Samurai, the term brings to mind fierce warriors with flashing swords bound by honor to lay down their lives for their sworn lord. Or the image of the Ronin, a outcast masterless Samurai searching for a cause--and dinner. Here's how to create a the faithful steed for your 1/6 scale Samurai warriors.
Related to the Mongolian Pony that carried Ghenghis Khan's Hordes across China and Europe, the Japanese horse is a small stocky tough horse with abundant hair in the mane & tail. Grey horses were common while horses born pure white were considered sacred, and the property of the emperor.

The basic steps that follow can be used on any of the large hollows plastic horses manufactured by Mattel, Disney, Formative or Marx. These are all made out of a hard plastic like styrene or a related plastic. These will not work on the cellulose acetate used to create Breyer & Stone horses. Materials Needed: Model horse Spray Primer, black, white & gray Spray Paint, black, white & gray Epoxy putty Sandpaper Black model paint like Testors Paint thinner Gray and white hair from a wig If you have trouble finding materials Firebird has used model horses and expoxy putty for sale.

Here's a Dallas model straight from the thrift store complete with chipped hooves, ratty mane & tail, and seams that gap. Dallas was the the most realistic model horse Mattel ever created. Dallas can be found lurking in thrift shops across the nation and makes a great Samurai Warhorse.

Horse Color Interlude Gray horses don't start gray but are born in standard horse colors, brown, black, chestnut. Over time, gray or white hair replaces the original horse color, going through a variety of color phases. Some develop pronounced dapples, others have tiny dark freckles, and some just turn a solid gray. Chestnut (red/brown) horses can turn gray with a pinkish undertone. Black and dark brown horses can develop a blue cast to their gray coats. As the horse ages, the coat becomes lighter as more and more of the colored hairs turn pure white. Aged gray horses can be completely white. Many horses have dark skins. On a gray horse, the black skin will show through where the hair is thin. Lips, eyes, inside the ears, underneath part of the tail, and around the genitals will show the dark skin.

Step 1) Remove mane & tail. Step 2) Trim all the seam, re-glue if there are gaps. Step 3) Insert tail wire. To do this make a long U shaped piece of wire with one leg longer than the other. Insert this into the hole left by removing the tail. Just inside the hole will be a cross piece that the original tail was anchored to. Hook the wire around this, then bring both ends out through the hole, twist together and trim. The trimmed tail wire should be about as long as the head of the horse.

Step 4) The Dallas model has large hollow spaces inside the hind legs. Fill in the hollow with a ball of aluminium foil, paper, Styrofoam or any other light material and glue into place. Any sort of glue that will stick to the plastic and filler material will do. Hot glue is fast, but any sort of craft adhesive will work. Once the filler is in place the hollow can be filled with epoxy. Or for the creatively frugal, fill the hollow with Bondo, then once the Bondo has set, spread a thin layer of epoxy over the base layers of bondo and foil. Bondo is automotive body filler, and comes in two parts, goo, and hardener. To use mix a small bit of hardner into the goo, mix well and use fast. The advantage of using Bondo is that when it is freshly mixed, it flows, and can be used to fill in small cracks and crevices. Look for it in the automotive section of any store that carries car parts. Bondo is cheap, a gallon can costs about $12.00, and sets up in about 10 minutes. It also is smelly, and somewhat toxic. Follow the directions for usage. Any of the epoxy resins will have a harder final surface, and will take a smoother final surface.

Step 5) The next step requires some minimal sculpting. There are several brands of epoxy putties on the market. Magic Sculpt, Apoxie, Martin Carbone putty. There is even plummers putty that sets up in about 3 minutes avaliable from your local hardware store. Which material is used is not important. The basic idea is to use the epoxy to create a layer of detail over the existing surface of the model. Add a thin layer of epoxy over the fill inside the legs. Keep this layer thin as epoxy is heavy and will change the center of gravity of the model if too much is used high on the body. This is the stage to add detail and fill in cracks, resculpt missing parts, or turn Dallas the mare into Dallas the stallion. The model in the picture to the right has the legs filled in, detail added to the bottom of the hooves, belly seams filled.

Step 6) Build up the area around the tail wire. A horse tail continues naturally from the base of the spine, and then tapers. Extend the epoxie about 1/4 inch down the wire. Leave most of the wire bare. Once the epoxy sets, wrap the wire with florist tape.

Step 7) Enlarge the groove down the neck for the mane. More detail about this later.

Step 8) Sand everything smooth. Start with a relatively coarse sandpaper, 150-200 grit, then down to 400. Final sanding can be done with sanding sponges. 3M makes several finishing grades. These are good for getting into the hard to reach places on the model.

Step 9) Apply primer to cover old paint, plastic and epoxie. This is regular primer that comes in a spray can, and can be found in any hardware or paint store. Primer comes in several colors, so try to find a primer that is close to the final color of the horse. This model is going to be a dark gray. Three color of primer were used, black for the legs and face, gray for the upper legs, and belly, and white for the body. Step 10) Apply several coats of primer, sanding with the finest grade of sandpaper between coats. There should be no gaps, bubbles, or cracks in the surface.

Step 11) Start applying the top coat. Again, regular spray paint from the hardware store works just fine. Colors used were black, white, and several shades of gray. Follow the color pattern of the primer. Legs and face should be the black, the body white, and the belly and junction of the legs should be painted gray. Once the base coats of the leg and body colors have been applied, dried and sanded lightly. Build up several coats of top coat sanding once the paint is dry between each layer.

Step 12) Now start layering on splatters of color. Apply just enough pressure to the can of spray paint so that the paint sputters out.

Step 13) Work back and forth laying down multiple layers and shades of gray and black. Take particular care in the areas where color changes. You may want to work back and forth several times where the dark legs join the lighter body color. The effect that is wanted is gradual shading, not a dipped in paint effect. Subtle shading can be added to the body and the head of the horse, by alternating shades of gray.

Here's the final paint job, complete with complex shading, leg color that gradually changes into the lighter body color, shading on the head, body and rump.

Step 14) Paint in the eyes with dark paint. Horses mostly have dark brown eyes. This horse has solid black eyes with no iris. The paint used is standard black Testor model paint. The hooves were also painted black at the same time. The final touch is a light wash of dilute black, this was used to even out the paint on the face, and to color the inside of the eyes and inside of the ears, and around the nose. If the horse has been turned into a stallion, darken the skin around the genitals. These are areas on a gray horse where the dark skin shows through the thin hair.

Step 15) After all the detailing has been done, finish the model by sealing everything with clear acrylic sealer. If a matte finish is desired, spray the entire model, then go back and touch up the eyes and nostrils hooves with gloss finish.

Hair for the Samurai Horse Here are two samples of wig wefting, both taken from fright wigs that were picked up at a thrift store after Halloween. Party supply stores also have inexpensive wigs all year long. Pick wigs with straight hair. Horses with a few exceptions have very straight hair. The hair on a wig is sewn on a ribbon which is called wefting, which is then sewn on to a mesh cap. Carefully cut several strands of wefting from the mesh of the wig cap. In keeping with the gray of the body, this horse is going to have a mane and tail of a mix of white and shades of gray.

Mane Measure from the base of the neck up the crest of neck, between the ears. Add about a quarter of an inch to the measurment. Cut several strand of wefting to this length, mixing white, gray and even black strand for a varigated mane. Hold the sewn ends of the wefting together, and using a needle & thread tightly sew the wefting together. For a stiff upright mane sew about 4-5 strands of wefting together. For a mane that lays down on the neck use two or three strands of wefting.

Tail Start at the end of the wire, (the end farthest away from the horse) and using a small amount of glue, wrap the wefting around the tail wire, working up the wire in a tight spiral. Change the color of the wefting, alternating layers of white and gray wefting. When the top of the wire nearest to the body of the horse has been reached, glue the end of the wefting down and let the glue set. Cut a small bundle of hair off the wefting mixing gray and white hairs in the bundle. Put a small amount of glue on the end of the wefting left exposed on the base of the tail wire. Press the ends of the mixed white and gray hair into the glue. Let dry. Add more hair if any of the wefting is left exposed.

Step 15) The mane has been inserted into the groove in the neck and glued in place. The tail hair has been glued to the painted model, but neither has been trimmed.

Final Image Here's the complete transformation. Dallas has been turned into a high stepping gray horse with a roached mane.

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