General Additions thread - Recent additions, from February to April

I really love this mule. The pose is quite graceful, particularly from the angled picture. Mules were common in my homeland but I don't remember seeing one colored like this one. If I saw it, maybe I thought it was a horse instead.

It's a stunning mule, with such striking colours. Great birthday present, happy birthday!

Happy birthday, and what a stunning mule! I love that pattern, very striking, and how lovely that it's based off a real mule!

So your birthday is two days before mine, happy birthday too then !

A mule would be definitely a good idea for my farm, I don't understand how it's possible that this idea didn't came to my mind sooner. This one is good and definitely "feels" like a mule but what size is it ?

Yes, fairly close - happy birthday back to you!

Unfortunately this is a giant mule compared to your farm project, he's 1/9th scale. The only standard size model I can think of is the Safari one, here.

Thanks for the happy birthday messages, Saarlooswolfhound and rogerpgvg and Bonnie, it was a nice one even though I didn't do anything out of the ordinary, I worked in the sun with the birds singing and hugged my horses :)

I wish Breyer would make their Stablemate mule more easily available, in all the time since it was released there's been one regular run for sale twenty years ago, and all the others have been limited editions from breyerfest, JAH, collector clubs, or from a UK point of view just as difficult to buy as those exclusives - it's been in playsets which weren't stocked over here, or special releases for companies we don't even have here

George wrote:

Yes, fairly close - happy birthday back to you!

Unfortunately this is a giant mule compared to your farm project, he's 1/9th scale. The only standard size model I can think of is the Safari one, here.

Thanks for the happy birthday messages, Saarlooswolfhound and rogerpgvg and Bonnie, it was a nice one even though I didn't do anything out of the ordinary, I worked in the sun with the birds singing and hugged my horses :)

I wish Breyer would make their Stablemate mule more easily available, in all the time since it was released there's been one regular run for sale twenty years ago, and all the others have been limited editions from breyerfest, JAH, collector clubs, or from a UK point of view just as difficult to buy as those exclusives - it's been in playsets which weren't stocked over here, or special releases for companies we don't even have here

I've read your post and I missed it was your birthday! Congratulations and sorry for missing it.
About mules in standard scale, it is true, only Safari gave us one, not even Bullyland released it. I thought these animals were more popular in European culture.

happy birthday George and well done in getting such a lovely present from/with your mum! I think it's quite exciting when a family member is happy to support your collecting hobby by giving you presents this way, and then the extra fun of searching for just the right one:) Such a beautiful pose and colourings, I immediately thought American paint pony style! (sorry, I don't really know the proper horse paint colour terms!:)

George wrote:

Most of the new additions to my collection lately have been over in my painting topic, as they're newly finished customs rather than arrivals, but a little while ago my mum (having discovered online shopping, and particularly the joys of second hand stuff on Ebay!) offered to buy a model for my birthday.
It couldn't be a surprise, as she has no idea which ones I've got already or which were on my wishlist, but we browsed together so the choice could be one we both liked, and we settled on this lovely wildly-patterned spotted mule by Breyer.

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Happy Birthday George, and what a lovely fellow to share it with- congratulations!

sunny wrote:

happy birthday George and well done in getting such a lovely present from/with your mum! I think it's quite exciting when a family member is happy to support your collecting hobby by giving you presents this way, and then the extra fun of searching for just the right one:)  Such a beautiful pose and colourings, I immediately thought American paint pony style! (sorry, I don't really know the proper horse paint colour terms!:)


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I just had to go look up the real Buckeye, Sunny, and if you look at his pics you can see he's really an appaloosa.  Though the pinto mules I've seen have often been overo, which I think is what you mean- the random, often jagged looking spots. The model does come off somewhat more as a strange sort of overoish pinto than an appy. The patterns in mules often do look odd though.

pipsxlch wrote:

sunny wrote:

happy birthday George and well done in getting such a lovely present from/with your mum! I think it's quite exciting when a family member is happy to support your collecting hobby by giving you presents this way, and then the extra fun of searching for just the right one:)  Such a beautiful pose and colourings, I immediately thought American paint pony style! (sorry, I don't really know the proper horse paint colour terms!:)


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I just had to go look up the real Buckeye, Sunny, and if you look at his pics you can see he's really an appaloosa.  Though the pinto mules I've seen have often been overo, which I think is what you mean- the random, often jagged looking spots. The model does come off somewhat more as a strange sort of overoish pinto than an appy. The patterns in mules often do look odd though.

ooh pipsxlch even all those terms you've used are way over my head ! ha ha:). I am not that advanced in any of those terms.
his pose reminds me of a Breyer horse I like, which I think was called 'party shoes' and that pose, with the head leaning forward and slightly sloping neck, reminded me of the North American paint ponies! with their irregular patterns and markings. The ones I recall all seemed to have their heads held slightly low down (if that makes sense?) and I really loved that about them.
I see the horse marking world is very evolved indeed !

sorry for hijacking your thread George !

Wonderful addition and a fantastic mule!

I agree!

sunny wrote:

ooh pipsxlch even all those terms you've used are way over my head ! ha ha:). I am not that advanced in any of those terms.

Here's a pretty good guide to the colour terms, basic and clear, made using models as examples : Pinto Patterns in Equines

When, back in July, I compiled a Breyerfest Special blog post to show all the Breyerfest horses I've collected over the years, I was sitting on an exciting secret!
I'd already secured a pre-sale reservation from another collector who was taking part in this year's online Breyerfest. By paying up front, I could relax and not worry about whether I'd ever get the horse I wanted most from this year's exclusive releases : one was earmarked to be mine, however long it took for them to arrive after the event.

Over the last couple of weeks, Breyerfest models have started to appear on UK Ebay, so I knew I wouldn't have too much longer to wait, and today was the day : I got back from my real horses to find a parcel hidden carefully behind the bins. So which horse was it, who'd earnt a place at the top of my wishlist?

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Yes, she may 'only' be the Celebration Model - the commonest of the Breyerfest releases, which everyone with a ticket gets - but what a Celebration Model she is! Let's have a look at her out of the box...

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I think they've done a fantastic job with her, the detailed spot masking is a bit more complex than they tend to give us for regular runs, so she's got a bit of a 'wow' effect when you see and handle her. She does look more bay than her official publicity photo, which was quite light, roany and speckled - but perhaps that's just variation between individuals, and I got a darker one.

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As I said when I got regular run Catch Me, this mould is a lovely big chunky warmblood horse. The real Danash's Northern Tempest, known as Dani, is a friesian/appaloosa cross, but I've decided to have mine as a knabstrupper. Unless it's a horse or pony I know personally, I'd rather go for a pure breed compatible with the mould/colour combination, than stick faithfully to the breeding of the real horses behind the portrait models, especially if it'd mean adding yet more partbreds and crosses to my herd!

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The other side, showing off more of that fantastic detailed pattern - doesn't it suit the mould so well! I've got her up on the mantelpiece and keep glancing up for another look, she's a really striking model which will stand out on my shelves.

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I haven't come up with a name for her yet, I was thinking of going on the 'Tempest' theme and calling her Miranda after the female lead in Shakespeare's play, but I already have two model horse Mirandas (not deliberately - I named one myself, then bought the second from a friend!), so I'm still thinking.

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Just a couple more shots from unusual angles - when a paintjob is this detailed, I always want to take extra photos to show it from every direction!

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I'd seen a few people saying there were a lot of quality issues with the Dani models, with smudged or broken-up spots where the masking was badly applied, but I checked mine all over and can only find the smallest area of slight blur on one spot, on her stifle on the non-display side, and even that is so faint I wouldn't have noticed it without close scrutiny.
There were a couple of places where the masking hadn't fully peeled away, but it's a matter of seconds to rub those off with a thumb and reveal the intended pattern, and you'd never know the factory missed a bit.

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Well worth the wait!

wonderful model!!

Beautiful model! I thought you had repainted it, but it is great out of the box.

Gorgeous model! Though I had to go take a gander at the real Dani, too bad they didn't get the roaning down... as is it DOES suit the model beautifully.

Sunny, this is like the horse version of Buckeye the mule. Same pattern and base color.

Yeah, it can sometimes be slightly disappointing when it's a real horse with a fantastic colour, and they just don't manage to render the coat colouring or detailing in a very accurate way. Peptoboonsmal was the same, the real horse has a lot more dramatic high-contrast roaning. And Winx is beautiful in real life, with shading and dapples, but they made her a very plain dark bay.
But I try to look on the bright side, and take the models as their own thing, aesthetically pleasing and collectable, rather than a portrait which could've been better. It helps that I don't know the real one, so there's less disappointment cos I'm detached from wanting a truly accurate model of her - this is still a stunning Breyer, even though she's bayer than she could've been

And yes, what a funny co-incidence that that these two joined my herd in quick succession! I didn't mean to have two bay appaloosas in a row - Dani was paid for back in May and I hadn't planned to have the mule arrive in between

First of my new arrivals this week (the other one needs some tack making before his photo shoot), a small parcel of very sweet donkeys

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Why yes, I DO need more Papo donkeys I'd bought the grey Provence donkey pair earlier this year, so when this older pair come up on Ebay I just couldn't resist adding them to my herd as well.

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A really lovely sculpt, with a different shape to the current pair - this one has a larger head and shorter legs. She looks a lot like the donkeys I used to work with, though they were Irish rather than French (they came over on a horse transport by ferry, my boss had ordered just one but he'd bonded so much with his travelling companion she bought both!)

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They look more grey than brown in the shade, and more brown than grey when the sun's out bright But these are definitely the 'brown' colour option, I checked on Toy Animal Wiki. It has them as Provence donkey on there - is that officially what they were described as on release, like the current pair are, or did collectors decide that's what breed they most looked like? I'm never quite sure if TAW law for allocating breeds is 'we stick with the official description even if it seems wrong' or 'what we agree the model looks more like'

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I haven't named this one yet, but she needs something to reflect that calm, chilled-out look on her face - not a hint of the stubborn and/or depressed donkey stereotypes in this one!

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I think I prefer this sculpt to their newer one, it may be a very static and uninspiring pose but she just looks so typically donkey, I love it.

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Here's the matching foal, in a slightly more energetic pose!

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Pestering mum to play

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I always think it's nice when the matching adult and offspring are given complimentary poses, so they each look fine alone but work well as a pair, and can be posed to look as if they're interacting :)

My standard size donkey herd is quite big now, I'll have to carry them all out for a new group photo!
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they are sweethearts! :)

Such a gorgeous pair, I love the pose of the foal!

They are absolutely irresistable!!! Sorry, I mean irresistible.
Such beautiful pictures turn these models very tempting.
Papo marketed it as a Provence donkey, not a community identification. Maybe TAW could be improved in this regard but it is always not easy to coordinate procedures.

These are wonderful donkeys, I'd have welcomed them also!

This week sees the arrival of one of my most-wanted Breyer models.

A couple of years ago, I'd bought and paid for him on Ebay, only to be told the seller didn't have the horse any more, and although I was given a full refund, I've always regretted the failed purchase. To have decided, and paid, and be waiting a few days, then find out it's not coming after all, was a big disappointment, and every time I saw the same model afterwards, I'd feel frustrated and sad - I should've had that one in my collection, and didn't. I even mentioned this one in the 'Your Collecting Regrets' topic here on the forum a while back!

So when the same model came up on UK Ebay this month, I made up my mind to try again, and this time all went well; a few days later I had a very exciting parcel to unwrap.

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Allow me to introduce Harecroft Galaktika, the newest Akhal-Teke stallion for my herd! His mould was sculpted as a lean racing-fit thoroughbred, but in this lovely buckskin colouring, I always thought he'd make a pretty good Teke.

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He was one of 1695 made for 2019's Breyerfest, and his original release name was Rocket, after the character in Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy films - that year, Breyerfest had a horse heroes and superheroes theme. The name I've given him is the Turkmen word for 'galaxy', so it's appropriate to his change of breed and nationality, but with a nod to his original theme.

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Some of these photos were taken before I'd finished making the little ornamental collars for him to wear, but I didn't re-take all the angles I wanted to show here, so the final collar vanishes and reappears a few times through this post!

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He looks a bit less Akhal-Teke from the other side, with this much mane, but as I'll only be using the display-side photos on my websites and for any future showing I might do with him, the off side doesn't matter!

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There, see, the collar's come back again, hah I love his markings, especially the blaze; emphasising his nose with a wide white marking really seems to change the shape of his face.

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Some Breyerfest runs are given brown or blue eye colours, but he only has the little sliver of pink eye-white, which makes him seem to be peering at you.

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Laying down you can see his shading and dapples more clearly, here's a stock photo reference I found showing a real Akhal-Teke in pale dappled buckskin, with about the same amount of white on.

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And finally, in dramatic lighting, just because the raking light was pretty the first time I tried to take his pictures too late one evening in the last patch of sunlight.
I'm very happy to have added this handsome chap to my herd at long last; one model I can tick off the wishlist, and no longer have any regrets about!