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These are customised
horse models made by me, Lou (or some of you may know of me as 'Palomino_Lou').
These models are re-painted (and two have been a bit re-sculpted) 'Blue
Ribbon Stables' horses, made by Blue Box. I have done a custom in each of
the sculpts the toys come in. They are approximately 23cm high (about nine
inches). This is a great scale to work with because these are my first proper
customs, and I need 'em big to practice! When I was younger, I painted a
couple horses every now and then, so now I'm continuing on painting. I The
scale is really easy to work with, also. I got the idea to paint customs
from Shane, for something for me to do while Shane was making his custom
figures. I also noticed this range of horses (with terrible paint jobs,
and I thought, 'What a shame they have crap paint jobs, it really lets the
whole toy down!') in toy shops on my regular horse-toy-hunts for a ridiculous
price, but Shane bought some for me anyway, to occupy me. Once I removed
the horses from their packs, I noticed small imperfections and bad, undetailed
paint jobs that I chose to improve upon to make awesome overall horse models.
This page will be updated as I complete new customs, so you can see each
one I make, over time. Let me know what you think in our
guestbook.
My latest horse custom, who was actually made at the same time as Apache
Chief and who was a complete accident! I've never been able to do greys
properly, especially dapple greys, so I half-heartedly started painting,
whilst waiting for Apache to dry, giving a grey a shot. I didn't sculpt
anything new on this horse, but I wanted to give him a long flowing mane
(because I love horses with long flowing manes!) and fatten up his shoulders
(narrow shoulders seem to be a trend in this series of horses) but I just
didn't get around to it. There were many times when I lost all faith in
my paint job, hating the look of it and wanting to paint all over it! Peppermint
Prime has had many coats (probably too many!) with paint brushes and a sponge
and I couldn't believe it when he turned out pretty well. Shane assures
me that he looks great (it's his favourite of my customs) but I think I
rushed it too much, and the paint job is too sloppy. I like the light skin-coloured
nose and pale hoof, it makes him more realistic. I also like the lighter
dappled rump, it makes him more realistic also.
The favourite of my customs, because he's a bit unusual and a different
direction for my painting preferences. He turned out pretty well, his pattern
is about as rare and unique as a real pinto, and I love the sculpt. The
base is an awesome idea, I love the pose. The cantering action looks really
good, it'd have to be my favourite pose out of the series, and he didn't
need any sculpting done to him. He came in the chestnut colour and I just
added the other colours over the top (he needed many, many coats of white
paint!), making him into a pinto. I like his variety of colours. I painted
the base green to make it look like grass and sculpted blades of grass on,
that keep breaking off. I added some hand sculpted flowers on the base to
add a 'romantic' feel and a bit of colour to the field he's cantering through.
I like his face and mane, I just wished I had taken more time and effort
with the many coats of white I painted, because it looks a bit sloppy. I
HATE the paint job of the right side of him, I'm ashamed to show it to you,
it's sloppily unrealistic. I'm very impatient. I like his black forelock
in contrast with his pale nose, it looks very cute, on his nice head (I
think he has the nicest head of all my customs)! One day I hope to add feathers
to his mane and tail and an Indian looking cloth on his back, maybe.
The most major sculpting I've ever done, poor anorexic Admiral Jade needed
a full body make-over! He was terribly thin and unrealistic looking, and
urgently needed some fattening up! I'm pretty proud of the overall shape
I achieved, seeing as I sculpted his belly, shoulders, mane, forelock, rump
and jutting hip bones- he has a very real shape now! I love the trotting
pose, it's very 'elegant' looking. I painted him a dark bay because it's
my favourite horse colour, with white markings. Also because most harness
racing horses are bay and he's named after Shane's family's former Harness
Racing horse, 'Able Jade'. As I said, I'm very happy with his overall shape,
but the paint didn't take well on this custom. It was because I tried sanding
various sections back so now he looks a bit fuzzy in places. His paint seems
to scratch off easily, too. Overall, he's a pretty nice-looking horse and
turned out amazingly well. One day, if I find the appropriate materials,
I would love to make a sulky to go with Jade, including all tack and gear.
My very first custom. Overall, it's nothing special and now that I look
back to it, the whole job seems very poor. I was so proud of Caesar at the
time, but now I can spot many faults. I made this horse into one of my favourite
breeds, a Friesian, so I could have a model of the fabulous breed, and so
I could attempt and practice making long flowing manes and tails, and slightly
feathered hooves. He was anorexic also, when I got him, so I sculpted more
full shape into his belly, rump, shoulders and a bit on his face. I extended
his mane and tail and added feathers to his hooves. The paint job is nothing
special at all, just black, black and... more black. I add gloss to all
my customs' eyes and hooves. I tried to sand down his belly at one stage
and once again, the paint didn't take well and he now looks a bit fuzzy
in that region. I like the look of the mane but you can definitely tell
what's sculpted on, and what was original. The direction of the mane is
all wrong. He had a glorious, rich long tail that actually looked really,
really good, but before I could take photos, it all broke off. I glued the
bits back on, but it'll never look as good as what it used to. That's why
his tail looks square. The feathers look all wrong, also. Well, it was my
first attempt!
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Site design, graphics and layout
by Shane Heron. All images and text are the property of Shane Heron and
Lou Walters.
Do not use this sites content without permission. Any questions or comments?
Please contact us...
Shane... swh_dragon@hotmail.com
, Lou... loucifer_6969@hotmail.com
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