Something spectacular!

The Akhal-Teke is one of my favourite breeds, I've been fascinated by them for as long as I can remember. Breyer have sold one as a limited edition before, but using a Thoroughbred mould, which was the closest they had at the time, but not quite right, as it didn't match the unique physique and motion of the true Akhal-Teke. So I was delighted when they brought out a brand new sculpt which really did capture the breed in all it's long, athletic, and slightly weird beauty!

The only down side was that they used sooty buckskin, my favourite colour the horses come in, on the very first release - a Premier Club model which would forever be way beyond my budget (there's currently a few on US Ebay for between $300 and $450!)

And then, they used my second favourite colour, the iconic metallic cremello so particular to this breed, for a Breyerfest special run which would be equally out of my reach.

Finally, they did issue a regular run, but in bay which isn't all that exciting or iconic to the breed - even though I happily bought one (you can see him here) and do love him, I was mildly disappointed that the two 'best' Akhal-Teke colours were gone and would never be repeated in the regular run range.

Not long ago, one of the metallic cremello 'Uffington' came up on UK Ebay for £150. Which is much cheaper than I have seen them going for (around £250, plus the costs incurred with US shipping and then UK import fees which would push it well over £300 to get one sent to me), but still more than I could justify for one model horse, even if it was one of my favourite breeds in a great colour. So I let it go by.

Then the same horse was listed for £130. And I still let it go by.

And then, it came back up for £105. And I had to have a serious think about this.

Yes, that's still a LOT of money to spend on a model, more than I've ever paid for a single horse in all the years I've been collecting.

But to rationalise it a different way, that's the cost of two regular run models. Would I rather have this horse than two from the normal range? If somebody at a trade stand or show held up the boxes and told me I could have two of this year's standard stock releases OR this extra special, much-coveted single horse I might not get another chance at, what would I do? Of course I'd go for the special one I really really wanted!

So thinking of it in terms of number-of-models rather than money, it made sense to go for it and just buy the Akhal-Teke!

And here he is! I'm so glad I went for it in the end, I know I won't regret this decision - I've put him on my mantelpiece beside the clock and keep glancing up for another look cos I'm so pleased to have him there - he's so handsome!

He's such a stunning model, the glowing warm shading shows through the pearly finish so well, and while I'm usually the first to complain about overly shiny metallic paintwork looking unrealistic, it works so perfectly on a breed like this, which has that famous sheen in real life - here's a photo of one. 

I showed the model to my non-horsey mum, predicting she might think it looked peculiar or not like anything a real horse could be, but she's read (or rather, looked at the pictures in) one of my Akhal-Teke books before, so she did know the colour exists!

I think cos it's a big dramatic action sculpt it looks even more striking than the same colour on something small or simple, and the level of detail the artist's used to emphasise the leanness and muscle of the horse is really picked out by all those shiny highlights!

I was struggling with the light so some of the angles are a bit dark and odd, it's really difficult to avoid the shadow falling on the backdrop in an unrealistic way when the light is low this time of year, so there was a lot of adjusting the chair almost into the hedge and tilting the base board with a broom, then standing in among the plants getting my trouser legs soaked, just to get the horse in the light and standing upright without a wobble, let alone all the angles I wanted shots from!

The other side of him, just as handsome but not so photogenic from this angle cos he's turning away from us. I'd like to have another photoshoot with him on a day with better light, and given time to make a more suitable background to his breed - it always bothers me slightly when my breeds from very different countries have to pose in front of this piece of typically British countryside, just cos it's the only background I have which is big enough!

I've named him Aý Şöhlesi, which means 'moonlight' in the Turkmen language - although it suits his colour perfectly, and I do like giving my various horse breeds a name to suit their nationality too, I am cursing myself a bit for this one cos it includes a letter I'm always going to have to go copy-paste, my UK keyboard doesn't have an Ş option!

And finally here he is wearing the traditional style collar I'd already made for my bay one - I'd ideally like to do him something of his own to wear, and had a beaded-leather design in mind so I'm not making the same thing twice, but it's awkward fitting them around the mane and I couldn't figure out a way to do that with the different materials I'm hoping to use this time. So he has to make do with a shared hand-me-down for now!

Breyer Adamek

Today's my birthday, so I bought myself a model horse! Well strictly speaking, I pre-ordered him from one of my favourite sellers, then when the stock arrived in the UK about a week ago he was sent to me, but knowing my birthday was so soon, I put the box away so I'd have something to open on the right day.

This is one of 2022's regular runs, the one I was most excited to see and own - Adamek the Akhal-Teke stallion.

He is absolutely stunning! 

I loved this sculpt right from when it was first revealed, it really nails the conformation and character of the breed, and although I was sad the two best Akhal-Teke colours got used up on unattainably rare and expensive exclusives (a sooty buckskin to the Premier Club, then metallic cremello for a limited Breyerfest SR), I do think this colour looks good on him.

There's just enough metallic sheen to the paintjob to capture the famous golden coat, without it looking at all overdone or decorator-ish, and there's so much shading it doesn't look flat or boring despite being yet another solid bay for my collection. There's no way this horse will ever blend in and be boring, look at him!

His markings are great too; I know they're based on a real horse rather than an aesthetic choice by the Breyer designers, but the four white socks really lift the colouring, and the big star and snip on his face are lovely - an off-centre pink nose always gives a horse an appealingly quirky face.

And if you look closely, you'll see something remarkable : the face markings are mapped, that halo of dark skin showing clear through the fine peach-fuzz on a horse's muzzle, and even on the forehead on this ancient desert breeds with such a sleek short coat. Breyer have dappled in mapping before, so we know they can do it, but it's always been saved as an added level of detail for exclusive releases, the limited editions and club models, small runs and one-of-a-kinds - never on anything 'basic' for the regular run range. I love it!

His expression is so sharp and alert, and of course this dynamic pose gives him a huge amount of movement and life. One of my favourite horsey books is 'Golden Horse' by photographer Artur Baboev (chances are if you've ever looked up photos of the Akhal-Teke online, you've seen some of his work), and this sculpt really reminds me of those pictures : a horse free and playing, enjoying his own speed and strength.

I like to give my models a name from the right language and naming traditions, and one of the easiest ways to do this is to borrow them from real horse pedigrees. So I looked up Adamek, and scrolled back through the generations, til I found a name which appealed - hmm, Melekush, that's nice? But it's always worth a quick run through Google, just to make sure a name doesn't translate to something which wouldn't be fitting (like a meaning of 'dark' for a palomino, or 'white legs' for one with not a speck of white on it, hah), and in this case it was fine - apparently it means 'angel', which isn't colour-dependent at all.

And as well as an authentic name, I do enjoy making little pieces of tack which suit a breed, especially if there's a long-standing tradition of them wearing something very distinctive or decorative. Akhal-Tekes are frequently photographed wearing collars, from simple braided cord or studded leather, all the way through to elaborate jewelled and beaded pieces with fantastical levels of detail and creativity.

There's a huge amount of variety, in materials and styles, so it's a chance to be creative and play with what I can create from things I've already got in my modelmaking craft boxes, left over from other projects. I spent the last couple of days constructing a couple of collars, using a random other horse to stand in because he wasn't out of his box yet.

The narrow collar is braided thread, beaded gold along one edge, with a hanging blue 'evil eye' charm or nazar. I don't know how commonly these are hung from the horses' necks like this, but I saw a few photos (like this one here) and loved the idea so much I had to make one. It's done with glue and paint, layered on a little circle of clear plastic cut from the front of another Breyer's box.

The wider collar is two layers of coloured paper, drawn on with pens, with tiny glass beads I glued on afterwards. Only they kept falling off, so I had to then paint the entire thing over with another layer of glue to hold them firmly in place, and that has the unexpected bonus of making the paper look slightly shiny, like leather.

Neither collar goes all the way around the neck! Because his mane is in the way, they'd emphasise how obviously artificial that solid plastic hair is, by holding them in an unnatural shape away from the neck. So instead I snipped through both the braid one and the paper one, to give the impression they continue under the overlapping locks of hair, and attached them to the model with tiny little pieces of rolled up micropore medical tape! The glue on that is very weak and easy-peel, far safer for the paint finish than stronger tape, and while I wouldn't try leaving it in place long-term, it wasn't risking damage to use it for one short photoshoot.

I think he looks better 'dressed up' in his collars, they're a spectacular addition to the real horses so it's satisfying to recreate something similar for my mini one. But some photo showing judges insist on no tack at all, so I needed pictures both with and without if I want him to be able to enter all possible show classes in future.

A gorgeous birthday present, even if I did buy him for myself!