RDG Miniatures 1/9 Samurai

My experience with Gordon M on ordering his 1/9 Samurai.

PART 1:

Back in July 2022 Gordon indicated he would be releasing the Mounted Samurai in 1/9 scale. I asked him to put me on the order list in order to purchase an early casting. He indicated I am first on his list.

Early December, I received a message from him saying he had the casting for me and asked me to examine closely the casting photos which I would be receiving. If I do not want it there is no problem. He only had one set of moulds for this piece due to the expense of production so once these were done he did not know when he would be able to produce any others.

Theses are the photos he had sent me. They are all burry. From the pictures I can see some blackish on some resin parts. I asked him about the blackish parts if they were all cured and no sticky resin. I also noticed off set mould lines from one of the helmet. He said there was no sticky resin and he could only produced 30 to 35 kits from one set of moulds. (From my experience silicone casting moulds are only good for 20 to 25 castings). The castings were all the same. It can be easily remedied by using basic modelling skills.

Offset mould lines

Blackish on casting parts

I asked him if the kit was from the first casting. His reply “This is not the first casting. The fit of parts is ok. There are some mould lines which are easily removed. I have been to a model show where it was first released. I sold out of my first 15 sets at the show. You are the first on the mail order list.”

I then asked him again what about getting the early casting which I had requested back in July. His reply “As I have explained this kit was released at a large model show in Telford2 weeks ago where I sold all my existing stock. I am now dealing with my mail order customers and you are the first one I have contacted. I wish I hadn't bothered. It is clear to me that you are not happy with this situation or the castings. In view of this please find elsewhere to purchase your kits.

I have a waiting list for these models and will be distributing them accordingly to modellers who may appreciate them more than you do.”

Unfortunately, I did place my order and that was my big mistake.

PART 2 

I received the kit in middle of December. It came in a big white cardboard box with major casting problems on the horse and armour part.

He wanted me to send the kit back for a refund. It is a huge kit and costs me a lot to ship it back. I told him to send me the replacement horse parts instead and I would gladly pay for the Royal Mail tracking post. He indicated he had sold his last kit and needed to make new moulds for the casting.

After two months had passed and nothing happened. Meanwhile he was selling the same kit in various figure shows. So I messaged him again. His excuse was cyber attack on Royal Mail and he would send me the parts when the post was resumed. Another month had passed and Royal Mail had resumed international posting in February and still no parts and he was selling the same kit in figure shows. I messaged him again the end of February and he indicated he should be able to send me the parts the end of the week. 

So after numerous emails I finally received the replacement parts at the end of March. The replacements parts were not much better than the ones from December. Please refer to the attached pictures. The top ones are from December the bottom ones are the replacements. Looks like both castings are from the same set of moulds. 

This is a 1/9 scale kit casting should be perfect. What more can I say? So much nonsense and rubbish. Rude customer services and very bad casting. He really likes to intimidate his customers. If they ask too many questions and not happy with the situation or the castings he would ask them to find elsewhere to purchase their kits. 

Misleading! He always show an assemble kit from 3D printed parts and never from his casting parts. What you see is not what you get from his pre-sales 3D image. The following pictures are from his FB page. 

The kit is also badly printed. Check out the sashimono below.

Artistic License VS Historical Accuracy

What is Artistic License?

Artistic License means an artist is accorded leeway in his or her interpretation of something and is not held strictly accountable for accuracy.

Artistic License is the freedom artists have to change facts or details in their work to create something more interesting or expressive. It's a recognized part of the creative process that allows artists to blend reality with imagination.

An artist might exaggerate the colors or shapes, distort a shape, change a color, or rearrange objects in a work to create a more striking pleasing image.

What is Historical Accuracy?

Historical Accuracy is the degree to which a historical accounts, narrative, or interpretation faithfully, accurately represents the facts and events as they occurred in the past.

An academic with living history experience muses on ideas of “Historical Accuracy”. True historical accuracy is impossible to achieve, but is an ideal to which one should aspire in living history museums, historical re-enactments, and historical dramas. “Accuracy” is not simply a matter of paying close attention details of costume or setting, and reconciling them with modern health & safety regulations, but also involves attempting to portray the more intangible aspects of the past.

 

Couple days ago I came across this master figure kit painter FB page showing his latest work of a 15th century mounted Samurai from the Sengoku Period which he had just won gold and best of show from a figure show. A wip was posted in his web blog. As a historical enthusiast of Samurai military history figure kit painter, I immediately check out his wip to see if I could learn a few things from his wip. The first thing I noticed, to my surprise the box picture of the kit a Calder Craft mounted Taisho from the 12th to 13th century (Heian 1150-1184 to early Kamakura 1185-1250 period) was swiped from a picture which I had posted on PlanetFigure forum some years ago. 

    

 Kit box picture from the painter's web blog

 

My post on PF - Notice exact creases and marks on both box pictures.             

He indicated he acquired the kit in the mid 1980’s sitting on a vendor table at a show. I guessed it did not come with the original kit box. On the side of my kit box it displayed the figure represented a Japanese army Commander (Taisho) of the 12th to 13th century.

                                                         

In his wip he talked about artistic license “I do a considerable amount of research for every piece. That said, depending on the subject, I also often take "artistic license" and work to create something that I find more visually appealing. If I'm presenting an actual, historical personality or event, then I will make sure the piece is as close to 100% accurate as possible.”

From my point of view and experience on the subject of Samurai, this Samurai kit depicts a Samurai from the 12th to 13th Century wearing his O-yorio armour, carrying a Tachi and bow.

For a mounted Samurai from the Sengoku period (1467-77 to 1603-15), the Samurai would be wearing his tosei gusoku modern armour, carrying his tachi and yari.

His wip continued to explain how he converted the horse straps and tassels which were base on reference pictures from a horse doll and from the Royal Armories Museum display from the Edo period. He went on to explain on painting the horse, the Samurai rider from the Sengoku period, his armour, arrow quiver and the katana (not Tachi?)

 

I did email him and congratulated him on wining the awards.  I then pointed out he had swiped my box picture from Planet figure and his horse tassel reference was from the Edo period. The figure is wearing O-yorio, carrying a tachi not a katana and the figure was not from the 15th century. 

His reply “It's not meant to be an actual person Felix.

As I state on my website, I took considerable artistic license.

What matters to me is the work, not the accuracy” He ignored swiping my picture.

 

This is a typical nut case where the painter did lousy research, misinterpreted his figure and used the artistic license as an excuse to cover up his inaccuracy. Fact is fact and fiction is fiction “Artistic License” should not mess with proven facts in the historical record. It is a pity that the judges from the show knew nothing on the subject of Samurai.

 

Years ago same thing happened to a 54mm Qin Chinese emperor figure painted by an European master figure kit painter and won gold in Euro Miniature Expo. The Qin first emperor Qin Shi Huang (221-210 BC) painted wearing a yellow dragon robe. Yellow dragon robes were wore only from the Qing Dyansty1636. I pointed this out in the old Timeline forum and I got all the negative, hatred and threatened comments. The sad part was the figure company used it for their box art and promotion.

 

Eve The Dark Angel

 1/5 scale resin kit sculpted by Tomas Morejon

Elvis

 Elvis Presley at Las Vegas 1974

Encounter in the Swamp

Phoenix Model Developments “Encounter in the Swamp” in 54mm sculpted by Mr. Tim Richards. Title name on wood base is free hand lettering in gold enamel with a pen nib.

 

Poste Militaire Mounted Samurai

 Another Samurai classic from Poste Militaire by Mr. Ray lamb.

TAISHO

I have been collecting Samurai figure kits for over forty years, Taisho Japanese Commander from 1973 sculpted by Mr. Ray Lamb is still one of the best sculpted, most historical accurate Samurai figure kit and is on top of my list. I painted the Taisho back in early 1980s. It was my first Samurai kit painted in oil and metallic enamel. I won the best figure in the 1985 IPMS show.