Also in the interest of completeness: no on the wait list for Crane, and no for the Test Color Mule. But I did manage to score a couple of fun finds at the local Salvation Army earlier this week: a Pacer body and a Percheron Plushie from Greenfield Village:
There were a number of other horse-shaped objects in the store, which leads me to suspect that there had been other high-value equine goodies there that I probably missed. Alas, my new schedule sort of precludes me from doing a lot of extracurricular shopping, and I could not have gone earlier.
(I still haven’t been back to the flea market this year either, but that’s not a scheduling issue, that’s entirely a personal safety issue.)
I’ve always wanted to do a custom with a Pacer, but I still haven’t quite come up with an idea good enough to compel me to do it. That, and having a few hundred other projects also in the way.
Speaking of customizing and bodies and such, let’s briefly discuss the famous “Unpainted” offer Breyer made to subscribers of Just About Horses in 1980, which was targeted specifically to customizers of the time:
We called ourselves repainters or repaint/remakers back then, in case you’re wondering what that’s all about. For those of you who want some easy cut and paste text for your files, here’s the list:
- Lady Phase
- Adios
- Stud Spider
- Proud Arabian Stallion
- Proud Arabian Mare
- Black Beauty
- Indian Pony
- Cantering Welsh Pony
- Saddlebred Weanling
- 5-Gaiter
- Clydesdale Mare
- Morganglanz
- Hanoverian
- Trakehner
- Foundation Stallion
Contrary to what you may read elsewhere on the Internet – and especially, on eBay – these fifteen molds are the only ones that were a part of this offer, and the only ones that you could possibly or legitimately claim as being part of that offer.
Any other unpainted models you may find in your travels may also be genuine factory Unpainteds, but they may have come via other offers (like those “Factory Whiteware” boxes that were offered up in the NPOD a few years ago), from craft kits, factory warehouse sales before they stopped them because some people couldn’t behave themselves, employee take-homes, Marney’s garage, etc.
While I have a few unpainted models, most of them have either some historical significance, some personal significance, or just because I happen to like the mold.
The only Unpainteds that I’d go out of my way to buy personally would be molds that have since been altered in some way and no longer “exist” in their original state. (I’m looking at you, Saddlebred Weanling! Okay, maybe you too, Trakehner.)
All models start out naked, so in most cases, they could still make more.
3 comments:
I have a fondness for blank Breyer.
I'm thrilled to own 2 original Halla copies. And I just got a swirly plastic Adios. Along with a bunch of others.
Yes, they certainly could make more! I think they could double sales of new molds, and there wouldn't be the ugly spectacle of customizers having to chop up an uncommon, factory mint model.
Personally, I would love to have some unpainted horses just for their statue-like quality. I stripped a PAM last summer for some experimental painting, but she looks so great that way, she's staying on the shelf just as she is. For a while anyway...
I have a factory unpainted elephant and a calf, the latter of which I was planning to use for a cm project before I realized that it was special as-is. I have a factory-blank Peter Stone Pony that I'm trying to decide whether or not to paint. I also have a dozen or so bodies that I stripped, all waiting for me to get around to painting them. It's really interesting how much the plastic varies. Some of the vintage models are so nice that I'm tempted to paint eyes and hooves and leave them that way, like the vintage "albinos." On the other hand, I recently stripped a Gypsy Vanner that immediately began yellowing. Until recent years I hadn't given much thought to what I call "nekkid horses." ;D
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