The Latest Upgrades

Just to clarify, I’m not going anywhere. My schedule is simply changing to one that’s more in line with my circadian rhythms. 

Since I’m more of a night person than a day person, this means I’ll be getting up later and staying up later, which may affect my posting schedule. Many of the stores where I have been doing my extracurricular shopping (buying things that are not necessities) are still on pandemic hours, so that means I’ll also have less time to shop there.

So anyway, here are two of the models from the most recently arrived box lot that will probably be upgrades, once I find the models in question:

Neither the Bald-faced variation of the Donkey nor the Dark Dapple Gray Running Foal are particularly rare – in fact, they’re quite common – but they’ve both been a low priority. 

A bald-faced variation of the Donkey was one of the first vintage models I bought from another hobbyist – back in 1980, I think? – so there’s some sentimentality tied up with that purchase. But this piece, like my new Palomino Western Prancing Horse, looks almost out-of-the-box new. 

I’ve had many #133 Dark Dapple Gray Running Foals over the years, but all of my previous ones had some sort of issue: rubs, bad seams, unattractive dappling, serious gloss flaws, stains, fingerprints(!), you name it. 

Like the Family Arabians, the Running Mare and Foal were marketed primarily to kids as toys, so finding a pristine example of either is a lot harder than it looks. This new fellow is bright white, with just one tiny rub that blends into the dappling, and has most excellent shading. 

He doesn’t match my Mare, but she’s an old and sentimental favorite too, so I’ll probably just have to let that one slide. Unless an opportunity presents itself, as they have been doing so of late.

Speaking of… there are a couple of mint, matched vintage Running Mare and Foal sets I’ve been hemming and hawing about for a couple of weeks now, but I’ve bought entirely too much stuff this month and I really need to knock that nonsense off.