Mr Z Yili horse in hand mini review. - Picture heavy

Thanks for the Info Sky, I'm glad you managed to find a good picture, especially showing the neck. I'm at present looking to redo the Bridle, and reins which is the only bit of its tack I don't really like although I do wish the saddle didn't have a 'running' stirrup.

I have found this website

https://www.riorondo.com/

Which sells an interesting array of buckles and fittings even if for smaller scales.

I could do with some help with style, I'm thinking English style with brow and nose band but open to suggestions but that is only because that's what I'm used to riding with. Any help would be appreciated.

Overall I do like this horse I wish I had a paddock where I could keep one in Real Life although it would have to be as tall

Susanna

I'm glad the pic is helpful -- they seem to be quite nice looking horses. But I've been rather fascinated with both steppe horses and Russian breeds lately, so it's no wonder I'm kinda partial to them, as they are a blend of both. 

And ooh, that's an excellent find on the saddle-making kits!! I will definitely be looking into those! Especially since most of the tack I want at this point is just really simple stuff, it shouldn't be too difficult to put them together and weather them a little bit to get the desired effect. 

I understand wanting to alter the bridle, as it seems to be oddly constructed and sits a bit too low on the brow and nose for my tastes. Most of my riding experience is in English -- both Hunt seat and Dressage -- though I do have a little experience in Western, as well as basic mounted combat. Haven't ridden regularly in years, so my memory might be a lil fuzzy, but I can try. :') 

Regarding the style of the bridle, are you wanting it to be English style while still 'matching' the current saddle?

Hi Sky, yes I want it to match the saddle and I think English would be best as some of the American / cavalry styles look a little complicated. I do however like the idea of using miniature buckles and hooks I love that sort of thing rather than 'cheating' by using say false buckles and glue or Velcro.

I also want to replace the reins I'm thinking of using their 3/32" lace which equates to just over 1/2" in1:1 what do you think?

I have never ridden western style although I want to go to Spain for a week to ride Andalusian horses.

I'm intrigued by the mounted combat btw

Riding Andalusians in Spain sounds heavenly! <3 

The thickness of the reins sounds like it should be ok. I'm trying to look on the page you sent, but it's a little bit confusing. I thought there were more options for 1/6, but other than the cavalry type action man stuff, it seems mainly Traditional and Classic Breyer scales. 

I'm not sure where one would get appropriately-scaled buckles for use on an English bridle, though I have seen some things like English style stirrups for sale on Ebay. On an English bridle, you could get away with just constructing your own buckles out of thin wire, as the buckles on 1:1 English bridles tend to be rather small and unobtrusive. Just really small belt buckles, essentially. But yeah, the only metal pieces you'd need to worry about would be the various buckles and of course the bit. 

I came across this youtube video about putting a 1:1 bridle back together after taking it apart for cleaning. Maybe helpful for 1/6 projects?

Without in any way wishing to deprecate the Yili horses, I do prefer the Hanoverians -- in part because of the absence of ripple folds (which seem a little too prominent for the pose, according to what has been posted), and more so because they are indeed smaller, which helps integrate them better with most most historical figures. I think there is wide consensus that 1/6 horses are usually oversized.

I think the Hanoverian models are nice [and I'm probably going to get one myself!], and I agree that from a historical perspective their size as a riding mount is preferable. I have no practical reason for preferring the Yili, it's just purely personal preference. Neither horse model is, imo, completely accurate as a representation of the breeds they are supposed to be --- but they are both a big improvement on the typical generic 1/6 horses we've seen in the past, which usually have heads and poses that are not even recognizable as that of a real horse to me. So, I'm not really complaining about either, just lamenting that I missed out on the Yili, since if I'd had to choose between the two, that would have been my first choice. Ideally, I would have liked to have all the Mr. Z horses. ;D 

Overall, I'm super glad that all these Mr.Z figures exist...especially since I would like to think they've raised the bar for 'mass produced' 1/6 horses quite a bit. Gives me hope that there will be more like them, eventually.

Well, I’m interested in seeing what a figure (particularly male) looks like on both of these horses. While it may be more realistic, I’m a little concerned that the Hanoverians will look like a grown man riding a pony; much like the 1/6 scale motorcycle issue — where it’s too small. There’s a reason why the movies tend to use taller, and often larger, breeds — it looks more natural under a grown 6’ tall man, and it’s more bad-ass. So, I’m definitely looking forward to seeing side by side (if possible) comparisons.

I think a man and/or male figure can ride a smaller horse and not look ‘ridiculous’, but it tends to require a mount that is stockier or which has a wide ‘barrel’ —aka, wider back that takes up more leg.

Thanks for showing, great Pictures ! Ah, i love Mr. Z Figures. The Sculpts are so fantastic, i think we will forgive the creasing at the neck. If You are not happy with the size of sue next to the Horse, maybe a figure with a new plump body will fit better ?

I have just sent my order off to RioRondo (see link above) for the leather lace and miniature buckles to make a new Bridal They have some interesting stuff there including etched and cast buckles and ends for straps/ belts It will be interesting to see how much I get caught for in addition to the $15 postage though

Sounds cool. Looking forward to seeing what you make.

Good luck with the bridle construction, Delanie!

Here are the two Mr. Z horses together with riders. I think just putting the bigger figure on the bigger horse looks fine. I also think you have to just forget about what breed the horses are called and consider them generic, as they are hopelessly inaccurate as to size.
Jean

Wow the difference in size seems quite obvious in these photos. Thank you for posting, Jean Ross.

Wow! Holy cow that is a noticeable difference. Thanks for that.

MAN.... Now I really want one of those Yili's. Crap! They are ridiculously expensive. Mr. Z needs to make more of those.

Has anyone got any contacts with mr Z to politely suggest that making more would be a good idea?

I love the Western saddle and bridle in those pictures and I agree that the 'breed' label is totally in accurate with their horses

Stryker — I feel your pain about the Yili’s. I couldn’t believe my eyes when they literally started disappearing overnight, ugh. I really hope they will make more like it as well. Even a similar sized but slightly different model would be still be appreciated.

And Jean Ross, I totally agree that it’s best to view them both as generic horses at this point. Thanks for the pics — I love your custom work!

Delanie — yeah, hopefully we can get a message to them somehow. After all, I think another batch would sell extremely well.

Fantastic Pictures , Jean Ross ! You should show us more of Your Work I´m a little confused now, may i ask for the label of the big and the short one ?

Ephiane -- the taller horse is the Mr.Z Yili horse, which Delanie has reviewed above in this thread. The shorter horse is the Mr.Z Hanoverian horse, which GF just reviewed in a separate thread. 

Hope that helps! : )

Delanie wrote:Has anyone got any contacts with mr Z to politely suggest that making more would be a good idea?

I love the Western saddle and bridle in those pictures and I agree that the 'breed' label is totally in accurate with their horses

I did a lengthy search for them last night (Mr. Z, that is). They don’t even have a social media presence that I could see. I wonder if contacting our local retailers, and the Asian retailers, that carry them, and asking them to get in touch with the manufacturer would work...? The only ones left of the Yili are the cream-colored ones on eBay, and they want $278.99 USD for those — and I’m guessing it’s because it’s not really anyone’s favorite color.

Ephiane wrote:Fantastic Pictures , Jean Ross ! You should show us more of Your Work    I´m a little confused now, may i ask for the label of the big and the short one ?

As I have finally figured out how to load pictures, I can participate more. I have attempted about a dozen times since I joined this forum, and couldn't upload a picture to save my life!
Jean

Jean Ross wrote:

Ephiane wrote:Fantastic Pictures , Jean Ross ! You should show us more of Your Work    I´m a little confused now, may i ask for the label of the big and the short one ?

As I have finally figured out how to load pictures, I can participate more. I have attempted about a dozen times since I joined this forum, and couldn't upload a picture to save my life!
Jean

Sorry to hear you were having such trouble. In the future feel free to contact one of the mods, as we can help you. There’s also this link:

https://onesixthfigures.forumotion.com/t169-recommended-image-posting-procedure

Stryker2011 wrote:Sorry to hear you were having such trouble. In the future feel free to contact one of the mods, as we can help you. There’s also this link:

https://onesixthfigures.forumotion.com/t169-recommended-image-posting-procedure

Or check out the How to...? thread at this link:

https://onesixthfigures.forumotion.com/t1767-how-to

Glad to see you around, Jean Ross — your contributions here are greatly appreciated!

Thanks to Delanie for the review and everyone for the discussion. I do feel that this Yili horse is the best one yet offered : it really is a convincing looking model. I can see the appeal of the "Hanoverian" as a smaller animal, but the stance doesn't really convince me, I'm sorry to say.
The problem is finding one.
I had bookmarked a Yili some months back on a German dealer, only to find that they disappeared before I got the chance to buy one ! And Machinegun, who have them listed on Preview,still don't seem to have any in stock yet.
Perhaps there will be another batch appearing soon, we can only hope.
It looks perfect for a European cavalry mount, where 16h was nothing unusual, though smaller animals were rather more common.
BTW , if anyone needs metal military style stirrups and bits,for making their own saddlery, I can often help out from my stock.

Thanks Tony,

I bought mine from machinegun, the don't have a pre order policy was notified by the wishlist system about the grey when they had them in but by the time i got home from work to log in it had gone (didn't have password for my account with me duh and no time to go and change it while at work) so took it with me the next day and the next and the next until they had un packed the chestnut.

I'm hoping they will get more I suspect from the box they shipped mine in that they only had 3 delivered.


I wont be holding my breath1 i might email Pierre to see if they have more on order

Tony Barton wrote:Thanks to Delanie for the review and everyone for the discussion. I do feel that this Yili horse is the best one yet offered : it really is a convincing looking model. I can see the appeal of the "Hanoverian" as a smaller animal, but the stance doesn't really convince me, I'm sorry to say.
The problem is finding one.
I had bookmarked a Yili some months back on a German dealer, only to find that they disappeared before I got the chance to buy one ! And Machinegun, who have them listed on Preview,still don't seem to have any in stock yet.
Perhaps there will be another batch appearing soon, we can only hope.
It looks perfect for a European cavalry mount, where 16h was nothing unusual, though smaller animals were rather more common.
BTW , if anyone needs metal military style stirrups and bits,for making their own saddlery,  I can often help out from my stock.

Glad I'm not crazy for thinking the Yili is the more convincing model. I agree with you completely, re: the stance -- that is one of the things that bothers me about the 'Hanoverian' horse. It's much better than some of the other offerings out there, but the front leg position irks me. Horse don't bend their knees like that or have their front leg so forward when standing still, and it doesn't suggest any particular gait either. But I was trying not to nitpick it too much, lol.  I sometimes suspect they make these awkward stances on these models in order to make them more 'stable', as in, not so easily knocked over or something. But it does make it seem 'off' to one who is familiar with how real horses move ...or stand still, in this case. ;P 

Thanks for the offer of the stirrups and bits... I'm not currently doing any military stuff like that, but if you have  anything that was appropriate for British WWI cavalry [c. 1914-1916], I might be interested later on down the road. 

And Delanie, I also noticed that Machinegun or however you spell it says they have some Yili's on 'pre order', but I have had no response from them when enquiring about if or when they ever will be in stock. Guess we'll just have to wait and see, but knowing my luck I will probably miss out even if they do come back in stock there, sigh. Do let us know what you find out though.

Very impressive, it's nice to see a company delivering on what they promise in promos.

CHEERS!

Man, what I wouldn’t give to get one of these horses today.