Tales from the Body Box - Marius Nero and Umberto

A while ago I introduced my original finish WIA Gustavs, a small plastic version of Brigitte Eberl's magnificent draft stallion. 

Back when I bought them, I kind of kicked myself for not snapping up the seller's third one as a duplicate to customise, but recently a hobby friend got an order shipped over from German retailer Modellpferdeversand, and what started as adding one extra Gustav for me, soon became two heading my way, and then because I am terrible and have no self restraint when it comes to stocking up my body box, a couple more!

After last weekend's venture smaller than Stablemate scale, this weekend it was time to be brave and try something bigger...

My first custom Gustav isn't all that different to his OF colour, but my own version of it - a dark bay with mealy highlights.

I love painting this sort of bay, starting with rich red-browns then adding deeper and deeper black tones to the mix til they're fading into a pure black topline and points, then with a clean brush I go back and add the tan and cream highlights. I know the standard advice, often quoted as a hard-and-fast unbreakable rule, seems to be to start with the lightest colour and work darker, but I've defied this ever since I first started painting : I find it much easier, quicker, and less paint-consuming to start somewhere in the middle then add both lighter and darker shading.

Trying a 1/18th scale version of that imposing, regal, looking down at you angle which makes real draft horses look so big and awe-inspiring! 

I've decided this one will be a Noriker, the same breed as my OF bay Maxim Nero, so I'm giving him a matching name - Marius Nero.

 

I can't say enough what a gorgeous little mould this is, the quality of the original resin sculpting carries over so well to a plastic edition; he's accurate, expressive, and handsome - what more could you want!

The second custom has changed nationality and breed, and become an Italian Heavy Draft Horse.

He's based on the photo example in the good old Ultimate Horse Book (a scan of the image, making a double-page spread in a similar book from the same publisher, can be seen here), a stunning liver chestnut roan which I've always wanted to paint, and knew at once that a Gustav would suit this colour so well, it had to be him.

 I finished him off with a star and a pink snip, this angle makes him look even more broad chested and chunky.

After some dithering over the nicest-sounding impressive names in Italian, I decided to go with something a bit simpler and more old-fashioned, his name is Umberto.

The roany colour was a lot of fun to create, usually when painting by hand with a brush the main aim is to totally avoid any scuffy brush marks and blend everything as smoothly as possible, so it's enjoyable to intentionally make a much more messy, patchy colour, while still aiming for a smooth sleek finish without any actual lumps or brushstrokes in the texture. 

The other side, showing his little brand, but I realised after finishing him that I actually need to add another one - stallions are branded on the quarters after passing a first grading inspection as youngsters, then again on the neck if they pass a second inspection as an adult.

 

That's all for now, but I do have another pair of these in the body box, and am at the colour plotting stage already, so hopefully it won't be too long before they get their new coats of paint and can join the little herd of Gustavs.