Remove the tail. Cut the tail hair about 1/2 inch from the body of the horse and reserve the hair. The tails are anchored in a couple of ways. Either the tail hair is sewn onto a rubber donut with the flange of the donut inside the body, or the tail made up of long strands of hair folded in half and looped around one of the internal supports before the model is glued together. With a pair of pliers, start pulling hunks of hair out. If the tail is anchored with a donut, it will eventually pull out. If the tail is looped around a support, eventually a rubber band will become visible. Cut this. The balance of the tail hair will be very easy to remove. Remove the mane. Manes are usually sew on a long strip of plastic that is anchored to internal struts inside the body. Start at one end of the mane and pull until a piece of plastic shows. Grab the plastic and pull. It should rip away from the internal supports and come out. Trim all the seam, re-glue if there are gaps.

Insert tail wire. Method #1: 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. You may need to enlarge the tail hole. This can be patched once the wire is in place. 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. Method #2: Make several L shaped pieces of wire. Insert several wires into the tail hole, the short leg of the L inside the model and glue into place. Any fast acting glue will work. Twist the wires, and for additional support wrap another length of wire around the base of the tail on the outside. This will help anchor the wires in place. Once the tail wire is in place, use epoxy or bondo to fill in the hole.

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.

Wrap the wire of the tail with tape. Florist tape, or duct tape will both work. Masking tape doesn't hold up very well, the tape needs to be flexable and tough. Make sure that the tape tapers smoothly from the base of the tail to the tip. It should be just about as long as the horses head. This tail is wrapped with two colors of duct tape, white, to match the base color of the horse, and the tail is marked with irregular pieces of black duct tape. This is to provide a guide for adding the tail hair.

Start with a bundles of hair about 1/8" in diameter and that reach from the tail the table top. Start at the tip of the tail, and glue the hair completely around the tip. Try 6000 craft glue, it has the advantage of being a thick gel that will stay in place, set quickly, and dries clear and flexable. The glue can be placed on the tail, and a bundle of hair can be pressed firmly into the glue, or dip the bundle of hair in glue, saturating the end, then press the glued hair on to the tail.

Work up the tail, adding layers as you go. Horses with multi colored tails can be created by alternating layers of colored hair. The appaloosa tail has alternating black, white, and medium gray hair.

At the top, glue the last bundle of hair to the top of the base of the tail. Once all the hair has been added to the tail, let the glue set. Once the glue has set, use a small brush and comb out all the loose hair.

Use the same technique to create the mane. Start at the base of the neck, and work up the horses neck toward the ears. Try using bundles of hair that have about 1/8"-1/4" of one end dipped in glue. Smooth the glued end just over the top of the neck, with the hair falling to one side. Stop at the top of the neck between the ears. Reverse direction with the next bundle, and create the forlock by glueing the bundle between the ears with the loose hair over the forehead.

Let all the glue dry before trimming the mane & tail. The picture to the right is the before, the left after trimming.

Body Basics
Step 1: Fill in leg hollows
Step 2: Mane & Tail
Step 3: Neck Groove
Step 4: Sanding
Step 5: Head Sculpting: Dallas
Step 5: Head Sculpting: Khan
Step 6: Head Detail
Step 7: Eyes

Gray Samurai Horse
Step 0: Shades of Gray Horses
Step 5: Primer
Step 6: Top coat of Paint
Step 7: Final details
Step 8: Mane & Tail Hair

Appaloosa Horses
Step 0: Appaloosa Coat Patterns
Step 5: Primer
Step 6: Top coat of Paint
Step 7: Final details
Step 8: Mane & Tail Hair

Pintos & Paint Horses
Step 0: Pinto & Paint Coat Patterns
Step 5: Primer
Step 6: Top coat of Paint
Step 7: Final details
Step 8: Mane & Tail Hair

Bay & Brown Horses
Step 0: Bay & Brown Horses
Step 5: Primer
Step 6: Top coat of Paint
Step 7: Final details
Step 8: Mane & Tail Hair

If you would like to be added to any of our electronic newsletter mailing lists? Just contact Firebird at our e-mail address: e-mail: firebird@firebirdarts.com.
Please mention which mailing list you would like to join, as we have Fantasy and SF, Celtic, Filk, Native American, Mercedes Lackey and Guy & Dolls lists.