General Additions thread - Recent additions, from February to April

Beautiful horse!!! Breyer always blows me away with the sculpts and details, they are too large for me to collect but beautiful nonetheless!

An truly stunning model. Congrats! I love your donkey herd also.

Very elegant horse, congratulations on finally finding it. I suppose because it is a larger model, the length and width of the legs is very well proportioned relative to the body. I find that this is a good characteristic of even the smaller Breyers, whereas other companies often make the legs toyish thick. The Papo donkeys are beautiful too, especially the adult.

Yes, they are very big! Not a collection you can take on without some serious shelf planning

I think Breyer's hard plastic helps with the slim legs, they don't have the same tendency to warp as softer plastic used by CollectA/Mojo/Safari/Papo/Bullyland/Schleich. So they can really use a realistically proportioned sculpt without having to worry about whether it can hold it's own weight, even on three legs, or balanced on toe-tips.
My WIA arabians have turned out to have a warping issue, the same hind leg on two of them has warped so far upwards they can't stand, and I didn't realise til I happened to notice them laying on their sides one evening.
I haven't tried fixing it yet - hot water might work to straighten it now, but it might just warp again once they're back on the shelf. I might have to put some support props under their bellies to take some weight off the legs.

This is a stunning horse, I'm so glad you could find it again after all these years! So large and graceful, and beautifully sculpted to show all the anatomy of a horse!

I second Roger's words. These models have much more realistic proportions. Actually, producing a lean horse figure with a softer material is very challenging for a manufacturer. Also, if you thicken the legs, you need to make some adjustments allover the sculpt to reduce the effect, stockier body, larger head and we have a horse figure from a major brand. Another traditional option is to enshorten the legs to avoid to sculpt them too thick what will need some reducing from the length of the body.
This sculpt really looks almost perfect for an Akhal-Teke, real horses have a very similar configuration, even the long back legs and the way the body drops. Sorry, I don't have equine words to describe it better.
Schleich love to make special golden creatures like dragons, donkeys or lions, why not an Akhal-teke?

My beautiful CollectA mare has the leg warps too. The softer PVC plastic may make for more durable toys- I broke the legs on countless Breyers as a child- but it just doesn't seem to be able to support the weight long term as the resin Breyer uses can. On a fine boned breed like an Arab or Thoroughbred, this would be especially an issue. So as Rogerio pointed out, they have to compromise somehow.

pipsxlch wrote:

My beautiful CollectA mare has the leg warps too. The softer PVC plastic may make for more durable toys- I broke the legs on countless Breyers as a child- but it just doesn't seem to be able to support the weight long term as the resin Breyer uses can. On a fine boned breed like an Arab or Thoroughbred, this would be especially an issue. So as Rogerio pointed out, they have to compromise somehow.

I also think horse figures should have writen in their tags "Not for riding" - I am sure it could avoid you from breaking so many of them.

thank you for the links to the colours George. I learned a lot.

and wow! what a stunning Akhal Teke !
now on my wish list!
and the collars you made are very beautiful. How talented you are:) I love how you've placed them on Galaktika's neck. Perfect.

George wrote:

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 through 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!

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.

It's a lovely Akhal Teke! Congrats! And this light shade of buckskin is beautiful

Stunning horse!!!!!!

I feel very lucky to have got him, especially after what happened the first time! He's going to stay on my mantelpiece quite some time, I want to look at him plenty before finding him a shelf gap. I don't have any others of this mould, so he'll end up squeezing somewhere between horses which don't match him

Roger wrote:

I also think horse figures should have writen in their tags "Not for riding" - I am sure  it could avoid you from breaking so many of them.

I did ride a model horse once, he was a lifesize fibreglass one we had at college and for some reason he'd been named George (years before I went there), so my classmates decided the name thing meant I had to get up and have a sit on his back. Thankfully mobile phones didn't take photos back then

sunny wrote:

thank you for the links to the colours George. I learned a lot.

the collars you made are very beautiful. How talented you are:) I love how you've placed them on Galaktika's neck. Perfect.

There's a lot more horse colour info out there in the model horse hobby than in the real horse world - it's quite amusing how often I've looked something up and it turns out to be a site or blog from a hobbyist collector or painter!

And thank you, I do enjoy putting collars on my 'Tekes, even if it's just a tiny braided thread for the mini scale models! I love these breeds which have such a decorative tradition, Marwari horse tack is similarly fantastic. It makes normal British tack look very plain and utilitarian in comparison!

Wonderful model!

Well very late Happy Birthday, and really big congrats on some hum-dinger models! Especially for that "Rocket"!! Winx is one of my favorite molds, and that is one of the best colors its been released in, I think. They are all so hard to get a hold of, too! Congratulations on finally getting him after losing him the first time. I love the akhal-teke breed assignment, it suits him perfectly, and those collars are an elegant special touch.

Buckeye is such a neat model. I still don't have a mule, for much the reason you listed - they just aren't that easy to find. Buckeye has always been on the list to add someday to the collection. Great choice for a birthday gift!

I hadn't seen a non-official picture of the celebration model yet (only because I haven't had a month for looking, not for lack of photos, haha), she's beautiful! One of the best from this year, I think, despite being the celebration model.

Yeah, I managed to sneak in three really lovely Breyers while your back was turned, didn't I!

I like the Winx mould, but was disappointed in the way they rendered the actual Winx paintjob, so I didn't buy her yet. The real one's got beautiful varied shading and even has dapples at certain times of year, but they did that dull mahogany shade on the model, kind of old fashioned in style with shading applied in the muscle grooves, rather than lighter patches on the soft parts like the real mare has. I might end up with her eventually, if I see a better-painted one second hand on ebay any time, but for now she's not on the wishlist despite being a wonderful elegant mould.

And yes, the Dani really is a stunner, even though the celebration models have been perfectly nice in the past, it's felt like they save the more intricate patterns for the more expensive Breyerfest runs, and this is like a little step up in effort. The sort of complex masking they wouldn't want to do for a regular run, but not as detailed as the really exclusive collector-club type models with mapping - a halfway stage between the basic standard and the best-of-the-best paintjobs.
I'm also kind of glad it was her and not any of the more difficult-to-find runs which I liked most this year, because they turned out to be a gambler's choice on glossy vs. matte, or decorator variations, and I don't do glossy OR decorator, so I'd have been extremely frustrated and upset if I'd pre-ordered anything I had my heart set on then ended up with a wrong one!

Yeah the original Winx is not the best release thus far, which is unfortunate, since it's the only regular run, right? I have the tractor supply Eclipse, which doesn't seem like one you'd like much given the metallic blue-black. The mold is so subtle and well proportioned, though, it has the best of the "newer" style going on (and by newer I mean, released since the 90's, ha!). I'd love to have it in a lighter color someday that really shows off the details!

Oh gosh, my friend was telling me about the gambler's choice. She wanted the decorators, but I guess those were rarer? Regardless, it sounded like SO much stress, and on top of the already stressful lottery! I just want to be able to pick out the horse I want and buy it! But it also sounds like if you DID get a decorator you didn't like, you could sell it for WAY more than seems even remotely reasonable. What a mess.

Yeah, that's the only regular run we've had so far. Hopefully it'll get re-used fairly soon, though, cos Breyer do tend to make a lot of racehorse portrait models, often slotting them in as mid-year/spring/autumn releases when that particular real horse has achieved something. I'd love to see another UK/Ireland one, we've had a favourite jumper from the past (Red Rum) and a more recent star of the flat (Frankel), but none of the others which are loved here seem to catch Breyer's attention all the way over there

I tend to think of about 2000 as the cut-off between what I think of as new moulds and old ones? Maybe push it to 1999 cos I think that's when Huck Bey arrived and he's definitely that new generation of sculpt style.

Exactly, I don't think they really understand how much we just want to be able to buy a horse we like

George wrote:

I tend to think of about 2000 as the cut-off between what I think of as new moulds and old ones? Maybe push it to 1999 cos I think that's when Huck Bey arrived and he's definitely that new generation of sculpt style.

Good point, Huck's a great gateway mold. I remember feeling like he was pretty revolutionary when I was fifteen or so!

Another donkey day, I decided it was about time I had the Papo Poitou in my herd!

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He's got lovely fur texture, a little bit smoother than the Schleich version, but sculpted nice and deep to properly show the long hair and the way it curls.

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The catalogue photo for this one wasn't very flattering, in person he's more matte-finish and doesn't look nearly as plasticky!

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A lovely calm face, I've liked all the Papo donks I've bought this year, they seem to nail the expressions as well as the anatomy and conformation.

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I haven't named him yet, my Schleich mother-and-baby Poitou pair are Amélie and Émelie so he really needs to be a French human name to match them!

Nice figure

Great Call him Grégoire

This week I had a little parcel of pet animals made by Julip, these are all individually hand made with latex and each is a one-off model, sold on a first-come-first-served basis, so you have to be quick and lucky to add them to your collection. They're not especially realistic or detailed, compared to the mainstream brands, but they're definitely cute and I find them very addictive

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A ginger cat, who needed a little white patch on his chest to become a perfect lookalike model of my real one

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Julip version hiding in the real one's fur!

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Someone arrived on the board I use for my outdoor pictures, so I got a photo of him looking at his mini self

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And then almost eating it! No animal figures were harmed - he got a bit soggy but no toothmarks

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I also managed to get hold of a speckled hen

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I googled chicken breeds to find out what she was - the preview text below a matching photo was cut off saying 'Speckled Sus...' and my mind randomly filled in 'Susan' before I clicked and it turned out to say 'Speckled Sussex', but of course her name has to be Susan now

And finally, I caught two ducks!

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It amuses me that after years of wanting a normal mallard pair, and never managing to get them yet cos they sell out in instant and I'm never quick enough, I ended up getting both these extra-fancy rare breed ducks, when I'd have thought these would've gone in a flash for being so different!

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I'm not quite sure what breed they are, though, they remind me a bit of wood ducks or harlequin ducks, perhaps a hybrid which isn't quite either pattern? Any duck experts here who can confirm?I love them, though, whatever they are.

I've posted some photos of [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] over in the Dioramas forum section, rather than ramble on about making things from cardboard here on the General Additions thread

I love your new donkey! Really good work with that Poitou. I thought about suggesting Émilion for its name but Christophe already gave a better option once I believe nobody in France is called Émilion.
I am not sure your ducks intend to represent an exact species but with so many species, with males and females and youngs having different colors, I am sure it will look similar to something known.

So many lovely models, but I adore that ginger cat, so sweet- and your real ginger cat is gorgeous too!

The ducks are very interesting