Yesterday, a belated birthday present arrived in the post, courtesy of my dear hubby -- the long-awaited Mr.Z British Shire horse, model no. 005. I've been drooling over this guy from afar for over a year now, and I'm delighted that he's finally here! 
Some basic info on the figure -- this particular model is based on a 'British Shire Horse' according to Mr. Z, and the sculpt/mold is actually a fairly decent depiction of a Shire stallion [see comparison pic below]. This is refreshing, as some of their other equine models do not necessarily look like the breed they claim to be. While the Shire horse breed may be too large for many historical 'bashes, it works well for a fantasy warhorse, or even as a contemporary riding horse.
There are five coat colours offered: bay w/ white markings, black w/ white markings, grey, palomino, and solid black, and these are a bit of a mixed bag in terms of 'accuracy' -- the three which are the most accurate to the breed are the bay, grey, and the black with the white markings. The solid black and palomino are not likely to be seen in a purebred adult Shire horse, though could potentially occur in other types of draft horse crosses. For those concerned with realism, I'd therefore recommend the bay, black w/white, or the grey.
Despite this, I actually wanted a model in the solid black coat colour, because I'm hoping to use it for a diorama of a scene from a fantasy series which will feature some future planned custom figures. This version of the Mr.Z Shire fits the character's horse perfectly, so the minute I saw him I knew I had to have him.
Our new house is still in a bit of a state, but I managed to take a few quick pics with my phone this morning and thought I'd share. (Please excuse the extremely makeshift backdrop, it's all I had available atm. For scale reference, that is a very large canvas print in the background, sitting atop my drawing table. The horse takes up almost the entire drawing table.)
Overall, my first impressions are positive -- I'm mainly just relieved that a) I finally have it, and b) that it arrived in one piece. So far I've only really just unboxed it in order to check the condition -- and thankfully, no major breaks or scratches, just one a tiny nick at the bottom of one of the hooves, and a few very minor areas of paint rub on the shoulder area. These don't bother me too much, as they are barely noticeable even in RL let alone in photos.
One of my favourite things about this horse (and all the Mr.Z horses) is the way the light hits the sculpted coat 'hairs'...as seen in previous reviews on this forum, it lends the figure a very eye-catching and realistic sheen, both in-hand and in photos. The head is nicely shaped with expressive brown eyes (which look somewhat reddish in certain lighting, giving him an almost dragon-like appearance), and a lovely 'Roman nose'. The head sculpt is only slightly brought down by the permanently open mouth, but once he is wearing a bridle with a bit, this won't be too much of an issue.
I suppose one could nitpick and say that the hairs on the mane, tail, and feathers could have been a little more finely sculpted, but personally I don't mind them the way they are. Since I grew up collecting Breyer horses, I'm accustomed to model horses with very obviously sculpted manes and tails. Imo, the only way to have made the mane and tail look less sculptural and more 'realistic' would be to have used 'real' hair/natural fibres of some sort, which they chose not to do in this case, no doubt due to the action pose of the figure.
Since I haven't removed the saddle and bridle from their packaging yet, I don't have any pics of those. I'm not sure if I will be using those at all, or if I will wait until I either kitbash, create, or commission custom tack for the eventual diorama.
Apologies that I likewise do not yet have examples of this horse in comparison to 1/6 figures -- all my figures are still packed away in their boxes from the house move. As soon as I'm able I'll get some of those out (as well as some of my other model horses in different scales) and take more pics to give a better idea of size. My own impression is that the horse is not *as* crazy-huge as what I was expecting (not a bad thing), but he is very solid and EXTREMELY heavy!! I actually struggled to carry this behemoth up and down the stairs by myself. O.o
If anyone else is looking for one of these, they were sold out for a few months but now a handful of sellers on both ebay and Aliexpress have gotten more in stock, so now's your chance.
That's all for now, but I will try to post more pics soon.
Some basic info on the figure -- this particular model is based on a 'British Shire Horse' according to Mr. Z, and the sculpt/mold is actually a fairly decent depiction of a Shire stallion [see comparison pic below]. This is refreshing, as some of their other equine models do not necessarily look like the breed they claim to be. While the Shire horse breed may be too large for many historical 'bashes, it works well for a fantasy warhorse, or even as a contemporary riding horse.
There are five coat colours offered: bay w/ white markings, black w/ white markings, grey, palomino, and solid black, and these are a bit of a mixed bag in terms of 'accuracy' -- the three which are the most accurate to the breed are the bay, grey, and the black with the white markings. The solid black and palomino are not likely to be seen in a purebred adult Shire horse, though could potentially occur in other types of draft horse crosses. For those concerned with realism, I'd therefore recommend the bay, black w/white, or the grey.
Despite this, I actually wanted a model in the solid black coat colour, because I'm hoping to use it for a diorama of a scene from a fantasy series which will feature some future planned custom figures. This version of the Mr.Z Shire fits the character's horse perfectly, so the minute I saw him I knew I had to have him.
Our new house is still in a bit of a state, but I managed to take a few quick pics with my phone this morning and thought I'd share. (Please excuse the extremely makeshift backdrop, it's all I had available atm. For scale reference, that is a very large canvas print in the background, sitting atop my drawing table. The horse takes up almost the entire drawing table.)
Overall, my first impressions are positive -- I'm mainly just relieved that a) I finally have it, and b) that it arrived in one piece. So far I've only really just unboxed it in order to check the condition -- and thankfully, no major breaks or scratches, just one a tiny nick at the bottom of one of the hooves, and a few very minor areas of paint rub on the shoulder area. These don't bother me too much, as they are barely noticeable even in RL let alone in photos.
One of my favourite things about this horse (and all the Mr.Z horses) is the way the light hits the sculpted coat 'hairs'...as seen in previous reviews on this forum, it lends the figure a very eye-catching and realistic sheen, both in-hand and in photos. The head is nicely shaped with expressive brown eyes (which look somewhat reddish in certain lighting, giving him an almost dragon-like appearance), and a lovely 'Roman nose'. The head sculpt is only slightly brought down by the permanently open mouth, but once he is wearing a bridle with a bit, this won't be too much of an issue.
I suppose one could nitpick and say that the hairs on the mane, tail, and feathers could have been a little more finely sculpted, but personally I don't mind them the way they are. Since I grew up collecting Breyer horses, I'm accustomed to model horses with very obviously sculpted manes and tails. Imo, the only way to have made the mane and tail look less sculptural and more 'realistic' would be to have used 'real' hair/natural fibres of some sort, which they chose not to do in this case, no doubt due to the action pose of the figure.
Since I haven't removed the saddle and bridle from their packaging yet, I don't have any pics of those. I'm not sure if I will be using those at all, or if I will wait until I either kitbash, create, or commission custom tack for the eventual diorama.
Apologies that I likewise do not yet have examples of this horse in comparison to 1/6 figures -- all my figures are still packed away in their boxes from the house move. As soon as I'm able I'll get some of those out (as well as some of my other model horses in different scales) and take more pics to give a better idea of size. My own impression is that the horse is not *as* crazy-huge as what I was expecting (not a bad thing), but he is very solid and EXTREMELY heavy!! I actually struggled to carry this behemoth up and down the stairs by myself. O.o
If anyone else is looking for one of these, they were sold out for a few months but now a handful of sellers on both ebay and Aliexpress have gotten more in stock, so now's your chance.
That's all for now, but I will try to post more pics soon.
Thanks for sharing 
