Mounted Samurai VS Mounted Samuari (Part 2)

…..Continued from Part 1 

Tachi, Daisho, Yari and Sashimono View

Base View

Final thoughts:

On Poste Militaire’s - The mounted Samurai kit was released some forty-four years ago by master sculptor and caster Ray Lamb. The kit is beautifully sculpted with loads of detail and well researched parts (except the horse which is not a Kiso breed). The metal castings are sharp, crisp and clean and are perfectly fit as always. The white metal is of superior quality. All parts are just snuggled right in with no problem and the engineering involved to minimize join lines and mold lines. The overall quality is exquisite. 

Ray Lamb meticulous approach to sculpting, molding and casting his figures had made him a legend in the figure kit manufacturing. As of today seldom any other figure company could match his casting skills and this kit still holds up very well today!

On RDG Miniature’s – A great piece from sculptor Nello Rivieccio. The 3D sculpt is great except for quite a number of parts which are historical inaccurate and questionable.

1.Although the kit is listed as 120 mm, some of the parts are about the same size and some are smaller than the Poste Militaire’s 90 mm.

2. It came with a smaller horse but it is not the mounted Samurai Kiso breed for the period. The horses ridden by the samurai were mostly sturdy Kisouma. They were stub faced, long haired, short legged, shaggy looking creatures, their backs averaging about 120 to 140cm in height.

3. Mounted Samurai only carry tachi on horseback and not the daisho a match pair of katana and wakizash. A short video showing the differences to unsheathe tachi and katana on horseback.

        

4. Su yari and omi yari are the most common yari Samurai carry on horseback during Sengoku and Momoyama period in the 16th century. The yari blade should be triangulated, double-edged on one side and the other side is flat with a deep fuller while the kit’s yari blade is triangulated on both sides.

  

5. A metal pommel (ishizuki) on the yari shaft butt end is missing.

6. Looks like the horse harness sculpt reference is from the display from the Royal Armouries Museum which is from the Edo period. The horse front and back straps and panels of knotted cords with a grid net pattern are not from the Sengoku period (would only consists of the straps). During the Edo period with the end of civil war, many crafts with high artistic value and of elaborate decorations on harnesses and saddles were produced for the Samurai class.

7. Some of the lacing on the armour is lack of detail and rather small in size and the chain mail base ring on the kote is almost disappeared when reduced down from the 3D rendering.

    8. The kikkou tateage of shino suneate should be hexagonal shape not the four sided diamond shape as in the kit.

   9. Not sure why this Samurai is not wearing his tabi (split toe socks).

 10. Overall the Samurai armour has some odd parts and missing parts of a 16 century Samurai armour.

 11. The 3D print and cast by Tommi Worton and Gordon Mitchell are excellent.

All resin parts are finely cast with fine details.  There are numerous pour spouts and blocks to clean. The kit I received has big bubbles on the stirrups. One of the helmets has offset mold lines. The two horns and maedate for the helmets are missing. Parts were replaced promptly by Gordon.

Here are pictures of the the faulty parts:

Despite of the above shortcomings, a beautiful impressive looking kit and good value for the money. You can order directly from Gordon RDG Miniatures gordonmi@hotmail.com

My Rating Summary:                 

For Poste Militaire Mounted Samurai

For RDG Miniatures Mounted Samurai

…..Continued in part 3

Mounted Samurai VS Mounted Samurai (Part 3)