July Give Away Winner & More

Here is the July Spin to Win!

Congratulations! Let me know which show apron you want and please confirm your current mailing address. I will pop your apron into the mail for you on Monday or Tuesday.

Not only am I working on show aprons, (and teaching tiny tailors) but I am beefing up my stash of haversacks. Here are a few more that I've recently completed.

(Some of the photos are a bit skewed - my back was hurting and so I took the pics while sitting down. Not the best, but it is what it is.)

Southwest Sunset, small Classic size.

This one fits several Traditional foals, too.

Bay Horse & Saluki, Classic size.

Scale is such a tricky thing - many of Breyer's models vary in size within a scale.

When it comes to fitting a model to a haversack, the scale is a beginning point, but I always show my sewing mat grid so that customers can figure out the actual size of the haversack when determining if it will fit their model.

In 2023 I wrote a short series called "Scales within Scales" discussing this issue and the problems I run into when I sew and then classify pouches by scale.

Foals & Flowers, Classic size.

Again we have the "what fits" juggle - a Classic model,

a Traditional foal,

and a Traditional pony, all of whom will fit in this particular haversack!

Oh, before I forget - my extra Totilas/Surprise Horse has sold so it is no longer available. Thanks for the interest.

Looks like the rain has stopped for a bit, so I am off to the frisbee field with Pepper and Tammo. Wish us luck as we dodge the raindrops!

Scales within Scales: My HO & N Scale Circus Horses

Another blog post originally published in May of 2021. Mighty Mouse is one of my favorite pieces in my collection.

In April, I wrote about Prieser, a German company that makes figures for the model railroad hobby, and that they had made a set of HO circus horses. 

Named Liberty Performing Horses, they came in a set of six, and while I have given a couple away, I still have three, including Mighty Mouse who is displayed on a shelf in my office.

 

Imagine my excitement when I did a search for N scale horses a few weeks ago and discovered the set had been done in the 1:160 scale, too! (I've found some really good pieces by doing those random searches.)

And I thought that Mighty Mouse was small - just look at that itty bitty horse! Despite the tiny size, their detail is really good, too.

Interesting to see that the head plume colors are the reverse of Mighty Mouse's plumes. I'm not sure if  they are all like that or if it is just this set. (According to the box they came in, the horses are sent to Mauritius where they are hand painted.)

These N scale circus horses are so small that I am keeping them in their box, although the box is out for display on the shelf next to Mighty Mouse.

They are absolutely the smallest circus horses not only in my collection, but that I have ever seen. 

Tomorrow I am moving on to other things that I'd like to write about although I may conclude the Scales within Scales series with a few notes. Stay 'tooned!

December 17 Advent Calendar Reveal

This pretty racking Saddlebred.

The scene is getting very crowded and I am going to start putting new items wherever there is room rather than in a place that looks realistic.

 

Scales within Scales: The Miniest of Minis

This blog post was originally published in February, 2021 and pertains to the tiniest pieces in my collection, the HO (1:87) and N (1:160) scale horses.  Rather than rewrite it, I did a cut and paste.

My first Mini Whinnies were a gift from a student way back in 2001 when they were being produced by Creata and called Winners Choice Micro Horses. (Go here for an interesting web site with lots of information on Winners Choice.)

I've kept those tiny horses tucked away in a little container for years. (That lying horse on the front left came with them but is by another company.)

My favorite one is the Appaloosa who is surprisingly detailed considering his size and age.

I didn't get any more Mini Whinnies until this past Christmas when I bought Breyer's advent calendar. While that was fun, that was the end of buying teeny tinies - I thought.

But just as Goldilocks had to try things out in the Bears' home until she found something that was just right, so it is with Little Lynn and Circus Girl and their teeny tiny model horses.

Little Lynn and Circus Girl "need" some new additions to their collection as the Mini Whinnies are too big and out of scale.

I started looking at railroading miniatures and found this nice HO scale set on eBay. They were more in scale with the dolls, but they weren't just right. Then, I discovered yet another scale in railroading miniatures - N scale.

N scale is really tiny - here are some pieces laid out on my sewing cutting mat; for perspective, those marks on the mat are one inch squares. Will the N scale ponies be just right?

I actually found these N scale horses accidentally - I was looking for HO scale ones and they popped up during my search.

The HO scale and the N scale pieces are identical except for size. 

The HO scale horses and riders out of packaging and laid against the measuring grid. See how much bigger they are on the grid squares?

When you put the two sets together, you can really see the difference in size. Aren't they cool?

This next photo with the Creata/Mini Whinnies added in makes me think of Breyer's scales replicated in 1:9 scale - traditional, classic, and stablemate.

The Mini Whinnies look positively gargantuan compared to the HO and N scale horses!

Circus Girl and Little Lynn now have lots of new models to enjoy but which ones will they decide are just right?

It's a bit of a dilemma, but the gals are discussing it and I am sure they will figure it out.

Advent Calendar Reveal December 16

Another jump for the pretty grey jumper!

Scales within Scales: Traditionals

Today we will look at some scale examples in the Traditional mold line, the most popular scale of Breyer model horses since its inception. And within that scale, one of the most popular molds has been the Proud Arabian Mare.

I started with her for comparisons, selecting Firefly, a very new Quarter Horse mold introduced in 2021, to see how the traditional scale is represented by them.

Their differences are not difficult to see. Looking at hoof sizes is an easy way to see them. An Arabian is a light breed and generally should be smaller in frame than a Quarter Horse, but clearly these two, despite being deemed the same scale, are not in scale with each other.

Lady Phase, another iconic Breyer mold, is a Quarter Horse mold like Firefly, but the scale is off here, too.

She looks better when compared with Geronimo whose mold was released in 2016.

But she is not in scale to another popular mold, the Indian Pony.

The Indian Pony, despite its name, is considered a stock horse mold, too, but look at the size difference in their heads.

Scale differences are even more blatant among Breyer's Traditional ponies.

Here's a line up of the Misty, Bouncer, Welsh Mare, and POA molds. All depict pony breeds.

Bouncer is a Welsh Pony mold and he and the Welsh Mare appear to be in scale with each other.

Misty, a Chincoteague Pony, and the POA are clearly not in scale with each other.

A head comparison emphasizes their differences.

One of the most glaring scale differences can be seen with these two pieces - Breyer's early Cantering Welsh Pony and the Welsh Pony Mare. They are the same breed, and even when you consider that Welsh ponies come in four sections (A, B, C, and D) to denote their size, they are still not in scale to each other.

Why do these differences matter? Or do they? I will discuss that after I finish comparing models in Breyer's other scales. 

Stay 'tooned!

Advent Calendar Reveal December 14

Barrels! Chalk up a correct guess for me this morning!

Scales within Scales: Classic/Freedom Scale

"Scale" can be defined as a set of numbers used in a system of measuring or comparing one item (or set of items) to another. Others consider it as a sort of imaginary box and that all things of that box's scale should be able to fit within that box.

There are many ways scale can be defined, but when using scale in context with model horses, that box definition does not always fit. Horses are living creatures who move and it just takes one flagged tail to break out the side of that box.

Kelso and Terrang, two of Breyer's earliest Classic models, debuted in the Breyer lineup in 1975. 

While the Arabian Stallion was introduced a bit earlier in 1973. All three are considered part of the Classic/Freedom scale.

That scale is off when making a breed comparison. You can see that the two Thoroughbreds are smaller than the Arabian, which is typically a smaller horse than Thoroughbreds. 

The Warmblood Mare joined the Classic/Freedom lineup in 2007

and is in better scale with the two Thoroughbreds than the Arabian was.

The Morgan Mare (2007)

is a little too big considering the breed comparison. (Compare the hooves, too.)

The Lippizaner Stallion (1975)

is clearly out of scale when compared to the Thoroughbred, Kelso.

Comparison after comparison, you see differences in scale among models that are all grouped into the Classic/Freedom scale. (We will talk about that grouping in an upcoming post.)

When it comes to making haversacks, it is important that my customers know what will fit into what I make. Advertising as, "fits Classics" is actually not very accurate. Many of the newer Traditional scale foals also fit the Classic/Freedom haversacks well.

The Andalusian Foal

and the Lippizaner Foal are two examples of that. This is information that my customers need to know so I, in turn, have to show them that through photos.

When advertising on my Mercantile Facebook page, I'll show two photos of the haversack, one with a Classic model and the other with a Traditional foal.

Other Traditionals also fit the Classic/Freedom haversack. We will take a look at those in an upcoming post.

Stay 'tooned!

December 12 Advent Calendar Reveal

A jump!

That goes along nicely with that lovely jumping horse and rider.

Had to do some rearranging this morning. Thirteen more doors to open and already things are getting crowded!