One of my most-viewed blog posts here at Harecroft Horses is the introduction & review of my wonderful WIA Gustavs, so I thought some of you might enjoy seeing the contents of this week's parcel.
I can't quite remember what made me look there in the first place, but one afternoon I was browsing on Modellpferdeversand, and spotted something rather exciting - new colour WIA horses!
I'd seen the original plastic release of Sharif in black, and Lancelot in pinto, but now there were more.
Because most marketing and PR is done by Facebook these days, I never see news of upcoming model releases unless any friends particularly wave links at me for stuff they think I'd like, and somehow these second colour releases hadn't come up in any conversations, so it was a total surprise that they existed, and I had one of those irresistible impulse-buy moments, and just had to have them!
It was only the instant after paying that I suddenly remembered Brexit and customs fees, and inwardly groaned at the prospect of the dreaded red Parcel Force ransom fee of double figures to get hold of my parcel once it reached UK soil. But I needn't have worried, it came sailing through international shipping so quickly that it was on my doorstep quicker than many things ordered in this country, and not a penny extra to pay. Whether Germany has some kind of trade deal organised to avoid import fees, or whether the value threshold is just a lot higher than the US limit, I don't know - but for anyone worrying that Brexit might've ended a long loyal following of MPV for British collectors, don't panic, it was fine!
So, what's in the box?
Horses by WIA are much the same scale, and cast in a similar slightly flexible tough plastic, as the better-known Schleich, CollectA, Safari, Mojo, Bullyland or Papo models. I call these 'mid-scale plastics' in my blog tagging, for want of a better term to group them all together, though obviously the quality and realism varies vastly from one company to another.
WIA have two distinct strengths when compared to similar brands : the moulds are scaled down versions of Traditional scale resins by Brigitte Eberl, one of the most celebrated and highly-esteemed sculpting artists in the model horse hobby; and the paintjobs have careful shading and better detailing than the more mass-produced toy type models. You can tell these are aimed at discerning collectors, not children for play, though the prices are no more than a Schleich or CollectA figure.
Let's meet them...
I think, because they're being aimed at teen and adult collectors from the model hobby, there's no worry about making the models tough enough for rough play - they're not worried about parents complaining over snapped legs and play-scuffed paint, cos they know their models will mostly be admired, photographed, custom painted, and maybe taken carefully wrapped and boxed to live shows.
Isn't he a handsome chap! I really like the colour they've gone for, the deep sooty shading and dapples which fade in and out in all the right places, realistic choice of white markings which set him off nicely, and a warm reddish tone which makes him so different from the first dark bay in their range. It's also nice to have a simple standing horse with neat plaits, when so many models are in action poses with dramatic flowing hair.
I've named him Harecroft Maestro, though I haven't picked a breed for him, yet. The resin was sculpted as a Hanoverian, but they're one of the heavier warmblood breeds, and as he's much the lightest conformation compared to my CollectA warmbloods, I think he ought to be allocated one of the finer types.
I'll have to consult my scribbled list of WB breeds, where I went through five different breed textbooks and noted down all the useful bits of their descriptions. There were a lot of 'good all-round conformation' and 'well-formed' generalisations, but enough specific mentions of lightness/heaviness, build, colour, and notably long or short backs/necks/limbs to help me narrow down which models should be which breeds (when I first got into showing, 15 years ago, just plain 'warmblood' was considered enough, but not any more!)
Lancelot's first release last year was this bay tobiano pinto. Again, I shall have to refer to the magic master list of scribble to pick out a light warmblood breed which can be skewbald. His markings are neatly painted, apart from a small area on each side of his neck which is a little blurry, where the masking probably didn't stick close to his contours and let a little spray overlap the intended edge. But I don't think it matters too much, we've all seen real life pintos with a bit of odd roaning on their patches, so I'm happy to write it off as a thing that can happen rather than a terribly spoiling paint flaw!
Oh, and by the way, it looks as though he's got one ear too long and curled forward, but that's just an unfortunate lining up of his actual ear with a bit of a leaf in the background, which I didn't notice when taking the shot - oops!
I've given him the name Harecroft Polestar, and he is a very handsome horse! Look at that interrupted stripe face marking, and the sharp prick of his ears. These remind me of the photos studs and competition yards take of their star horses, all perfectly turned out and standing to attention for the photographer, even if it takes an extra person in the background jingling keys or rustling a crisp packet to get that perfect alert shot.
Also in the parcel was one spare Lancelot to repaint, but because my favourite colours to paint are bay and bay tobiano, and I've got here an OF bay and an OF bay tobiano, I either have to accept I'm just painting one the same colour as I've already got, or go for a colour I don't enjoy painting quite so much, which seems a shame when I only have the single body to get creative on!
Next up, arabian stallion Sharif (see his Trad resin self, here).
When we first saw finished photos of the WIA Sharif, I remember being very disappointed in the way they'd arranged his neck seam. The mane is cast as a separate piece and attached afterwards, but rather than designing the join to run alone the hairline where it seems logical, they included a big chunk of his crest in the section, so the seam runs down the groove between his neck muscles.
It seemed enough to put me off buying him back then, but I decided to go for it now - if I couldn't put up with how bad it looked, I could always smooth it over with milliput, repaint the filler, and just never show him cos he wouldn't be OF any more.
But, in person, the seam just isn't that bad. You can see it, of course, if you look there, but it doesn't stand out as glaringly obvious - did you even notice it, in the above photo, til I pointed it out?
It seemed enough to put me off buying him back then, but I decided to go for it now - if I couldn't put up with how bad it looked, I could always smooth it over with milliput, repaint the filler, and just never show him cos he wouldn't be OF any more.
But, in person, the seam just isn't that bad. You can see it, of course, if you look there, but it doesn't stand out as glaringly obvious - did you even notice it, in the above photo, til I pointed it out?
I'm not normally a huge fan of black model horses, because they can look either very flat and plain, or else shiny-plasticky and difficult to photograph well, but he's got a hint of brown tones rather than jet black, just enough white to give him individuality, and a paint finish not gloss, not fully matte, but with a subtle sheen which just catches the light to bring him to life. Now named Harecroft Malik, he's instantly one of the nicest black models in my whole collection!
As well as a spare Lancelot, I thought I'd get myself a duplicate Sharif for the body box, and rather than the black, my cunning plan was to order two dappled greys - as that's the most difficult colour to get right, ugly/wonky/clumsy dapples are a real possibility in most brands, and as I'd only seen the prototype photo, I didn't know how well the production models were turning out. So I'd order two, have two chances at getting a good one, and choose the nicest dappling to keep.
But look!
The left-hand dark version was the first one I unwrapped, and I thought 'wow, ok, I really should've trusted WIA with this, they're good', and laughed at myself for expecting there might be dodgy dapples. Then I unwrapped the second one, and his high-contrast dappling is even more prominent and more striking, and just as perfect! Of course I can't bear painting over either of these gorgeous greys, so they both get to stay, and I don't get to create my own custom colour after all.
Here's the dark variation first, his smaller dapples are painted in much more softly, the base coat is deeper grey, and the shading over his neck and shoulders kind of blends them almost away, so the overall impression is a young steel grey with a hint of dappling. I've named him Harecroft Karakal, after the beautiful wild cat (spelt as Caracal in English) found in North Africa and the Middle East.
Once again, the neck seam really doesn't bother me, you can see it isn't conspicuous in 'normal' model photos like these, set up at angles like real horse pictures. Sure, if you took a photo looking down on his neck, or angled just right in hand, you could get it showing clearly as an ugly 'scar' and frustrating production decision, but that's not really what we do with our horses, is it.
So, much as with my Brexit reassurance, I'll say this : if you like the look of him but were worried about the seam, don't be, it's fine.
So, much as with my Brexit reassurance, I'll say this : if you like the look of him but were worried about the seam, don't be, it's fine.
And here's his paler brother, with larger dapples, painted much more distinctly but still in a gentle, accurate and believable way - none of the awkward airbrush 'fish-scales' or blobby spotting, these are as nice as you could hope for on an OF, and most hobbyist custom painters would be proud of them, too!
I remembered to take a photo of the other side! Tack makers, note - there's a convenient gap between his flying mane and his neck, and an even more ingenious space left between his forelock and forehead, so he could easily wear an arabian halter, tasselled collar set, or even full tack.
I'm tempted to try a Bedouin/Egyptian style braided halter, but he's a substantial bit smaller than the Julip (12th/Classic scale) ones I've done before, and I'm not sure my tassel technique would work neatly enough!
I've called this one Harecroft Al-Shaahin, the arabic name for the peregrine falcon (pronounced Shaheen, sometimes spelt that way too). I don't think I can choose a favourite between them, each one is lovely in his own way, and I'm glad I ended up with both of them, even though keeping two wasn't the plan!
What mould could be next for WIA? We've had a draft horse, an arabian, and a warmblood, so maybe something Iberian next? A stock horse? Or a gaited breed? Perhaps a pony! Whatever they make, at this point I'm almost certain I'll buy it and love it!
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