Tales from the Body Box - CollectA Minis

A while back I bought a partial set of CollectA's mini horses from a friend, scaled down versions of the standard (1:20) or deluxe (1:12) moulds we're already familiar with. I've gradually been painting my way through them, taking their pictures as I went, and just now realised I hadn't posted any yet! I'd like to keep the blog neatly organised by making sure all the customs go up within the year they were painted, so here's all the minis in their new colours.

First up, the appaloosa stallion, one of the nicest renditions of this breed among all the mid-scale plastics (not an officially agreed hobby term, just my own invention because I wanted a collective term to call, and tag, all my Schleich, CollectA, Safari, WIA, Bullyland and Papo)

I've named this one Harecroft Sunset Over The Sea, and he's one of my favourites from all I've painted at this smaller scale.

 

Here he is with a penny, so you can see just how small these miniature versions are! It made the detailed paintjob a little bit fiddlier than on a Stablemate, but with a tiny brush and carefully steadied hand, it wasn't too bad - being able to make up the spot placement as I went along made it a lot easier than if I'd been trying to match them for a portrait!

Harecroft Firestone - a bit of teamwork here, as this one had been started in his last home, but needed finishing with a couple more coats of white, as well as feet and a face! The original mould is a Hanoverian, but in shrinking he's got noticeably chunkier legs, so I think I'll probably file him as an Irish Sport Horse on my site. 

Perhaps a bit predictable, going for a white-grey on the lipizzaner mould, but for my first I wanted to stick to their typical colour, then if I ever buy another set of these, I'll go a bit more obscure! I've called him Neapolitano Romana - all my grey lipizzaners are given the Neapolitano line, while I chose the Siglavy line for my first (and so far, only) black coated stallion.

Two different views, it's a very narrow mould for a breed which is very compact, rounded, and muscular in build, but the pose is great and the head is handsome, so I'll forgive it that!

Harecroft Commander, the clydesdale mould which works beautifully in miniature as the legs were already chunky, just as the breed is meant to be. I always imagine this one in varying shades of bay and different amounts of sabino marking, so it was inevitable mine would end up this colour (I've got a big one in the body box, too, he may well end up looking very similar!)

I don't know why the paints seem to end up more shiny on my CollectA repaints than something like Breyer's plastic, I don't ever use any sealant or varnish over the top, so you'd expect them to have the same semi-gloss smoothness as any of my other customs, but as you can see from the light catching him here, he has a very glossy coat.

I don't usually do duplicates from the same reference, but I really loved the shade of chestnut I used for my Stablemate custom of Blazin' Chic Olena, and wanted to play with it again at a different scale and pose, so here we have Harecroft Blazin' Rebel.

 

A fun little action pose, I don't have many reining or cutting models among my collection, as it's very much outside the disciplines I usually see on tv or in person over here, so it makes sense to paint this little one like the only real horse I've ever seen doing these moves!

The Shire mare, in a different shade of bay so she doesn't look too similar to the Clydesdale, with a sunbleached mane and tail and a bit more sabino marking. Lovely little mould, I think I like it even more in miniature than the usual size!

I've named her Matilda - after the Medieval queen, not the Roald Dahl character!

And the last one, Harecroft Aberama Gold, the friesian mould repainted as a partbred cob in buckskin tobiano. I've always had my eye on this mould to use for a possible cob custom, I just expected it would be the standard scale I got my hands on, not his tiny counterpart!

I would've taken a final catch-up shot of the whole batch together, but the middle of winter just isn't favourable for photography in my garden - the entire space is cast in deep shadow because the sun, even at midday, doesn't get high enough to reach over the roof or the wall. I've also got a recently painted resin, and a brand new and exciting Traditional scale arrival, neither of which I can post about yet as there's no patch of sunshine for a photoshoot!