Review Colonel C Hawkins From Nick Majerus

[Nap]

Hi to all

Following on from Nick Majerus thread here https://www.planetfigure.com/threads/col-rush-c-hawkins-bust.414446/​

Thought I would share a look at the resin closer up

Here is a painted version by Nick



Rush Christopher Hawkins certainly led a active life , enlisting in the military at 15 to serve in the Mexican War m afterwards he became a lawyer , in 1861 he became the colonel of the 9th NYV (Hawkins Zouaves) wounded in action at South Mills in 1862 , mustered out in 1863, and brevetted Brigadier General of Volunteers for bravery .

A renowed book collector and famous for a much public, dispute with the artist Whistler via the Paris edition of the NY Times newspaper

He was killed by a automobile in 1898 in New York

Remains of a unit colour and a flank marker



Similar style headwear to the 9th, good view of the bugle badge



Plenty of references about of course here are a few easy to find ones





Continued in next post

Nap

 

[Nap]

Let's look at the resin now

Details of the release:

Title: Colonel R C Hawkins ( ACW )

Scale: 1/10th

Material: Light gray resin

Number of Pieces: 3

Sculptor of Master by 3D methods

Casting: Nick Majerus

As with the previous release https://www.planetfigure.com/posts/1214307/ from Nick the resin was held in a tidy simple but effective box , the pieces surrounded by lightweight packing

Shipping was quick arriving in just over 1 week from the US ...not bad at all

No artwork on the boxtop

Here is a view of the pieces from Nick

As you see there are just three pieces consisting of torso, head and the plume so prep is going to be very minimal consisting of the following:

Torso: Remove excess resin from underneath and sand fine casting lines on arms

Head: Remove small amount of resin from rear of head, casting line at rear of kepi , tiny blips rear of ears, tiny air holes at lower neck area

Plume: remove casting line at edges ...I suggest you pin this in position

Overall thoughts on casting ....this is very smoothly done , very little to deal with , the peak on the kepi might be a tad too thick but that is me being really picky !!!

Torso
Our subject is wearing a simple yet very much the zouave image , laced on the edging and up the centre of the shirt/vest, on the shoulder some full dress epaulettes trefoil in style

The casting has brought out the lacing and the buttons very well , making painting very simple and a lot easier

The shoulder pieces are excellent and certainly add flair and style to the uniform, very well sculpted and well cast

Folds and creases are gentle but in place and natural

At the rear the piece is scalloped out rather elegantly ...all surfaces are super smooth

At the neck again a area of neat casting there is a good cutout to take the neck post







Head
The head is sculpted with the full dress kepi in position, facial definition and likeness is very good with features being well worked , nice work on the facial hair , eye's are a very good shape and full ( no pupil hole ), good shaping with the eyebrows not being overdone, ears are good

Fit is easy with the aid of a good cutout and shaped resin block on the neck underside

The kepi shaping continues to be of a high standard , good ranking lining around the crown leading up with a nicely done interlaced threading on the top

The strap is cleanly done resting on the kepi peak , possibly a tiny bit over but in place looks fine





Plume
This was used in full dress , very flamboyant difficult to get right in resin so I reckon this is a good job , nicely detailed and textured which you can see in the pictures

Some might wish to look at a suitable real feather type material instead of the resin ...if you use the cast then pin it !!!




Final thoughts

A ideal for any painter , good piece, simple to paint regarding the uniform but a piece that will benefit time spent to bring out the real quality in the casting , the option of doing something with the plume ...a very good display piece.
There are many units that had so interesting uniforms particularly early on in the ACW ...hope we might see more

Thanks to Nick for the review piece and a thanks from me to you all for looking in

For more information on this and to contact Nick :

Email to :[email protected]

You can message here on PF as well as contacting via Social Media

Happy benchtime and modelling

Nap

 

[Nick Majerus]

Hi Nap! Thanks for the great review. I was in a hurry to get it painted, so I know you will do a much better job!