it wasn't a good idea, at least for me. I have very few of these new dogs. But that harlequin Great Dane was must have, I think they nailed her. And as you wrote it's slightely better than the previous, robust dog. But he has a charm, anyway.

There are a couple versions of that 1996 sitting bernese mountain dog.One was made in Germany,the second one in Tunisia and the third one in China.