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| Miffits: Fixed, prepped, primed, and ready to go home. |
I received an email a while back from a woman who wanted her running mare repaired. She had tried to make the repair herself, but was unhappy with the result. I gave her a quote based on the photos she sent me for a new leg on the mare. She decided to proceed, but it was some time before she was able to mail the mare to me.
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| Miffits before |
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| Miffits other side- before |
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| The leg that was being replaced. |
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| Other side of the leg that was being replaced. |
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| The tail that ended up getting replaced too. |
When I received Miffits, I immediately removed the old leg. While most of the leg popped off easily, the epoxy on the top of the leg remained and had to be ground off with a dremmel. Around the same time I bought a model on eBay that needed stripping and I was experimenting with Simple Green. The Simple Green was taking off some of the epoxy clay along with the paint, so I inquired with Miffits owner whether she intended to keep the horses paint job or would like the horse stripped. She gave the go ahead and I set about trying to strip the mare.
Some of the epoxy clay came off with the paint and the epoxy tail came off as well, so now Miffits needed a new tail as well. Plus once the paint was removed I discovered there were chunks out of her finish as if something had chewed on her.
I sculpted a new leg and tail and set about sanding, sanding, and more sanding (plus a bit of filling too). When she seemed to be getting there, I sprayed with primer then did more sanding. Some of the seams on these older models are so big!
Eventually Miffits got to where I was happy with her (though I think I could prep a horse forever and never be completely satisfied with the finish). Her owner was very happy to receive her back along with another running mare that I had who needed a home. I got paid for the leg plus the owner gave me a couple models to compensate me for the extra work and the extra running mare.
I am looking forward to seeing how Miffits looks when she gets a new coat of paint. She turned into a much bigger job than I originally thought she would be, but she taught me a lot while I worked on her. I really like fixing models.
