It's the Brahma

Today’s (February 9th’s) sneak peek on Breyer’s BreyerFest Blog is rather obviously the Brahma Bull: http://www.breyerhorses.com/bf2016-blog

It’ll be another day or two before we see if they made some changes to the horns and ears, or just went with the mold as-is. Even if that’s the case, as we should have learned from the Croi Damsha SR Chanel last year, what we see in the prerelease promo pictures isn’t necessarily what we get.

This would be one of the rare occasions where I would actually welcome a change in the mold: the pendulous ears of the Indo-Brazilian (known within Brazil as the Indubrasil) are kinda adorable. In this case the changes would be limited in scope, as the ears and horns are separately molded anyway.

Last year we didn’t have a Special Run with a Gloss/Matte split, other than the Glosses within the Surprise SR. I think this release would be an excellent candidate for that treatment, especially since it would hearken back to the original Gray release, which came in both Gloss and Matte as well.

While the Matte variation of the Gray Brahma is much less common than the Gloss, it doesn’t necessarily command a significant amount of money or attention. If most hobbyists are going to spend big bucks on a Brahma, it’s going to be for one of the more distinctive variations of the Gloss, like the Chalky or the Black-humped.

The Brahma Bull is one of the few Bull molds where I have been able to acquire the full complement, other than the Chalky (with the prices Chalkies bring nowadays, I pin my hopes on a lucky flea market find there.) I’ll have to see the Sample at the Thursday night preview before I make the decision on the newest guy. (Droopy ears = signs point to yes!)

I’m trying, for real, to limit the spending this year, so I have to be very selective about who/what I choose to bring home.

So far most of this year’s SRs have been a little … predictable. A Desatado, a Hermosa and Corazon set, and now the Brahma. (Obvious as in if you Google “Brazilian Cattle”, the Indo-Brazilian is right up top.) They’re hinting that some of the SR mold selections may come as a surprise, on the Special Run home page:

BreyerFest 2016 is inspired by the international flair of the Rio Games. Following in the spirit of the Olympics, each of our Special Runs represent either a continent or the 'brio' of Rio! Models will be released periodically leading up to BreyerFest. Be sure to cheer on your favorite!

http://www.breyerhorses.com/bf2016-exclusive-models

Interesting. I’m also expecting/hoping for a Legionario at some point. I think he’d make a lovely selection for the Surprise SR, especially since he’s primarily come in solid colors, and Matte finishes. Lots of possibilities there! (Also, he’d be a good candidate for South America’s “Delegate”.)

Oh, and I’d like to point out that Reeves settles on most of these ideas sometime shortly after last year's BreyerFest. At this point in the game, all we're doing is making very good educated guesses, not actually influencing what gets made.

(Except maybe the glossy/matte thing. There might be some time yet to influence that decision.)

A Different Kind of Cat

The Store Special of Diablo DC, a Matte Light Dapple Gray on the Desatado mold isn’t all that surprising – I think most of us were expecting a Desatado release in the mix somewhere. Reeves refers to the Desatado mold as the “Criollo Horse”, and this year’s event is South American-themed.

I’ve passed on or passed along every Desatado that’s come across my path so far, so I’ll have to wait and see on this one before I make a decision. The Matte Alabaster finish is definitely a plus!

(Scroll down to January 22nd. Discussion of beautiful Raffle Model Cinza will be for another day.)

I was just thinking about what this year’s Nonhorse Special Run could be. While it’s likely to be – yet again – another Bull mold of some sort, I continue to hold out hope that Reeves is thinking outside of the box. Yes, I’m hoping for a different “Big Cat” Special Run for Fest this year: perhaps a Jaguar on the Cougar mold?

The Cougar mold has already been released as a BreyerFest Special Run once before, as part of the 750-piece 2002 Set “Bandit and Kohana”, with the now very, very popular Wolf mold. The Cougar mold has been out of production since 2007, and it’s high time for another release, I say.

The Cougar mold was introduced as part of a couple different Walmart Mesteno-Mustang sets in 2001 – Rufo and Diablo, and Azul and Fausto. It was then released in various shades of tan in subsequent sets, eventually getting its own stand-alone Regular Run in 2005-2006, as #3813.

I’ve had a few Cougars over the years – mostly body quality pieces via box lots and flea markets. I’ve since sold all of them too, partly because they were useless for research purposes: they had no context. I had no idea if I was in the possession of a standard issue Cougar from Set A, B or C, or a variation or oddity.

It exposed a hole in my knowledge and I wasn’t comfortable with that.

It’s something I’d like to rectify eventually, but my budget and timing have been conspiring against me on that. (I heard rumor that a few leftovers of the Bandit and Kohana set were in the Ninja Pit last year. Sigh.)

If Reeves thinks a spotted pattern a little too challenging to execute competently – and with the mold’s small size and textured coat, it may well be – I think many of us would be happy with a basic Black Panther. Pair it up with a Classic Horse and Rider and there you go – a Pantanal Play Set!

Probably won’t happen; a Brahma Bull modified into an Indo-Brazilian Bull, with short horns and droopy ears seems more likely:

http://www.ansi.okstate.edu/breeds/cattle/indobrazilian

The Brahma Bull hasn’t been in production since 2004, when the #385 Red Brahma was discontinued. If they can make the necessary horn and ear adjustments to the mold, and since the ears and horns of the Brahma are separately molded parts, I don’t see that being a big technical or financial hurdle.

A Couple of Brahmas

Don’t mind the rumbling you hear in the background, that’s just the aftershocks of the massive tantrum I had after … well, we’ll talk about it another day, when I’m a little less ticked off at myself.

The rash is better. It still itches from time to time, but my appearance no longer frightens small children or dogs. Things still won’t be looking pretty for the next couple of weeks, but according to my schedule, I won’t be out and about much then, anyway. Not by choice, and mostly nothing personal - Labor Day just messes up the work schedule.

On the plus side, that means I’ll finally have the time to get those sales up and running on MHSP, like I’ve been meaning to. However, I have also been informed that there may be painting in the house by then, which might entail the dusting and rearranging of things. Swell.

A few middling things at the markets this weekend - a couple of Mastercrafter Clocks (overpriced) and a small pile of disreputable-looking vintage Hartlands (not worth the trouble.)

I did pick up a few bodies, and a few books. I was almost completely cleaned out of my sale books at BreyerFest, so it feels good to replenish the stash. Looking forward to the big local book sale this coming weekend; not looking forward to the jerks who will be standing in line in front of me with their ISBN Scanners.

(Man, those people completely take the fun out of used book sales. All business, no pleasure, y’know? Just like in this hobby, too.)

I had to move a few things around upstairs in the main collection, so I have a couple of my Brahma Bulls that are currently homeless (they’re not going anywhere - I just don’t know where to put them, yet.) Interesting contrast between the two. Here’s the more familiar variation that most of us either know, or own:


This guy’s pretty nice - very clean, no major marks, and he still has lots of pinking, which usually fades into nothingness over time. I was quite pleased with myself when I found him a few years back. He's easy to find, but not always in that good of a condition. Here’s the other:


Quite a difference, eh? The "Black Hump" version is the earliest, seen in most of the pre-1960 ephemera. It’s not just the hump that’s black - so are his horntips, hooves, leg patches, muzzle, etc. It’s worth noting that the black paint is a distinct color from the gray - one is not the diluted (or undiluted) version of the other.

My example is about average on the shading and detail scale - I’ve seen ones that have only had the black hump, and I’ve seen others that could almost pass for Charcoal.

He was a pretty popular mold right out the gate, so while the "Black Hump" variation may seem a little on the uncommon side, he really isn’t too difficult to find - as long as you’re on the lookout for him, of course. Like anything else, if you’re not looking for him, you’re not going to find him. Intentionally.

Matte Clearcoat

Two of my first three models were (and still are!) Chalkies, so the topic has been one of both extreme interest and deep research. I’ve been collecting them and tracking them for years: it’s a far more complicated topic than most collectors realize. It’s further complicated by the fact that a lot of collectors don’t even know what a Chalky looks like. What many collectors advertise as chalkies are nothing of the sort. A lot of them are simply early, matte-finish models with clear topcoats.

The precise date of introduction of the matte finish is debatable: I tend to think the first true matte-finished models were actually the woodgrains, which were introduced sometime around 1959. As for the more horselike colors, I’m not so sure when that occurred - the documentation for that time period is, as I’ve mentioned before, rather thin and hard to date. By 1962 at the latest, I’d think.

What the woodgrains and the early matte finishes have in common is a clear topcoat: after the model was given its basic paint job, it was painted over with a clear, satiny finish, presumably to improve the durability of the paint job. The raw, unpainted plastic was simply not left exposed on a matte finish model. (On gloss finishes, it was hit or miss. Again, a little more complicated than you might imagine.)

This "clearcoat" has some distinguishing characteristics. One, it tends to puddle and drip, just like some glossy finishes do: you can see the dark or yellowish drip marks usually on the underside of the belly and other drip points such and the lower lip, tail tip and (ahem) boy parts. Here's a nice belly spot from a Family Arabian Mare:


A lot of these topcoated models also have "waffle marks" on the bottom of their hooves. Waffle marks look - well, like waffle indentations, and are presumably from the racks that the models were either painted or dried on. Those that don’t have waffle marks often have a rough or dirty footing, sometimes with bits of wood embedded, presumably from another type of rack or shelving.


(Yes, I know this particular model is actually glossy, but this is by far the best example of waffling I have, and the same racks were used anyway.)

Because there is no exposed, translucent white plastic on any part of these models, and they have a rough footing - the two most commonly quoted characteristics of a chalky model - those unfamiliar with a true chalky often confuse these matte-finished models for one.

The clearcoats were gradually phased out starting in the late 1960s; partly out of cost and possibly through improved painting techniques. It’s still used occasionally on alabaster or light gray paint jobs, for both added durability and a little extra added finish.

The clearcoat also came with a couple of liabilities. One, it tended to turn yellow. A lot of collectors don’t know this, but there are two different ways a model can yellow: either the plastic can turn yellow, or the finish can. And the finish that turns yellow is the clearcoat, not the colored undercoat. (Yellowed clearcoats respond better to bleaching techniques than yellowed plastic, though.)

Clear topcoats can also turn slightly opaque, or "milky": it’s usually seen in the nooks and crannies of a model where the clear topcoat could puddle. It’s most commonly seen on woodgrains, but no matte-finished model is immune (it’s less visible on alabasters and grays, of course.)

Aside from the yellowing and milkiness issues, the matte clearcoat finishes have generally held up better over time than the later unclearcoated ones. I've found that they're definitely easier to clean: most everyday dings and scuff marks don't get past the clearcoat. A little gentle cleaning, and a brief trip to a sunny window, and voila! As good as new.