Tuesday, January 22, 2019

Malik and the Classic Andalusian Stallion

It’s nice to see everyone excited about a new Classics mold that not either a Love reissue, or a repurposed Nonplastics/Gallery piece:


A lot of the excitement over Malik is because OMG, it’s an affordable Original Finish Plastic Sarah Minkiewicz-Breunig Arabian! 

That’s totally fair.

But what got me excited was its obvious visual shout-back to another Breyer Classics milestone, the Andalusian Family Stallion:


Breyer had released individual Classics-scale horses as early as 1965 – starting with the Rearing Horse Rex – and used the molds leased from Hagen-Renaker in the early 1970s to launch the “Classics” line altogether.

But in late 1978, the Andalusian Family became Breyer’s first fully formed, internally-designed (Hess, of course) Classics family set.

More sets would shortly follow, including the No. 3040 Black Beauty Family and Friends Set and the No. 3035 USET Gift Set in 1980, and the No. 3030 The Black Stallion Returns Set in 1983.

The Andalusian Family was such a big deal for me, though, that I went out of my way to hand my aunt the Bentley Sales Company order forms – carefully annotated, naturally – with my Christmas list, so I could be the first kid in my social circle to have them, at least a month or two before they hit retail stores!

(Yes, that’s the very Stallion from the set that I received, above.)

It was also an important moment for me personally, as it was one of the earliest moments in my life that I realized I had access to the power and resources of a “fandom” – i.e. the model horse community – and I liked it!

7 comments:

Lupa said...

She also said on FB that she was channeling the PAM for this mold, too, and I can really see it in the face. There have only been a tiny handful of molds that have come out since about 1995 that I like, and this is one of my favorites.

Anonymous said...

Malik's legs look so strange to me. I hope it is just the stock picture.

Trilkhai said...

His legs look strange to me as well, both in position & shape... Normally I really like SMB's Arabs, but I have to admit that I prefer the good old Classic Andalusian Stallion in this case.

Yvonne said...

I ADORE the Classic Andy Stallion! Wish we'd see more of him with all of these classic scale releases Breyer has been doing.

Anonymous said...

I can totally see the PAM is the face and even the "softness" of the body (especially the hips). Very nice! I can't wait to get some to paint.

The legs, I dunno. They seem to tie-in at the knee joints a bit, but that might just be an optical illusion. I do like Malik better than the classic Andalusian stallion if for no other reason than the sculpture is smoother. Also, the Andalusian stallion's legs are so straight they almost don't look like they are weight-bearing (if he were real). It isn't a biggie, but if we are going to get picky with the legs, that is the biggest difference in my eyes. The Malik's legs are bearing weight more like a live horse. The Andalusian is more like he's floating off the ground. But I like them both. :)

Anonymous said...

The rear right fibula is the one that sticks out to me. It looks way longer than the fibula on left side and it makes the whole leg look way too long compared to all the others. Hopefully it is just the photo angle.

August Girl said...

Hi, I just came across this in a search for images of the original Andy Stallion. I have a very old one that someone wrote 1979 on the belly. It has a very chalky appearance to the plastic. It is not a "basecoat chalky", but the plastic itself looks quite opaque white. I asked on MHBlab, with photos, but no one's given me feedback. In your experience, (such as with your model), do old versions of this mould usually appear chalky, or is mine unusual? On IDYBreyer, mine looks most like the one on the far right in the bottom image. Thanks for any help. :-)