Hi Magicians!
Happy New Year! Let's hope that 2022 is all adventure and smooth sailing.
Today, I have another toy rescue story for you, and this time it's not a Stablemate! Once more, the hero of the day is Devon, who also donated Luna (the star of the last post). She reached out again to very generously donate another of her Ebay finds: A vintage Barbie pony with brushable mane and tail. Just like last time, she was packaged beautifully. Thank you so much, Devon!
(As usual, trigger warning for light model gore.)
This pony has a very unique feature: When you pull on her mane, her eyes blink! I'd never seen this before, and it made research very easy; she's the "Blinking Beauty" model from 1987. Here's what her original box looked like:
Our little friend here has, of course, seen better days! Her front leg is missing just below the knee:
Most of the paint on her eyes has worn off, giving her a rather dismayed expression...
Although the blinking feature is still in perfect working order!
Her body is scuffed and covered in random marks, as well:
Judging from the picture on her packaging, it also looks as though her mane and tail have had rather a significant trim. However, the hair that remains is in good condition. To begin, I gave her a shampoo and conditioner treatment, with some combing to release the tangles.
Looking better already.
Now for that leg. Luckily, the plastic is solid, which gives me a strong base to work from:
I started by using my trusty
Dremel Stylo to make a hole in the exposed stump.
This pony is larger and heavier than the Stablemates I'm accustomed to, so I'm cutting the armature for her new leg from wood. These are coffee stirrers that have been hot-glued together to make a stronger standing base.
I fit them into the hole that I drilled, trimmed an angle into the bottom, and hot-glued everything in place.
Looks a little silly, but she's standing again!
It's time for the first layer of
Apoxie Sculpt. This layer is more about strengthening and securing the armature to the body and making sure that the bottom of the hoof is set at the correct angle.
After it's cured for a few days, I used an X-Acto knife to start carving out some details.
The second layer of Apoxie is where the magic starts to happen - I smooth out the carved surfaces and add in the detail of the hoof, pastern, and cannon.
The final step is to sand everything and add a few layers of white acrylic paint to smooth out the surface.
It's a lot easier to sculpt details on these larger models! Doing Luna's tiny front legs was much more difficult.
Now she's looking a little ghostly, as I've added a white base coat to her eyes:
In preparation for the paint job, I mask off her eyes and lashes with small pieces of Scotch tape.
Normally I wouldn't need to do this, since my usual method of painting is to brush on Acrylic. However, because of her large size and smooth plastic texture, I'll need to spray-paint her.
Of course, her mane and tail also need to be masked off. I used paper towels and masking tape.
To prepare her body for the spraypaint, I lightly sanded her all over to reduce the slipperiness of the plastic and give the paint something to hang on to. This had the added bonus of removing some of those random marks. Because I'll be painting her white, this is good - it means nothing will show through the light color.
I also used white acrylic to smooth out the molding seams and cover some of the discoloration that must have occurred as the plastic aged.
And here she is, post-paint! It took many thin coats to get even coverage and hit all the surfaces.
Now for the fun part: details! To give her a slightly fantastical feel, I gave her hooves a few coats of light gold metallic tempera:
Her eyes are now light blue, with brown pupils (rather than black) for a softer look. I used glossy sealant to detangle and smooth out her lashes.
I also faded some pink into her nose and ears and darkened her mouth, nostrils, and eyelids with a coral color.
As a final touch, I faded some more of that gold into the tips of her ears, and added gloss to her nose, eyes, and hooves. Here are some outdoors photos with natural light!
As simple as this makeover was, I think the result is pretty. The light color suits her, and the new leg blends right in. It's too bad about the haircut, but the shorter length does give her a well-groomed look and is certainly easier to manage.
Thank you again to Devon! This was a very fun project, and it's always satisfying to give an old toy a new lease on life.
As always, feel free to comment below or email me at modelhorsemagic@gmail.com. And don't forget to check out my YouTube channel, Miniature_Magic, for unboxings, collection tours, DIY tutorials, and more.
Bye Magicians!
~Miniature_Magic
