Review Liberty at the Barricades from Nuts Planet

[Nap]

Hi friends,

We all have all heard of the French Revolution , there were many such ones in the history of France ......1789 ,1830 ,1848 , all full of bloodshed and horror , all with the common people protesting violently , demanding and eventually getting freedom but some also dying for the cause they believed in .

Revolution has inspired great musicals and also film, I of course am talking about the world famous "Les Miserables" , and yes I have it on my CD player as I type ..nothing like setting the scene. ( yes I have seen the stage and the film performances ...many times ..love it!!)

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No matter what the format of the performance there is one awesome scene of the people a the barricades with flags being flown and waved furiously....this is what I believe has inspired one of the latest from

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So get yourself settled , popcorn at the ready its a long performance but enjoyable...........

The release was announced here on PF and in social


media http://www.planetfigure.com/threads/nutsplanet-s-new-release-of-november.81322/

I am also pleased to say it has also been reviewed by another, namely that respected artist Jason Martin who put it on his site www.figure-mentors.com, I read this with interest prior to mine as its always good to see how others view releases .

lets have the details of the release

Title:French Revolution -Liberty at the Barricades

Reference: NP-75012

Scale: 75mm(1/24th)

Material: Gray Resin

No of Parts: 22

Sculptor (Figure): Eduard Perez

Sculptor (Base): KI-Yeol Yoon

Box Art: Myeong-Ha Hwang


Initial thoughts are how did they get all that resin in the box ..its packed to the brim ....but I hasten to add all was well ...no damage or broken parts .

Due to the amount no foam packing was in the box but parts were all in 3 resealable bags , with these being in the normal blue coloured box with colour pictures on top and the side.

22 ...a lots of parts and for me a bit of a puzzle as to how to put it all together so like Jason I think a instruction sheet would also have been a good idea , of the 22 parts the majority of them ( 15 in total ) make up the base work .......quite an imposing bit of modelling to go through.

Parts consist of the main figure arm, sash, coat tails, head , musket , flag ( with arm) bottom of flag pole, with the base work consisting of various chairs, timbers , a picture frame , crates, boxes , a part of a balcony , what could be a door and a full wheel..oh and the main base itself!!!

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Continued in next post

Nap

 

[Nap]

Lets look at this " little" amount of resin

Prep

After reading the other review I was wearing my optivisor looking for casting lines and flashing and found casting plugs on the base work pieces that will need to be done carefully but with scoring and sanding should present no problem to the average modeller.

On the figure small casting plugs to take off with the figures legs having a tiny casting line running up both of the inside the boots and legs at the rear and also on the side edge of the left one ...a shame as in this area its not up to the normally superb casting of Nuts releases ...saying that sanding will remove these.

One other issue was the cart wheel was warped ( I don't think it was meant to be like this as its a full one) , a quick use of the hair dryer will solve this.

Dry fitting revealed all parts fitting together well with no requirement for any gap filling , particularly nice to see the way the sash smoothes into the torso , likewise the coat tails.


As we have so many parts I will look at the figure first

There are a total of 8 parts , including the lower part of the flagpole

Torso

Posed in a dramatic role as in the inspiration , wearing a long tailed coat of the period , pulled round tightly at the front the material has folds all in agreement with the pose , the sculptor obviously knows his job, there is a large folded down collar with a tied neckerchief and a shirt under this , we have some good looking buttons shapes , around the waist there is a sash nicely shaped and natural folds, a cut out for the sash end is there .

On his lapel there is a rosette , nicely shaped adding some additional interest to this area

Fit of the arms are really well thought out with a lug/cutout system being used ensuring accuracy , the left arm is separate with the right being really well sculpted into the actual flag itself ...big round of applause to Eduard for this.


The flag is a big piece of resin split into 3 stitched panels as they were made , ideal for the tri colour of the french flag , its edges are slightly torn , you could of course put more wear and tear onto it ( bullet holes for example)

The sash end is a nice sculpt with a perfect fit into the torso , behind it we have clever addition of a pistol tucked into the rear
The actual coat tails quite simply melt into the torso when fitting ...well folded and very naturally worked .

Trousers are worn and in the style of the time with the drop down panel at the front , very sharp edging , with trousers again having well executed folds all in relation to the action pose with the left leg forward and steady , the right braced against the flag being held high .

Boots are hunting types with nice fold down seamed tops , the leather is folded into position with the way he wears , grouping together towards the ankle...nice skill again from Eduard .




Head

This is clearly based on the character as in my pictures long swept back hair , a really nice bit of sculpting , lovely work on the hair strands , facial features are as expected well done the facial expression is of one shouting , mouth wide open , teeth and tongue exposed ,at the neck we have the stand up collar , well defined .


Weapon/Flagpole lower

The weapon is well represented , nice work on the mechanism , the wood shows texture with the left hand being cast onto the weapon itself with the ends of a fancy cuff , when in place looks good. the flagpole itself is resin and simple to fit to the corresponding hole in the lower part of the actual flag , some might wish to replace this with a suitable brass rod.


So that the figure next will be the basework

Continued in next post

Nap

 

[Nap]

On now to the base parts

There are a total of 14 parts making up the components of the base including chairs, upturned , broken timbers , cross sections, picture frames , boxes , wooden legs , cartwheel, all to be positioned as you wish , as we have no instructions as such I would suggest looking on the website for the way its been done there.

Needless to say details on all of them is a credit to the sculptor , excellent wood textures, , the chair seat , crates have cutouts for the hands , base work is an area that Ki-Yeol is so good at achieving well and in addition the way the 2 different sculptors have worked together can only be praised.

The cartwheel has the metal rim on all the way round with the actual sections being well worked.....nice to have a circle in amongst all these straight lines .

....a heck of a lot of resin and such a detailed base work.

The main base is large circular cobbled stoned area with large wooden upturned containers , again all showing the wood textures on the corners of the larger one there is blankets/curtains whatever you wish it to be.

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Final thoughts

WOW a mass of resin well sculpted , a really good subject with the whole thing working well visually as a triangle , the top of the flag leads you down to the rest , good teamwork by all concerned , a few issues on the casting lines but easy to deal with , my plea is to include some kind of suggested instruction on a model with so many parts...quite daunting on initial opening.


It would be nice to have a companion figure as well ..perhaps a injured or dead patriot

As we have so much resin cost might put of a few but I am sure we will see this painted by others .

The release will please most Napoleonic modellers and has potential for other revolutions with a bit of careful research and conversion.

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Meanwhile enjoy MH's box art for a little while more​

Thanks to NutsPlanet for the Review model and I look forward to sharing more with you very soon

For more information on this and all the products from Nuts :

www.nutsplanet.com

www.facebook.com/nutsplanet

Thanks for looking in

Nap

 

[captnenglish]

Thank you for the review. I've always loved that scene in Les Mes, so as soon as I saw this figure I knew it need to be in my stash; glad see it won't disappoint

 

[lancer115]

An excellent review giving great insight into a first class kit from Nuts Planet..thank you for all your work in putting this review together....as always great for people like me who do all their purchases online.....John.

 

[clrsgt]

"Do you hear the people sing?" An excellent review as usual and you are right a wounded or deceased fellow revolutionary would enhance the scene greatly.

 

[Mac1966]

Please add another figure!

 

[OldTaff]

An excellent review of a great model, thank you. I could see this being expanded into a larger vignette/ diorama incorporating some parts of buildings. Quite inspirational

Alan

 

[swralph]

Thanks for another great review Nap.

 

[TERRYSOMME1916]

Great review as usual Nap, some of these subjects are hard to resist although my eyesight tends to rule out anything smaller than a Bust these days and that's using a headband magnifier lol.
TERRY