General Additions thread - Recent additions, from February to April

This horse figures is absolutely perfect and very delicate.
Do you think they can put it for 1:32 scale? Even considereing Stablemates are relatively delicate for their sizes, I think this one is not translatable to such a small size.

That's a very elegant horse! I like the way you can see her ribs and muscles. The pose reminds me of Native Dancer.

Wonderful model!!

Thanks, everyone! She really is lovely, I'm very glad I decided to go with ordering one after such a long delay of being tempted and changing my mind. And with Breyer having a great track record for making plenty of racehorse portraits, I don't expect it'll be too long before we have more releases on the mould - it would look great in bright chestnut with a lot of white, or a grey with fade-in-and-out dappling.

I've thought of a name for her, following the tradition of combining mother and father's names into something along a similar theme. I've got a very dark bay thoroughbred mare (Zenyatta portrait) called Ravenswing, and a brighter bay stallion (Frankel portrait) called King And Country, so Winx's show name will combine monarchy with the bird species : The Raven Queen

Several really lovely additions! Those Schleich ponies are very nice actually.

They are, aren't they! I was so pleasantly suprised by those little ponies, as someone who's gradually gone off Schleich horses to the point where I barely even looked at any new releases for the last few years (until I joined this forum and the 2022s from every brand were being reviewed), it was great to find these which stood out above the rest.

such a beauty! congratulations :)

A smaller addition to introduce this week, a 1:12 model, which is called Classic scale by Breyer.

I don't tend to buy as many Classics - they have some really nice moulds but some I'm not as keen on, quite a lot are sold in expensive playsets where I don't want all the horses or any of the stuff, and a lot are let down by the paintwork (blurry edges to markings, pearly colours, paint spatter used instead of masking for spots, that kind of thing), and they're too big for me to comfortably repaint, so this is the smallest proportion of my Breyer collection by a long way.

But I've nothing against the scale for size purposes, so when I see one I really like, I'm perfectly happy to add it to my herd - especially when it's one of a limited edition of 1000, for just £10!

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And here he is! An interesting release, done for Breyerfest in 2019, when the theme was Horse Heroes, he's representing the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, specifically their musical ride. His markings don't seem to be copied from any one individual horse, at least the info doesn't mention it if that's the case - I think they just went with a black horse cos they all are, and put some white on so it wasn't too boring
The box is bilingual, but as he was only sold at Breyerfest (which is held in Kentucky), I don't think that's a practical choice - he wasn't intended for sale in shops in Canada, so it's just a nod to the horses' home country.

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His tag's on elastic so it can be removed without damaging it, I took it off for pictures but will put it back on for display on my shelf, cos otherwise there's not much to point out he's anything to do with the Mounties, unless I wanted to store the box right behind him instead of flattened out and put away with my other informationy stuff
It's kind of a shame they didn't make a set with tack, or at least a halter/bridle, so the horse was more distinct and recogniseable once out of his box, but then, Breyer's tack can tend toward being very toyish and inaccurate so perhaps not!

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I've named him Nimrod, picked at random because as I said he isn't based on any one individual. And the only Canadian police horse I ever met in person (because he was given to the Queen, so he lives over here with his cavalry mates now) was called George, and I don't fancy naming models after myself

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He's very handsome, some Breyer horses with black coats are given such a flat, semi-glossy coat of pure jet black that they don't look real, more like art sculptures given a sleek black coat of paint in the same way they could be coated pure white or fake bronze - an aesthetic choice rather than trying to copy a real horse colour. But he's one of the lucky ones, there's enough brown in his paint to give warm tones, a more lifelike black which is actually varied shades of very very dark brown.

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I did some reading up on the real horses, early on the breeding was very varied, sounds like any light riding horse that could be sourced would do, from stock horses to hunters, tending toward a more thoroughbred type later on. And they could be any colour, it was only decided that all-black would look better once they went to ceremonial duties (rather than being the main police transport).
Nowadays they're bred specially by the police for this job, rather than bought in from elsewhere and trained up, the way our military and police do here. They're still mostly-thoroughbred ancestry, with some recent Hanoverian stallions to give them a bit more bulk and substance.

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The one indication, outside of the packaging, that he is Canadian - a maple leaf on each side. The horses are given these markings with a stencil and damp brush when they perform the musical ride, it's not permanent like a brand, and it's been added here with a neat clear gloss finish.

It's a bit confusing how to file this one on my website : although it's a great opportunity to have my first of the Canadian Horse breed thanks to his nationality and prominent maple-leaf mark, the mould is a Stock Horse Gelding, so maybe he belongs with the Quarter Horses? Or does he go on the partbred page as Thoroughbred x Hanoverian, like the real ones on the musical ride? For now, I've gone with the last option, just so he doesn't get missed out and forgotten cos I can't make my mind up

Wow, such a handsome model, and I love the touch of the maple leaf! Sounds like a bargain price for a limited edition model too, and Nimrod's sleek black coat is amazing!

Lovely addition.

Today I had a delivery from Modellpferversand, I don't usually buy internationally cos of the postage and import and handling fees, but Germany seems to be able to bypass the post-Brexit headache as I've had two parcels make it all the way here with nothing extra to pay, phew! So when there's irresistible models which can only be bought from overseas, I just have to go for it.

First, the two new models from WIA, named Vincenzo and made in two colour options. Well, I say 'options', as if we're supposed to choose between them, but just like every previous WIA release they're both equally nice, so I just get myself one of each

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The perlino version, which I've named Harecroft Pérolo

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And the grey, now Harecroft Fidalgo

To avoid too much doubling up of photos across multiple forum topics, I'll just point you in the direction of my first walkaround post, where I've shared a lot of different angles and my enthusiastic thoughts on these models - look toward the latter part of [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.].

As well as the two Vincenzo models, I decided to get the brumbies by Southlands Replicas.

I know the mare and stallion are coming to join the Mojo Fun range soon, and while it's lovely they've been rescued and will carry on being available, there's one thing which means I wouldn't have been quite so happy with the Mojo versions - the foal isn't coming with them. I'm sentimental enough about models that I want to keep the whole family together, and that meant adding the original Southlands releases to my order while the seller still had at least one of each left!

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Here's the whole family!

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I love the mare's grumpy face, so many model horses are happily alert or excitedly running along, not many get to lay back their ears and pull such a mareish face!

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She's very sweet, apart from that grouchy expression, with a nice mix between detail and slight fur texture, it makes her look naturally cute but not too toyish or cartoony.

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Her colour's nicely shaded, paler on the lower legs and belly, and with some nicely added grey skin for the eyes and muzzle - hand painted I think, but softly so.

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I wanted to give each brumby a name themed to native local landscape, flora, or wildlife, so for this one I chose Harecroft Brindabella, the name of a mountain range in one area brumbies are found.

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The stallion is much more glossy than the mare, I don't think this would be a design choice as in real life there's no difference in coat health or shine between the sexes, he just got a different paint application than she did He also has plain black eyes, rather than the coloured irises added to both mare and foal, but the mould more than makes up for it in personality and drama, he's great anyway!

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I've called him Harecroft Waratah, after a big spiky flower found in the mountains which gave the mare her name.

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I think he's my favourite rearing model from the whole selection of toy-type plastic figures, a lot of brands have done these poses over the years but I really do like the way he's turning to one side, like a moment caught in freeze-frame motion, you can imagine how he'll twist and shift his weight and focus as he comes back down.

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One thing I noticed about the difference between this Southlands release and the Mojo Fun edition - he's carried over his colour, but not his socks! So as well as gaining the baby to complete the family by buying them this way, but I also got white markings I wouldn't have had otherwise

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And here he is, the little one!

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Such a fragile, delicate little thing, balancing perfectly steady on his toes for the shelf, but looking like he's just about to kick and jump!

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He also gets an Australian native flower name, from the home range of the real brumbies, and a fittingly cute-sounding one - a long-stemmed round yellow daisy known as Billy Buttons!

I didn't realise that Southlands made horses. Definitely a good idea to buy him, he looks great! The "bowing" horses have a great pose, I especially like Fidalgo. Or are they not bowing, but it's just a lazy way of eating?

They just made brumbies, as they're the only feral breed found in Australia, so they've been counted as wildlife enough to include in the range.

It is supposed to be bowing, yes, but you're kind of right that it could be a nibbling pose too - my horse does sometimes get down on one or both knees to eat (to reach further under fences and gates than she can get while standing up )

SO many lovely horses, all from Canada to Australia

...and as always gorgeous photos

I love the Southlands brumbies great additions! Its certainly a good idea to get Southlands versions before Mojo's because the paintwork is much better.

Yeah, I'm glad I got these, even though it's not known as a model horse company I enjoy having a lot of different brands in my herd. And I hadn't even heard of Southlands til I joined this forum, so thank you to STS for giving me something new to want for my collection

Wonderful horses and display!

I just ordered the Brumby stallion from Minizoo (since they still have some original SR models), since they got some CollectA 2022 in that I ordered at the same time; glad to get the original instead of the Mojo re-release.

Two "minor" brands, WIA and Southlands but remarkable horse sculpts from relevant sculptresses. Brigitte Eberl and Anna-Dobrowolska.
Look how they are different from the random trivial horse from the famous major brands. I believe the mould of the Brumby foal needed to be revamped to be used by Mojö Fun, the sculpt is more delicate than what we are used. I really love this foal, I even think it is the best of the trio. It looks very lightweight, like a white-tail fawn, recently born and experiencing the gravity. He also looks very innocent, as it is seing the world for the first time and asking to himself what's all of that around. About the mare, I know Anna loves to give expression to her horses, here's a kind of Parasaurolophus face on this model, it gives a special identity to the figure. I mean, I could see this horse in a lot and easily recognize it.
Another interesting point about these two brands is the fact their horses are marketed at a certain scale: 1/18 for WIA and 1/20 for Southlands.

Amazing new models, the WIA pair are stunning! And I love that delicate prancing Southlands foal so much too, a beautiful model!

Caracal wrote:

Wonderful horses and display!

Thanks! The background to the 'Australia' pictures is actually a bit of North American scenery, I don't have anything showing the right country to use and these mountains looked most like the Australian Alps out of everything I'd got

bmathison1972 wrote:

I just ordered the Brumby stallion from Minizoo (since they still have some original SR models), since they got some CollectA 2022 in that I ordered at the same time; glad to get the original instead of the Mojo re-release.

Yes, I think it's nice to have the originals, especially as you catalogue everything so thoroughly, Southlands are a bit of hobby history.

Roger wrote:

Two "minor" brands, WIA and Southlands but remarkable horse sculpts from relevant sculptresses. Brigitte Eberl and Anna-Dobrowolska.
Look how they are different from the random trivial horse from the famous major brands. I believe the mould of the Brumby foal needed to be revamped to be used by Mojö Fun, the sculpt is more delicate than what we are used. I really love this foal, I even think it is the best of the trio. It looks very lightweight, like a white-tail fawn, recently born and experiencing the gravity. He also looks very innocent, as it is seing the world for the first time and asking to himself what's all of that around. About the mare, I know Anna loves to give expression to her horses, here's a kind of Parasaurolophus face on this model, it gives a special identity to the figure. I mean, I could see this horse in a lot and easily recognize it.
Another interesting point about these two brands is the fact their horses are marketed at a certain scale: 1/18 for WIA and 1/20 for Southlands.

Quite right, they may be minor brands in terms of availability and market share, but the quality is way up there, and sculpt is the most important aspect of any figure - these would all look almost as good in a plain flat paintjob.
The foal would have to fill out substantially all over, to convert to a more playable toy - if just partially resculpted to thicken the legs he'd be out of proportion, and by bulking up his body, shoulders, and neck too, he'd look like an older foal, not this few-days-old baby.

Bonnie wrote:

Amazing new models, the WIA pair are stunning! And I love that delicate prancing Southlands foal so much too, a beautiful model!

They really are lovely, I've got them bowing either side of my mantelpiece clock right now and they look very at home there. I'm planning to try teaching my real horse to bow once the ground's dried up thoroughly (it isn't fair to ask her to kneel in the sticky mud! )

Look what arrived today!

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Yes, a whole box of anniversary Mystery Horses!

I happened to be browsing online model horse shops and spotted one site selling these whole cases of blind bags for a reduced price - the Mystery Horses/Unicorns usually retail at £3.99 to £5.99 per bag, depending on where you order from and how recently they've been released, but at £50 for a full box it works out at just over £2 a bag. So while it's a lot to pay out in one go, it's a bargain in the long run!

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The small print mentions that they don't guarantee one of every model in every box, so I couldn't confidently predict what was going to be in there, but really didn't mind - I already have one of each for my original finish collection, so these were all destined for repainting, and they're all nice recent moulds I haven't had too many of before!

Time to get opening, let's see what I've got...

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The results!
4 x Connemara Pony
4 x Fell Pony
4 x Vanner
2 x Missouri Fox Trotter
2 x Indian Pony
4 x Smart Chic Olena
2 x Fighting Stallion
2 x Clydesdale

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I'm pleased with the fact I got some of each mould, and it's satisfied my curiosity to learn that they do seem to be packed in a certain format rather than a random jumble, as all the duplicates were side by side in the box, so you'd have four of something then two of something else then four of the next, and so on.
So if you ever happen to get chance to choose in person rather than online, and you want a mixture, I'd advise picking from different parts of the box!

I don't know if every box has the same proportion of each horse - maybe the next one along was packed with fours of the moulds I got twos of, and vice versa? It's a slight pity the Missouri Fox Trotter was a 'two' not a 'four' for me, as that's the only mould I haven't painted at all yet, whereas I'll be up to eight Connemaras and nine Vanner cobs by the time I've worked my way through all these, but never mind - two's better than none!

On the same order, I added in one of the mid-year 2021 Stablemates which have been so elusive in my country. Hardly any even ever arrived here, and the two I wanted most sold out almost instantly as they were more coveted moulds (Mini Alborozo, and Django), but this Appaloosa Sporthorse hasn't been nearly so popular - strange, really, as he's also a very recent mould, and this is his first appearance as a regular run.

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Breyer's spotted paintjobs vary in effectiveness, when it's just spatter spots on a white background they tend to look rather plasticky and poor, but this level of shading under the spotting gives him a much nicer look - he's a handsome chap with his dark face and black points.

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The mould was sculpted as an Irish Draft, so it's a little bit more chunky and roman-nosed than the typical Appaloosa Sporthorse, which will usually look like a TB or hack but with spots (sport horses are usually quite a high proportion of Thoroughbred blood, 1/2 to 3/4, so they tend toward a finer build and longer frame than warmbloods)

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The nine Vanner Cobs project. I think you will need to put a lot of thought on it.
This Appaloosa is really different from what I am used, I think you explained why it happens. I think it looks more friendly than the traditional Appy even if I am aware that there is no traditional Appaloosa at all.

Oh, so many nice models have found their way into your collection since I last looked. I absolutely love the Winx mold, it's one of my newer-mold favorites, and yours really has a gorgeous coat! So glad you decided to get one! And the black on the Mountie horse is so much nicer than most black from Breyer, you're right. I've never even seen that little guy before, but his coloration is really nice and subtle.

Those brumbies are beautiful, and that foal really takes the prize, he's so gangly and cute. I think you made the right choice getting them as a family. All of them have so much detail and realistic weight to their poses.

Can't wait to see what you do with all those stablemates!

(And I just love those little rabbits. [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.] )

Roger wrote:

The nine Vanner Cobs project. I think you will need to put a lot of thought on it.
This Appaloosa is really different from what I am used, I think you explained why it happens. I think it looks more friendly than the traditional Appy even if I am aware that there is no traditional Appaloosa at all.

Luckily cobs are mostly flashy patchy patterns, so there's plenty of variety I can go for - even two piebalds would look really different if one was mostly black with some white on, and one was mostly white with some black on

Jill wrote:

Oh, so many nice models have found their way into your collection since I last looked. I absolutely love the Winx mold, it's one of my newer-mold favorites, and yours really has a gorgeous coat! So glad you decided to get one! And the black on the Mountie horse is so much nicer than most black from Breyer, you're right. I've never even seen that little guy before, but his coloration is really nice and subtle.

Those brumbies are beautiful, and that foal really takes the prize, he's so gangly and cute. I think you made the right choice getting them as a family. All of them have so much detail and realistic weight to their poses.

Can't wait to see what you do with all those stablemates!

(And I just love those little rabbits.  [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.] )

I think it's nice that the factory finish paintwork does vary, cos it gives the models a bit of individuality and reminds us they're sprayed by hand by the factory artists, not robots following a 100% perfect programme with no variation. But it does worry me when I've seen some I don't like as much as the ones I'd rather have, I used to make a point of buying those in person when I went to the trade stands bit at the big national horse trials, but of course a couple of covid years have meant no picking in person for me - a lot of events were cancelled, others are back but now have a really complicated ticketing system I can't use cos I don't have a smartphone or photo ID, and the biggest one was always SO cram-packed with thousands of people all pushing and shoving on a good day, I don't think I'll want to risk going among all those covid germs, even if they'd let me have a ticket!

I'm glad it's not just me who thinks they deserve to stay as a complete family, I'm not against getting the Mojo ones as well, if their colours are different enough or I want some to repaint, but not abandoning the foal from my little family herd was the deciding factor in needing the
originals

Which rabbits, the ones back on page one of this topic? They're adorable, I've looked at getting more but cos of the shipping and them the inevitable import fees they'd just cost too much to have sent here.