A Whole Box

Look what arrived today!

Yes, a whole box of 70th anniversary Mystery Horses! 

I happened to be browsing online model horse shops and spotted Hot to Trot Model Horses selling these whole cases of blind bags for a new reduced price - the Mystery Horses/Unicorns usually retail at £3.99 to £5.99 per bag, depending on where you order from and how recent a series they are, but at £50 for a full box it works out at just over £2 a bag. So while it was a lot to pay out in one go, it's a bargain in the long run!

The small print mentions that Breyer don't guarantee one of every model in every box, so I couldn't confidently predict what was going to be in there, but really didn't mind - I already have one of each for my original finish collection, so these were all destined for repainting, and they're all nice recent moulds I haven't had too many of before!

Time to get opening, let's see what I've got...

I'm pleased I have some of each mould, and it's satisfied my curiosity to learn that they do seem to be packed in a certain format rather than being a random jumble, as all the duplicates were side by side in the box, so you'd have four of something then two of something else then four of the next, and so on.

So if you ever happen to get chance to choose in person rather than online, and you want a mixture, I'd advise picking from different parts of the box!

I don't know whether every box has the same proportion of each horse - maybe the next one along was packed with fours of the moulds I got twos of, and vice versa? It's a slight pity the Missouri Fox Trotter was a 'two' not a 'four' for me, as that's the only mould I haven't painted at all yet, whereas I'll be up to eight Connemaras and nine Vanner cobs by the time I've worked my way through all these - but never mind, two's better than none!

On the same order, I added in one of the mid-year 2021 Stablemates which have been so elusive in the UK. Hardly any even ever arrived here, and the two I wanted most sold out almost instantly as they were more coveted moulds (Mini Alborozo, and Django), but this Appaloosa Sporthorse hasn't been nearly so popular - strange, really, as he's also a very recent mould, and this is his first appearance as a regular run.

The mould was sculpted as an Irish Draft, so it's a little bit more chunky than the typical Appaloosa Sporthorse, which will usually look like a TB or hack but with spots - sport horses are usually quite a high proportion of Thoroughbred blood, 1/2 to 3/4, so they tend toward a finer build and longer frame than warmbloods.

Stablemates' spotted paintjobs vary in effectiveness, when it's just spatter spots on a white background they tend to look rather plasticky and poor, losing their eyes amongst the other dots, but this level of shading under the spotting gives him a much nicer look - he's a handsome chap with his dark face and black points.