Colonel Robert Gould Shaw - Mitches Military Models

[Grod]

HelloFolks
As befits 4th July MMM have released this 75mm scale mounted figures of United States Colonel Robert Gould Shaw.
Sculpted by Maurice Corry.
Cost of the kit is £45 which includes worldwide postage
Please visit www.mitchesmilitarymodels.co.uk or contact me on [email protected] to order whilst stocks last.
Happy Independence Day.
Gordon

 

[phc35]

Wow, that is cool. looks great.

jay

 

[Gaudin]

Rider looks fine, but poor animal will need some work to put right ...

 

[Carl Edward Sambrook]

This is one model I MUST HAVE, the reason is that I have researched Robert Gould Shaw over many years after seeing the superb film GLORY, which is about the first black infantry regiment (54th Mass Regt)which fought in the American Civil War. Right now to order the figure, stanby Gordon.

 

[Krest063]

Rider good ,but the horse is terrible !

 

[yellowcat]

Horse looks deform.

 

[Martin64]

Great subject of a remarkable personality - IMHO a very clever choice of subject, Gordon. Unfortunately there are some hard to correct problems with the anatomy of the horse. This is surprising because I remember some wonderfuld 1/16th scale horses among the releases of the Roll Call line and thought they were done by Maurice Corry back then.
Still considering an order - but the horse needs to be replaced...

Cheers, Martin

 

[Grod]

Great subject of a remarkable personality - IMHO a very clever choice of subject, Gordon. Unfortunately there are some hard to correct problems with the anatomy of the horse. This is surprising because I remember some wonderfuld 1/16th scale horses among the releases of the Roll Call line and thought they were done by Maurice Corry back then.
Still considering an order - but the horse needs to be replaced...

Cheers, Martin

Hello Martin
Many thanks to you and the other chaps for the feedback in respect of the horse which I have taken on board. I personally think it looks ok which is probably indicative of my knowledge of the creatures which amounts to them being an animal with four legs-one in each corner. I will pass on your thoughts to Moz but I think it would be difficult to change it at this stage.
Cheers
Gordon

 

[polyphemus]

It looks very much that the Robert Gould Shaw Memorial was the source for this;

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Robert_Gould_Shaw_Memorial.jpg

It might be me but I don't think the horse is very far from a decent representation of the horse depicted on the memorial.

Geoff

 

[Martin64]

Hello Gordon!
Thank you for your consideration of my comment. I grew up with horses and although I sometimes can`t point my finger on parts of a horse sculpt and tell where is the problem you have that feeling that "it looks wrong" or a stance is not possible in real life (especially the case with many rearing horse sculpts).
Some points I would address / rework in respect to R. G. Shaws mount:

1. the lenght of the neck in relation to the body does look very tiny and small
2. the body in relation to the length of the neck and the legs is far too long
3. the left front leg looks too short and somewhat crippled/bent
4. the shoulder of the left front leg "disappears" into the body
5. the size and form of some hooves vary and do not look right (the hoof of the right front leg looks ok)

That said I would like to point out that I admire the creativity and abilities of Maurice Corry. I could never sculpt a proper horse by myself. The inspiration of the pose from the memorial is clearly visible. The horse on the memorial does have some minor problems as well btw (is not in scale to its rider).
Cheers, Martin

 

[Mirofsoft]

This is an interesting piece

could buy ; YES / Don't know / NO

 

[Don Johnson]

I am normally a fan of Mr. Corry's work.
Saint-Guadens didn't have the luxury of the Interweb to verify uniform details, and thus his 54th Mass statue, while visually and emotionally impactful, has numerous uniformology errors.
It seems, unfortunately, that several of these have replicated in this offering.
I will defer to those with greater knowledge, but neither the cap, nor the coat front, look "correct". Both of the booted feet have been truncated, the left by several (scale) inches. The horse parts have been detailed above. The saber seems to be unusually straight in the blade (if Shaw actually carried a straight blade, then I withdraw my comment), and the guard appears, from the images provided, to be half-formed, at best. There are mold-shift lines (both boots being, to my eye, the most obvious), as well as many unblended putty additions.
If today was Sept. 5th, I might understand the rush to get this "rough draft" figure into production quickly, so as not to miss Euro. But not on July 5th . . .
Gordon, this is not representative of either Mr. Corry's work, or yours. Please, kick this pass back to Moz, ask him to address the very real concerns (look at who has responded to date - these are NOT the chronic bitchers), and bring back a real model of Col. Shaw, of which you can both be proud!

 

[Grod]

Hello Folks
Thanks again for your observations. I asked Moz to complete the figure based on the memorial. Any shoddy work on the assembly is also down to me as I assembled and photographed it.
You are also quite correct with regard to rushing things also Don - not enough hours in the day I'm afraid.
Cheers
Gordon

 

[Piotrec]

I thought thus was a raw sculpt of the horse, not finished yet. Definitely no go. I like the scale and subject choice though.

 

[Edward]

I am a big fan of Maurice's sculpting and the subject matter appeals, but I think the horse definitely needs some alterations - I agree with Martin.

 

[Captain Sprout]

I agree with Martin, excellent diagram (I have ridden professionally in the sport of Eventing, am a qualified instructor and dressage judge and my father was a trainer in Eventing and Point to Point and National Hunt so I have rather a thing for horses one might say) its not a positive look. Which is a shame as I love mounted figures when done well and it would be on my potential shopping list. I also am a big Mr Corry fan.

The memorial horse actually looks slightly better, due to the improved angle of the neck and the legs are far better. The sculpt doesn't reflect the excited look the memorial horse has really.

The eyes are not at the right angle and look rather human.The withers (bit in front of the saddle) are at a curious angle and although the horse might be shying it still looks forced. But the main problems are in the legs, the hoof angles are wrong, the back legs have strange angles and the pasterns (bit above the hooves) are really straight. That can happen and some breeds are more upright than others but it looks like the horse is on tip toes and that is an issues as horses haven't had toes for a long time. It's got a ewe neck and an odd face.

Overall its not a very good looking horse. Even in this period a lot of horses were pretty decent and there were a reasonable amount to choose from so he wouldn't have had to have just any old nag.

It doesn't look real enough, which I guess is always the issue with sculpting people and animals..everyone has seen them and instinctively knows something is wrong even if they have never really got to know them.

 

[Martin Antonenko]

Hello Folks
I asked Moz to complete the figure based on the memorial. Any shoddy work on the assembly is also down to me as I assembled and photographed it.
You are also quite correct with regard to rushing things also Don - not enough hours in the day I'm afraid.
Cheers
Gordon

Very good decision!
I find it extremely positive when a publisher responds to criticisms like that.

And if the figure is revised, the face should IMHO look a little "younger" - Col. Shaw was 28 when he died ...

Cheers

 

[Noel Walker]

This is one model I MUST HAVE, the reason is that I have researched Robert Gould Shaw over many years after seeing the superb film GLORY, which is about the first black infantry regiment (54th Mass Regt)which fought in the American Civil War. Right now to order the figure, stanby Gordon.

Not trying to be difficult but the 54th wasnt the first black regiment, the 1st South Carolina Vol and argueably the 1st Missouri Reg of Colored Troops I think might put in a claim as well. Anyway, if you are interested in this subject, besides this figure, the late great Peter Morton did a 75mm 1st SC Volunteer figure last year that is superb as well