Review Japanese Ashigaru from La Boutique des Carnutes

[Nap]

Hi to everyone,

Its my pleasure to again highlight a release from the French modelling fraternity it is of course

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I have reviewed another bust in a larger scale here : http://www.planetfigure.com/threads/french-ww1-soldier-from-la-boutique-des-carnutes.75923/​

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The piece we will be looking at is:​

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It is as you can see a Japanese warrior carrying a banner on his back piece of the armour , our subject was better known as a Ashigaru , originally these were poorly supplied but later on there were actual samurai who were Ashigaru , ours I think is a higher class soldier but below samurai.​

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The most notable ashigaru was Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who rose from humble peasantry to become the undisputed master of Japan. Hideyoshi was the adopted son of an ashigaru under Oda Nobunaga, the unifier of Japan. Though it's somewhat disputed, it's said that Hideyoshi was Nobunaga's sandal bearer. Regardless of his exact position, though, he rose to become one of Nobunaga's generals after a series of successes.​

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He wears armour with cords tying this together and has a good supply of rice around his shoulders , on his head we see a conical helmet called a jingasa often of iron and used as a cooking pot when in time permitted.​

Books are many as you might guess here are a few​

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together with some references

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Continued in next post:

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Nap​

 

[Nap]

Onto the Resin,

What are we looking at:

Title: Ashigaru

Reference:CH 046

Scale: 1/16th

Material: Gray Resin

No of pieces: 3

Sculptor: Greg Girault

Box Art: Eric Coulon


I purchased the model (after getting the WW1 Infantryman) and it was shipped very quickly and in a small jiffy bag sufficient to stand the british post office!!

On opening the bag I found the model to be in a clear bag with a full colour picture of the painted version as on the website.

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Parts consist of 3 pieces , the main torso , the headwear and the banner itself :

This is a smaller size namely 1/16th and my first impressions are that it shouts of a well sculpted piece of resin

Lets see what Prep is needed ( shouldn't take too long!!)

Torso....Casting remnant to sand on bottom and a small plug to cut away from under the left arm together with a fine casting line on the right side
Headwear...Small amount of sanding on the edge
Banner...remove from the former

You will need to fit the helmet and the banner (I would pin this)

As with all models I would suggest a wash before going further to remove any possible residue from casting.

All real easy to do , taking very little time

Lets look at the pieces

The Torso the sculptor has nicely angled the bust to give more movement , suffice to say the armour has been well done with nice definition on the lacework , his clothing underneath shows good folds in keeping with the material depicted.
Around his neck we have the band of rice in a cloth wrap m again a good feature adding more interest to the piece
The head has a neck cloth in full movement again showing some nice folds

What makes it for me is the face which is of course so important to our resin world in particular bust , he is shown shouting perhaps leading an attack with the banner of his Samurai .
We see nicely worked facial features , the mouth wide open teeth showing , high cheekbones, good eye work as well (there was a small bit of resin in the eye this was easily removed by careful use of a sharp knife) , on his chin there is the straps for his helmet


The Helmet , this has a nice conical shape from all angles and looks good when fitted

Now to the Banner , this is the focus point of the piece and can be painted in anyway you choose , its well sculpted fluttering in movement being held at various points on the "L" pole, what is particularly good to see that the banner itself is not out of scale in thickness


Final thoughts

So there you have it another nice bust from our French friends , despite the scale of 1/16th its a lovely bit of work showing care and thought in both sculpting and the possibilities to paint various designs .

The guys at La Boutique des Carnutes will certainly be hearing from me again and its great to see that they offer free shipping on orders over 50 euro and more importantly every year they donate 100% of the profits to the charity Mecenant Chirurgie Cardiaque ...WELL DONE

For more details go to :


http://la-boutique-des-carnutes.blogspot


Thanks for looking in

Enjoy your resin ..whatever it is

Nap

 

[Oda]

Nap,this is by far the best presentation I have witnessed so far.Very thorough and detailed and I love the subject too.Great work.

 

[Tazz]

Thank you Kevin for a great review and all the extra sources !

Eric

 

[Nap]

Thank you Kevin for a great review and all the extra sources !

Eric

Cheers Eric and welcome to PF ...do share some of your excellent work

Nap

 

[Babelfish]

For those who might not be aware, some of the JMD range has been reissued under the "La Boutique des Carnutes" label.

- Steve