Grand Champions custom Epona

[Hannah66665]

(Seeing as this is none-MLP if this isn't the appropriate section, please let me know.  )


Sooo a couple months back during a thriftstore hunt I came across a toy horse with
coloring that reminded me of Epona from Legend of Zelda (Ocarina of Time version)

I've been a huge LoZ fan my entire life and a lover of all things Epona since I was about five.
So I couldn't resist attempting a custom of her.

I'd already dehaired the horse before I found out what Grand Champions even were... I
panicked a bit worrying that it was an expensive collectible but I did come across the
same one on Ebay for about 20$ so I figured eh... not that rare. Too late now anyway. 

I was finally able to ID the horse as a Canal King draft stallion (seen on this page (http://grandchampionslove.weebly.com/draft-stallion1.html) except mine was in poor condition.


Anyway, here she is. 

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The saddle was purchased from another member here at the Arena for another project but it fit her so well. It's not as accurate to the reference as I would have liked, but ah well. 

The hardest part was her hair but seeing as my sister did that part, I'll see if she can
share her story.

Edit: Realized I never included any of the images I used as reference.

Spoiler

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[TwistedRiver]

Ah Epona...
Her hair was almost painful in the difficulty we had.
Her tail was easy enough after a little bit of pushing and shoving but her mane was another story entirely.
In the end it involved, using the loop method often used on dolls, "sewing" her hair into a piece of brown felt, coating the felt with Mod Podge, folding it over and flattening it under heavy objects for a few days until it was dry and as flat as it was going to get. Then taking whatever tools were handy, and spending about 45 min(?) shoving the line of felt into the slit in her head where her old hair used to be. Unfortunately she didn't seem to want to come apart easily and we were afraid she'd crack if forced.
Needless to say unless I find an easier method, Epona is the one and only rehair I will ever do on this type of horse.

[TexasGal]

First off, LOVE the custom!  I am a GC collector, so it's awesome seeing one like this.  =] 

Second, I would love to have seen pictures of how you took the tail and mane out.  I have been trying to do that without destroying the horse for weeks.  -.-  I have many I want to customize but just can't yet.  Back to the drawing board!

Wonderful job, and I really love him!

[HelloGoodbye]

Wow!  This is so awesome!!  I just love Epona, and this is an amazing representation of her!   Great work!

[Hannah66665]

First off, LOVE the custom!  I am a GC collector, so it's awesome seeing one like this.  =] 

Second, I would love to have seen pictures of how you took the tail and mane out.  I have been trying to do that without destroying the horse for weeks.  -.-  I have many I want to customize but just can't yet.  Back to the drawing board!

Wonderful job, and I really love him!

Thank you so much! Glad to see that people like her~ 

Unfortunately I can't offer any advice for removing the mane/tail as I had no idea what I was even doing. Normally I would have tried to carefully separate the two halves but there was a solid piece on the bottom that made it impossible to do so. What I actually had to do was chop the hair as close to the horse as I could and shove what was left into the plastic.  It was only thanks to my sister TwistedRiver that she has hair at all.

Wow!  This is so awesome!!  I just love Epona, and this is an amazing representation of her!   Great work!

Thank you!~ I'm half tempted to try finding a doll to turn into Link to go with her. 

[TexasGal]

Lol yeah, that solid piece made her a um.. HIM. actually.  xD  That is the male mold of the Grand Champion draft horses.  =]  I am so going to be trying this this weekend...de-tailing here I come!  And check on ebay for grand champion riders.  If I come across anything that looks like it might be the right size, I will nab it for you.  I go to thrift stores and garage sales fairly often, so hopefully I can find something.

[Griffin]

Great collaboration work, she (he? ) looks awesome! Instantly recognizable and I haven't even played Zelda. The mane must've been frustrating to replace but it looks so good, I would never have guessed this was a rehair!

[Hannah66665]

Lol yeah, that solid piece made her a um.. HIM. actually.  xD  That is the male mold of the Grand Champion draft horses.  =]  I am so going to be trying this this weekend...de-tailing here I come!  And check on ebay for grand champion riders.  If I come across anything that looks like it might be the right size, I will nab it for you.  I go to thrift stores and garage sales fairly often, so hopefully I can find something.

Oo, I didn't think about the fact that there are actually riders made to fit them. Wonder how hard it would be to turn one into Link. That's so sweet of you to keep an eye out for them.  ^_^ Best of luck - let me know how your de-tailing goes!

Great collaboration work, she (he? ) looks awesome! Instantly recognizable and I haven't even played Zelda. The mane must've been frustrating to replace but it looks so good, I would never have guessed this was a rehair!

Thank you! TwistedRiver did such a fantastic job with her hair. I'm actually surprised by how well she turned out. She looks closer to the real thing than the official figure I have.

[achab1984]

Turned out very good! Great job!

[TwistedRiver]

I am so glad that this girl is so popular!
Hannah worked so hard on getting the paint just so on both Epona and her saddle and I did have a bit of a task with her hair, but really she did turn out well, the pictures just don't do her justice.

Thanks everyone for all your kind words. *huggles*