Birthday Week: Footnotes - Generation Two Customs

Legolas G2 Andalusian By Amanda Tolleson	G2 Clydesdale By Scrappy

Fizzy Pop G2 Cantering Foal By Emily Miller	Achilles G2 Warmblood By Heather Wilkendorf

G2 Warmblood By LeeAnn Bachman	G2 Andalusian By Scrappy

G2 Clydesdale By LeeAnn Bachman	Galileo G2 Stock Horse By Heather Wilkendorf

G2 American Saddlebred By Scrappy	Twilight Cookie G2 Warmblood By Billie Campbell

G2 Paso Fino By LeeAnn Bachman	G2 Rearing Arabian By Scrappy

Romeo G2 Andalusian By Horsing Around-England	Vertical Horizon G2 Mule By Unknown

G2 Andalusian By Scrappy	Greek Upon the Stars G2 Warmblood By Kim Swanson

G2 Shetland Pony By Scrappy	Allejandro III G2 Andalusian By M. Hildebrandt

G2 Stock Horse By Scrappy	Me and My Monkey G2 Shetland Pony By Heather Wilkendorf

Monkey Butter G2 Shetland Pony By Heather Wilkendorf	G2 Stock Horse By LeeAnn Bachman

G2 American Saddlebred By Scrappy	G2 Shetland Pony By Scrappy

Out of the Box G2 Thoroughbred By Bev Manderfeld	G2 Rearing Arabian By Scrappy

G2 Warmblood By LeeAnn Bachman	Monkey in the Moon G2 Shetland Pony By Heather Wilkendorf

G2 Paso Fino By Scrappy	G2 Prancing Morgan By LeeAnn Bachman

MV Suprise Dream G2 Frolicking Foal By Mel Miller

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Many thanks to Emily Miller, Scrappy, Annmarie Pottrell, LeeAnn Bachman of Misty Star Studios, and Tess Carson for providing pictures for this post!

Birthday Week - Footnotes: Modern (2010 & newer) Customs

New techiniques and sculpting materials, and changing style trends keep the Custom scene in a constant state of evolution.

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Birthday Week - Footnotes: Almost Vintage (2000-2010) G1 Customs

Use of tools such as heat guns and air-brushes, and materials such as masking tape, pastels, and coloured pencils, and improvements in sculpting materials led to a substantial leap in the quality of finish work and detail possible.

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Footnotes: Vintage (Pre-2000) Customs

While not Original Finish Breyer releases, customized models have a place in the Stablemate history. The availability of new molds and changing customization techniques keep the Live Show Custom divisions in a state of evolution.

In the early years of the hobby collectors were just beginning to experiment with the media. Oil, acrylic, spray paint, poster paint, wood filler, plumber's epoxy, mohair, synthetic hair, string, and hair from a range of other animals were often the materials of choice. Repositioning was frequently accomplished with hot water or a hair dryer. Some of the early efforts appear quite crude to us now, but were highly successful show horses in their time. If you are a fan of vintage customs, check out the Vintage Model Horse Cust Group on Facebook.

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Birthday Week - Footnotes: I Can't Believe It's Not a Test Run - Custom Breyer Look-Alikes

There are some incredibly fun and creative customs out there, some of my favourites are the Breyer-style look-alikes. Dorothy Graham has created some lovely custom Stablemate-scale decorators and other iconic vintage Breyer colours.