Help needed! Squirrel- a Peter Stone Commission/Custom

[Eskara1862]

At the past Equine Affair, my younger sister noticed an ad in the program for a Peter Stone Custom Horse.  She said we could both chip in and pay for it and make it look like Squirrel, our older sisters mare that passed away last year.  I thought it was an awesome idea and agreed.  After much searching, we found the booth and checked out the details. It would be over $120 to get the horse just right.  The guy at the booth mentioned we could buy a factory second for around $30 and I could paint it to save money.  Sounded like an awesome idea, so we went for it; my sister paid for the horse and shipping and I'm doing the customizing.  We looked at all the Peter Stone Models and decided the long mane and long tail stock horse was the perfect one. It was even a mare to boot!  At least, all of the stock horse ones at Equine Affair were...

Squirrel:

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The Long Mane/ Long tail Stock Horse:

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I got my factory second in the mail about three weeks ago.  This baby needs work! I've already trans-gendered it (HOW did I get a stallion when every one at the show was a mare?), removed all the seams, smoothed out the back and belly where the two molds didn't meet, filled in holes and dimples, built up atrophied muscles, and added a little more forelock.  Today, I want to add the frogs and even out the hooves so it stands properly.  None of this has caused me any problems.  But, I've got one HUGE problem!

That stupid tail has a seam across it. I tried smoothing it out with the dremmel and probably made it worse.  I don't have any really fine, pointed instruments to try sanding it out with.  I'm just stuck on how to get this tail looking right.

What would you guys do?  Leave it as is and decide it's not that big a deal?  Sand it?  Sculpt it a little? Cut off the tail and make an entirely new one?

Here are the photos of the issues in question:

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[Colorscapesart]

Oh wow, that is looking awesome!  But what a horrible place for a seam!  Maybe get a tiny bit of sandpaper and work on each groove a little? 

[DevlishSmooch]

Oh wow, that is looking awesome!  But what a horrible place for a seam!  Maybe get a tiny bit of sandpaper and work on each groove a little? 

The seam is in that place because they use the same mold to make long tails and short tails - they just add on the one they need.  It is a really sucky place for it to be, especially when it's that jagged.

I don't have any advice, but I know we have a few members who are AMAZING with model horses.  Hopefully one of them can help you out.  She looks great other than that, though!
 
Edit:  I just looked at the pic again and realized that the pose is EXACTLY how Squirrel is standing in that pic, lol!

[Eskara1862]

Edit:  I just looked at the pic again and realized that the pose is EXACTLY how Squirrel is standing in that pic, lol!

I know!  Isn't that great how perfectly that photo matches up with the model? It really helped me decide which base to use.  I'm half tempted to hack off the one ear and turn it back so it matches the photo exactly.

Well, got the frogs sculpted and refined the nostrils quite a bit. I also filled in a few spaces I had missed earlier.  That tail... GR! I tried building up the smaller areas and them smoothing it, but it didn't look quite right.  I found out that Sally Beauty Supply has some sanding sticks that are shaped into cones and flats, so I'm going to pick up a few of those on my way to work tomorrow.  Since they're intended for fingernails, they're fairly small.  Fingers crossed that this is the solution!

[Eskara1862]

Hehe, forgot to update this post  Oops.  The sanding sticks from Sally's Beauty Supply worked perfectly! I'l have to take a more detailed photo of the tail to show you just how great they worked.

Saturday, I finally finished up this beauty with her last coat of varnish.  I have no idea how many hours I worked on her, but she took a solid month and a half of work. I did a little something to her almost every day!  Here are photos of the finished product:

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I'm quite happy with how she turned out, especially considering I've never done a custom of a horse like this before. Now, all that remains to be done is to package her up and ship her off to my sister. 

[DevlishSmooch]

Wow, awesome work!  So glad you found something that worked to fix the tail.

If I didn't know better, I'd swear those last 2 pics were of a real horse!

[Diamond]

She looks good, the ones you saw at the store might have been a special run, that mold is usually a stallion not a mare. 

For the future you might want to get a carbide scraper from Rio Rondo, they are beyond awesome and can be used on ponies to smooth things.

She looks good, did you use acrylics?  If you happen to have some pastel sticks around in some lighter and darker colors then your coat color you could shave them and use a small brush to add some shading to her coat like the real mare.  She is a great first go at it though.

[TexasGal]

Beautiful custom, Eskara!

[rybett]

GAGA!!!!!!!!