Custom Mini Model Horses

Custom Minis WIPs

Top: 280.3 Orange Shade and 740.3 Burnt Sienna Shade (a duplicate I didn’t need if anyone wants it) Bottom row: Black, 380.1 Red Iron Oxide Exra Dark, and 740.1 Burnt Sienna Extra Dark

The second Vintage Custom Model Equine Congress in Battle Creek, Michigan was like going back in time to a model horse show of yesteryear—a small, friendly group of showers with some serious competition... custom models sporting soft mohair manes (or RRH as we might have called them.) Many were traditional Lady Phases, Stock Horse Stallions and Trakehner molds, but the minis were inspiring! Here are a few: MN Borg, 1995 Fjord by Michelle Belisle from the G1 Morgan mare and stallion molds. A splashy sorrel pony owned by Tracy Phillips A 1988 thoroughbred by Sarah Minkiewicz-Breunig in dapple gray, most likely from Swaps. Flip the Switch, a 1980's TWH mare by Leslie Kathman owned by Deb Carlson. A vintage Seabiscuit CM to a zebra hybrid owned by Shannon Rodgers with it's World Champion ribbon. MN Zuka is another Seabiscuit CM to an exotic. He is a 1994 Grevy's Zebra by Michelle Belisle. This sweet Arabian, LL Desert Rose, was customized in ...

I am going to the Vintage Custom Model Equine Congress this weekend, so I have been dusting off my “shelf models” of old and making them tags. Most of them haven’t been to a show in 15 or 20 years, and most of them are traditionals. (I switched to minis after many of my traditional models suffered damage from the heat during a move—I was heartbroken. Stablemates fit inside my cooler when traveling in warm weather and also have solid bodies that don’t swell and contract with temperature changes.) My first Stablemate custom from about 1991. In my search I found this gem: a warmblood stallion custom from a G1 Citation model which may very well be my first Stablemate custom. I think I did him c. 1991. He is painted in oils, of which I may of only had two colors: white and black; and haired with sewing thread (mane) and mohair (tail). I had made him bulkier with Gapoxio—which has separated from the plastic and oozed yellow stain over time. Sanding the epoxy smooth eluded me, as did...