Hoplite Bust

by Adrian Hopwood Full gallery at the end of the Article Company – El Greco Price – £33.00 Scale – 1/9th Material – Resin Code – EGM-BU011 Sculpted by – Matt Grech This bust made me really think. First off, how come he’s so darn good at this sculpting malarkey, and second, this looks just like one of those classical busts you see in museums. O.K. both thoughts were fighting for prominence in my single working brain cell, but those were the two thoughts running around there shouting to be heard. Matt’s taken to sculpting really quickly, he admits that he’s a little bit too enthusiastic when he’s pushing the putty about to think too far ahead – like how it’s going to be moulded, and also how a painter I going to tackle it, but we’ll speak about that a little later. The bust itself is a really nice sculpture, the face is well formed with plenty of character and a somewhat haughty demeanour. The clothing drapes around the shoulders in natural swags, and the helmet with it’s plume crossing the head laterally, rather than running from front to back is detailed enough to allow for the painter to airbrush the metal areas, and the horse-hair of the plume still to be hand painted and drybrushed so that the sculpted detail pops out. But it’s the characters beard and hair that really draw the eye. Proper ringlets formed somehow out of putty that look “just right.” The eye is drawn to them, and wherever you then choose to look, the eye is going to return to that hair detail. It’s just really, really well done. Moulding – done by Grey Matter and well up to their usual high standard of casting. The resin is easy to work with, although there’s precious little to do in the way of clean-up. Fit of parts is good, although the plume to helmet joint will require a smear of filler to hide the joint. The painter whinges…..Well, I have discussed it with Matt, and I’d have liked to see the head / neck separated from the chest section of the bust. In fairness to Matt, he actually sculpted this for himself as a bit of fun, in fairness to us modellers, he should realize that the stuff he’s forming out of putty is the stuff that folk will want to buy. I think he’s still a bit shocked that this is so. I’ve started painting this one, so have a little bit more input that normal, as most kits I tend to look at from a “does it fit, does it look right, how’s it cast and how would I paint it ?” point of view. It’s not much different to what I tend to think when I begin painting something, but sometimes a small refinement will only need making when I actually come to begin painting a piece. In this case, I added more grooves in the top of the head to depict hair. These will be seen through the eye slots of the helmet, and the original kit lacks a little bit of detail here. Not a huge problem, just something to think about doing prior to gluing the helmet in place if you’re the type of painter who paints the whole piece as one assembly. The only other thing I can mention is the busts neck on the right hand side. There’s an extra bit of “cloth” been added to the sculpture under the cloak, and whilst it’s not a problem, it’s a slightly different texture to the smooth surface detail of the rest of the garment. It’s not an huge fault, but it will lead some to question if it’s part of the cloak or if it’s a separate piece of cloth. Small niggles really, for something that really wasn’t intended to become a kit. It’s definitely a painter’s piece, and one that will scoot past the clean-up table and present itself for priming very quickly. Available from Matt and Celine at El Greco miniatures – their address is shown at the end of the review. 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