Like Clockwork

Every year, just before BreyerFest, I always get the most …interesting hobby e-mails and phone calls.

This year is no different. Fortunately, none of it was "bad" (hit my quota a while ago, thanks) but unfortunately, it’s nothing I can share - right now.

Been spending most of the day finishing up the paperwork and printing stuff out. No major issues with THAT either, so far, knock on Woodgrain. All the phone calls have been made, and the proper authorities have been notified. All that really needs to be done is a bit of grocery shopping, vehicle packing, and (of course) the printing.

We’ll be in Room 312 again this year, or so the slightly annoyed clerk at the CHIN confirmed to me. (Must be someone new! S’alright, we understand. All we ask for is fresh towels and fully functional ice machines and ATMs.) Take the main/center entrance on the north side of the hotel, turn right and look for the flowers that usually adorn the room.

I’m hoping to not get too spendy this year; the only models I might be looking for with any conviction are going to be Performance Horses, Trakehners and a few variations you probably never heard of/wouldn’t care about anyway. And whatever strikes my fancy, naturally. (Test Color Roemers? FAM Culls? More Polled Hereford Bull variations? FAFs with belly stamps?)

I did buy a Trakehner recently. This guy, the Black Pinto one:

I’ve been ogling this release for a while. Not sure why; I guess it’s the combination the two things that always catch my eye: Black Pinto paint jobs and the Trakehner mold. The pinto pattern itself is not all that exciting or interesting, but he looks good in it. Plus this one has the brand - something I haven’t seen on most of the ones I’ve looked at. I’m not sure if he’s a genuine oddity, or just a scarcer than average variation I haven’t noticed before.

That happens more than you might think. With dozens of releases added to the mix per year - and sometimes, per month - it can be hard to keep track of what’s supposed to be "standard" for any given production model, and what constitutes a genuine deviation from the norm.

Sometimes I’m even the last to know, though I am loath to admit it. I swear I was the last person in the hobby in the 1980s to know about the mold change on the Stock Horse Mare (from "leg up" to "leg down").

Regardless, I’ll still be looking for another Spotted Trakehner - the more common one (I presume) without the impressed brand.

I don’t know if the Hickstead will be a priority, though. I saw one recently when I happened to be working near one of the better toy stores in the area, and stopped by for a quick look-see. The new tail was very nice, but he sort of looked like someone parked a floor buffer over him just a little too long.

His slightly rough texture was always part of his charm, for me. While some models have benefited from some "cleaning up" (I’m looking at you, John Henry) the Trakehner wasn’t one on my list.