Foxes and Boxes

Today I thought I'd write a bit about some interesting offers I've come across recently in the world of model horses.

If you subscribe to the Copperfox Models' newsletter or follow their Facebook page, then you already know that they're putting out a clearware edition of the new Scamp pony sculpture, miniaturized, of course.  For some reason they seem to be finding it easier to issue clearware plastic models as opposed to painted plastic ones, probably due to the fact that they don't have to engage any painters when doing clearware.  

I'm sorely tempted by the bevy of blue-toned Scamps as I really love that pony mold and am waiting impatiently for a full size plastic version to become available.  Blue and white are also my stable colours, so any one of these little guys would make a great stable mascot.  However, like the Christmas Winstons I'm predicting they will sell out quickly and they'll probably be gone by the time this post is published. 

(For the record: they sold out within 10 minutes yesterday and no, I was not able to snag one.)

Image from the Copperfox Model Horses Newsletter

However, coming in March, Copperfox is going to be running a contest to name their little fox mascot, who is also coming out in plastic, I believe.  I hope to enter that one, but my head is so full of traditional fox names that I'm going to have to struggle to come up with something original.  I like the challenge, though.  And now you have some time to dream up some names too.

The other interesting offer is for Schleich aficionados.  I know Scheichs and such are not as popular with collectors in North America as they are in Europe, but they're still good starter horses for pony-mad kids.

Anyway, MiniZoo, an Australian on-line toy store, has recently come out with subscription boxes for their figurines, which include not only Schleich, but also Papo, Mojo, Safari, and CollectA.  They ship anywhere in the world (I've bought a few figurines from them myself) and they offer two choices for their monthly Horse Box -- a small box containing 3-5 figures and a large box containing 6-10 figures.  

The main drawback, as far as I can tell, is that the boxes are pretty pricey, especially if you're shelling out that amount each month (if you're checking them out don't forget to click on the flag in the upper right to see the cost in your currency).  But I have to admit that I haven't done the math to see if the boxes are really a bargain, given the average cost of the horses and accessories that may also be in the box.

Image from the minizoo.com.au website

I'm pretty sure they're only for the serious fan of solid plastic ponies, but still, I think the idea of monthly horse figurine subscription box is a pretty cool idea.  Just imagine the delight of receiving a box full of mystery horses each and every month!  Okay, I know some people don't like surprises so they're definitely not for everyone.  Me, I love surprises, but I'm pretty picky about the Schleichs I like, so the boxes are not for me.

Of course, Copperfox clearware ponies aren't for everyone either.  Once upon a time I would have given them short shrift too, but the times they are a-changin'.

I Did It (Or Did I?)

Well, I've finally got my NaMoPaiMo (National Model Painting Month) unicorn looking more or less the way I envisaged her.  After many layers of paint and numerous small touch-ups, she's reached to point where I may be able to stop fiddling with her and leave her alone.

Here she is:

I'm calling her "Lucky Charm" of course.

My idea was to paint a Breyer unicorn in the colours of the Lucky Charms cereal unicorn -- at least the first Lucky Charms cereal unicorn; I understand they come in four different colours now.  I wrestled with the idea of giving mine big cartoon eyes and trying for the animated look, but decided that would only be really effective if I resculpted the unicorn as well, and I wasn't prepared to do that.  Anyway, I'm pleased with what resemblance there is.

Image courtesy of iSpot.tv

The main thing keeping me from calling her finished at the moment is the fact that I don't have any matte finishing spray.  However, I could possibly gloss her.  I hadn't really thought about that until a visitor remarked that she liked the way the unicorn's coat sort of gleamed.  I hadn't noticed that, but once it was pointed out to me I could see it.  I think it's an effect of the purple shading since the purple paint I used kind of glitters.

The only problem is, if I gloss the unicorn I might wipe out this rather attractive quality.  I've thought of just glossing the horn, eyes, and hooves, but I just don't know.  That's why I don't know whether I'm prepared to call her done.

If I want to accomplish my second NaMoPaiMo goal, which was to paint more than one horse this year, I really should let her go.  I have less than a week to paint another horse, so it's becoming less and less likely that I'm going to accomplish goal #2.  Perhaps I should just call a "done it" on the unicorn and call it a day.

Whatever I decide to do, I've really enjoyed participating in NaMoPaiMo this year.  The "minis painting minis" subsection, which features rider dolls, action figures, and others painting teeny tiny horses in Mini Whinny scale or smaller, has been delightfully creative.  I've also learned a lot just from reading advice doled out to others, and admiring the things that some people have accomplished.  On the whole, NaMoPaiMo is a very supportive activity that seems to bring out the best of model horse fanciers every February, just when we could all use a lift.

I'm already looking forward to next year!

NaMoPaiMo After Dark

So I actually am making some progress on my NaMoPaiMo (National Model Painting Month) horse/unicorn, although it's a little hard to see it.

The unicorn is basically white, so after basecoating I painted on several layers of white until I was satisfied with the smoothness of the coat.  Then I started to "mess up" the white by adding a very diluted purple shading.  This did not actually mess up the unicorn, and actually went on pretty easily, probably because I'd diluted it so much.  There were a few places where I'd shaded a bit over-enthusiastically that I had to tone down with white again, but basically that step went really, really well and I was starting to look forward to finishing my NaMoPaiMo project after all.

A blank slate

However, life got in the way. as it always does, and the result was that I didn't find time to work on my unicorn again until late last night.  I did manage to get a good bit of work done then, but you're going to have to take my word for it since I can't show it to you.  Turns out that when you work on your project after dark it's next to impossible (for me, at least) to get a good picture of it as your camera flash may, like mine, be working so hard to hold back the night that the details of any painting you may have done are lost in its glare.  

With purple shading (you're going to have to trust me on this)

Lesson #1 for me:  Save the picture-taking for daytime when the ambient light is better.  This will also encourage me to finish the unicorn well before the actual midnight deadline as I'll never be able to prove I painted it if I have to take its picture in the dark.

The next step I had planned to take was to lay in the blue details in the horn, mane and tail.  However, when I looked last night I could not find the blue paint I thought I had.  I know I had it last year as I mixed it with black to paint my horse's mane and tail.  I don't remember whether or not I finished it, though, and where I might have put if I still had any left.

This may necessitate a change in plans.  Today is going to be another "life gets in the way" day, but tomorrow I'm going to do one last search for my blue and if I can't find it I'll have to start modifying my design.  I'm already considering grey or silver (which I do happen to have) as an alternative to blue.

Lesson #2 for me:  In addition to prepping the model, use the month before NaMoPaiMo to make certain you actually have all the supplies you think you'll need.

I've learned other lessons this NaMoPaiMo from others on the Facebook page, and have received a few reassuring tips myself.  But while sharing is an essential and fun component of the NaMoPaiMo experience, I think you actually learn the most by trying to overcome the unexpected and mundane difficulties you personally face along the way to the deadline.  

Just imagine -- professional artists must go through the same thing from time to time, and still they soldier on.  One hobby artist (I'm sorry, I forget who at the moment) recently said that the only way to get better at painting is to paint every day.  I'm not sure if I'm up for painting every day, but I think I'll be more prepared for NaMoPaiMo next time around.

Although I may have to buy some more blue paint ...

Shall We Dance?

Well, after what seemed like an age of waiting, my 2019 Premier Club freebie, the new SM Morgan stallion  "Charleston" arrived in my mailbox this week.

I know I wasn't the only one who thought the shipping took forever on this one.  A group of us Canadians were all feeling forgotten as more and more of our American friends started posting about getting their "Charleston"s in the mail.  I don't know why, but it almost seems as if Breyer did their domestic shipments first and their international ones later.

They didn't seem to do that with the regular Club offerings throughout the year.  Judging from what I read on the Internet, I received the notices to buy and the actual shipped models at the same time as American buyers did.  I'm not sure why the freebie was delayed then, but it very clearly was.

Anyway, I have some mixed feelings about "Charleston" himself.  Not with the actual model -- I love him -- but with what he represents.  I'll explain in a minute.

"Charleston," as he is, is a little delight.  I love the tiny shipper box they put him in, in addition to the blue drawstring bag that harks back to the first two years of the SM Club packaging.  The sculpture is really nice, and while the colour scheme is impossible for a Morgan, the mold itself will make a very nice Morgan in the future in the proper colours.

I think I may have mentioned before, when "Charleston" was first announced, that I was going to go with Spanish Jennet as a breed.  Lots of people are calling him either that or a Paso Fino, depending on how modern they think he looks (the Jennet should look like an older style horse than the Paso).  He isn't really ideal for either breed, but he's close enough.

His colours, of course, make him the mini-me of "Hamilton," an American Saddlebred, but he's clearly not a Saddlebred either.  But even in miniature, the "Hamilton" pattern is quite stunning, especially with the pearly whites used on the body of the horse.

So much for what "Charleston" is himself.  Now for what he represents to me.

"Charleston" represents the one thing that has always bugged me about the Premier Club ever since they started launching the free mini-me Stablemates in 2014 -- the debut of new Stablemate molds exclusively in the Premier Club.

On the one hand, I can see how this fits in with the philosophy of the Club.  The Premier Club is for folks who like to get the first editions of brand new molds, so they're being given the same thing with their freebie that they signed up for with the Club.

On the other hand, the way the new molds are being used in the Premier Club are as mini-me models of the bigger horses.  The problem there is that most of the new molds produced have failed to match the breed characteristics of any of the Premier Club horses released in a given year, leaving the collector with a bunch of new molds in odd or impossible colours, like "Charleston" in 2019 or "Darwin" in 2018.  And even if the colours do work, the body types can be way off, like the "True North" mini of 2017 and even the mini "Geronimo" of 2016 (who looks more like a Mustang than a Paint).

As a sometime member of the Stablemates Collector Club I strongly feel that all the new Stablemate molds should debut either in that Club or as normal retail releases, as the new Standing Warmblood did in 2019.  It just seems wrong to me to have a Club just for Stablemate fanciers and then to deny them access to one of the latest new molds.

Since the Stablemates Collector Club already gets at least one new mold each year, my solution to the problem would be to make the Premier Club freebie a true mini-me with using older SM molds that most closely resemble the Premier Club horse chosen to be replicated that year -- say the G1 Saddlebred for "Hamilton/Charleston" and the G4 Loping Horse for "Dundee/Darwin."  I'd give the SM collectors one or two new molds, and any other SMs that come out in a given year could be released as regular retail items, either as singles or in sets.

Of course, I'm not the one leading this dance -- I'm the one just trying to keep up with the steps.  Only one thing's for sure: you never know what move Breyer is going to make next.

I'm just glad that I finally got my "Charleston" -- at last.