CollectAs to keep

Time to tell you all about a huge and very enjoyable parcel I had last month - a GIANT box of second hand CollectA horses!

They were listed on Ebay in bulk lots, really reasonably priced, and with an element of mystery - from the photos, you couldn't really see what was in each batch cos they were piled into shelving in multiple rows, with only the first few clearly on show. So I decided to choose some of the mixed lots at random, after all I don't mind so much about duplicates as many collectors - the spare ones can be passed over to have a new lease of life in the repainted side of my collection!

When they arrived, I unpacked the box and set them to one side of the table for 'keeps' and the other side for doubles. I was surprised and very happy with just how many I didn't have already - a grand total of 15 new horses for my herd!

Which made me think....I did a little bit of mathematics, and figured out that the brand-new prices for all the models I'm keeping as they are, add up to MORE than I paid for the entire boxful. So every single custom horse I create from the remainder of this bulk lot, has effectively cost me nothing at all - the difference even pays for the cost of the paint I'll put on them!

I'll show the first few customs in another post very soon, but for now, here are the original finish arrivals which are staying just the way they are.

When I first started buying CollectAs, I picked my favourite colour whenever there was a choice of two, but more recently I decided it was a bit of a silly 'rule' to restrict myself to just one when many of the alternate colours were just as nice. So I've been gradually adding the rest of the colours to my collection. That'll be the case with almost all of today's introductions, sculpts I had already but now in a different colour too. This is the palomino pinto mare, no breed was given officially but my bay pinto I've got as a Sandalwood Pony so this one will join her on that breed's page of my website.

The matching foal, I had the standing foal already but now I have both mares this foal can be paired with the second one.

The Standardbred Pacer in black, I picked the chestnut before cos I thought he might be rather plain looking, but the really dark colour shows off the fine detailed sculpting better, I think! I'm so glad they did this breed before the chunky leg era, it works so much better as a long lean-limbed horse!

The palomino Missouri Fox Trotter, her colour is better in person than in the official picture OR my photo, one of those models which doesn't photograph brilliantly but looks nice in hand!

The very sweet Quarter Horse foal, the bay colour is better shaded than the matching adult!

The black Thoroughbred, who's far from being plain black, with a lot of brown tones subtly shaded in. And again, hurrah for the slim-legged older moulds, I dread to think how chunky a collectA TB would be if they released it now! I'd already been thinking of ordering this mare brand new, but giving a home to a second hand bargain one is even better.

The Tennessee Walking Horse foal in black, which is an odd choice by CollectA as they didn't make an adult this colour, their TWH stallions were bay pinto or palomino!

The chestnut Hanoverian, who made a last-minute change from 'duplicates' to 'keeps' - I was convinced I had him already but when adding the others to my site I realised there was no photo, so I checked my shelf, and I really did only own the bay one after all!

The really dark chestnut Morgan, which I did get in a second-hand parcel once before, but in a very scuffed state so I repainted him. This one is in much better shape, and I think his paintwork is better than the other one I had, too - a nicer shade of brown showing on the paler parts, and the black is deeper and less greyish.

The Norwegian Fjord foal in grey dun - the matching adult in this colour was among the first few I picked out when I was adding second-colour horses to my CollectA collection, so it's nice to add the matching foal as well.

The grey Andalusian, another model I had once before but had to repaint - he was all marked up with felt pen marks which wouldn't come off, this one is in lovely clean condition so gets to stay as he is!

The gorgeous Clydesdale mould in very roany black sabino (not grey, that colour doesn't occur in the breed - all the 'grey Clydesdale' photos on Google and various picture-sharing sites are mis-labelled grey Shires)

And the matching foal to go with him, a little bit wobbly but by tilting the base board here I convinced him to stand without leaning on his dad!

The Shire foal in grey (which is grey, but shouldn't be - they're always born dark and it's too young to have gone this pale!) I already had the mare but not her baby, so this little one completes a family for my shelf.

And finally, the draft horse with a cat. I didn't buy this model when it was released cos I wasn't too keen on the idea of them being fixed together permanently - the cat seems a bit too big for the size the horse sculpt, so I'd have preferred it to be removeable so I could take a picture without! But now I've ended up with the pair of them anyway, I'm justifying the slight mismatch in scale by saying it could just be a very big cat, and a smaller than average heavy horse!

No breed was specified for the drafter, I'm trying to find one which has SUCH a convex nose but also not a lot of feather and comes in chestnut. Nothing ticking all the boxes so far!