Plastic/ Resin/ China?

Oh how wonderful!
I agree with you too, I love nature books and collect those on dogs! They really are one of the best ways to start a love of animals!

I too started collecting animals made of other materials and still have quite a few but stopped collecting a few years ago.I still but the odd one now and again but thats it.I have models by various companies including Hagen Renaker,Castagna.I have a series of dogs that were made by and American company but can't remember the name and Bonnie would be delighted to hear that most of the models I have are dogs!

Oh I love Castagna, they have made some beautiful dogs!
And you have mostly dogs!! What a wonderful collection it must be! You know what I am going to say, that I would love to see them, but I'm sure that to show them all would take up a lot of time if they are the animal you have the most of!
And the American brand sounds interesting, if you remember it I would love to know!

I will see If I can dig some out and photograph them for you!

Ohhh that would be wonderful but only if you have the time!

Does Sandicast sound right? Sandra Brue is/was the artist's name if I remember right.

Yes that sounds right I've just looked them up and they have made some beautiful dogs! Thank you!

Here we go with my collection.Sadly,I couldn't find the following models-Keeshond,Smooth Collie,Long haired Dachshund,Scottish deerhound and Akita-will have try and remember where I put them!Sadly, some of the models have have damaged their ears as happens with models like these!
WHFT-Made in Russia,Smooth coated Dachshund-Lladro
Rottie X-unknown
Harlequin Great Danes-Castagna
Chow,American Akita,Alaskan Malemute-Stone Critters
British Bulldogs-Royal Doulton
Beagle and 2 little crossbreeds-unknown
Grand Blue de Gascoigne,Siberian Husky-Castagna
Great Dane,Belgian Tervuren,English Mastiff-Conversation Concepts Inc
Great Dane,Am Staff,Akita and Boxer-Hagen Renaker
English Mastiff,Great Dane,Bouvier De Flandres-Conversation Concepts Inc
German Spitz and Chow-unknown
Am Staff,KBT,Basenji,SCWT,Boston Terrier,Cardigan Corgi,Rhodesian Ridgeback,Australian Shepherd,ACD,Hungarian Kuvasz,Bullmastiff and Harlequin Great Dane-Conversation Concepts Inc.

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Oh my goodness how amazing!! Thank you so so much for taking the time to take these wonderful photos!
You have so many, and all of them such beautiful models, and so many different breeds not often seen in plastic figures! I love them so much, I keep scrolling through!
And I'll definitely have t take a look at the brands you listed!
Soooo many lovely dogs, THANK YOU!

I shall have to look for that Aussie!

Stone Critters, I forgot about them and I own a few... Bonnie, I can keep my eyes open. I see them/United Design and Sandicast not rarely, and a few Sandicasts are small enough to ship.

Oh thank you Kelly that would be amazing!
If you ever do find any for good value, it's not urgent, I will certainly trade for them!

No problem,glad you enjoyed the models.Just a bit disappointed that I couldn't find the other models that I mentioned.

Don't worry, but I do hope that you find them, I know the feeling when you lose something but I'm sure they will be there somewhere in your collection! And if you do find them I would of course love to see photos!

Bonnie wrote:

This was just a general question to ask whether anyone collects models that are not plastic along with their plastic ones? I've noticed that most people seem to collect plastic, and this is certainly the material most commonly seen on TAW, and that led me to a second question- why is plastic the most common material collected? It's probably because it is the most widespread/ cheapest- but I just wanted to know everyones' thoughts! I have seen many resin and China dogs but I rarely see them in anyone's collection, and I'm sure there are many resin animals that are better sculpts than lots of plastic ones. Maybe it's a way to limit what you add to your collection? (There are so many resin and China dogs I sometimes wonder whether I should stay with plastic, but that would mean missing lots of beautiful models!)

This is an interesting question.

The majority of my collection is plastic, and that's because most of what I see and like just happens to be made of plastic.

There's a bit of sticking to what's familiar and easy to find out about, too - I can easily keep up with what's new from known companies like Breyer, or CollectA, cos they have stockists and good publicity. I have very little idea what's going on in the wider model horse hobby these days, because it's all discussed and promoted and sold through social media these days, and I'm not on those sites. Usually the first time I know a resin exists is when someone I know buys it, and there was an entire live show series including one right on my doorstep which I could've gone to, but didn't find out about til a couple of years after it'd happened

None of 'my' brands are stocked in shops here, and I very rarely go into towns anyway even if they were, so availability doesn't really come into it as much - it's all online buying, so I could just as easily have a common cheap model posted to me as a rare and special one.

I do have quite a few artist resins, and I admire them a lot because so many really talented sculptors release their work that way, and it's a beautiful way to add variety of breeds and poses and personalities to a collection. But the price is enough to keep me out of being a dedicated resin collector. I can't justify paying a couple of weeks' wages for a single raw unpainted Trad scale model, a size I'm not happy painting myself, meaning I'd have to send it to someone else to commission the paintjob, when that money would buy me six or seven fully finished and painted plastic horses the same scale. The ones I've got have mostly been smaller charity purchases, where the money went to a good cause, or mini damaged/flawed ones I picked up very very cheaply and sorted out myself.

Sometimes it's an aesthetic choice - I tend to dislike china horses, not because they're breakable, but cos they're often stylised, simplified, and mostly made glossy, and I don't find that looks very realistic, either in hand, or in photos. Plastic, done well, can hold crisper detail and look just like the healthy sheen on a clean summer-coat horse, it's never too shiny unless given that thick gloss invented to replicate china, and I just don't buy those ones

So yes, to sum it up, I buy plastic mostly cos what goes on my wishlist happens to be plastic, and also cos I can't afford resins!

Thank you so much for all your views on this George, it was really interesting to read! I agree, it's nice to have a regular reliable source of models from a brand which brings them out every year/ half year, I can see how that reliability would make plastic figures more attractive. Definitely agree about the price too, it's a shame as I completely agree, the top resins are so beautiful! And definitely, it can also seems pointless if you could buy multiple plastic models that are just as good for the same price. One of the reasons I asked this question too was because for dogs, I'm not sure about horses or other animals, there are still lots of quite decent little resin models sold for the same or less than plastic models- and I have seen some animals too, at the scale that most collectors like, and so this was what made me wonder why these cheaper resins aren't as popular and well documented. Probably because usually the companies are unknown and they're made in China, and I'm guessing that for you it's because these cheaper models don't make horses as realistically as the top plastic ones! That's interesting too, and I can definitely see that, plastic does have a nice look when done well without too much glossiness and can hold lots of detail. Lots of the cheaper resins aren't as crisp I find, as they still hold lots of the marks from the mould- so I guess that's another reason to buy plastic. Thanks again for all your views!

The fact there's new releases every so often also makes the plastic brands feel more collectable - they keep supplying new options and you can scroll through the photos online, or flick through the paper catalogue, and pick out what you want, make a wishlist, compare them, save up, look forward to the ones you like coming into stock. The sheer variety on offer, and the exciting newness of having fresh exciting releases every year, drives up the eagerness to buy and collect.
Think of animal figures in general, not just the horse brands - it wouldn't be nearly as much fun if we didn't have new releases from lots of different companies to compare and review, walkarounds and photos of people's new arrivals which we criticise and praise and just generally enjoy talking about. The fact these models are made of plastic isn't why we like or want them, it's the fact they exist at all which gets us sharing photos and placing orders

Bonnie wrote:

I'm guessing that for you it's because these cheaper models don't make horses as realistically as the top plastic ones!

That's the trouble! The 'known' brands of commercial resin, like North Light or Border Fine Arts, have really beautiful sculpting by someone who understands anatomy and makes a big effort with breed accuracy, but the prices make them difficult to collect on a budget. But the cheapy unbranded resin figures usually look like they were sculpted by somebody who once saw a horse and made it up from memory as they went along

George wrote:

The fact there's new releases every so often also makes the plastic brands feel more collectable - they keep supplying new options and you can scroll through the photos online, or flick through the paper catalogue, and pick out what you want, make a wishlist, compare them, save up, look forward to the ones you like coming into stock. The sheer variety on offer, and the exciting newness of having fresh exciting releases every year, drives up the eagerness to buy and collect.
Think of animal figures in general, not just the horse brands - it wouldn't be nearly as much fun if we didn't have new releases from lots of different companies to compare and review, walkarounds and photos of people's new arrivals which we criticise and praise and just generally enjoy talking about. The fact these models are made of plastic isn't why we like or want them, it's the fact they exist at all which gets us sharing photos and placing orders

Bonnie wrote:

I'm guessing that for you it's because these cheaper models don't make horses as realistically as the top plastic ones!

That's the trouble! The 'known' brands of commercial resin, like North Light or Border Fine Arts, have really beautiful sculpting by someone who understands anatomy and makes a big effort with breed accuracy, but the prices make them difficult to collect on a budget. But the cheapy unbranded resin figures usually look like they were sculpted by somebody who once saw a horse and made it up from memory as they went along

Oh yes definitely, there is also so much satisfaction to be gained form writing wish lists and having new models to collect each year, and flicking through all those catalogues as you said! I completely agree, those brands are beautiful (And make stunning dogs too ), and I definitely agree with what you say about the cheap resins!

I agree with the resins. So many of the cheaper ones you see look poorly sculpted and, well, cheap. Nice ones tend to be beyond my budget. Besides, I have come to appreciate the sturdiness of plastic- I'm clumsy and have terrazzo floors! My main collection is of very fragile sculptures, they keep me eternally nervous.

I grew up with Breyers as my toys, there were broken legs sometimes on the foals though I did try to be careful usually.

pipsxlch wrote:

I agree with the resins. So many of the cheaper ones you see look poorly sculpted and, well, cheap. Nice ones tend to be beyond my budget. Besides, I have come to appreciate the sturdiness of plastic- I'm clumsy and have terrazzo floors! My main collection is of very fragile sculptures, they keep me eternally nervous.

I grew up with Breyers as my toys, there were broken legs sometimes on the foals though I did try to be careful usually.

Yes, exactly, cheaper resins are generally worse than lots of the plastic models you can get which is an obvious reason to buy this material! I totally agree too, it's nice to be able to have a lovely model that also won't break if you accidentally knock it! A few of my Breyer foals sadly seem to have lost some legs too from when I was younger, I guess because of this more fragile plastic they use and how thin and delicate the foals' legs are, which I like as it's much nicer than the overly chunky legs on some models!

It's a few years now that I switched from mostly collecting plastic animals to mostly (artist) resins horses. I like that they are more detailed than plastic ones, the prepping is easier (fewer seamlines and no need for restoring the details as they are well preserved), the editions are smaller (so it let me own something more unique than a toy produced in tens of thousands), and that the income goes directly to the artist and not a big company.

I only can get 4 or 5 each year but it's still a challenge to get them all painted. Getting only a small number of models per year feels better to me too as I don't have space for too many models. I probably still buy too many, if I add the minis. And I occasionally buy other toy animals, like Papo dogs or Kitan cats. So, my problem with space for displaying the collection is still here.

That's interesting, and must be a really lovely way to build up your collection, focusing on quality rather than quantity with beautiful models! s you are an amazing artist too I'm sure you can fault lots of the plastic horses out there, and so I'm sure you really appreciate how much more detailed the artist resins are! And it's an excellent solution to solve the problem of space, and also nice that it benefits the individual artist more than a big company would!