Covid & More UV Light Findings

Yeesh! What a ride this bout with Covid has been! It knocked both Craig and me flat.

Craig rarely gets so sick that he goes to bed, but this time was different. (I love that his two buddies are keeping him company as he sleeps.)

Two days later it was me who felt like she'd been hit by a truck. I had chills and my head hurt terribly. I realize that I'd felt this way before with Covid, so I got a test out and checked.

I've had Covid several times, but never has a test showed a positive result immediately after I put in the drops. I still waited the time that was directed, but the results did not change - they remained a very clear positive result.

I'm still sick but at least I feel well enough to get up, eat a little (I've lost 6 pounds in just two days) and write a bit. I'm sleeping a lot during the day and tire easily, but I am on the way to being well. Grateful!

Thanks for all who commented or reached out to me. It was much appreciated.

So... Back to using my UV light to look at my new models. And after having found the black mark on my Zulu, I was dreading what might show up on my Gilded.

He's on the Geronimo mold, a mold I like very much

and things looked good at first.

The only visible iffy place I could see was under his off front leg where it looked like there was a small black line in the gold.

Sure enough, under the UV light, there was a heart shaped blemish.

I discovered another one on his near hind hock

and a third one on his neck. 

Oddly enough, he also had some lines that appeared to be drawn on his legs. They almost look like the barring that you might find on a horse with primitive markings.

None of these are visible without the UV light, though.

Finally, a third type of mark were darker smudge-like marks above his near hock.

Completely invisible in normal light, but obvious in the UV light.

Wondering if I would find flaws on every model I looked at, I pulled out some recent models, seven of them, including another recent Geronimo.

None of them had flaws.  Good news, but puzzling, too. I mean, what are the odds that two of my newest ones would have significant flaws and others not?

I decided to pull out my 2021 BreyerFest Dani and check her sort of as the "ultimate test." 

When she arrived, she had a lot of masking left on her that I had to remove.

It was EVERYWHERE. I peeled and peeled and peeled masking off.

The fact that it was blue made it easier to find, but still, it took quite a bit of time to find it all.

It seemed to me that if any model had issues, it might be Dani, and so I put her under the UV light. 

Nothing! She was clean all over, and I looked carefully. That was a relief, but I am still puzzled. Why would two new pieces have such flaws? Did they come out of the same group in the warehouse in China? Do other models from that same group have flaws that only show up under a UV light?

Or do I need to look at a bigger sample of models from my collection? After all, seven (eight with Dani) isn't that many.

It is a puzzle for sure. Not only will I go over all future models with a UV light, but I hope to start going through my entire collection, shelf by shelf. That will be a huge job, but hey, I'm retired! Besides, I love to do research and actually did a lot of research, writing, and publishing when I was in the classroom. This will be an old familiar project for me, for sure.

Wish me luck!

(Go here for some of my research papers.)

A Surprise with Zulu

Second Post of the Day

Also in my order from Breyer's warehouse sale was the Fall 2024 Decorator, Zulu.

I'd been eyeing him for a while but since my only other Newsworthy was in my sales boxes, I gave him a pass.

But the 30% off for Collectors Club members in the warehouse sale changed my mind

and now he is displayed on my shelves.

He does have a very prominent raised "mound" on his off hock. Is that part of the hock and supposed to be there? The other hind leg does not have it. I looked at pictures of the model in other colors and could not tell. That sales Newsworthy of mine is going to get to see some daylight soon. (Maybe even shelf light.)

Was my new Zulu a glowy? There wasn't any white where it might show, but I was curious anyway. After all, maybe my new UV light would show me something else of interest.

It sure did. Something unexpected and that dismayed me. Take a look.

I wanted to start pulling models off the shelves and turn the light on them, too. (And I still may - it would be a good winter project.)

Is this a deliberate mark by someone in the factory?

Or could it be an accidental one made by someone being careless with a marker they were holding? They may even have checked the model to be sure it was okay, and honestly, you cannot see the mark without the UV light. The model would have passed inspection and been boxed up.

I tried gently using a little water on it to see if I could remove it but the mark remained. It's still possible that I might be able to get it off, especially if it's on top of the gloss and not under it. But I don't want to do any visible damage to the finish to remove a mark that can only be seen under a UV light.

So, for now, I am leaving it. I'm not going to contact Breyer and ask for a replacement as I plan to keep this little oddity. I have added a note to his tag though about it - if I do ever sell my Zulu, I want to be sure I disclose the unseen mark on his shoulder.

There was one more warehouse sale model to unbox after Zulu and I used the UV light on him afterward. Sadly, there was more disappointment in store for me.

Stay 'tooned.