Cleaning Marked-Up Breyer Horses

We all get nervous when cleaning models, but I've had great success removing marks.

I bought this Proud Arab Stallion on eBay.  Look at his sad little frown!  He'd had some adventures, for sure.  He had black and brown marks all over him, but no rubs, so I knew he'd make a great addition to my herd after he got a nice spa day. 

Here's how I cleaned him:  I rubbed his marked areas with a liquid hand soap (I love this one, with natural ingredients - It takes off just about everything except Breyer paint! - but Dawn dish soap works almost as well).  I add a few drops of water to activate the soap and most importantly: Let him stand there, wearing his soap, for at least three minutes.  Patience is the key - The soap has to have time to work.  If you try to remove the marks before the soap has time to loosen them, you're more likely to damage the horse or not get the marks off.  If the soap starts to dry in that time, I add a bit more water and/or soap.  Then I simply use my thumbnail (sounds scary, right?  No polish, of course) very carefully and slowly on the marks, being careful to make very tiny scrapes to avoid touching any part of him I don't have to.

I do this super carefully, checking his color after each scrape to make sure the finish isn't being damaged.  I like to make sure I can feel the slipperiness of the soap under my nail.  When it stops feeling slippery, I add more.  If there's a stubborn mark, after I scrape it a bit, I re-apply soap and move to the next mark, to let the soap work on the new surface that my scraping has revealed - Sometimes you have to remove them layer by layer.  It's so satisfying to see a mark start to disappear!

With great care comes great results.  Somehow, he looks much happier and prouder!

This handsome boy is now completely mark-free!  He didn't receive any damage from his cleaning, and now would rate as Near Mint if he were going up for sale... but of course, he joins the "way too many, but still not enough" dapple grey PAS conga in my collection.   Oh, by the way, he's a matte basecoat chalky, which are known to be rather fragile, and this technique worked perfectly on him.  I've done the same on a basecoat chalky alabaster Rearing Stallion, as well as on non-chalky vintage models, with superb results. 

Note:  All models are different, as are model handlers.  Practice on a lower-value model before trying a pricey guy, so you get a feel for their finishes and how carefully you can work.  Also, sometimes there's a paint rub hiding under a mark... If they were banged with something hard enough to leave a mark, it could well have also removed the paint and covered it up with the new mark, so occasionally a rub may appear as you remove the mark, but it may not be your fault!  It's uncommon, but I wanted to make sure you knew it could be under there.  Your horse will still be happier to be clean and rid of those marks.