Research struggles

With the near completion of one project (Stonewall Lee), I am preparing to do the research portion for another project. For being a mess up on base coloring, he is turning out gorgeous, almost like a steel gray snowflake appaloosa. Speaking of appaloosas, I have decided that will be my next project. I finally succumbed and bought a stablemate sized artist resin mare that is rolling blissfully on her back. I fell in love with her at first sight and decided that I was going to get her.

 

I might be a fool for horses that aren't the kind you would put in a winner's arena setting.

As soon as I saw her, I immediately pictured her as a leopard appaloosa. Simple enough on the basic end, white horse with spots like a dalmatian. That would be the case if I was making a doodle of a leopard appaloosa, but I want to do it right, mottled skin and all. It wasn't hard to gather reference pictures for the eyes, hooves, genitalia, and muzzle, but there one big gaping detail I'm struggling with that is out in the open on this beauty. Her belly. I know the hair is thin on parts of the belly, so pinking and mottling will show through, but I can't remember exactly where, and Google is acting like a stubborn critter about my search terms. At least it hasn't given me anything traumatizing like when I've looked for other things in the image search, I actually got lucky and found an adorable find!

 

Behold the mythical "Cataloosa"

Of course before I would go slopping paint on an artist resin with a pattern I've never done, I need a test pony. Thank god that I have a body box of beaten up models I've acquired in multiple horse lots on eBay, so I have a few to pick from. My victim of choice is a little bit/paddock pal quarter horse that was painted a yellow brown. When I removed the paint from him and his little buddies soon after I acquired them with a method I used many times before, something......strange happened. Unlike other times, I used a cheap oven cleaner which seemed to cause a very acidic reaction against the plastic; and took off not only the paint, but it dissolved the top layer of plastic in some places into a gel like mess. I managed to rescue them and clean them before too much damage was done while cussing and muttering and wondering if the cheap crap had acetone or something in it. Here I am, pulling him (well, her, his manhood was a victim of the death slime) out of the body box, and I'm debating on bathing it, it still smells like the lemon scented oven cleaner from eight months ago. If you ever decide to do the oven cleaner in a baggie method to remove acrylic paint from a Breyer, I advise using a brand name oven cleaner instead of the bargain brand stuff at the corner store, it will save you a night of wanting to rampage through a basement apartment and go upstairs to ask your landlord for a cigarette although you are trying to break the habit. I have determined that once I lightly sand down the rough edges around the resulting slime craters and put a gesso layer on him (her!) then it will be safe to practice some mottling.