CollectA customs little & large

This week I had two new custom CollectA arrivals, co-incidentally both painted by the same hobby friend of mine - Chloe at Henhafod. One was a newly finished piece straight from the artist's studio, the other second hand from Ebay, having lived with someone else for a few years in between.

This mould is intended as a pure arabian, but the legs are rather chunky for that, so I think I'll be having him as a Tersk instead. The Tersk (or Tersky) is a Russian breed, based on European arab stallions but with a mix of thoroughbred and hunter-type blood. They do vary, from what I've read, with some lines looking almost purebred arabian, while many would make a good hunter, jumper or eventer type - an all-round riding horse with more height and bone.

He's my first of the small scale Mini CollectA models, shrunk-down versions of their Standard 20th and Deluxe 12th scale moulds. They're a bit bigger than Breyer Mini Whinnies, so I took a picture to show the size (for any international readers, a UK penny is the same as a US one, the Euro cent, and matches the penny/cent coin in a lot of other places, too!)

 

I think I'll call him Pascha, another of those names I've had on my list for ages but never had a horse to suit it - apparently it means 'small' and is of Russian origin, so it's ideal for this tiny little chap!

Although I like the photos with my smallest-scale trees in, he does stand out really nicely against the open sky, and I'm undecided which to use as his show and website image. Note the extra small white paddock fence, hastily made from sliced up packaging box last time I had some micro-mini scale models to photograph!

And here's his wrong side : I always try to find the 'right' angle to show off a horse to the most flattering advantage, and like many, this mould's posed on a slight bend, with his head turned, making this the non-display side.

The second of Chloe's customs was painted a few years ago, when he popped up on Ebay my first reaction was just 'ooh, pretty!' cos I liked his colour. I clicked for a closer look at the photos, because I do love my CollectA models and this is such a friendly-looking mould I'd decided I might have to try for him. But once I saw I knew his painter (and we've been friends for well over a decade now), I was even more determined to get him for my herd, and was delighted to be the winning bidder by the end.

He's a lovely toned-down smoky palomino colour, a really soft and pleasant variation on the usual copper-penny bright tones. Even though I paint lots of models myself, I always think it's well worth adding other artists' work when they've done something I know I couldn't just do for myself. And these gentle pale dilutes are the ones I've always struggled with, to the point of avoiding cos I know how rarely they go well for me. So I buy other people's instead!

I love the expression on so many of the Debra McDermott CollectA sculpt's faces - that head-turn with an alert prick of the ears, like you've just made a click of the tongue or jingle of keys to get the horse's attention for a photograph.