In-scale animal props?

Hi!

Yeah, I've collected 3 OG horses for my Minifee crew. But for 1/3 scale, I've been viewing creature art dolls on Youtube to try and see what I can do for an articulated posable wolf. I'd also suggest looking into Halloween props for crow or crow-like decorations.

So custom handmade art dolls might be your best bet for scaling to a 1/3 SD doll.

I think someone here in the project journal section was building a whole horse! (try looking up Hussar in the title somewhere, if my memory serves)

 

Agreeing with above! I needed a 1/3 scale wolf and ended up going with a custom made art doll by an artist on Etsy. She is about the same size as my (real) Chihuahua and absolutely terrifying (according to the Chihuahua).

 

I think this is the tread mentioned. Like TheBlueWazaga said, it's definitely worth a look! The author is very talented and you can follow the entire journey.

 

If you're into 1/3 horses, back in the day there was my twin doll which made a 67cm horse for their 22" line. It's more pony scale for the 65+cm. But it's decent.
My boy is 65cm
https://media.discordapp.net/attach...77437151731519549/20220525192401_IMG_3771.jpg

If you're into a bigger horse that's still findable in the us, there's playdate nokk at 80cm from a few years ago. Now that kids are out growing it, parents are trying to get rid of it. I found mine in the local fb marketplace for $20. Elsa is 59cm and link is 65cm. This one would require a bit more work in painting and modding the mane and tail to make it look "normal" but it's a start, or a perfect companion as is for SDGr Elsa.
https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/799347596069044306/1086129152647770132/20230316_222823.jpg

 

If you have a 3d printer or access to a printing service you could look at thingiverse for some free animal models, some of which are even ball jointed! They might just need a little resize to fit your doll exactly but its a good start if your able!

 

Our Generation (OG) dolls made some really great horses, some even having minor articulation in the legs! The doll in my PFP is from a TV show and partway through the show, the character had need to ride a horse several times, so I thought, wouldn't it be great to recreate his actual TV show horse? OG had a horse in just the right colour that also happened to have that minor articulation, and with a custom saddle to match the show and customizing his mane and tail, the horse turned out perfect! I'll likely get his eyes painted more realistically some day.

Here's the original OG horse with plastic hair and cheesy tack:


The show picture of 4th Prince Wang So on his horse:



My customized version with 4th Prince Wang So riding him:

 

I’m not sure what the brand was but my brother owns a large stuffed animal unicorn that I borrowed for a picture once.

It is slightly out of scale for a 1/3 doll (my DDS is 54.5 cm) but it’d probably work better for 40-50cm dolls.

I can take some pictures with size comparisons (MDD, DDP, DDS) when I have the chance!

 

Depending on what kinda animals you're after, Eve Studio Dolls offers their critters in a variety of sizes, and theyre jointed too!
Eve Studio Dolls

 

My Life As (Walmart) has a lot of great animals for the ¼ and smaller dolls. Horses, hamsters, fish, they even have some cute plush dogs and cats, and a great assortment of pet supplies. Also, I like that they are less expensive them American Girl.

For crow, there are a lot usually on sale around Halloween, or maybe try a party theme store. They have ones made with real feathers that look very life like. (These are ratty looking because my child got ahold of them, but it will give you an idea.)

IMG_5600 by Rabbid Bunnies, on Flickr

 

Duuuuude, respect!!! Lovely work! That custom horse came out amazing!

 

If you look on Cults3D they have a TON. Granted some cost a few dollars but it’s a lot cheaper way to start versus investing in an art doll. I love art dolls but I also love making my own props

 

Thanks so much! I bought the saddle and tack from someone who made saddles and tack for these dolls for horse enthusiasts. I showed her pics of the show horse and asked her to reproduce everything as while I did learn to ride Western style, I don't know all the kinds of tack horses can have. A friend made my doll's wig, so I asked if they'd help with the mane and tail and they said yes! It might've been my "vision" but it was a lot of other people's work, so they deserve all the credit.

You want to do a watch party together online? I love sharing this show. It's my most favourite!

I watched some videos on YouTube of people customizing these and they saw that there was something akin to a "banana clip" of hair stuffed down into a channel of the back of the neck. They didn't try to remove that plastic clip, they just shaved the hair to the neck and went from there. Well that left a strange looking job on the mane just glued to the back of the neck, so I actually looked deeply into the channel and investigated the clip, and found I could dig it out! This left a clear and clean channel! A dear friend of mine made the wig on the doll's head out of black yarn, so I asked if they'd be willing to try the mane and tail? They said yes, o we pulled the tail out, too! Gobs of glue down the channel and into the butt tail hole later, we had a very nice look! XD

 

The brand is Hansa!


Now that I've compared my dolls, I think DDS is too tall. DDP is also too tall but I think its somewhat passable. MDD looks the best out of the dolls I have but I think an even shorter doll would be better. I think the ideal scale for these horses is likely 1/4 dolls as 1/3 scale makes them look pretty small.

DDS (54.4 cm)



DDP (50 cm)




MDD (43.5 cm)