There was once a time when people knew a stealth fighter was on the way, but nobody was saying what it looked like. The technology behind the Stealth was classified, too, so speculation ran wild. The concept of the stealth fighter was intriguing — a plane that would be all but invisible to radar, heat-vision, and listening devices. It was something right out of science-fiction, which made it a prime candidate for theoretical brainstorming.

Testors/Revel was the earliest on the market with their F-19 Stealth Fighter, and its design became the industry standard at the time. It was a short, stubby plane, with shallow, rounded wings and in-swept vertical tails. It did include a little angularity that we’d see in the actual stealth fighter, due to a tip model-designer John Andrews got from an inside source working on the nose-tip for a military subcontractor. They were put into the spotlight by a crash of a real stealth fighter during testing, and Congress wondering loudly why a classified aircraft is being assembled by children and hobbyists. Andrews’ design was completely from his own imagination, using non-classified theories of reducing radar signatures and futuristic aircraft style that showed up in the SR-71 aircraft. This design was licensed — or stolen — by other companies and produced in other forms, such as Ertl’s die-cast version. Even today, despite the actual F-117 showing up at airshows and on the news, the Testors design still appears as ’stealth fighter’ on toy shelves from time to time.

My favorite wasn’t designed from scratch. Defense contractor Loral Corporation came up with a futuristic aircraft of the future in the 1970s that sparked imagination, with a long body and graceful curves, it looked more like a spacecraft than an aircraft. After seeing Testor’s stealth success, model maker Monogram released their own F-19 Stealth Fighter model based on the Loral design. I had built one of these as a kid, and when I ran across one in a toy store a few years ago I bought it again. This aircraft looked even less like the actual stealth, but seemed, to me, a much more plausible aircraft than Testor’s piecemeal design.

Now that our own stealth fighter is public knowledge, the interest in speculation just isn’t there like it had been in the 1980s. Do not fear, though: designers are happy to theorize what other countries’ stealth fighters will look like. Testors, again, was at the leading edge of this craze as well. At the tail-end of the Cold War, the same designer who produced Testors’ F-19 came up with the MiG-37, a conceptually-original Russian stealth fighter design. Sharp, angular, and rugged, it was quite a different design than Andrews produced for the F-19. He had no idea: his MiG stealth design turned out more like the real stealth than anything else on the market at the time, and also incorporates style that we’ve seen in the later-generation stealth designs from recent years. While the stealth is no longer the mysterious, space-age jet it once was, these conceptual designs remind us of that era.

Somewhere around Christmas 1982, I found a large, flat, rectangle box under the tree. Inside was a loop of track, an engine and a handful of cars, and a coppery box proudly stating its company of origin: TYCO. For the next few years, I could count on getting a little plastic house, maybe an engine, or chunks of track as gifts for Christmas, birthdays, or any other time. When I was just old enough to be trusted to roam unattended, I took my allowance down to the hobby shop to choose my own additions to the sleepy little town that lived next to the dryer and the furnace in the basement. Sure, it wasn’t perfect: while I was trying to build a realistic small town, I found myself the recipient of such non-small-towny features as a Burger King, a carousel, and a Howard Johnson’s, but I made due. The fun part was running the trains, using switches to keep more than one going without a Gomez-Addams-pleasing crash, and imagining what it would be like were I a tiny engineer riding around in infinite circles in my basement.

Lionel trains, are, of course, the original and premiere line of model railroads. Started in 1900, Lionel trains were some of the first electric trains. At the time, electricity was a new commodity and electric toys were rare. Inventor Joshua Cowen came up with the idea, and began manufacturing electric trains without much commercial interest. As time went on, however, Lionel trains became a traditional gift for father-son bonding. In the idealistic image of Lionel trains, children bounded down the stairs on Christmas Day to find a circle of three-rail tracks assembled around the base of the Christmas tree, one lone train revolving around the trunk. Surviving wartime on military contracts and a cardboard version of their miniature railroads, Lionel grew into an iconic producer of the perfect gift for little boys. Lionel trains grew more detailed and accurate, ingenious mechanical features, like automatic crossing gates and cargo unloaders, allowed the budding engineers to fill their pretend world with all the trappings of a real railroad.

In the 1950s, however, modern technologies like rockets and jets took boys’ attention away from the retro-appeal of model railroads. The Lionel business began to falter, making the owners look at alternative ways to follow modern trends. Building off the fame of GI Joe and the ongoing Vietnam war, Lionel hired an ex-military man to help turn their line around. His solution: railroad cars that carried tanks, shot missles, and even exploded. Unfortunately, it was not enough. Plastic HO scale trains were dominating the market, and military-themed trains departed from the wholesome ‘dad-and-son’ time that revolved around replicating a bygone era.

The Lionel line passed through several hands, and was eventually reborn in the model of its origins: in the 1980s, Lionel returned to its roots, producing accurate replicas of trains, feeding those who desire the nostalgia of the large electric trains and satisfying the desire of fathers, who were raised with a Lionel train in their bedroom, to relive those experiences with their own children.

A number of companies began producing HO scale railroads, primarily in cheaper and easily-molded plastic, starting in the 1950s and gaining significant attention through the 1960s and 1970s. The smaller trains allowed more railroad to fit into a smaller space. This appealed to the train aficionados interested in producing realistic train layouts without sacrificing the entire basement to the endeavor…although some did exactly that. The even-smaller N-Scale arose around the same time, but never quite reached the devotion that HO modelers had for their small trains. Tyco was one of the more common ‘entry level’ manufacturers of HO scale trains, while other companies like Bachmann, Atlas, and Athearn each staked out their own claim in the market.

As a quick guide, train scale can be judged by the track “gauge” (which, incidentally, is one way real railroads are measured as well). O Scale, the one used by Lionel and other ‘vintage’ train sets, is over two fingers wide and has three rails, like those on the right. HO scale track is about as wide as an index finger, and N is narrower than the average pinky-finger. A larger scale, G Gauge, rides on almost 2″ wide track.

Much of model railroading as a collection focuses on usability: most model railroaders will not stand for isolating their prized posessions behind glass. Many manufacturers released limited-edition cars and engines, ranging from ultrarealistic renditions of real trains to stylized cars commemorating the Bicentennial or promoting GI Joe. Manufacturers and retailers lent their names and logos to custom railcars, the likes of which were never seen on real tracks, and appeal to brand-specific collectors.

Lionel, with its long and full history, is highly desirable. Original lines and accessories are rare in working order, and are much sought-after by those working on completing specific years or lines. Because Lionel has produced trains for so many years, essentially unchanged at the basic level, a learned eye is necessary to distinguish a genuinely antique train from a newer version or reproduction. Other manufacturers are collectible, but primarily due to the quality or a specific appeal of a particular toy.

Like many other boys, I grew out of my model railroad as I got further into my teen years. Somewhere, alongside much of the rest of my childhood, the tiny railroad and the various residents and landmarks of the tiny town are boxed up and in storage in my parent’s basement. Now that I’m a bit older, with kids of my own, I’m beginning to miss the ozone smell and tiny clickety-clack of a miniature diesel engine. This Christmas is right around the corner, but I can always hope that next year, Christmas morning will greet us with the clickety-clack of a train circling the base of our Christmas tree.

When I was a little girl, I loved horses. I think most little girls do. Along with my Walter Farley books, I had a large collection of horse figurines and toys, including a fair number or Breyer horses.

When I was 20 and moving out of my parent’s home, I gave many of my ‘childish things’ away, including all of my horsey inventory. But once I began collecting Black Stallion books, it was inevitable that I should bump into The Black Stallion figures made by Breyer. Though I had never owned these Breyers, I rationalized that they were part of my book collection.

After getting the set (complete with the box, thank you), I did buy a few other Breyer horses. However, it soon became apparent that I didn’t have the room for another collection requiring such space. Even though model horses require less space (and expense) than the live horses do, in this collector’s home, I don’t have enough pastures (shelf space) to accommodate them. Since I am the type of person who feels terrible to have her beloved items in a box hidden away somewhere — especially when it’s clear there are so many who would adore such items — I decided to sell them.

Because I had impulsively purchased the items based on looks or memories of model horses I had owned as a child, I didn’t really know much about the Breyer horses I had. And there are other issues about the huge secondary Breyer model horse market which makes identifying specific models difficult. So let’s take a look at some of the happenings on the secondary model horse market.

For one thing, many little girls never really out-grow their love of horses. Even if they cannot own real horses. This means there are a large number of grown up women buying, collecting and yes, showing their Breyer model horses. There are even model horse breeding and edigree programs. (Some of these women state that they collect and show Breyer horses as a activity to do with their children, but we all recognize a fellow collector rationalizing, don’t we?)

There are photo competitions and live model shows with model horse owners as attached to their models as real pet owners are. This means they are reluctant to ‘put down’ a horse for a broken leg. And so they have discovered the ways and means of repairing damaged model horses. So now, if you find a Breyer with a broken tail, chipped ear etc at a rummage sale, you now have the means to rebuild it. Perhaps better than that — like the Six Million Dollar Man — you have the technology to make them better than before: with custom work.

You can heat, bend and reshape features; you can remove paint and repaint; add hair manes and tails; and you can be-deck these horses with all sorts of new accessories. Some custom work is done to immortalize a real horse. Some works are pure fantasy. But all are works of art. There are even artisans selling Breyer and non-Breyer resin molds for you to paint yourself. On the secondary market, there are many buyers looking for these artistic remodels of Breyer horses. But of course, there are many collectors who want specific vintage models, or at least want assurance that this is an authentic, non-repaired Breyer horse.

This combination of discontinued Breyer models, discontinued colors, limited edition models, custom work, artisan models etc. makes identifying Breyer horses very difficult.

While there is a wealth of information at the Official Breyer website, I quickly discovered that specific information about older models was difficult to come by. So I invested in “Breyer Animal Collector’s Guide: Identification and Values” by Felicia Browell.

I’m not much of a collector’s guide fan, but these guides by Browell are well worth it. Whether you collect Breyer horses to reclaim your childhood, are still living out your dreams of owning horses, or are putting an entire ranch of Breyer horses up for auction, there’s no better guide for identifying the proper color, year, model name etc of Breyer horses than the “Breyer Animal Collector’s Guide: Identification and Values.”

If you’d like more information online about Breyer horses, check out these websites:

Ponylagoon is an identification resource for Breyer’s original finish models. Though they do not sell models, they do list an estimate of model values.

Breyer Molds & Models: Horse, Riders, & Animals 1950-1997 is an out of print book that I’ve not seen, but that other Breyer collectors swear by.

This is the most active Breyer’s Model Message Board that I know of.