Koniminiatures' recent acquisitions

Hey Lea,

I am glad to see everything arrived to you safe and sound.  

Is that fish in jar?

P.s your photography is great.

Lovely halter   Bling for the beasts   

And yes, you are right with the Breyers, they seem to introduce new and greater artists lately  

The TWH remade looks awesome   

Very beautieful newcomer again Lea    

Thank you, all, for the kind comments! I'll be sure to post photos of the TWH again once I have him painted, certainly.

Phexedrine wrote:

The TWH is really wonderful, you have a feel of biomecanics that not a lot of people in the hobby have. Kudos seriously   
As for the ASB, it's a mare you started from a Rejoice model, actually I have her prepped and ready for oils, there's a picture of her in my work thread just before I finished her prep work :

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

You are of course credited as the main customizer of this lil gem. I bought her a few years ago, after seeing her on the Finnish model horse forum. I remember using google translate as I only speak French, English and a bit of German   The translation was epic in itself.

I tend to gravitate more in the French model horse community albeit coming over here sometimes as I collect other hoofed beast (cloven hoofed ones and surprinsingly now dogs and other animals who serve as props) so that is why you didn't remember me. Anyway I'm a big follower of your work and if you might have some custom work for sale, I'd be all ears.

Thank you the compliments on the TWH - your mention of the biomechanics side of it warms my heart especially. It was precisely the reason I so extensively resculpted the CollectA original's legs & barrel in the first place - there just wasn't any fixing it save redoing completely.

Ah, I do remember that ASB now! It was years ago, indeed! I'll hop on over to your thread just as soon I have this posted to see what's become of the ASB - I'm sure you've done the little mare justice. I do remember you now - I was quite impressed with your efforts with the Finnish forum translation back then.
As for custom work, I haven't got anything for sale at the moment, I'm afraid - but I think I will, soon enough; I've been trying to get my customizing engine running by doing a handful of small CM's on miscellaneous species. I'll likely be offering the results up for sale/trades here, once I have them finished.

goatherder wrote:

Is that fish in jar?

P.s your photography is great.

I'm glad you enjoyed the photography - although I cannot much take credit for its quality; I'm a fumbling dilettante, but with a very tolerant camera.

As for fish in those tanks: Good grief, no - I'd never keep a single vertebrate in such a cramped, round-walled space. I'm of the school finding even most European (let alone American) aquarium-keeping despicably niggardly in the space typically allotted for the animals. The larger tank on my desk houses three 4-millimeter ramshorn snails; the smaller two tanks in the background, as I mentioned to LeeAnn a few posts back, only have Daphnia water fleas and assorted Copepoda. I would dearly like to get an aquarium to keep a few catfish or even just some nifty crustaceans in, but as the passable capacities in my view only start at somewhere around 300-400 litres, it'll be a while yet before I'll be upgrading from my little desktop tanks there.

Mangalarga wrote:

I love this custom! All those details! I'd love to commission you one day, if you accept those of course

Thank you! I do do commissions, certainly - for the moment my books are closed, though. I'll be accepting new work once I've cleared my current backlog; I'll be announcing this on my website at least.

Upon the completion of a commission a month or so back, I found myself more or less in the position to splurge on a few models while "ordering new epoxy anyway". In addition to this, I recently made most excellent trades with Joan and Bryan (Arafan), both of which trades I'm most grateful for and pleased about - thank you, Joan & Bryan!

With Bryan's great help and some supplementary stock from the epoxy shop, it appears I've suddenly turned into a model world cattle rancher:
(..Or perhaps a model world cattle butcher - but more on that in the Customs section, later.)

In addition to the gazillion cattle, I also got two lovely Kaiyodo skulls - Anchiceratops below, Cryolophosaurus above - from Joan; as well as the Schleich potbellied pig I've for so long sought after; old Holstein mare (one of my favourite horses by Schleich); two nifty Panini ponies (topmost in pic); and a brand new Schleich stable accessory set as very generous gifts from Bryan! THANK YOU! The excellent CollectA Standardbred and Dartmoor just hitched a ride with the epoxy shop cattle - perhaps they had a terrible itch to get their heads lopped off, too.

Again, my humblest thanks to Bryan and Joan for the lovely, lovely trades. I shall show more of the cattle mutilations later in the Customs section, if just to assure everyone I've not left them lying around gruesomely dismembered. (They have been gruesomely frankensteined onto each other instead. MWAha-ha-ha-ha!)

Ohh that Panini fjord! I didn't know about that one, hopefully I can get my hands on one sometime! Great newcomers, and I'm excited to see what you do with your new victims.

I'm very happy that you like them!
Congratulations for all these new additions, they are really great!
Thanks for this awesome trade.

OMG! That new stuff is Beautiful!! Congratulations!, Hurray for Bryan! That collecta black running mare is sooo pretty!!

Congratulations Lea, very detailed newcomers!! Big congrats

Some really nice newcomers!!! I like the way you displayed the cattle, they look indeed like illustration in a book about cattle breeds
And the way the pig is looking at dinosaur skull, haha, and the Dartmoor pony seems to be scared of it too I almost hear them saying "What on Earth IS that? "

Great additions, huge congrats!

That parcel from Bryan! I can see so much fantastic bulls and cows - such a delicious herd! Hurray Bryan
And of course, what a superb punch from Joan - I just love the tiny horses! Collecta Pacer looks nice even though he would be nicer with some base or holder. All those legs on the ground doesn't make him looks so fast and furious
It was a pleasure to see your good photos and those figurines! Congratulations =)

congrats Lea !!!!
and there is no "japan" addition ?

Thank you for the kind comments, everyone!

Animal_Figures_4U wrote:

Ohh that Panini fjord! I didn't know about that one, hopefully I can get my hands on one sometime!

The Panini fjord is actually a very decent sculpt, with clean angles, a solid pose and even teensy wrinkling at the base of the neck; one gets the impression that its sculptor has actually spent some time around horses. It's been available on German eBay on and off, here.  

arafan wrote:

I'm very happy that you like them!
Congratulations for all these new additions, they are really great!
Thanks for this awesome trade.

I like them very, very much indeed. Thank you for the trade - it was a most excellent one.

Elros Alvar wrote:

OMG!  That new stuff is Beautiful!!  Congratulations!, Hurray for Bryan!  That collecta  black running mare is sooo pretty!!

Hurray for Bryan indeed! And thanks. The CollectA STB is really nice, I agree - it might just be my very favourite by McDermott so far.

Ana wrote:

Some really nice newcomers!!! I like the way you displayed the cattle, they look indeed like illustration in a book about cattle breeds
And the way the pig is looking at dinosaur skull, haha, and the Dartmoor pony seems to be scared of it too I almost hear them saying "What on Earth IS that? "

Thank you! As for the cattle display, well.. what my workspace may lack in available lightboxes or proper backdrops, it makes up for in stacks of books and sweaters lying around all over the place. The skulls are something the poor domestics shall have to get used to, I'm afraid - there are more of those here than there are fleshed-out models, I think..

jonesee wrote:

That parcel from Bryan! I can see so much fantastic bulls and cows - such a delicious herd! Hurray Bryan
And of course, what a superb punch from Joan - I just love the tiny horses! Collecta Pacer looks nice even though he would be nicer with some base or holder. All those legs on the ground doesn't make him looks so fast and furious
It was a pleasure to see your good photos and those figurines! Congratulations =)

I second that hurray wholeheartedly, and I'm glad you enjoyed my pictures! I agree the Standardbred would be more correct all airborne, but I actually quite appreciate the elegant hooftip stance as an alternative to a base, which if factory-issued would presumably end up either clunky or costly to produce. Of course, it wouldn't be much trouble to craft an unintrusive little acrylic stand for the horse now, particularly as the model's very lightweight - it's of a plastic quite similar to that of the "weightless" new Schleich shire stallion.

NandO wrote:

congrats Lea !!!!
and there is no "japan" addition   ?

Thank you, Nando! And no, no Japan addition this time - I destroyed all of my budget on the cows. X) But give me time, I'm sure they'll come...

those cattles and horses (and pig) are just very impressive.

Thank you, Sauroid!

[quote="koniminiatures"]Thank you for the kind comments, everyone!

jonesee wrote:

That parcel from Bryan! I can see so much fantastic bulls and cows - such a delicious herd! Hurray Bryan
And of course, what a superb punch from Joan - I just love the tiny horses! Collecta Pacer looks nice even though he would be nicer with some base or holder. All those legs on the ground doesn't make him looks so fast and furious
It was a pleasure to see your good photos and those figurines! Congratulations =)

I second that hurray wholeheartedly, and I'm glad you enjoyed my pictures! I agree the Standardbred would be more correct all airborne, but I actually quite appreciate the elegant hooftip stance as an alternative to a base, which if factory-issued would presumably end up either clunky or costly to produce. Of course, it wouldn't be much trouble to craft an unintrusive little acrylic stand for the horse now, particularly as the model's very lightweight - it's of a plastic quite similar to that of the "weightless" new Schleich shire stallion.

[quote]

Interesting! Good to know the new Collecta'$ might be as light as their old Andalusian etc...I think its just good if some horses are made from very light plastic, or rubber, so maybe you can save in shipping costs!

Cool cattle, congrats

Thank you Robert!

Jonas, indeed the STB is lightweight but not bendy. The early McDermott molds (of them I've experience only of the palomino TWH, mind) were released so rubbery they made for pretty difficult customizing, while with at least some of the following models they moved on to a hard and reasonably heavy plastic with little give to it. The STB's the first I've come across that's extremely light yet unbendy all over. I presume this was a deliberate (and commendable!) production choice to keep the model's precariously angled weight-bearing legs from eventually sagging under the weight of the torso. It's a good call, I agree.

Oh and Ana! I don't know how I only realized this now, but - you sculpted that Highland cow! I finally have a piece created by you, then. I must say I find the cow a most pleasing sculpt, and certainly none too narrow at all, as I recall some first surmised. I've worked briefly on a small farm breeding Highland cattle, and the build of your sculpt reminds me of many of the heifers and young cows I got to meet.

The stage of the walk cycle that you chose for the model's pose is one I find compliments the animal depicted, as well - it presents to its viewer a graphical symmetry that brings intrigue into the sculpt, yet it's beautifully uncontrived and befitting of the creature. I think the only thing missing from that cow is a burly old bull or mischievous bullock to stride alongside of.

Congrats on your new additions ! Cattle are like potato chips, you can't have just one it seems ^^
I love the wrinkly debuts on that bull you showed with that many pins sticking out of its head. I feel you have a certain sense of humor when it comes to the "destruction" part of the customizing work. It reminds me of the horrified faces I regularly get when I talk about the taxidermy process (I do osteology and taxidermy as a "hobby" as I can't get a real wage out of it).

Wonderful TWH (from earlier) and fantastic new additions! You've got some great cattle figures there.

Thank you for the comments & congrats! I'm glad you like that TWH, Scott, because I no longer do.   The blooming thing has been base painted already, but the more I look at it, the more convinced I am of that its back remains short (which may be noteworthy in itself, seeing as I've already lengthened it by nearly two centimeters. Makes me wonder how incredibly short the back must have been originally.) My incrementally increasing beniggledness by the matter is unquantifiable, to abuse some 3 a.m. English.

Phexedrine wrote:

Congrats on your new additions ! Cattle are like potato chips, you can't have just one it seems ^^
I love the wrinkly debuts on that bull you showed with that many pins sticking out of its head. I feel you have a certain sense of humor when it comes to the "destruction" part of the customizing work. It reminds me of the horrified faces I regularly get when I talk about the taxidermy process (I do osteology and taxidermy as a "hobby" as I can't get a real wage out of it).

Potato chips, yeah... I think I just panicked upon seeing a paycheck and instinctively exchanged it for something I know. Happy you like the disdainful Cenobite bull so far - he has by now suffered further nails to the face.

Ah, we have another bone scrubber/hobby taxidermist in the house, then! I wonder how many of us creeps we've got kicking about the forum.. I expect tinkering with body parts for a pastime - be they real or plastic - is probably conducive of eventually developing a certain sense of humour about the process, yes. The mystified horror of innocent onlookers is likely only further incentive to this developement, I agree.

I'm not expert, but the back doesn't look too short to me. It really looks great and I love the base paint!

Thanks for the encouragement - I appreciate it. The back is no longer impossibly short, but there is to my eye at least an unhappy discrepancy between the lengths of the cervical and thoracic-lumbar spine. Perhaps it's better left be, at this point; the thing'll never get finished if I try to fix everything about it.

Oh boy. Oh boy. Guess what came in the mail?

Some 1,5kg in real life; ~1000 if he were real - it's the 1:9 Ardennais resin Andre, sculpted by Sarah Rose. Came to me in a trade, too (worry not, I retain my all of my arms and legs) - I could scarcely believe my luck! He's by far my favourite piece by Rose, and is quickly becoming my favourite resin overall, I think. So rotund, mushy-faced, wrinkly-nosed, pig-eyed... and all a-rolling along. I know he isn't a proper animal figurine of the mass produced plastic variety, but ah, I'm too chuffed here to exercise discretion.

In anticipation of perhaps painting him a Brabant, I built him an exceedingly shoddy "trekpaard kettinghalster" (draught horse chain halter) and some turnback-caulked, toe clipped draft shoes - although it will be ages yet before I can actually start with the customization & paint.