Harecroft Horses - Tales from the Body Box - CollectA batch two!

Wooooooderful job 

Wow, all are absolutely wonderful but I'm especially in love with Mishawaka What a beauty!
So many amazing spotted horses, and even a pintaloosa
And Stars At Sunrise is a really great example of blanket Appaloosa

Stunning Appaloosa, I love the way it is painted and the background goes really well with those colours! I can really imagine the texture of the coat by the way it is smudged so realistically and in the direction of the fur growth, really amazingly done!

Roger wrote:

The Spanish Jennet and Orion's Bow are especially beautiful and it is not easy to choose among so many wonderful repaints!

Thanks, it's always really interesting hearing which models other people like best, it's helpful to have that fresh outside eye after I've spent so long on each one with my references and paintbrushes!

Kikimalou wrote:

Wooooooderful job 

Thank you! Glad you liked seeing them, I didn't realise I'd done so many til I collected them up

Ana wrote:

Wow, all are absolutely wonderful but I'm especially in love with Mishawaka What a beauty!
So many amazing spotted horses, and even a pintaloosa
And Stars At Sunrise is a really great example of blanket Appaloosa

Here's a blog post where I wrote more about Mishawaka's backstory, she's a special girl for several reasons. One of my own favourites, and always will be.
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Lots more photos on there, too - these long fiddly paintjobs just invite a big photoshoot with lots of angles to make the most of all the time put in to them

I'll have to push myself to try again on the blanket appy, I know I have at least a couple more of the G2 Appaloosa mould in the body box!

Bonnie wrote:

Stunning Appaloosa, I love the way it is painted and the background goes really well with those colours! I can really imagine the texture of the coat by the way it is smudged so realistically and in the direction of the fur growth, really amazingly done!

The background shows how long ago I finished one, it was the height of autumn colour and I wanted to use my seasonal backdrop, now it's just leafless grey wet winter outside, and I don't have any backgrounds that miserable

I've gotten behind, but I'm glad to see you're customizing again! Delighted to see a Fjord from you - my absolute favorite breed, and some of my best horse friends. I also love that you use that classic book. I had that one as well, a very well worn second hand copy. That a cool project, to try to recreate those photos. I think you did excellent with all of them! Love that bright gold coat on the fjord. My favorite fjord coats are the slightly darker gold ones, rather than the pale creamy ones. The most handsome boy I've known was that almost coppery color. This stunning gold is perfect for the model and you recreated that color perfectly. It's so extremely hard to match. I've painted a few fjord portraits and for some reason, the ranges of creamy golden brown their coats come in are so difficult for me to mix correctly!

The exmoor and dartmoor are a LOVELY pair. Two breeds I am not too familiar with, and I love hearing your experiences with both to distinguish them. I also think, despite being two solid bays, you did a wonderful job ensuring the uniqueness of them. The dartmoor is probably my favorite, but it's very hard to choose. (I remember that photo from the book, too, what a NECK on that guy!)

The dapple grey trotter and the appaloosa are stunning as well, real mastery with complex coloring for sure. Beautiful work.

I've never met a fjord in real life, I've known a couple of people online who've owned them but never seen one at any horse shows or events I've been at

And yes, I always find the pale golden/dun/palomino/buckskin shades the absolute hardest to mix and shade - I try to avoid those colours a lot of the time, unless they're the only colours a breed comes in and I can't avoid it, hahah

I wonder how they chose the horses and ponies to be the example for their breed in the book, that perfect dartmoor looks like he could've been breed champion out showing, and probably a famous stud horse too.

George wrote:

I've never met a fjord in real life, I've known a couple of people online who've owned them but never seen one at any horse shows or events I've been at

I've only known so many because a friend of mine has a breeding farm!

Tying to make sure my painting habit doesn't fizzle out, I decided it was about time I got the brushes out again and completed a custom project which has been in my body box for a while.

Back in 2012, Breyer released a Breeds Of The World series of mass-produced, factory finished resins, each fixed permanently to a simple scenic base. This is the Andalusian from the set as he was originally made - his sculpt might be familiar to 1:32/mini/Stablemate fans as it was shrunk down and re-used as a new release in plastic form a few years later!

I didn't buy any of these brand new as they were quite pricey, and because they weren't around for very long in the UK (one batch, and not every stockist got every breed), not many come up for sale second hand over here, either - I only have the Clydesdale in my collection.

A couple of years back, one of the Andalusians came up on Ebay with a starting price of £3. Admittedly, the model was missing the base, but I didn't think that mattered too much - I could always make a new one if he couldn't stand without it, but the Mini version of this mould stands just fine on his three feet, so I had a suspicion the big guy would be perfectly ok, too. And I was very pleased to be the only bidder : a bargain horse!

When he arrived, I noticed there were more problems than just a missing base - I think this model had been the victim of a dramatic shelf fall - he had a broken leg, a missing ear, one nostril entirely smashed away and the other one chipped, had lost several several chunks of tail, and suffered a few paint scuffs and scratches, too.
Ah well, for £3, it hardly mattered; no harm done, and I didn't feel scammed cos the seller had put 'sold as seen' and not claimed good condition (admittedly with such a terrible small fuzzy 1990s-webcam-style photo you couldn't possibly have seen the damage; I'd been assuming the missing base was the reason for that buyer-beware attitude )
So the Andalusian went to my body box instead of my shelf, a bit on the big side when I was only tackling Stablemate sized customs, but something I knew I'd probably get round to, one day.

Earlier this year, I did his repairs - a new ear and nose, hair extensions to sort the broken tail, the snapped leg (which had a wire inside, so it had never dropped right off) stabilised with glue and smoothed over with Milliput, and I took a hacksaw to the ends of the wires which stuck out the bottoms of his hooves, and would originally have fitted him to the base. I was right, he balances perfectly fine without it, so he was all ready to paint.

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And, continuing my tradition of Painting It The Colour It Was Anyway, I just couldn't get the bay idea out of my mind, and here's how he looks this evening

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There's no sun in my garden in this middle-of-winter time of year, so I can't set up his proper fake-scenery photoshoot just yet. In a couple of weeks, once the sun gets high enough to reach in over the wall again, I'll be able to take and share some nicer photos.
But I wanted to post about him now while the satisfaction of completing him is still fresh in my mind - just cos it's essential to keep up my momentum and enthusiasm for painting and sharing customs, and not let it go dormant like has happened other times when I've paused and accidentally stopped for years

He's lovely! The photo is a bit dark, that's true but it's still easy to see how lovely this paintwork is. The soft dapples, subtle shading on the face, beautiful little markings, and very detailed eyes and hooves. It may be the same color as the original but it's a hundred times nicer!

As Anna says definitely a hundred times nicer than the original! I love the way that every time you paint a new model it is still to the same amazing new standard- sometimes I find that I flake off a bit with the later ones if I do too many at once, but yours are so beautifully consistent!

It looks like the Iberian friend knows he is more beautiful than ever! I love stories of rescued figures and how graceful is it looking now. Interesting that the first Schleich Lusitano has a somewhat similar pose. Horse sculptors know how proud these horses are.

Ana wrote:

He's lovely! The photo is a bit dark, that's true but it's still easy to see how lovely this paintwork is. The soft dapples, subtle shading on the face, beautiful little markings, and very detailed eyes and hooves. It may be the same color as the original but it's a hundred times nicer!

Thank you! I always try to get the colours softly blended, which of course is more difficult with acrylic-and-brush painting than the pastelling or airbrushing most hobby artists prefer, so it's delightful to hear that you think I've succeeded!

Bonnie wrote:

As Anna says definitely a hundred times nicer than the original! I love the way that every time you paint a new model it is still to the same amazing new standard- sometimes I find that I flake off a bit with the later ones if I do too many at once, but yours are so beautifully consistent!

I just don't paint if I'm not in the mood for it, I have to pick my moments so carefully to be sure of a reasonable chance of success - knowing when it wouldn't work and avoiding even thinking about painting, is a big help in keeping up to the quality I'm happy with

Roger wrote:

It looks like the Iberian friend knows he is more beautiful than ever! I love stories of rescued figures and how graceful is it looking now. Interesting that the first Schleich Lusitano has a somewhat similar pose. Horse sculptors know how proud these horses are.

Rescued ones often feel the most satisfying, although getting my hands on brand new moulds by talented sculptors is exciting, it's really rewarding being able to 'save' a horse, to repair something broken and either restore it to look perfect, or give it a whole new look.

Stunning reimagining and amazing repair work. He surpasses the original vision certainly! As always, the detail in your bays, with the dappling and soft golden tones, really makes them feel alive and warm. Another who looks like he stepped out of a glorious old oil painting.

I've managed to get some improved photos of my Spanish stallion, now named Valiente. Still not perfect pictures as there's no sunlight, but I was desperate to get any useable shots at all, so he can be included in my end-of-year summary collage and doesn't have to pretend to be a 2022 custom in next year's round-up!

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The most light I could get

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In the shade, which is probably closer to his real colour

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Another angle - he's very steady on his three feet, even without the base

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His profile is very handsome, a really good rendition of that Iberian look with defined nasal bones and expressive features

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I wasn't going to give him a face marking but when I had him in hand filling in his eye details, he just somehow seemed to want one to look finished!

I've also got a little batch of other customs to share - a while back I bought a partial set of CollectA's mini horses from a friend, scaled down versions of the standard (1:20) or deluxe (1:12) moulds we're already familiar with. I've gradually been painting my way through them, taking their pictures as I went, and just now realised I hadn't posted any yet!

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First up, the appaloosa stallion, one of the nicest renditions of this breed among all the mid-scale plastics (not an officially agreed hobby term, just my own invention because I wanted a collective term to call, and tag, all my Schleich, CollectA, Safari, WIA, Bullyland and Papo)
I've named this one Harecroft Sunset Over The Sea, and he's one of my favourites from all I've painted at this smaller scale.

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Here he is with a penny, so you can see just how small these miniature versions are! UK pennies are the same size as US ones, Euro 2 cents, and most pennies from other countries, too (I used to work in a shop years ago, so I have a collection of strays from many nationalities which got taken in change cos people mistook them for same-size British money :lol :)

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Being so small made the detailed paintjob a little bit fiddlier than on a Stablemate, but with a tiny brush and carefully steadied hand, it wasn't too bad - being able to make up the spot placement as I went along made it a lot easier than if I'd been trying to match them for a portrait!

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Harecroft Firestone - a bit of teamwork here, as this one had been started in his last home, but needed finishing with a couple more coats of white, as well as feet and a face! The original mould is a Hanoverian, but in shrinking he's got noticeably chunkier legs, so I think I'll probably file him as an Irish Sport Horse on my site.

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Perhaps a bit predictable, going for a white-grey on the lipizzaner mould, but for my first I wanted to stick to their typical colour, then if I ever buy another set of these, I'll go a bit more obscure! I've called him Neapolitano Romana - all my grey lipizzaners are given the Neapolitano line, while I chose the Siglavy line for my first (and so far, only) black coated stallion.

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Two different views, it's a very narrow mould for a breed which is very compact, rounded, and muscular in build, but the pose is great and the head is handsome, so I'll forgive it that!

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Harecroft Commander, the clydesdale mould which works beautifully in miniature as the legs were already chunky, just as the breed is meant to be. I always imagine this one in varying shades of bay and different amounts of sabino marking, so it was inevitable mine would end up this colour (I've got a big one in the body box, too, he may well end up looking very similar!)

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I don't know why the paints seem to end up more shiny on my CollectA repaints than something like Breyer's plastic, I don't ever use any sealant or varnish over the top, so you'd expect them to have the same semi-gloss smoothness as any of my other customs, but as you can see from the light catching him here, he has a very glossy coat.

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I don't usually do duplicates from the same reference, but I really loved the shade of chestnut I used for my Stablemate custom of Blazin' Chic Olena, and wanted to play with it again at a different scale and pose, so here we have Harecroft Blazin' Rebel.

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A fun little action pose, I don't have many reining or cutting models among my collection, as it's very much outside the disciplines I usually see on tv or in person over here, so it makes sense to paint this little one like the only real horse I've ever seen doing these moves!

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Harecroft Aberama Gold, the friesian mould repainted as a partbred cob in buckskin tobiano. I've always had my eye on this mould to use for a possible cob custom, I just expected it would be the standard scale I got my hands on, not his tiny counterpart!

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[edit cos I forgot her]

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The Shire mare, in a different shade of bay so she doesn't look too similar to the Clydesdale, with a sunbleached mane and tail and a bit more sabino marking. Lovely little mould, I think I like it even more in miniature than the usual size!

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I've named her Matilda - after the Medieval queen, not the Roald Dahl character

This'll be the last new custom post of the year (though these minis were painted months ago, I'm just posting them out of order through being forgetful), but I'll be back tomorrow with my annual summary post showing everything together - here's 2019 and 2020's posts if you'd like to look back at my past years' work in the meantime

Wonderful work with all the minis but obviously my atention goes to the Spanish horse, it is magnificent and that color really works fabulous on it. Thanks also for sharing the links to help us easily to revisit your previous years.

I missed Valiente previously, it's magnificent. The white marking on his head (what's the word?) works very well. The CollectA minis are great too. Are they sold in a toobe? Of course, you bring the best out of them with your painting; the appaloosa and Clydesdale are my favourites.

Roger wrote:

Wonderful work with all the minis but obviously my atention goes to the Spanish horse, it is magnificent and that color really works fabulous on it. Thanks also for sharing the links to help us easily to revisit your previous years.

I think the temptation is always to go for the flashiest colours a breed can be when painting or commissioning model paintjobs, cos people like to have something eyecatching to show off - you'll see ten times more dappled grey Andalusians than plain bay ones - but bays are by far the commonest in real life, and in horses in general. I really enjoy taking the most ordinary and 'boring' colours and making them interesting, bay's one of my favourites to paint.

rogerpgvg wrote:

I missed Valiente previously, it's magnificent. The white marking on his head (what's the word?) works very well. The CollectA minis are great too. Are they sold in a toobe? Of course, you bring the best out of them with your painting; the appaloosa and Clydesdale are my favourites.

Thanks! I think the face marking is one which defies being fitted into either category - one labelled as a 'star' wouldn't trail down the nose, but a 'stripe' would carry on further and more distinctly. If I had to fill in real-horse passport paperwork for one like this, I'd probably go with 'extended star' or 'star with partial stripe' (you then have to draw it on a pre-printed outline of the horse, so it doesn't matter too much if you're vague or using the wrong terms )

I got mine second hand but the catalogue photo shows them with tube packaging, yes. This isn't a full set, by the way (some I don't have, some I painted already, some I haven't painted yet), you can see the complete pack here.

About colors, I am not a huge fan of flashy colors in some breeds. I mean those that are very muscular, almost sculptural but not heavy like a Shire. I believe I mean those usually called Baroque horses. They're so beautiful, often with muscular arched necks,sculptural flanks and I think flashy colors are quite distracting and we cannot see how really beautiful are these breeds. Some flashy colors cause a kind of apparent distortion, we can see it with your Friesian, it is not a classic mold for a Friesian with long legs and neck but the pattern you're using gives the impression the neck is narrower what makes it look even longer. It is not a criticism to your beautiful painting, just an observation to consolidate our idea about solide colors working better for some breeds.

It is truly amazing how you can paint so much detail on such a tiny figure!

Stunning work!!

Funnily enough I find the smaller scales much easier (even if I do find myself holding my breath to keep my hand steady, so they're a bit exhausting )

Those little miniatures are amazing. I am not too familiar with what they look like unpainted, but now they look brilliantly realistic. I can see why the appaloosa is your favorite, he has not only a wonderful paint job but also a great deal of personality to him. The cob and the clydesdale are my other favorites, but you've really brought such detail and precision to this size. You say they are easier for you, but it's hard to imagine how, except that it is less space to cover.

That's exactly it : the less surface you have to cover, the less work it is!

Here's what they look like beforehand, a lot of bare plastic and quite basic markings. You see why it's so tempting to give them proper coats of colour, they have a lot of potential. I've recarved the fetlocks narrower and hooves smaller on the breeds which don't have feathering, the legs seem to scale down badly (or perhaps are deliberately made thicker so they don't have a weak spot and break too easily if given to small children for rough handling )

First customs of 2022!

A few days ago one of my favourite racehorses, Native River, was retired after a long and successful career. A gorgeous bright chestnut with a lot of white markings, and a very kind and loveable character, I always thought he'd make a nice model horse, but Breyer almost always make portraits of American racing stars, so when I want a British or Irish one - the horses I actually see racing over here - I make my own.
His biggest win was the Cheltenham Gold Cup a few years ago (the best of all long races over jumps in this country, for those who don't follow racing), where he had a brilliant finish just in front of one of my other favourites, Might Bite, a truly quirky individual with a mind of his own, who I'd also thought would make a very handsome model, but hadn't ever got round to painting.
So with both of them now retired from the racecourse, I decided it was time to finally get on with making their mini portraits.

I only have the older of Breyer's Thoroughbred moulds in my body box (the newer walking TB is a fraction nicer, but hard to buy cos it's only been sold in sets or as blind bag unicorns), but there was a little resculpting to do on each. Firstly, it's sculpted female, where both my racehorses to copy are male. I also gave them bigger hooves, as the mould's got very tiny narrow feet. Finally, there were the hairstyles to match, because the original mould has no forelock, and a clipped patch at the top of the neck - mostly seen on US racehorses - so for mine I added in a bit of extra hair at the front for the one who always ran with his mane loose, while the other was always plaited up to race, so I cut off the plastic mane and resculpted the top line of his neck with tiny rolled-in-a-ball braids.

Here's a couple of photos of the real horses...

Over the final jump

On the run to the line

And here they are in miniature...

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Native River first, his really bright colour was fun to match - I re-used some of the orange and ginger paints I bought for my fox custom here! He was always a great one to watch in action, his colour made him stand out in the field and he was a tough and sparky racehorse, hard to beat when he got in front. And he sounds like such a nice personality, too, his jockeys and yard staff are always full of praise for how lovely and gentlemanly and friendly he's been at home, and those are always the horses I connect with most, not just famous winners but ones with a stand-out character to match their talent.

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I also had fun with his white markings, using photos from different angles, and a couple of head shots to get a better view of the pink shape on his nose. His legs and feet are a bit muddy in those racing shots, but I found a nice clean one taken on his yard at home where I could see the stripes on his hooves!

And now his rival Might Bite - they came from different yards so they didn't know each other apart from when they met on the course, so they were neither friends nor enemies, but I'll think of them as a pair because I painted their models together.

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Another one who was a fun colour to paint - getting the shading just right is always difficult on a horse which has been clipped, since the colour's different when the hairs have all been trimmed short, but because this race was run in march, the coat's had time to grow back quite a bit, so the contrast isn't as noticeable. You can see the join on the back leg where the clipped body meets the unclipped coat colour.

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Although he has a lot less white on, there's still enough to make him unique and interesting, and careful copying makes him look like who he's meant to be.

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Might Bite was rather infamous for running off in the wrong direction, veering across the track and almost losing his races, and being generally quirky and unpredictable - he was very fast and talented, and an amazing jumper, and did win some very high class prestigious races, but he had moods and if he didn't have his sensible head on the day, you'd know about it. They tried him over different types of jump, even cross-country, to see if finding him a slightly different kind of race would get him concentrating, but nothing worked and eventually he was retired to a hacking home life where his weirdness wouldn't matter

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And here they are together, although I can't set up racing scenes cos I don't have riders or make tack at this scale, I thought it'd be nice to photograph them side by side

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Beautiful customs and beautiful pictures too 

2022 has a great dawn