They wont all come together this easily

and he might not be perfect but he is showable if you dont know where to look!

He had 3 legs off, tail off and broken in 2 and ear off at the base. His saving grace was that he was glossy and the breaks were mostly clean and in black or dark grey areas. Paint matching was easy and I used glossy clear nail polish to seal.

Tiny show, tiny horses, big fun!

Had one of our local winter tiny shows (aka excuse to get together, get out of the house, and chat and eat and look at model horses) yesterday.  Despite having to get up early on a Saturday and being on call and pending up to 2 inches of snow (heh thats nothing this winter!) I head out of the cities for a day of well mannered frivolity (mostly). Got to see Candy's china stock horse in person and now I want a cm glaze version, as well as MNs newest hobbiest at just a couple months old. We flew through the classes so we could eat! Hung out afterwards so long it was time for dinner, where to? Space Aliens of course! Came home with several of the championships (including lots of chocolate, my favorite!) and a box load of projects to work on that look like a scene from Dexter (body parts, minus the blood :) ) I'll spare you the clinky carnage for now, I have already glued several of the legs back on already anyway.

I did manage to finish 3 minis, that were in progress forever, in time for the show....

and the trip to Space Aliens was fun, great food and the kid in me had fun playing games and here are my prizes: Magnetic drawing board (for doodling at work), alien pencil and purple monkey head. He is either going to work or going to model shows as my new mascot. (yes that is my dogs nose next to it going "is that for me mommy?!?")

Mini time again

I have had several minis in various stages hanging around the studio, its time to get a few done! The first two are oils, which is why they are extra shiny :)

And another finished piece!

Khemo is done! Just need to get some better shots some day. And humpty dumpty is on his way to being put back together. He is missing a chip on his tail tip and a few around the jaw plus the ear, that can be dealt with now that his head and legs are glued back on. I could take care of the tail/leg chip by making his tail longer, if I could match the style of the rest of it. It would get too large on top if I went over the whole thing. I'll have to think about that for a bit.

A finished piece!

Yes I know, I jump around btw projects ALOT, but I do get things done once in a while. What I havent done is gotten a nice BIG real light box. And my backdrop has gone all wonky, but here is the finished Aashiq :)

Leg repair, final step

After smoothing and priming and letting sit over night he was ready to paint. Grey is not my forte but I think he ended up with an acceptable matching leg. After some dry time I will seal the leg with Krylon and he should be (almost) good as new. (I'm glad its the non show side leg). Of course its best if it never happens at all, it is a rare thing for me to break something, but at least I can fix it :)

Ghost horse? no, leg repair 101

Who is that mystery horse? and why is he wrapped in a plastic bag? Why its my Trad Nahar resin by Tom B. Why? Well at his first ever show he somehow ended up with a cracked back leg. Pressure came from behind so it was around the back and up the front of the leg, barely could move it tho so it wasnt a bad break but it needed to be attended to. I have had him laying down since that show back in November and its time to get him back up on his feet and ready to show at the end of April!

 Step 1: Protect the rest of the horse! From scratches and dripping super glue. I simply used a plastic grocery back and my handy roll of blue painters tape.

Step 2: Make room for the super glue baking soda mix. With a super thin dremel bit I created a channel following the path of the break. (sorry for the blurry shot, I deleted the wrong pix from the camera)

 Step 3: Fill the channel with super glue and baking soda mix, one side at a time. (optional step: UNGLUE the super glue tube from your fingers when it cracks trying to roll it up and squeeze one last little drop out :( )

Step 4: Carefully sand the dried super glue/baking soda mix, use a small piece of sand paper so as not to sand too much of the rest of the leg (well I tried anyway, I will end up repainting almost the entire lower leg. Making it into a white sock is not an option on this piece as I had him painted with no white at all so a tall single sock would look out of place) (note to self - protect hoof when airbrushing rest of leg!) Be careful not to lose the tendon detail on the leg.


Step 5: Gesso the leg to see if its smooth and filled in, and give the paint a good surface to stick to. I wouldnt recommend spray primer, it could make too much of a mess, concentrate the spray on such a small surface area and it could run etc etc.

I have a little more work to do before he is ready for paint. I'm not good with greys so I hope I can do as well as Tom did originally!

Mane done!

I got the mane and forelock done as well as resculpting on the neck, the ear blob needs to be shaped and defined yet tho :) Then more seam work needs to be done, oh the fun part, not!

 Color? not sure yet, last one I did was a bright chestnut so not that, bay like my khemo, grey (haha, I wouldnt want to ruin all that work, maybe a white grey), liver chestnut, pinto?

Tail done!

and I really need to get some new Apoxie, its getting down to the bottom and crusty. Anyway, the tail is done, like the off side a little better than the first side, should have known to do the off side first. Too much of the spikiness got lost but not bad for the first try with Lauras method :)

Inspiration

Inspiration today was brought on by two different sources. 1. Frustration at something non model related had me feeling the need to chop up plastic ponies (this is therapy!) and 2. http://donteatthepaint.blogspot.com/ Lauras blog posts about tails and using painters tape to form the base for sculpting on. I love doing tails but have always been frustrated with waiting for that epoxy base to dry (and like Laura says "epoxy is expensive"). Not only that but if you dont glue the wire in permanently you can play with tail positions. I know some can do this in photoshop, I cant, not quickly enough anyway. So here are my choices, which one do you like best?

A.

B.

C.

or D.

D I'm thinking is too similar to the last CAM cm I did, so far I think I like A the best. I'm leaving the rear legs splayed out on this one and going with the surprised look. I turned her head just slightly, Brought in the left ear and turned the right ear to face the boogie man (or in Diva's case, the indoor arena's fire breathing dragon (aka heater) )

Wanted HR DW Morgan stallion for repainting!

Will trade generously or buy for the right price (including commission spots). Like this fellow from my collection:

 

Breaks ok, chips ok, as long as all major pieces are there (missing eartips ok as well)