Review Daughter of the Dragon from Altores Studio

[Nap]

Hi everyone,

Time to have a look at the latest bust release from Altores Studio , another female bust following on from the previous one which I reviewed her , namely "Archer"

http://www.planetfigure.com/threads/archer-from-altores-studio.95792/

This release is as said another female subject and could almost be a companion in action for the archer ...the release is of course this:

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The title has been used in films probably the earliest being the 1931 film and since then female heroes have featured in the Chinese cinema and television many times and they are very popular with past and present audiences.​

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The sculpt itself is a result of many of the characters and does in no way attempt to be historical as such...the images seen by the sculptor focussed his thoughts on the pose and style of the subject ......​

A pretty , sword wielding female hero at home on both the small and large screens and maybe seen in comics for the younger public.​

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The end result is what we will look at...... a inspiration to the sculptors mind and thoughts that have transferred to this piece....pure fantasy and not trying to be historical​

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She is shown in a defensive pose the weapons which are similar to a type called a butterfly sword​

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The pose itself is an action one one sword ready to strike from the rear ,the other ready at the front​

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Details of the release:​

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Title: Archer​

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Reference: B-046​

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Scale: 1/10th​

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Material: Gray Resin​

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No of parts: 14​

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Sculptor: Alexander Deryabin ( PF member zippo) ​

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Box Art: N/A​

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All Altores releases have the resin held in bags sandwiched between foam , no box art was on the top but a clear picture of the unpainted model surrounded by the yellow logo's and text ....all very much known to be the Altores presentation.​

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Parts consist of main torso complete with head , 2 arms , 2 lower side armour pieces , a front and back lower armour piece , 2 shoulder armour pieces , 2 hands with swords , a scabbard , a section of hair strands , and a strip of sheeting for use as a ribbon in the hair .​

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Prep ​

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As with all of the resin from this company its very cleanly cast , with very minimal casting plugs to simply cut off​

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On the underside of the main figure there is a bit of sanding needed​

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On the smaller shoulder armour dry fit first , a little removal of resin around the locating pin underneath will be needed to fit snugly to the shoulder itself ...fit the arms before these are put in place.​

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Locate the arms into place ...minimal filler is needed if any at all​

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Fit the flying strands of hair into the locating cutout at the front of the head and add the ribon to create the impression of more movement​

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Continued in next post​

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Nap​

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[Nap]

In this part we will look at the main and largest part of resin ...

Main Torso

Sculpted with the head intact , the sculptor has in my opinion captured the look of the Chinese female very nicely , small in stature , delicate in the female form and in keeping not over developed in the bust area's ...clearly a lot of knowledge is shown by all concerned .

The resin used is of high quality , smoothly cast and holding details very sharply ., our subject has the front and back plates of the armour , held in place by straps that are pulling into the clothing correctly , causing it to billow out rather well , this is evident when looking at the side views .



Around the waist we have a sash which has a cut out at the back ready to fit the scabbard to , the sash is wraped around with good folds all the way , but not overworked by any means

The armour has a stylised design around the edgings the top centre at the front seems to nicely emphasise her female form but not overly .

The head is turned to her right showing well her long thin neck , straining slightly with the effort , she has a fine form and now we come to her actual face , a pretty woman but even unpainted she looks lovely ...but determined .

The features are excellent , the nose slightly wide at the nostrils , the lips are full and together , chin is a little pointed ,the ears are delicate and the correct shaping on both sides .

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The eyes are great with upper and lower lids being extremely well shown , the shaping of the eyes are as per the Chinese race, the forehead is open and in full view



Her hair is pulled back into a bun at the rear , again the sculptor has added movement by the hair strands flowing on her cheeks , to say the work on these hair is wonderful is a little bit of an understatement .

The lower part of the torso is blank ready to take the armour pieces , there is a small cutout on the forehead ready to take the hair strands , you could of course fill this if you wish .

The underside has a couple of area's that will need sanding , there was 2 small air hole present on the review model ...very easy to fill , you will need to drill a hole to take a display post if you wish .



Continued in next post

Nap

 

[Nap]

Onto the remaining pieces now

Arms/Hands

The arms and the hands fit accurately together with a butterfly sword in the hand the left arm is outstretched at the rear the right lifted close to the chest.

The upper arms are protected by upper arm plates , showing the same design as on the lower side armour , the lower arms are protected by wrap around pieces , the sculpting and casting are both of high quality , the position of the arm is reflected in the folds in the material underneath




Of particular note is the fine work on the lacing's holding them onto the arm ...you can almost untie them .

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The hands are excellent with good finger work , fingernails , knuckles are all there the top of the hand is protected by a plate which matches well to the one on the lower arm , this can be seen to be held in place by a small cord running round a finger

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The swords themselves are a nice shape with a edging as well , the handles are topped by a nice looking pommel with a flowered design on it .

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Armour

A total of 4 pieces make up the lower torso armour the 2 larger pieces fit easily to each side , these need to be put into place first then the front and back pieces put on .

The larger pieces have a scalloped design on them with a patterned area at the lower corners , again these are raised and clearly sculpted and sharply cast



The smaller ones are shaped at the lower edges with a design at the point fit is simple to achieve .



The smallest of the armour fits to the shoulders , a simple rounded covering ...remember to fit the arms first though .



Scabbard

This is the top piece with a nicely designed top piece with a opening ready to take the sword itself , there is the piece of the sash sculpted to it , fit and match are very good indeed with only a small swipe of filler needed .



Hair Strands

You can choose not to fit of course and simply fill the small cutout in the forehead or fit and have the hair strands adding movement to the piece , the strands are distinct and matching the quality of the sculpted hair on th ehead.



Final thoughts

This is a very good piece in which the imagination and talent of the sculptor clearly shows through , fantasy certainly and a nice choice for the painters, assembly is simple and with minimal prep and I am sure it will appear at competitions , the challenge is the female flesh tones , the armour ( here you can fill the area's with hand painted designs as well thanks to the super smooth surfaces) .

A release to certainly add to the collection and enjoy every minute of bench time.

..RECOMMENDED

Altores are busy and I will be sharing new releases with you all so stay tuned in .

For more details on this and others in the series why not visit the website at:

www.altores.com

Of course they are members here and on Social media as well

Thanks to Altores for the review piece and to you all for looking in

Happy modelling to all of you

Nap

 

[swralph]

Thanks for sharing another great review Nap.

 

[Osebor]

Very interesting figure... Thanks for sharing the review!

 

[Palphillips]

Great review, a lovely figure.

Paul