Go Figure Felix world of miniature figure modelling

Here is my review of the Ronin 3D bust by Hellbender Museum, printed and offered by El Greco.

Detail of the release

Title: Ronin 3D Bust

3D Printable STL file: Hellbender Museum

Scale: 1:9

Printed by: El Greco under licence from HM

Material & no. of pieces: 5 dark grey resins

Order from: EL Greco

The Ronin 3D bust from El Greco arrives in a brown sturdy cardboard box with parts housed in zip lock bags and bubble wrap pouches for protection. It consists of 5 dark grey resin printed parts: Body, 2 hands, sword and a plinth. The height including the plinth is approximate 140mm.

Here are the printed parts.

Parts View

Head and upper body view

Hands arms and katana view

The plinth view

Final thoughts:

The 3D printed bust by Hellbender Museum is superbly sculpted with great detail and likeness of Japanese actor Toshrio Mifune in the movie Yojimbo and Sanjuro. There are only a couple of inaccuracies in the sculpt. The left thumb should be on the side of the tsuba as shown in my reference photos and video otherwise the thumb will be sliced when drawing the blade as indicated in the bust and also the saya/scabbard is a bit too long.

The kit is excellent printed by El Greco. The parts are sharp, smooth, crisp and clean and are perfectly snug fit together and no moulding line to clean.

3D printed figure kits are hollow inside with small parts printed in solid. Since it is hollow the bust is light in weigh and feels like a styrene plastic kit. They are more brittle and fragile than casting parts. My kit arrived with a broken wakizash handle. While taking pictures for this review I accidentally snap off the katana tsuba in half. Personally I would not purchase any small scale 3D printed kits and prefer solid printed over hollow printed kits.

Overall a beautiful impressive looking kit and good value for the money. You can order the bust directly from El Greco.

My Rating Summary:

A short video of the 3D Bust

References:

How to draw the katana

In order to illustrate the correct thumb position, I took some screen shots from the video and also I took some pictures with my katana to compare with the kit.

Screen shots from the video showing the thumb is on the side of the tsuba.

The first row of pictures are taken from the kit. When compare with the second row with my katana with same thumb position as the kit, the thumb will be sliced when the thumb push forward in order to unsheathe the katana.

The third row of pictures indicate the correct position of the thumb that is on the side of the tsuba. When the thumb push forward to unsheath the katana the thumb will not be sliced.

Thank you for looking!

Here is my two in one review of Warpaint Studio Fukushima Masanori resin bust VS Alexandros Models Honda Tadakatsu resin bust. Both are daimyos from the late Sengoku period and both are wearing their famous distinctive kabuto (helmet).

Detail of the releases:

Title: Fukushima Masanori resin bust

Manufacturer: Warpaint Studio

Scale: 220mm (1:9)

Sculptor: Traditional hand sculpted by ?

Material & no. of pieces: 8 light grey resins

Cast by: MRK Productions

First released in 2010

The Warpaint Studio Samurai bust comes from my grey army. The limited edition kit was released in 2010 with different kit boxes. The kit for this review was from the initial release. It consists of 8 finely cast resin parts which packed in a ziplock bag and sandwiched with bubble wrap for protection.

The model was excellently sculpted and cast of a 200 mm bust kit of Fukushima Masanori. He is in his jinbaori and wearing his distinctive peach shaped kabuto (helmet), which featured a pair of imposing water buffalo horns. Carved in wood, they are lacquered black and covered in gold leaf. Despite its weighty appearance, it weighs only 2,650 grams. It originally belongs to Kuroda Nagamasa (黒田長政, 1568 -1623) a prominent military commander.

The horned helmet was used as a symbol of reconciliation when Fukushima exchanged his peculiar Ichi-No-Tani kabuto (inspired by the famous battle of Ichi-No-Tani from the Genpei War back in 1184 that Minamoto Yoshitsune won the battle by climbing down the steep valley) with Kuroda’s as a testimony of their friendship when they were reunited after fighting. It was during the postwar period after the Korean Invasion. The helmet was returned to the Kuroda family in 1844.

Ichi-No-Tani kabuto from Fukuoka City Museum, Japan.

Fukushima Masanori (福島正則, 1561 – August 26, 1624)

A Japanese daimyō of the late Sengoku period to early Edo period who served as lord of the Hiroshima Domain. A retainer of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, he fought in the Battle of Shizugatake in 1583, and soon became known as one of Seven Spears of Shizugatake which also included Katō Kiyomasa and others. In the Battle of Sekigahara between the Ishidas and Tokugawas in 1600, he sided with Tokugawa Ieyasu. Fukushima Masanori was made daimyo of Hiroshima after Sekigahara.

Title: O/136 Honda Tadakatsu resin bust

Manufacturer: Alexandros Models

Scale: 220mm (1:9)

Sculptor: Traditional hand sculpted by Myouchin

Material & no. of pieces: 23 grey resins

First released in 2022

The Alexandros Samurai bust was ordered from El Greco. The kit arrived in a colour printed box which featured box art by Alexandre Cortina. It consists of 23 grey resin parts which are packed in two plastic bags and sandwiched with shredded paper for protection.

The model was beautifully sculpted by Myouchin and cleanly cast of a 200 mm bust kit of Honda Tadakatsu. He is wearing his most famous suit of black armour featuring the remarkable 12 iron plates acorn-shaped bowl kabuto well known for its distinctive wakidate ("side crests") in the form of a deer's antlers, probably made of lacquered papier-mâché on wood, and was called the "Mitsumatakazuno" ("three-branched deerhorn helmet") with Shikami monster headerboard and a large gilt-wood Buddhist rosary slung over one shoulder on his body armour.

Honda Tadakatsu (本多忠勝, March 17, 1548 – December 3, 1610)

A Japanese samurai, general and daimyo of the late Sengoku through early Edo periods, who served Tokugawa Ieyasu. Honda Tadakatsu was one of the Tokugawa Four Heavenly Kings along with Ii Naomasa, Sakakibara Yasumasa and Sakai Tadatsugu. He was called a “samurai among samurai” by Oda Nobunaga.

Honda Tadakatsu was 57 years-old when he took part in the Battle of Sekigahara, commanding just 500 samurai on the field that day. In a charge on the Shimazu clan war camp, Tadakatsu’s horse was felled from under him by a volley of arrows. Tadakatsu too crashed to the earth unhurt. Pausing only momentarily to offer a brief prayer for his fallen horse, he then took the reigns from one of his captains and continued to fight.

Honda Tadakatsu also referred to as "The Warrior who surpassed Death itself" because he never once suffered a significant wound, despite being the veteran of over 57 battles by the end of his life and because he was never defeated by another samurai. He died in Edo in 1610, having cut his own hand during some woodcarving. Watching his blood flow from a blade wound for the first time.

Here are the casting parts.

Parts View

Kabuto View

Head View

Upper Torso View

Sode, cords and Rosary View

Final thoughts:

On Warpaint Studio’s - The Fukushima Masanori bust kit was released some twelve years ago. The bust is nicely sculpted with a fine face and with good eyes. It reminds me of the nine samurai bust kits put out by Fort Duquesne many years ago sculpted by Augie Rodriguez.

The resin parts are cleanly cast. The only part that is not historical accurate is the base of the horns which should be a lot thicker when compare with the museum photo. I have a model of this horn kabuto which is same scale as the bust in my grey army. Here are couples of pictures showing the size differences.

On Alexandros’s – An impressive piece from sculptor Myouchin. The kit is superbly sculpted with loads of detail (especially on the chain mail) with well researched parts. But there are still some parts which are historical inaccurate and questionable.

The casting is great and sharp but some of the small delicate parts should be cast in white metal. The only problem is with the small kit box. The two rosary necklaces suppose to come as two long pieces. But mine are shattered during packing or shipping and a ring for the cord on the back side of one of the sode is missing. There are just too many small delicate parts that are stuffed in a small kit box which will tend to break easily during packing and shipping. Anyway, a beautiful kit for you to consider adding to your collection.