Go Figure Felix world of miniature figure modelling : 2026

Hi Everyone,

It is time for another two in one review of Poste Militaire 90mm white metal Seated Samurai General Kato Kiyomasa VS Hofi Figures 120mm resin and white metal Samurai General.

Details of the releases:

Title: Code FS/1 16th Century Seated Samurai General Kato Kiyomasa (1562-1611)

Manufacturer: Poste Militaire

Scale: 90mm (1:20)

Sculptor: Traditional hand sculpted by Ray Lamb

Material & no. of pieces: 25 white metal

Cast by: Ray Lamb

Order from: My grey army

The Poste Militaire Samurai kit comes from my grey army. Poste Militaire ceased production in 2004. Their kit boxes have seen changes over the production years. The kit for this review is from the second release. It consists of 25 white metal parts. The model was superbly sculpted and cast by Ray Lamb of a 90 mm of Samurai General Kato Kiyomasa figure kit of the Azuchi–Momoyama period. He is seated on his tiger pelt in his camp. He is wearing his jinbaori and the tosei-gusoku (modern armour), carrying his tachi sword, yari on his left hand and saihai on his right hand directing his retainers.

Title: HOFI F30 JAPAN 1562-1611 SAMURAI GENERAL (Kato Kiyomasa)

Manufacturer: Hofi Figures

Scale: 120mm (1:16)

Sculptor: ?

Material & no. of pieces: 12 teracotta colour resin and 8 white metal parts (my kit is missing the tanto saya).

Order from: The Red Lancers Miniatures many years ago.

The Hofi Samurai General figure kit was ordered from The Red Lancers Miniatures many years ago. The kit comes in a thin white cardboard box with parts housed in three plastic bags with bubble wrap for protection. It consists of 12 terracotta colour resin parts and 8 white metal parts (my kit is missing the tanto saya). A traditional cast of a 120 mm Samurai General Kato Kiyomasa figure kit of the Azuchi–Momoyama period. He is seated on his tiger pelt in his camp. He is wearing his jinbaori and the tosei-gusoku (modern armour), carrying his tachi sword, yari on his left hand and saihai on his right hand directing his retainers.

Here are the castings.

Parts View

Poste Militaire

Hofi Figures

Armour parts, Head, Kabuto and Maedate View

Jinbaori, Kusazumi, Arms and Legs View

Tachi,Tanto, Yari and Saihai View

My Hofi kit is missing a tanto saya, I have to make one myself.

Nagarebata (flag), Tiger pelt and Base View

My Hofi kit does not come with a nagarebata (flag), I have to sculpt one myself.

Hofi kit does not comes with a base.

Painting guide

Final thoughts:

On Poste Militaire’s - The Seated Samurai General Kato Kiyomasa 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. 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. To this day they are undeniably the best metal figure kits ever produced and this kit still holds up very well today!

On Hofi Figures – SAMURAI GENERAL (Kato Kiyomasa) looks almost exactly like the the Poste Militaire’s. My be Hofi is using the same reference material or Hofi copy the Poste Militaire’s but in 120 mm scale. The kit has numerous problems.

1. Poor casting for both the resin and white metal parts. The yari is missing the tip on mine.

2. The resin is brittle and poor quality. My kit’s kabuto top is missing a chunk of resin.

3. Missing tanto saya. The kit does not come with the nagarebata (flag), yari shaft and figure base.

My nagarebata sculpt in progress.

4. Lacing on the armour was competely mess up and questionable.

This could be a nice figure if one could spend the time on fixing all the problems before painting.

My Rating Summary:

For Poste Militaire Samurai General Kato Kiyomasa

For Hofi Figures Samurai General

KATO KIYOMASA 加藤清正

Katō Kiyomasa (加藤清正, July 25, 1562, Nakamura, Owari province, Japan—died Aug. 2, 1611, Kumamoto, Higo province) was a Japanese daimyō ofthe Azuchi–Momoyama and Edo periods who helped both Toyotomi Hideyoshi and Tokugawa Ieyasu in their attempts to unify Japan. His court title was Higo-no-kami. His name as a child was Yashamaru, and first name was Toranosuke. He was one of Hideyoshi's Seven Spears of Shizugatake.

Kiyomasa was one of the three senior commanders during the Seven-Year (Imjin) War (1592–1598) against the Korean Joseon. Together with Konishi Yukinaga, he captured Seoul, Busan and many other cities. He defeated the last of the Korean regulars at the Battle of Imjin River and pacified Hamgyong. During the war, he apparently hunted tigers for sport.

Kiyomasa was a renowned castle-builder. During the Imjin war he built several strategic Japanese-style castles in the territories he conquered. As an ardent Buddhist, he also led the struggle to ban Christianity from Japan. In his later years, Kiyomasa tried to work as a mediator for the increasingly complicated relationship between Ieyasu and Toyotomi Hideyori. In 1611, en-route by sea to Kumamoto after one such meeting, he fell ill, and died shortly after his arrival.

References:

Kato Kiyomasa Kabuto

The Kato Kiyomasa Kabuto is one of the most distinctive and recognizable Samurai Kabuto (helmet) during the Azuchi-Momoyama and early Edo periods. It is characterized by its extreme height and unique "courtier cap" design, reflecting the power and status of its owner, the legendary daimyo Kato Kiyomasa (1562–1611)

Based on historical records and Samurai armour studies, Kato Kiyomasa is primarily identified with one distinct style of helmet, but it has two common interpretations in modern, artistic representations and replica sets. While often associated with the iconic tall black, or sometimes silver/white-accented, eboshi-style helmet, historical accounts primarily describe it as a tall black lacquered hat.

Kato Kiyomasa Janome pattern Eboshi Kabuto.

加藤清正所用蛇の目紋長烏帽子形兜
(Collection of Honmyo-ji Temple)

The black lacquered kabuto

Kato Kiyomasa typically wore his famous black-lacquered helmet, known as an Eboshi-nari Kabuto, during major military campaigns in the late 16th and early 17th centuries.

It is a kawari-kabuto (extraordinary helmet) shaped like a tall, sweeping courtier’s cap. It is famously associated with a distinctive black naga-eboshi kabuto (long, black courtier-style hat helmet). The kabuto's most striking feature is its tall, elongated peak, which was inspired by the eboshi, a stiff black silk cap. The height served to make the wearer appear larger and more formidable, traditionally worn by court nobles while also signaling high social status.

A replica of Kato Kiyomasa's kabuto
加藤清正の兜の複製
(Collection of Hideyoshi Kiyomasa Memorial Museum)

It is characteristically black-lacquered kabuto with a golden ring, while the inner bowl was often made of steel plates, the tall "tower" was frequently constructed from lighter materials like lacquered wood, leather, or paper to manage the weight including the neckguard and 'wings' or fukigaeshi. It often features a sun (circle) over a horizontal crescent moon as its front maedate. Sometimes featuring bronze decorations or silver-leaf accents was designed to make him appear taller and more intimidating on the battlefield, earning him the nickname "Devil General" from his adversaries.

The silver kabuto

The silver kabuto associated with Kato Kiyomasa is an iconic piece of Samurai armour known as a silver eboshi-style kabuto. It is a striking example of kawari kabuto (extraordinary helmet) that reflected the personal style and, in this case, religious devotion of the wearer.

He wore his famous unique silver coloured nagaeboshi-style kabuto (tall courtier-cap helmet) during the late 16th and early 17th centuries, most notably during the Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598) and around the time of the Battle of Sekigahara (1600).

Kato Kiyomasa's silver kabuto
加藤清正の長烏帽子形兜
(Collection of Tokugawa Art Museum)

It has an iron bowl and a long, upward-extending eboshi-shaped design (nagaeboshi-nari) kabuto, shaped like a tall, elongated courtier's cap or "raven hat". It is silver lacquered with a red sun. Some reproductions and historical records associate him with a large brass sun or moon maedate on the front, which was a common decorative element for high-ranking samurai and reflecting his personal aesthetics and beliefs.

Its unusual height was intended to signify Kiyomasa's high status as a powerful daimyo. The kabuto is famously covered with hundreds of small paper slips pasted together handwritten by Kiyomasa himself, each one bearing the Buddhist mantra “Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō.” which he believed would offer divine protection during battle.

This item was given by Kiyomasa to Kuki Hirotaka, who later presented it to the Kii Tokugawa family, whom Hirotaka served. When the Kii Tokugawa family sold the helmet in 1933, it was purchased by Tokugawa Yoshichika, the 19th head of the Owari Tokugawa family, where it’s now preserved. You can see it today at the Tokugawa Art Museum in Nagoya, Japan.

Kato Kiyomasa's Yari

According to popular Japanese historical legends and Edo-period tales, Kato Kiyomasa is said to have broken one of the prongs of his jūmonji-yari (十文字槍, a cross-shaped spear), transforming it into a katakama-yari (片鎌槍, single-sided sickle spear) while hunting tigers in Korea during the Imjin War (1592–1598). Rather than discarding the damaged weapon, he continued to use it with only one side prong remaining.

Ukiyo-e woodblock print by artist Chikanobu

While often depicted in Ukiyo-e woodblock prints with a broken spear, historical analysis of the katakama-yari currently in the Tokyo National Museum (attributed to him) clearly proves, because of its forging structure and hardening, that it had always been a katakama-yari, rather than broken in combat.

Kato Kiyomasa 's Yari

(Collection of Tokyo National Museum)

Kato Kiyomasa Nagarebata

Nagare-bata (流れ旗) or Tenaga-bata is also known as Chouki was a type of long flag resembling hata-jirushi but more elaborate. It was used from the Heian period to the Muromachi period. It is made by sewing a pole to the end of a long cloth and attaching it to a long pole with strings from two places. These long, narrow flags were attached to a horizontal bar and fluttered freely in the wind. Their name literally means “flowing flags.”

Tachi and Tanto

Saihai

A saihai (采配) was a baton carried by samurai commanders in feudal Japan for directing troops. Every monogashira and all officers of higher ranking carry it.

Please check out my Samurai Resources on:

KATO KIYOMASA - A COLLECTION OF PHOTO IMAGES

KATO KIYOMASA - A COLLECTION OF WOODBLOCK PRINTS

SAMURAI-JINBAORI

SAMURAI-MILITARY FLAGS & BANNERS

SAMURAI-SAIHAI, WAR BATON & FAN

Thank you for looking!

Richard Almond was a prolific and very talented figure designer/sculptor. He was an award winning silversmith. He sculpted for Barton Miniatures and Ceremonial Studios and later for his own company Almond Sculptures. It was claimed that he could create a 90mm foot figure in a week and a mounted one in two. I remembered back in the eighties he would release a new figure kit every 3 or 4 weeks. His kits were superbly sculpted and cast in fine white metal.

Richard last figure the AS/36 Sgt. 95th (Rifle) Regt. 1806 was released by Almond Sculptures before his untimely death in 1989, he was only 33 years old.

Here are a couple of articles from Military Modelling magazine.

After he passed away, his wife Jackie Almond continued to produce some figure kits but they were not sculpted by Richard Almond., who kept the business going for a number of years.

The second figure, the Rifleman kneeling loading his rifle AS/37 Rifleman 95th Regt. 1806, was incomplete at the time of Richard's death and was completed by John Tassel (of Lasset and subsequently Sovereign in the 1970's/1980's). Subsequent to these there was an Officer of the 95th sculpted entirely by John Tassel released by Almond Sculptures. Also released by them around this time was a figure of Lord Cardigan (a Sid Horton sculpt), and an Egyptian Infantryman and an Irish Kern. A great range of figures and sadly missing from the market place today.

Not sure what had happened to his masters and moulds. They may still be in the Almond family. But some had said after his passing his widow destroyed the moulds after all the stock was sold and all orders were fulfilled. But the figure kits do crop up on ebay from time to time. A real loss to our hobby during the first golden age of figure sculpting and figure modelling.

Richard Almond's last figures. AS/A37 was completed by John Tassel.

Here are somes figures which were not sculpted by Richard Almond and were released after his death.

Almond Sculptures kit list and catalogue pictures

Almond Sculptures grace the cover of Military Modelling magazine

Ads. featured in Military Modelling Magazines

Barton Miniatures was run by James Barton from 1978 until the 1990’s following which it was bought by Kitney and Co. (silver frame manufacturer). Chris Kitney bought the masters and employed Barton for a period of time to do casting for them. There was an attempt to resurrect the figures under the Kitney name.They primarily produced larger scale historical figures however they did produce one range of fantasy miniatures. Sculptors included Chub Pearson and Richard Almond. In 2008, after a hiatus of many years, there was a post announcing the return to production. This appears to have been short lived.