More on Models made with Rubber

Yesterday after writing about my new Vincenzos and how their legs had bent, a reader pointed me to an  interview posted on Triple Mountain Model Horses where Nicolette, owner of Wia, wrote that the company was aware of the problem. She also stated that Wia models could begin to warp at temperatures as low as 80 degrees Fahrenheit.

We are working on solutions to reduce this as well. This is something you cannot solve to 100%, because of the material. This is something every brand has to deal with. It can be thin legs, tails, antlers, you name it. Those rubber mixtures start reacting at approx. 26C° (80 F), this can easily be reached. Even if the whole room does not feel so hot, there are always spots that can reach those temperatures. Sometimes it is enough to have a figurine sitting on an external hard drive and so on. Most other brands have solved (or tried to solve) this with thick legs. We do not want to go out of proportion. So this is a small price to pay, because everybody can fix this ‘problem’ in a minute. Just gently heat the bent part of a figurine (no matter if WIA, Papo Schleich, etc.) and the bent parts will go back to their original posture, no manipulation of the figurine necessary. Just make sure that while cooling there is no pressure on any of the heated parts. To speed up the process you can always use cold water. If the figurines are close to a heat source it is possible you have to repeat this from time to time.

Nicolette posted similar instructions on Blab. However, in responses to that, at least one person wrote that, after straightening the legs with hot/cold water, the legs began to warp again within a few months.

Donna Chaney's wonderful Rubbernedz are also made of rubber and, like the Wia horses, they bend. A well-placed rock helps keep Mr. Nedz' legs in the proper position. 

This is how he looked when he arrived from the factory. Look at how the front legs are even in this photo compared to the first one. The stand that supports his weight causes the rubber legs to bend.

I've tried a variety of other stands

including one on the belly, but even with padding, that marred the paint and left a small divot from the pressure of the body against the stand.

Gingerbredz, who is a much smaller, lighter Rubbernedz done on the Tagus mold, also has a hind leg that is bending.

My solution? I am keeping Mr. Nedz in changing positions - lying down on one side, lying down on the other, frequently changing stands while he is upright, and then repeating this cycle. Gingerbredz and the two Vincenzos will be left alone.

The Wia owner said that bending is just a part of having models made with rubber and that's proving true with the four I have in my collection. I can't speak for others, but lovely though these rubber models are (and those paint jobs are gorgeous!) I am not going to purchase any more. 

I will enjoy the rubber models already in my collection, admire others from afar, and stick with plastic and chinas. 

1:18 Scale Vincenzo

At the April 30 Great Lakes Congress show, I purchased two of the new 1:18 scale Vincenzos. Sculpted by Bridget Eberl, they are sold in Germany through Modelpferdeversande. (Triple Mountain Model Horses carries them here in the USA.)

They are produced by a company called WIA and are made from a plastic/rubber mix although they feel hard and more like a resin or even a china.

Unfortunately, my experience with this new plastic/rubber mix has not been a positive one.

To protect my new models, I left them in their original boxes for several weeks after the show.

And when I pulled them out for display, I was dismayed to see that the models were bending.

The foreleg on the grey one was lifted up and curling in.

The perlino was in even worse shape. 

Not only was his front leg curling in and lifting, his hind legs were bending forward and the back hooves were lifting off the shelf.

I'd examined them before buying them, and they were not in this shape in April.

They'd been kept inside my home and not left in a hot car or storage area. (Photo from eBay.) And like I'd said, I'd repacked them back into their original boxes to protect them. 

A check of multiple photos of the Vincenzo in 1:9 scale resin showed the pointing foreleg on the ground and the hind legs back and supporting the body. (Photo from Resins by Randy.)

My thinking is that the rubber in the composite material used to make these two models bends under the weight of the model. But that does not explain why the perlino's foreleg curled inward while in its box. If it's not heat or weight, then what caused this?

I am disappointed, but unlike the 1:9 scale resin Vincenzo, these are relatively inexpensive pieces and I can easily replace them or simply enjoy them as they are. At this time, I am choosing the latter.

More on bendy models tomorrow.

Stay 'tooned!