Review Polish Grenadier from Legion Miniatures

[Nap]

Hi everbody

Legion Miniatures continue to fill the marketplace with lots of tempting subjects and scales , the one I will show you was announced here by Andrey from Legion

https://www.planetfigure.com/posts/974119/

with the sculptor sharing his work previously here:

https://www.planetfigure.com/posts/960216/

A napoleonic subject of a polish grenadier of a infantry regiment

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Background details

The Polish regiments were organized after the French model. Infantry regiment consisted of two field battalions of 9 companies of 95 men each. In March 1809 it was changed to three field battalions of 6 companies of 140 men each. (The regiments sent to Spain retained the old organization until 1812.) Each regiment had also a depot battalion for training new recruits.


The regiment was commanded by colonel (pulkownik), field battalion by chef de bataillon (szef batalionu ), and the company by captain (kapitan).

In 1806-07, due to problems with supplies part of the Polish infantry wore modified captured uniforms, Prussian and some Austrian. Some wore modified civilian clothes. Gradually, majority of the infantrymen replaced their old uniforms with new ones.

The uniform of Polish infantryman was simple and elegant. The coat/tunic was dark blue and was called kurtka. It had lapels in regimental colors (yellow, crimson or white) until 1810. The greatocat/overcoat was either brown or gray. All leather belts and straps were white, buckles and fittings were brass while the cartridge box and bayonet scabbard were black. The backpack would be brown (some were black).


As always I will add some books that I have that make great references




Some visual reference pictures

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Lets open the box....

Details of the release are:

Title: Polish Grenadier

Reference: LMBT0071

Scale: 1/9th

No of pieces: 7

Material: Medium Gray resin

Sculptor: Muzafer Vaapov

Casting: In house

Box Art: A Habas

The packaging is the recognised laser cut wooden box ...a handy little box for those modelling bits and bobs when you've built the bust , like all releases all sides are full of stickers and content details , on the the lid we have the painted version of the contents ...nice reference beginning

As you can see there is a long musket with the piece and I was interested in if this survived within a already pcaked box of contents .........I had no cause to worry , all was well packed safely in bubble wrap at the bottom...look at the overall packing standard .....really good




On opening the wrapping I found this:

Parts consist of torso, head, 2 arms , backpack and musket

Prep continues to be no problem with minimal and well placed casting plugs to easily take off , you will see these in the pictures.

Using a optivisor I was hard pushed to find casting lines on all pieces apart from a very fine one underneath the torso

All parts showed a concern for high quality in the casting

Parts are located with small resin pins , most will want to repin them particularly the backpack

The head fits snuggly into the neck area with ease as does the arms underneath the epaulettes with a minimal of filler needed

You will need to drill a hole to mount the bust ( most will know I use 5 or 6mm brass tube )

In this part we will look at the torso and the head

Torso

The largest of the pieces of course , as you will see it is angled from the rear to a "rounded V" at the front , on the piece we have the crossbelts and the backpack straps .

The crossbelts have nice edging lining on them , very sharply sculpted , the backpack straps the same with all of them pulling well into the actual uniform .

The plastron is shaped correctly at the lower edging as we see in the references , very well defined with some slight areas away fro the body , folds are as expected with the sculptor very good

Button work is well shown , simple flat buttons with the butonhole edging cleanly edged

The collar itself has the same care taken in the folds and the piping around the edging

At the rear the straps finish central with 2 locating holes for the backpack

The epaulettes on each shoulder are excellent in detail work particularly on the fringes , the shaping at the end looks really good as well , they both sit well onto the arm and shoulder







Head

This comes with the headwear sculpted and cast on it and even off the torso is a very imposing piece

As I have said before the face is the focal point and again the sculptor has worked hard to create features that are very powerful looking face , strong and determined , the features will be a pleasure to paint with the well trimmed and textured moustache , sharp eye work with good access even beneath the peak , at the side we have his lower ear lobes with the hair in a good texture format at the rear

Keeping the bearskin on there is a very nicely sculpted chin scales with the scallop shaped metal pieces ...sharply cast , under the chin a buckle and the strap end

The headwear is an area that the sculptor has really worked hard on , for some it might be too much but I like the effect it gives , painting will be interesting and a challenge getting the highs and shadows right.

The cords and flounders are some of the best I have seen when reviewing , very sharp in definition , sitting naturally into the fur surfaces...WELL DONE Mr Vaapov

At the front there is the brass plate with a sculpted grenade peeking out from the corners, at the apex the polish eagle sits proudly

At the top we have a circular patch , this was sometimes seen with a white cloth cross as well as without ...very easy to add with putty or lead foil ...I am pleased that Legion decided to leave it off ....gives the modeller the choice

At the left we have hole to fit the plume itself







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Lets look at the remaining pieces of resi now

Backpack

This is very straight and level in the shaping , perhaps an idea for future releases ...make the backpack less uniform in shaping

On the surface both front back and sides are the textured effects , certainly something I would probably soften back a little by sanding ..but a personal choice , saying that the sculpting will benefit from painting with drybrushing and washes .

The edges are tidy and again very uniform as is the really good work on the 3 straps ....perhaps our grenadier is on parade ?

Above we have the blanket roll/greatcoat again with straps pulling well into the surface and rolled neatly at the top

At the rear we have 2 resin locating pins .....I would certainly say pin this additionally ...just for peace of mind...once in place it sits well linking up to the cast on torso straps with no gaps



Plume

This is a area where sculpting has again been done well the textures are all there with a small amount of drop on each part that makes up the plume itself.

At the fitment point there is a cockade, rounded and with a nice greande worked on the surface

Fit is by a resin pin and in place the actual plume fits well into the actual headwear

One thing I feel the plume position might be slightly too far to the back and should be closer ....just above the left ear




Arms

Both show the naturally looking and not overdone folds we expect from this sculptor

The cuffs are very well shown with the shaping being accurate , nice button work and sharp material edging , the cuffs inside are opened out to take the hands on the musket

Fit is again using resin pins ..this time 3 and secures with no issues but of course pin if you wish

When in position the pose is spot on the musket being held across the body ...advancing perhaps





Now to the last piece...

Musket

Totalling 160mm in length , this is a gem of casting and sculpting , hands are added already ...excellent way as this makes fitment to the arms so much easier

The details are all there on the musket , full mechanism as you can see , the trigger guard with the forefinger lingering over the trigger.

Underneath the sling is held closely to the weapon at the muzzle end again we have the musket fittings , on the review piece the barrel was not opened out ...but easy to do with a hand drill

Hands are as I said sculpted in place and they look really great , top work on the fingers and the veins on the hand , nice detail work on the fingernails as well

Fit to the opened out cuffs on the arms will be no problem and being like this means you can paint the full bust and then fit a painted musket and hands...sorted

Lets enjoy a couple more pictures of the box artwork now

Final Thoughts

So there you have it another well sculpted piece , and its good to see something Polish as well , highlighting their Napoleonic involvement , minimal prep again , quality casting and presentation

No doubt this will give modellers many enjoyable hours of benchtime , at the end the result will be a very nice display piece

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED ​

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Legion are members here ( user ID Andrey )

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....so you can order direct from him here on PF or via the website which is:​

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www.legionminiatures.org​

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They also have a FB page:​

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https://www.facebook.com/groups/214757915731528/​

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Thanks to Legion for the review item and to you all for looking in​

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Enjoy the benchtime​

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Nap​

 

[Viking Bob]

Thats crying out for legs (Jimbo) Greta review and a nice bust.

 

[anstontyke]

Another great review nap.
This is another bust on the must have list!!!
Tony

 

[Kevin D.]

Great Sculpting!!
k

 

[Sven]

Love your reviews. Legion miniatures is keeping producing a great number of fantastic busts and your reviews are of the same quality. I need to become a much quicker painter, though.
Sven

 

[Gary_81]

Another great review Nap and I agree with what's been said this would look amazing with legs.

Gary