THE HORSE ODYSSY PART ONE!
Main Entry: Etymology: the Odyssey, epic poem attributed to Homer recounting the long wanderings of Odysseus
1 : a long wandering or voyage usually marked by many changes of fortune
2 : an intellectual or spiritual wandering or quest
This all started a while back when I sort of casually asked a friend this question:
"How hard would it be to get some horses and tack made from the Thunderbolt molds?".....
Well, here is your answer.... PRETTY HARD!!!! But worth it!
I am proud to show you our 2 day Odyssey to get them rounded up and back to my studio here in "The MACK" McMinnville...
SPRINGTIME 2008
I'm Stevo, the guy in the white shirt. With me is "Red" my beautiful best friend and wife, and just to be safe we brought with us an expert on this breed of horses, a wrangler named John.
1)Red, Stevo and John (John is the little fellow in brown) ready to roll out.....
2) With co-pilot John leaving McMinnville 5pm 3) night time in Cincinatti
4)-5)John in his hotel room in Ohio, about 2AM
6)Me exhausted after driving 11 hours 7)Red and John
8) ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ 9)mmmm chuck wagon coffee!!
10) getting the lay of the land 11) Saddle up... day 2, and running late, cold and rainy
12) entering The village of platic horses about 11:15am 13) Downtown
14) about 2/3 of the horses are in this..... 15) Plant manager Brian and the rest of the horses in open boxes..
16)My first look at the herd....
17) Somehow, its like meeting an old friend.... 18) Stevo , Brian, John and a horse in front of the warehouse
19) John rounds up some stragglers
20) John rounding up strays 21) Brian helping secure the load
22) Strays 23) LOADED UP!!! READY TO MAKE HISTORY!!!
24) Lunch at LJS day 2..... 25) Looks like it's going to come up a cloud...
26) Starting to rain in Ohio 27) Cincinnatti by day
28)Cinnci skyline.... John prefers the plains.. 29) bad weather rolling in....
30) Cinci scenery 31) I finally give out, Red takes over driving. I sleep a couple winks
Coffee stop.... Ohioans are apparently overly concerend with safety...
32) Kentucky... 2 pm TORNADO WARNING on radio!!!!!
34) Kentucky...Possible tornado, hail and rain... about 3pm
35) In the tornado about 4:00 pm 36)More storm
37) IT IS STILL DAYTIME!!!!! See bright sky to the West?
38) Pesky horse trying to graze on my Chicarrones!!!! We stopped in Nashville for supper after the weather, then onto Cookeville about 11 pm, where we spent the night and picked up the kids from the Grandparents... 39) John checks the load
40) more driving... John is on lookout.. 41) McMinnville COMING UP....
42) Back in the MACK!!! (Home of Dottie West the sign says..) 43) John unloading
44) Door to Door, 1300 miles, from 5 pm Friday to 12 noon Sunday
45) the first layer of horses!
46) 2nd layer almost done.... 47) last layer....
48) John and the fruits of our labor, a history making trail drive!!! THANKS JOHN!
49) The entire herd, awaiting gluing and painting!
about 10 of each character awaiting boxes (Shadows on left, right front row Whiskeys, right back row Monterey!)
10 more Monterey and 10 more Shadows.....
the first 30 (10 of each BOXED and almost ready to go!!
TOTALLY SURROUNDED!!!
The HORSE ODYSSEY
PART TWO!
Main Entry: Etymology: the Odyssey, epic poem attributed to Homer recounting the long wanderings of Odysseus
1 : a long wandering or voyage usually marked by many changes of fortune
2 : an intellectual or spiritual wandering or quest
SUMMER 2012 thru 2013
Back around 2008-2009 I did a run of 250 brown horses, I offered them with western tack and cavalry tack. For a couple of years I have been trying to get a new project off the ground. White Thunderbolt Horses with Black Saddles. These could be great mounts for your custom Ranger or Indy figure. When I first started looking into the project it seemed impossible, the molds were in danger of being shipped to Mexico so I had to act fast but I missed the boat and I though the game was over. The Thunderbolt mold and both western and cavalry tack molds went south. After a couple of months of looking, I got offered a deal on the second Thunderbolt mold... and a second western tack mold. I had just paid off a credit card and it felt weird not being deeply in debt, so I bought the molds. NOT CHEAP. Plus, they are MASSIVE... the size of a desk, solid bronze with a berylium core, weighing a few hundred pounds each and each fills up a shipping pallet. To my knowledge I now own the only US based Thunderbolt and Western Tack mold.
Thunderbolt Mold OPEN, you can see the automatic part extractors.
Other half of mold.
Extractor pins! ACTIVATE!
These require a 450 TON press!!
So then I had to start a conversation with a very nice lady named Denise at the plant where they are to be produced. Since I am not a plastics guy it took a LOT of questions. Denise was very patient with me and all my rookie questions. For about 2 months we emailed back and forth, samples were made, colors chosen, and finally I paid for the first run of WHITE MOLDED Thunderbolt horses EVER made in the US! First I had to remove the old trademark stamp from the mold because someone else owns that particular mark, but not the rights to the horses. Then I had my own professionally machined and fitted S brand mark placed in the mold.
S Stamp on horses flank.
From Arrival at the studio to boxed horses.
5 PALLETS of HORSES AND SADDLES!
BAGGED WESTERN TACK SETS!
These are taped together, I have to take them apart and glue up.
FULL CONTAINER!
Container emptied!
fresh off the truck
dust cover
glue line.
Horses waiting to be glued.
test fitting the box inserts
packaging
packaging
Packaging
Nosy!
John is helping wrangle these beauties into the boxes!
Here's your saddle old feller!
Don't forget the instructions!
Taking a break!
Stock Room!
Finished Thunderbolt with saddle set in studio for his glamour shot!
BLACK HORSES!
SHIPPING CONTAINERS FULL OF THUNDERBOLTS!
FIRST GLIMPSE OF THE BLACK HORSES
FIRST 100 or so black
FIRST CHARACTER INTRODUCED, SATAN!
The HORSE ODYSSEY
PART THREE!
Main Entry: Etymology: the Odyssey, epic poem attributed to Homer recounting the long wanderings of Odysseus
1 : a long wandering or voyage usually marked by many changes of fortune
2 : an intellectual or spiritual wandering or quest
After THREE YEARS of trying to get a complete run of horses and saddles from our old plant starting in 2018, they gave up in about 2021. They shipped the molds to me in Tennessee and Thunderbolt found a new home at QMC right here in my little home town.
We started by going to the plant and seeing the molds for the first time. My Friend Rosemarie took the initial pictures and sat in on the meeting.
Working with the old company became a nightmare, the owner started ranting about conspiracy theories and tried to blame me for his company's failure to provide what I paid for. The new company QMC is taking great care of Thunderbolt (both molds) for me now and are a delight to work with.
THE SADDLE MOLDS "HOME" to TENNESSEE!
THE HORSE MOLDS "HOME" TO TENNESSEE
TTHE MOLDING PRESS, a 450 ton press!!
THE FINISHED PRODUCT, still hot off the press!
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The HORSE ODYSSEY
PART FOUR! THE CAVALRY SADDLE!
Main Entry: Etymology: the Odyssey, epic poem attributed to Homer recounting the long wanderings of Odysseus
1 : a long wandering or voyage usually marked by many changes of fortune
2 : an intellectual or spiritual wandering or quest
The entire time I have owned these molds I have been looking for the Fort Apache Fighters Cavalry saddle mold. I had a vague idea
of the whereabouts and the name of the owner but I never could get in touch. I called his office and left messages, I even found a street address
and every couple years I would write a letter. At one point I saw his name pop up on Linkedin and I gambled on it and sent an email. After a few weeks he answered and we started talking about it. He wanted to sell a lot of molds at once, but it was too rich for my blood, I just wanted
the Cavalry molds. We then had a couple of family tragedies and the mold slipped my mind for nearly a year. When I reopened talks with him
he was less interested in selling but I convinced him eventually by sending him copies of letters by customers who told me how getting a new
Thunderbolt had in many ways changed their lives for the better. Mostly by giving them joy they had not felt since they were children. He wanted way more than I could afford so we met in the middle, I raised the cash and then the nightmare began. The molds were in Guadalajara Mexico.
My first glimpse at the mold storage in Guadalajara... The Cavalry saddle mold is in there someplace!
Have you ever shipped a 2,270 lb object out of Mexico? Nightmare. It took months just to get it out of the storage place to get it ready and load it on a pallet and then arrange shipping. It took weeks then for the mold arrived here in Middle Tn. My factory accepted them and invited me to inspect it.
It was full of sand, spider webs, all sorts of debris and coated with 30 years of neglect. The engineers at the plastics plant agreed to clean and repair them for me to get them in working condition, which took a few more weeks and more cash. A lot more.
PRE CLEANING
MOLDING DAY! Back to the 450 TON INJECTION MOLDING MACHINE!
Finally my appointed day arrived and I spent 10 hours watching the press run saddle after saddle, I inspected, bagged, packed and loaded saddles all day, when it was over Stevo's Toys had once again made history by bringing the FORT APACHE FIGHTERS Cavalry saddle set back to life and back to the market for my loyal customers!
NOW AVAILABLE in BLACK, BROWN, BRITISH TAN (pictured) and COYOTE TAN, the MARX FORT APACHE FIGHTERS
CAVALRY SADDLE SET! HOT OFF THE VINTAGE MOLDS AND READY TO PURCHASE HERE!
The End?
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