Review French Camel Trooper from RP Models

[Nap]

Hi everybody

This is not some much a review more of a "whats in the box" which I think is only right as I was as many know been involved in this and other projects with RP Models run by my good friend Hugo Pereira acting both as a researcher and working on the releases in other ways .

I would like to say that I have no financial interest in the company whatsoever

RP was born from Hugo's desire to give the modeller something different and action packed with accuracy and quality being the keywords .

One of Hugo's remits for the company is that he will only ever cast a certain amount in limited runs so when its gone its gone !! ..traders include SK Miniatures and El Greco Miniatures in UK , many others are worldwide.

In addition to this importantly it was Hugo's total desire to listen and act on information and advice from the people that matter ...YOU the customer....the response from PF is the perfect example of this IMO and I know Hugo so appreciates the responses and information, the same response has been on Social Media.

Here's the link for the threads on PF

The initial idea for the "Napoleon War" series

http://www.planetfigure.com/threads/need-help.79204/

Lots of response!!

After initial work on figure

http://www.planetfigure.com/threads/french-dromedary-regiment.80051/

Even more responses !!!!

I will be showing you the parts and making observations as a modeller during this open box article

Here are some references you might find useful

and now some books to have a look at and get the feel of the Egyptian Campaign



Continued in next post

Nap

 

[Nap]

On to the actual release details

Title: French Dromedaire Regiment ( Napoleon's War Series)

Reference: RPM-75-03-0001

Scale: 75mm

Material: Gray Resin

No of parts: 19

Sculptor: 3D

Casting YS Castings ( Yiannis )

Box Art: N/A

The first thing to say is the number of parts are not 13 as on box but 19 these consist of 3 parts of camel, the centre piece with saddle , cloak ,torso, head , plume, 2 arms ( one with lance ) , 2 pieces of the reins , sabretache/sword, 2 pistols, small pouch, 2 storage containers , musket , no base is included , a authenticity certificate is included sign by Hugo .

The pieces were in a good strong box, no box art and vac packed and for me at least a little difficult to get out !! saying that however very good protection . The lance was slightly warped..but careful warming will straighten that out easily enough.

Perhaps a small instruction sheet might have been included as there are a lot of parts .

One thing also to note is the clever way all the parts are engineered ....very cleverly to say the least , parts fit easily into place

Prep

Slight sanding on the parts ( under riders feet and upper body) and fitting together , the camel's gait is as seen in live animal but will certainly need pinning well as 3 of the feet are lifted above ground level

I will look at the camel and saddle in this part

Camel

Consisting of 3 pieces the front body and 2 legs , the rear, legs and lower centre body , neck/head part , putting this together presents no real issues but you need to fit the saddle part before the front legs!!!

​

Dry fitting showed no visible need for filler and the parts certainly look very accurate in casting so all credit to Yiannis and Hugo for this

The muscle work is very good indeed and accurate this was something that Hugo looked passionately at and we saw a lot of camels together!!!! , the gait of the beast is very good as seen in reality , the body is turned slightly to the left with the tail at the rear away from the body in relation to the movement of the animal

Very good work on the actual exposed feet with the pads on the lower parts , the distinctive camel toe is clearly worked



The neck is a great piece of 3D work the muscles are all there , the neck pulling over to the left , the lower part of the neck slightly creased , really good skin textures are all over the animal .

The head of the camel is one with attitude mouth slightly open teeth showing .....I reckon this fellow gave his rider trouble!!!!


Saddle/Central Piece

I must admit when this was being developed I was a little concerned how the camel was going to be cast but this has been very well thought out the central section fits very accurately between the 2 parts with legs and no filler needed from what I can see

The saddle is covered with various hangings the main one behind the legs of the rider having some nicely detailed surface work on it , on both sides we have a hanging bag perhaps full of food or maybe booty robbed from a tomb in the valley of the kings.

On top of the hangings there is a sheepskin cover as worn by hussars ( the camel units used a mix of both cavalry and infantry items ) , good texture and strap definition with cutouts for a pistol on each side at the front , in the centre on each side just below the sheepskin there is a cutout to take the water containers ( one each side)

The piece also includes the lower part of the rider ...a real clever bit of decision there from the team at RP , no worry about gaps the position is knees slightly bent wearing boots and the long uniform coat .
the work on the boots are very pleasing as well as seeing the fact the stirrups are also cast on , together with the spurs ...all well cast .

The waist has the barrel sash around it with cords , all showing sharp details

There is a good locating piece to fit the upper body to.

Continued in next post

Nap

 

[Ventress]

Quality review as always, pity he's not a Grenadier Guard in the Sudan! (Just saying)

 

[Nap]

Now to the figure pieces in this part

Upper Torso

Nicely sculpted and well defined wearing a hussar type dolman, the torso is slightly leaning to his left in realation to the mount , the folds of the uniform are good with the sleeves being the upper halves only ready to receive the lower arms .

Straps are well defined if perhaps not in the "correct" position in respect the musket one in particular ..but soldiers everywhere adapt to suit themselves so I don't feel anyone can say it wasn't ever worn like that .

The neck area is upright and has a good clean area to take the head by means of a cut out.




Head/Plume

Wearing a shako with cords and flounders , good surface work , the star boss on each side is clearly cast with the chinstrap having the scales on as well , sculpted tightly to the face sides , the peak is in place which might slightly be a little awkward in painting the eyes


Facial features are of a shouting man , mouth wide open tongue showing ...just about th put his lance through an enemy no doubt , , the hair has good texture on it as well .

The rosette is on the shako at the front but no other decoration , on the top there is a hole ready for the plume



Cape

A full cape blowing around with gusto , again we see texture and excellent folds are sculpted after much research into the cloaks behaviour , suffice to say all adding to the action pose of the figure .

Fit could not be simpler , cast with a cut out to fit nicely over the collar and sitting well onto the torso upper

​

A nice challenge to paint this as they were normally white!!

Arms/Lance/Reins

Arms are in position with the left holding the reins the right holding the lance slightly to the rear ready to thrust forward .
The folds on both arms are good with the cuff details being hussar in style and trefoil, knots , not overly worked in definition , the hands come out of arm ends that you ca see up making them look very natural in look, hand details are good with the lance being gripped solidly .
The lance itself has the end with a ball below the point ( to stop it going too far in the enemy ), no pennon is included as these were often removed if used at all .

The reins themselves consist of 2 pieces the longer having one on each side of the camels head , a little over scale IMO but sandable if you so wish , the smaller part is the loop which fits on the top of the hand .



Weapons/Sabretache

The sabretache is a little over scale nicely detailed with the pre napoleonic insignia on it , nice edging around with the 3 straps being cast on as well , buckle work is there , in place the piece looks a lot better than when away due to the fact that the sword straps are also cast alongside the others , must admit is a good bit of thinking and casting though .

The sword is mameluke in style with a good shape , a little sanding is needed but it looks fine in position on the figure



The pistols are both in holsters with the securing straps no fancy details except securing straps which are sharply shown , locating is simple as they have a recess on each side of the sheepskin on the central piece.



The musket would have normally been infantry type , its in the stock bucket with a retaining strap halfway up , fit is easy if on the wrong side for some modellers ie not regulation on the right. the weapon has good mechanism details and is fitted with the bayonet as seen in references , this is a little small I feel but you could replace it easy enough.



Pouches/Plume and Containers

Now we have the 2 most valuable items in the desert ..water or maybe wine (!!) containers , one is a gourd shape with acord around it , the other is a jar in a rather nice basketwork container , nice work on the surface texture on this , both pieces fit snugly to the cutouts on the animal sides


The plume is showing movement which adds to the figure action , the surface work on the plume is really good with locating a matter of fitting to the hole in the shako ...simple !!

The pouch is a good size and with the flap being defined there is a rolled up fatigue cap with 2 g straps , again easy to fit , i would recommend painting before fit .




Final Thoughts

Am I pleased with the result , yes , couple of things I would work on when on the bench which I have stated but this was a great project to work on with RP we all learnt a lot as the process developed and most importantly we got input and acted on any comments or suggestions made by modellers especially the members here on PF and as Hugo has said its a team effort and all are part of the RP team no matter how you contribute.

2017 will I have no doubt be a good year for Hugo and the RP team with really interesting releases and projects

Don't forget 5% of all sales of all RP products will be going to a military related museum or charity

For more details contact:

www.rpmodels.pt ( being worked on !!)

[email protected]

www.facebook.com/RPmodels

or you can contact Hugo via this site

Thank you for looking in on this "open box" write up hope you found it of use and interest

Nap

 

[mortier]

Very great reviev again,thank you

 

[JonH]

Lovely imaginative bit of sculpting. Great subject too and thanks for the review.
Pennies are being saved.
Jon

 

[CBDesign]

Thank you Nap..
Best regards,
Chris

 

[Nap]

Hi Guys

Thanks for looking in glad you liked it

Happy modelling

Nap

 

[jai]

Hence my opinion with some books that you can read online titles. http://www.planetfigure.com/threads/french-dromedaire-regiment.81659/

the rifle with bayonet was to Regulation the bayonet the longest and I'll just make additions to the weapon

I started work ... remade bust, changed head (is the same cloned and larger) will refer sword and take away sabretache ... I'll have to redo a leg .... has been broken by a baby ... but all this I do not know When it will end

sorry for my english

 

[Zastrow.cuirassier]

That's a review !

 

[Hugo Pereira]

Hello my GOOD FRIEND Kevin

Congratulations for the review... Its Amazing...

My friend everyone knows you do the reviews with big precision, and we are friends and you help me a lot... But a review is a review, and you have to tell what you see... And another thing, if I dont have trust in my pieces, I never ask a friend and RPmodels adviser to do the reviews... NEVER... I know what we are doing... I know what we want to do... I know teh quality of our pieces... And I know everyone is involved with RP... Its a big responsability... Believe me...

Thank you so much.
Big ugg and take care
Hugo

 

[alamac]

Great review Nap ,
i have this kit sitting on my bench at the moment it is a beautiful sculpt and superbly engineered.
Congratulations to all involved.
Cheers
Al

 

[swralph]

Always a pleasure to read your (not so much a review as whats in the box).
Thanks Nap.

 

[MrBMB]

Nice Nap!
I will be picking this one up.
Now if they can do the same type of thing with a Stormtrooper and Dewback in 1/16 I would be very happy

 

[Steve Brodie]

Whilst waiting to get 'bader' into the spray area at the weekend, put the body together on this one, i did find however quite a few gaps that will need filling, not a complaint, as some CA and baking soda should sort them out.