Surprise Shrinkies

I set my new Sandman onto the shelf next to my original Smoky and got a surprise.

Look at that size discrepancy!

It wasn't just a trick of my eyes or placement on the shelf; Sandman was quite a bit larger than Smoky.

I set Northern Lights in between them - there is clearly a trend of height differences.

Intrigued, I grabbed my seam measure and started more closely examining the three models.

Smoky's extended foreleg measures 3/8" off the ground.

Northern Light's measurement was a half inch (4/8") off the ground. (Er, shelf.)

While Sandman's was at 5/8".

My heart sank - Smoky and Northern Lights were shrinkies, models whose plastic was beginning to break down. Fortunately, neither Smoky nor Northern Lights have any of the other indications of shrinkiness - their bodies are not visibly contorting or contracting elsewhere; there is no odor and no ooziness. (Yet.)

(Kristen Wellman's blog, Model Horse Collectibility, has three excellent articles on vinegar syndrome, the more formal name of the decomposition of cellulose acetate, the plastic used to make Breyer model horses.)

I found something else interesting while examining these three pieces and am doing a little research on that. Hopefully tomorrow I will look at that discovery in my next blog entry.

Stay' tooned!