| The Indian Trapper |
By Adrian Hopwood
Full gallery at the end of the Article Company – Thunderbird Miniatures Price – £40.00 Scale – 54mm Material – Resin Code – TB54001 Sculpted by – Pongastorn Kantaboon This looks like it could be one of two things – A nice little stand alone piece, or an even nicer addition to a small vignette. It has a quiet atmosphere about it and the figure needs a reason to be looking behind him, perhaps suggested by the addition of another figure. That other figure might be an additional horse piled with either skins or something that’s edible ( a deer or half a buffalo – it’s before tea and I’m hungry ! ); or alternatively an additional human figure – a “white man” trapper in buckskin, a Civil war officer, or even another Native American. Simply put, there’s so much choice. Sculpting of the piece is good, you might struggle with the eyes a bit, this scale often has little definition for the eyeball itself, and in this instance, the eyes are two small hollows indented in the face. Some dark paint in there will work wonders, believe me ! There’s a good canvas for the creative painter too, the buckskin will be a challenge in itself – getting the variety of milky yellows and pale browns can be fun so that the clothing separates clearly. But the addition of beadwork patterning, plus the possibility of painting a colourful horse ( one of those appaloosas or such like ), plus a but of colour added with icons and such like on the horse’s flanks or rump……well, the list could be quite long. 
Fit of parts seems good too. There’s always filler needed on mounted figures, because usually there’s a lot of parts go to make them up, so expect to have to add some Magic Sculpt or suchlike to some of the joints, but I don’t think it’ll be in excessive amounts. Overall, a good model. The good thing being that there’s several more suspects from El Greco’s catalogue that could be added to this to round it out into that vignette I suggested at the start. Thanks to Matt and Celine at El Greco Miniatures for sending this along for review, the model is available from them at the address below, or by visiting their website. Adrian. El Greco Miniatures 63 Glebe Drive Brackley NN13 7BX United Kingdom Phone: +44 (0)1280 840364 Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it Home Page: http://www.elgrecominiatures.co.uk
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