Some progress

but I havent really felt like working in the studio for the last month. Of the 4 things I was planning on finishing for the show at the eom, only these 2 (maybe) will be finished. I also have our first real horse show next weekend, easter weekend and a tack sale in between so we shall see.

First up is the HR morgan that was in pieces. He is nearly ready for paint, just a couple spots that need a bit more work to be invisible repairs

Then I have one of 2 child stars I had planned to do, one for me and one to sell. Only one has even been started, hes ready for paint but I will wait til the morgan is ready and do them at the same time since they will both be bay.

The rest of the box

Now that they all are mostly back together and just needing filling and painting here is the rest of the box. The Palomino and buckskin just had ears broken so they wont be too much more work, the other 3 will be a lot harder to fix than the grey cob was. I wont put the 2 back on their bases until I finish the rest of the restorations.

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!