Breyers have left the factory with unpainted eyes, missing details, or oddities in their Finishwork. Some collectors delight in the variation of such finds. I’ve had several factory “raw” or unpainted models, a couple pieces with random paint spray tests, and other unique stories. This little
gal remained with me as an example but also because she is a great memory of a year I went to BF on a major shoestring budget (ah, college years and getting started!). I really couldn’t afford extravagances beyond the planned celebration model so kept my wishlist simple - low cost and tiny items. She was the interesting little oddity I found for a few bucks in room sales. Her rescue made my trip! My main focus was fun with friends and a getaway, which is really what BreyerFest is (or should be!) all about. I remember the tiny pleasures of that trip vividly - humor/traveling with friends and the smell of the gas station. The coolness of a lemon ice on my tongue in the hot covered arena.
April Fool!
All that story and memory! THIS is what we love about models and our hobby friends and journey!
Perhaps it is me who is different or odd in that regard. I have a tape-masked model and models with unground seams, and the poor little horses with unpainted eyes, hooves, mane/tail, lack of shading or other flaw can still be perfect. Perfect in that they are interesting and special uniques. In their own right, the culls and oops models have stories behind them. If only they could tell us how they managed to escape the factory and quality control!
None of us is a finished work. We all have flaws. We all have a story to tell and memories. THIS is why certain models speak to us in that state. What stories “behind the model” do YOU have?
I hope another BF will be in my near future. I like to think I could still have fun despite STILL being on a small budget! I tend to keep collecting goals very specific these days, but tiny, weird finds are always a treasure!
I know that little foal! :D And I love how you connected unfinished/cull models to ourselves. Brilliant. I hope you make it to BreyerFest. :)
ReplyDeleteMy collection is small, but I already have one interesting oddity: my Cortes "C" lacks his eye whites. I noticed that only after I realised that everyone else's models had them. It makes my model's expression very different, and it is okay to me since I like to have unique OF models.
ReplyDeleteI have written about these in a blog, too: https://thousandlakesmodels.blogspot.com/2019/02/factory-weirdnesses.html