DIY: Extreme Stablemates resculpt tutorial and results!

Hey Magicians!
So, a while ago I started to work on a resculpt of an unpainted Stablemates G3 Tennessee Walker from the high step to a rear/prance dual pose.  The resculpt took ages, but I documented it with photos and then strung them together into a video.  Here it is:

Just in case you need a quick recap, here are the steps:

Materials:

• Stablemates G3 Tennessee Walker mare
• Fine-grit sandpaper
• X-Acto knife
• Razor blade
• Boiling water
• Hot glue gun
• Superglue
• Wire
• Air-dry clay
• Toothpick
• Old paintbrush
• White acrylic paint and a working paintbrush

Step 1: Break off the tail.

Step 2: Sand the rump smooth.

Step 3:  Use a razor blade to weaken the back leg at the knee.  Watch your fingers!

Step 4: Snap off the back leg where you weakened it.

Step 5: Sand the end of the back leg smooth.

Step 6: Use the razor blade to carve out a deep notch at the upper back of the other hind leg.

Step 7: Continue carving until you have a deep groove circling the upper leg.

Step 8: Boil some water.  Ask an adult for help if you're little.

Step 9: Use tongs to dip the horse in.  Let her soak for 30 seconds, then pull her out.  While the plastic is still hot, hold the horse in a dishtowel and break off the leg at the weak part.  If it doesn't break at first, put her back in the water and try again until it does.  You should now have two broken-off legs.

Step 10:  Carve a notch behind the hoof of each broken-off legs.  Carve another notch behind the knee of the longer leg piece.  Repeat the hot-water procedure, but this time just bend the plastic, don't break it.  Be careful!  Bend the hooves back.  Bend the longer piece back at the knee.  If it breaks, don't worry.

Step 11:  Hot-glue the longer leg piece back onto the hip, but angle it back more. You may need to sand down the top.

Step 12:  Hot-glue the other leg pieces into the position shown below.  The horse won't be able to stand yet.

Step 13:  Use the tip of the X-Acto knife to drill a hole where the tail used to be.
Step 14: Cut a 5-inch piece of wire, hot-glue one end into the hole, and bend it so the horse can stand.  This is the tail armature.
Step 15:  Weaken and break off the straight front leg the same way you did for the back legs.
Step 16:  Cut a notch behind the knee. Weaken and break off the hoof just below the fetlock.
Step 17: Use the hot-water method to bend this front leg back at the knee.
Step 18:  Sand the upper leg remnant (shoulder).  Drill a hole in the front with the X-Acto knife.
Step 19: Drill another hole in the bigger end of the broken-off, bent front leg.
Step 20: Glue another piece of wire into the hole in the shoulder, trim it, and glue the other end into the hole in the bent front leg, thus reattaching the leg.  Push the leg into the position shown below.

Step 21: Hot-glue the hoof back on, angled down.  Sand the joint smooth.

Step 22: Start filling in holes and cracks with air-dry clay.  Use an old, wet paintbrush to smooth and blend the clay.
Step 23: Sculpt the base of the tail, covering the hot glue.
Step 24: Cover the tail armature with a clay snake.  Make sure all the wire is covered!
Step 25: Add body to the tail by sticking on more clay snakes, tapered at the ends.
Step 26: Carve the hair on the tail with a toothpick.  This part is tricky!  Take your time.  Use an old, stiff paintbrush to smooth the clay and get rid of crumbs.
Step 27:  As the clay, dries, it might crack.  Fill any cracks or breaks with superglue.

Step 28: Add a thin coat of white acrylic paint to prime the surface and fill small cracks.
You're finished with the sculpt!  Now you can paint her as desired!
Here's the photo gallery showing off what I did, but you can choose any color you like (bear in mind that etching is probably a bad idea).

Enjoy your newly-resculpted horse!

Breyer Product Review: Stablemates American Pharaoh

Here's a quick review of the Stablemates American Pharaoh model horse.

I think it's great that Breyer makes portrait horses not only in the big sizes but also at the Stablemates scale.  This is a particularly cool model, since American Pharaoh was the first horse in 37 years to win a Triple Crown!  The Stablemates portrait horse is gorgeous, too - just like the real horse!
The only complaint I might make is that, while American Pharaoh is a stallion, the mold used for the portrait horse is a mare.
However, it's a lovely and dynamic mold, the conformation is of course correct for a Thoroughbred, and the paint job is accurate.
Altogether, I would definitely recommend this model for anyone who has an interest in racing or even just wants a pretty model horse!

Breyer Product Review: Stablemates Horse & Rider 2pc English Assortment

It's review time!  I recently purchased a bunch of Stablemates goodies from the Breyer website, and I decided to review a few of these products so you can see for yourself if you'd like to buy them.  Here's my first review:  the Stablemates Horse and Rider 2pc English Assortment (that's a mouthful!)  This set is actually a two-pack of sets, of two different horses with their riders, tack and jumps.  Here's the video:

If you'd like a quick recap:
With this set, you get

• A varnish roan appaloosa stallion that is an exact duplicate of the varnish roan warmblood from the discontinued Stablemates "Polka Dot Parade" set
• A strawberry roan mare that is an exact duplicate of one of the mares from the discontinued Stablemates "Show Stoppers" set
• Two Stablemates riders, one with a blue coat and one with a pink coat
• Two sets of plain brown English tack (so 2 saddles and 2 bridles)
• One plain roll top jump
• One plain pole jump with three poles (you can adjust where they go)

Altogether, it's a super cute set and I'd recommend it for anyone who needs an assortment of tack, riders, and jumps; the horses themselves are duplicates but if you don't have the originals then there's no need to worry.

DIY: How to make a Stablemates Dressage Arena

Here's how to make a cool dressage arena for your Stablemates!

Please note that (like the Traditional size dressage arena you can buy from Breyer) this arena is not perfectly to scale.  If it were exactly 1:32 scale, it would have to be huge!  However, it's pretty close, easy and cheap to make, and durable enough for many years of play.

Here's what you'll need:

• 10 plain white plastic drinking straws (if you only have clear ones, you can fill them with white paint, but this is kind of annoying)
• A handful of popsicle sticks
• Shears
• White acrylic paint and a brush
• A black permanent marker
• Toothpicks
• A hot-glue gun (ask a grownie for help if you're little)

Step 1: Make the poles.  

Divide the 10 straws into two groups of four and one group of two.  Leave the first four be.  Cut about a quarter of the length off of four more straws, and cut the last two in half.  You should now have four long straws, four three-quarters straws, and four half-straws (you can throw away the leftovers from the three-quarters straws).

You should now have something like this.

Step 2: Make the corner pieces.

Use the shears to cut a popsicle stick about 1" (2.5 cm) from the rounded end.  Then, cut off another 3/4" (2cm) of the popsicle stick. This will be the base.  Glue the 1" piece upright in the middle of the base, with the rounded tip facing up.  It should now be able to stand on its own.  Now, cut two pieces of toothpick, each about 1/2" (1.5 cm) long.  Glue one toothpick piece to one of the thin edges of the upright popsicle stick piece, about 3/4" (2cm) from the base.  Glue the other toothpick piece to the middle of the front of the popsicle stick, at right angles to and at the same height as the first toothpick piece.  (See diagram below.)  Paint the whole assembly white and let it dry.  Repeat this step 3 more times to have 4 corner pieces total.

Here's what they should look like.













Step 3: Make the pole supports.

Repeat the steps above, as for the corner pieces, but instead of gluing on the toothpicks at right angles, glue them both to opposite sides of the upright popsicle stick.  They should be at the same height and both about 3/4" (2cm) from the base.  Repeat this step 8 times for each of the pole supports.  Once all the supports have been painted white and have dried, use a black permanent marker to write a letter neatly on both sides of each one.  (See diagram below).  The letters should be: A K E H C M B F.

Here is what you should have when you're finished:















Step 4: Assemble!

Now that you're finished, you can put your dressage arena together by hanging the poles from the toothpick supports, so they are a little ways off the ground.  There is a specific order that the poles and letters go in, so here is an assembly diagram to help you out.  The x's are the corner pieces.

A fun acronym to help you remember the order of the letters is: "All King Edward's Horses Can Make Big Fences."

Enjoy playing with your new dressage arena!

DIY: Eco Friendly Stablemate blanket made out of old wrapping paper!

Here's how to use up some of that leftover wrapping paper from the holidays:  make a cute blanket for your Stablemates!
The cool thing about this project is that you don't have to use wrapping paper!  Any kind of paper will do, and you could even use fabric like felt if you wanted!  (If you do, you might want to use fabric glue instead of tape.)

I have gone over the whole process in this quick video, but just in case the video doesn't work for your computer I have also put all the instructions below.

Materials:

• Used wrapping paper (preferably thick and flexible and with a small-scale design)
• Tape
• Scissors
• Ruler
• Pencil
• A Stablemate

Step 1: Create the basic shape.

Use the ruler and the pencil to mark off a rectangle on the wrong side of the paper, 3" (7.5 cm) by 2 3/4" (7 cm).  Cut out the rectangle with scissors.

If you like, add a little arrow pointing to one of the long sides.  This will be the front of the blanket, and the arrow keeps you from getting mixed up.

Step 2:  Shape the blanket.
Fold the blanket in half, matching the short sides together.  Crease it lightly.  This fold will be running along your horse's spine.

Step 3: Create the neck opening.

Use the scissors to cut along the fold, a little more than halfway along the blanket.  Cut out a little more on each side of the cut, creating a kind of notch or triangle shape that slopes down in front of the horse's neck.  At this point, you can try the blanket on your reference horse to see how much you need to cut off.  There should be a good deal of paper left over in front, like two tabs; DON'T cut these off.

Step 4:  Even out the bottom.

Trim a wedge off the bottom of each side of the blanket, so that the front doesn't slope down.

Step 5:  Finish and shape!

Tape the two flaps together in front, so that the blanket stays folded and closed securely around the horse's neck.  Use your fingers to rub and smooth the blanket over the horse to crease the paper a little bit and help it fit better.  This also reduces stiffness.  If the neck hole starts to tear, add a small piece of tape at the top of the triangle to reinforce it.

TA-DA!  Enjoy your spiffy new blanket!

Welcome!

Welcome to the Stablemates Model Workshop!
I love to collect, customize, and craft for my model horses - most of all Breyer Stablemates!  My collection is rapidly growing, and I am always trying to improve my customizing skills.  (I am also always looking for cheap bodies to customize, so if you have any you'd like to sell, email me!)
I'm going to be using this blog as a kind of random dump for information, DIYs, and tutorials outlining the various projects that I undertake; I'll also post links and information about my YouTube videos (I have a few tutorials and reviews up there too.)

If you have a request (for instance, ideas on how to make something, or a suggestion for a custom), just comment on my newest post and I will try to get it up!

Thanks and enjoy!
~Miniature_Magic