New Arrivals: Brass Hat, Churchill and Palomino Splash Dark Horse

Good evening, readers! I have more new arrivals to go over, and I finally got a chance to put them into my photo tent! Today I'll be covering Brass Hat (Celebration model), Churchill (Volunteer model) and the Palomino Splash Pinto Dark Horse Surprise. Let's start with Brass Hat!

I was pleasantly surprised with this year's crop of Celebration Models. After last year's Nazruddin trainwreck, I was prepared to find flaws with all 9 of my Brass Hats, but fortunately I didn't really find problems with any of them. Maybe if I took them out of their boxes and went over them with a fine-tooth comb I'd find flaws, but the quality this year was a huge improvement over last year.

One of the things I noticed about the Brass Hats is that they have a hint of a blue shimmer to their color, which is certainly interesting. I wouldn't describe the real Brass Hat as having a bluish look to him, but maybe Breyer was trying to make him look ~special~. In any case, he certainly stands out. I'm still sore about not winning a glossy one, though.

Moving on, let's take a look at Churchill!

My greatest fear, since returning to the hobby in 2010, has been that Othello would be the volunteer model in a year I wasn't volunteering, since there's no way I would want or be able to pay the asking prices for him. So I feel very fortunate that I was asked to volunteer last-minute this year, because after seeing his secondary market prices...yikes! It wasn't just a stroll through the park to earn him, though - this year was definitely the hardest I've ever had to work for a volunteer model. He's mine, he's beautiful, and soon he'll be able to take his place on the shelf next to his brothers.

Some readers may recall that it took us until Saturday to find out the volunteer model this year, when we usually find out on Friday after they're distributed to live show volunteers. The story from Breyer is that they forgot the volunteer models in Jersey (!) and had to have them overnighted to Kentucky. Oops! I bet that little oversight cost them a few arms and/or legs. These guys were definitely worth the wait, though.

Lastly, here's the Palomino Splash Dark Horse Surprise!



This guy is definitely one of my favorite of this year's surprise colors, possibly because of his slightly-pearly mane and tail. I love his darker shading and his pinto pattern - I don't think splash has been used for a surprise model before. One nitpick I did have is that his dapples are evenly distributed all over his body, including over his topline, which just looks weird. I think it's because the dapples are so identical to each other - the chicken-wire effect strikes again. Better luck next time, I guess!

I'll stop here for today, but tune in next time for more new arrivals!