Review Grenadier Officer from Paul Blaber Miniatures

[Nap]

Hi everyone

In this review I am going to look at a full figure from Paul Blaber announced here

https://www.planetfigure.com/threads/new-release-from-paul-blaber-miniatures.186949/

Depicting a Grenadier Guards Officer from the Crimean War at the battle of Alma ( a battle honour proudly displayed on their colours )


Details of the release


Title: Guards Officer Battle of Alma 1854

Reference: PJF90/001

Scale: 90mm

No of pieces: 11

Material: Gray Resin

Sculptor: Paul Blaber

Casting: In House by Paul

Box Art: None on Review


This is Paul's 1st 90mm he has released , the review item was packed in a cardboard box with a image on the top of the unpainted figure , packed in bubble wrap , one thing to note there is a very small piece ( sword knot) so be careful opening it up , also included is a printed colour reference and a business card with contact details



Parts consist of Full figure less one arm, right arm , coat tail, , sword , scabbard , blanket roll ends, epaulette , chin chain, gloves , and a base

Prep needed

• Main figure...casting seams on inside of legs, and front , , under bearskin remove excess , general tidy up around , remove casting post from under haversack and excess resin from under feet

• Right arm...Casting lines on arm and fit in place ( pinning is suggested) , remove excess resin from hand
• Coat Tail , remove from former and sand edges and fit
• Sword and Scabbard...Remove from formers and fit
• Chin scales and gloves ...Remove from formers and fit ( the gloves are on the left hand hanging over fingers )
• Blanket Roll and epaulette....Remove from Former and fit into position
• Sword Knot ...Fit into place
• Base...Cut away from former

General Comments

• For me the legs look long but we are all different !
• You might wish to replace the sword blade with a metal version ( beaten pin)
• Filler is needed when fitting the arm and the epaulette into place
• For some the sculpt might look a bit rougher but that is Paul's style ...a character

Lets have some references for you

Note the coat was worn by Lord Sinclair who served in the Regt and is a great reference IMO

This is the picture used as the main reference

​

Of course there are books here are a couple:



Continued in the next post

Nap

 

[Nap]

Lets look a the resin

Main Figure

Posed holding his bearskin in towards the left side the hand holding the lower edge

The legs have the gold lace on each side quite nicely edged making painting easier , on the left hip there is the long hanging sash , sweeping slightly back at the lower edges, the sash is wrapped round the waist , its nice to see the sash being sculpted as seen , thinner in depth

The tunic has the buttons being shown , across the tunic there is the sword belt ( no plate showing ( under blanket roll ? ) , on the right hip the haversack , bulging out with contents , the blanket roll sits nicely around the body

moving to the collar there are the grenade badge showing . the bearskin itself is well textured with the plume in position , the left arm wraps itself around the headwear , the cuff detail is in position , the epaulette is sculpted in position , I do feel there could have been more detail on this .

The head is sculpted with a fine pair of sideboards , the hair unkept and with good texture , the head being slightly angled to the left , facial features are there but perhaps a little rougher than we usually see .

Right Arm

Sculpted with just the fringe at the arm top , the arm is extended down , cuff detail is a little sharper with the hand being in position , fit is simple but as I said onning is recommended




Coat Tail

Fitting underneath the haversack, you migh need a little filler for this , hanging naturally , the edges meeting at the lower edge with a grenade



Epaulette Top/Blanket ends

The epaulette has a good shaping with a grenade on it fitting on this and the blanket end is easy enough but again filler will be needed



Chin scales/Gloves/Sword knot

These look good when in position and have a backing on as in the originals , the gloves confused me when I first saw them but consulting with Paul put me right..so thanks for that (see pic below) , the sword knot is as you can see very small so be careful ...its going to need a little patience fitting it



Sword/Scabbard

I feel that most will want to replace the sword blade for safety if nothing else , the same will apply to the scabbard in many cases , the resin pieces are okay but if like me prone to damage !!!

The sword has the hand sculpted into the hand protector , that makes things easier for the build



Base

A squared item , textured as expected with the addition of a ground covered cannonball , there are 2 holes to help placing the figure in palce



Final Thoughts



Its nice to show a 90mm release from Paul in a very popular period as well , a good sized figure , sculpting is as I said in Paul's character style , once you've the prep done which is just as much a part of the figure as painting you will have a good display piece

Paul like to give the modeller something different and at a reasonable price and all of the releases are POST FREE


Here are links to others from Paul that I have looked at

https://www.planetfigure.com/threads/gula-hussar-1761-1-9-scale-paul-blaber-miniatures.113632/

https://www.planetfigure.com/threads/wraf-ww2-from-paul-blaber-miniatures.73499/

https://www.planetfigure.com/threads/rn-boatswain-crimea-1854-paul-blaber-miniatures.53304/

https://www.planetfigure.com/threads/paul-blaber-bust-80th-regiment-staffordshire-vols.52670/

https://www.planetfigure.com/thread...alry-1805-from-paul-blaber-miniatures.195875/

RECOMMENDED

For more details on this and other releases go to his website :

You can also PM him via this website or contact him via FB

Thanks to PB for the review item and to you all for looking in

Happy benchtime

Nap

 

[MCPWilk]

The sword has the hand sculpted into the hand protector

That part of the sword is known as the guard and in the UK Armed Forces varies from Service to Service and from Regiment to Regiment. Each of the Guards Regiments has its own particular design (e.g.: https://pooleysword.com/en/Coldstream_Guards'_Sword, https://www.planetfigure.com/thread...coldstream-guards-officer.106500/#post-885390 and https://www.planetfigure.com/threads/gsm-mott-obe-welsh-guards.70501).

Mike

 

[Sylvanus]

Nice one!