At the Ginger Horse model pony booth there was this thing waiting there in neat stacked pyramids of 3 on either side.
Cue angelic singing...
It's a Visible Horse. And anatomically accurate 1/6 scale model of a thoroughbred horse with the respiratory, digestive and skeletal system represented. And I have wanted one since I was 5. Yes I was a weird 5 year old into educational toys and TV shows. (Oh Discovery Channel, where have all your scientifically factual documentaries gone? Oh yah, bigfoot, truckers, ghosts, and aliens got to them. nvm...)
After mulling over it most of the day the Visible Horse was purchased before the vendor booths closed. Near 2 decades of material longing meant it was about darn time to give in to the desire of the clear plastic anatomical model pony. Plus it's a fake horse (read: virtual 'pwnie'. See what we did there? :P) and this will be a fully documented project.
After mulling over it most of the day the Visible Horse was purchased before the vendor booths closed. Near 2 decades of material longing meant it was about darn time to give in to the desire of the clear plastic anatomical model pony. Plus it's a fake horse (read: virtual 'pwnie'. See what we did there? :P) and this will be a fully documented project.
Hey a spleen!
So it was opened up and this is what you get.
Within the box is a bag of clear pony shell, a bag of pink innards, and a bag of bones. No need to call in the ASPCA for that last one in this case.
As you might have noticed the pink parts are not colored as in the image on the box. This is a horse version of a model airplane kit where assembly and at least some painting are part of the experience. Though some assembly required is a wee bit of an understatement for this project. However, like any good equestrian who has studied horse anatomy would do, the assembly instructions were immediately thrown aside. This is an awesome and complex 3D puzzle and it must be earned! Bwahaha!!! But if you do use the instructions (and honestly there is no shame in that) all of the parts are numbered with little tabs connected to them so you can keep track.
What did I do first? I found the skull bones ASAP! The skull is in 5 different pieces with the jaw/mandible split in 2, the pallet and 6 back molars are another piece, while the scalp and the rest of the skull are others.
And since it has prominent canine teeth, mazel tov it's a boy! Or one of those rare canine toothed mares.
The 2 jaw pieces did not fit so well after I tried connecting them, so I had to file down a mold divot so they fit closer.
For fun I found the tongue and saw how it fit. Anyone else getting disturbing flash backs to The Golden Compass bear fight?
The pallet did stay on when I added it, but there are gaps so some kind of filler is needed to make it look finished when I start really assembling. Mostly just having fun checking the whole thing out right now.
After having this much of the skull together I noticed that the area where the scalp went had a big ol' empty cavity.
And I was as happy as a freshly infected zombie to find myself a brain.
It fits perfectly in it's tiny skull home. They don't even show the brain anywhere on the box as part of the kit. It's just a really cool extra detail.
During a get-together Heather played with the bones, Christine played with the innards, I and fiddled with the crunchy plastic coating. Out of context that sounds like a night in a horror movie. But much anatomical geeking out was had over the details and structure of everything.
After I get myself a bottle of superglue, some model putty and paint I'll be sure have another post on this project :) Waaaaaay too happy that I finally got this thing.
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