WEG Salinero

I had been wanting to add a one or two more of the more limited WEG models to my collection; the roached mane/short tail variation of the Matte Toby would have been perfect, but I wouldn’t turn down almost anything else if it presented itself. 

And this one did! 

I’ve been wanting a Salinero for a while. My platonic ideal Salinero is the 2007 BreyerFest Raffle Model Tacoma in Bay Overo Pinto, because I think his overo paint job perfectly complements and enhances his lovely silhouette.

But you and I both know that wasn’t ever going to happen. I’m not that lucky, and also I am a cheapskate. So the next best Salinero for me would have been the 2010 WEG rerelease… and now I have him!

Okay, sure, I get it: he’s not as exciting as… just about any other WEG release. In fact, he’s pretty boring: the only thing that distinguishes a WEG Salinero from a Regular Run #704 Salinero is that the WEG release has a VIN mark, and the Regular Runs – manufactured in 2007 and 2008 – predate that, and thus do not. 

Unlike other WEG reissues, only about a year and a half of time had passed since the release was formally discontinued. There were no significant changes or improvements to the painting process in that short time frame, other than the addition of VIN numbers to models being produced in China. 

And it’s lucky that he got even that. Most of the other extra-limited WEG models were painted stateside, but the Salineros made for the 2010 WEG were not. I presume that was because they still had all the painting specs (and of course, the mold) so it was probably easier just to have the factory in China pull 96 bodies off the Cloud Nine production line and paint them up in addition to the 500 piece WEG SRs (like Cedric and Jamaica) while they were busy in New Jersey painting up all of the other super-limited Specials.

It would also explain why they made more of him than any other of those Specials: New Jersey production was probably limited to what was on hand.