Review St Cyr Cadet from DG Artwork

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In this review I will be looking at a release from earlier this year from DG Artwork and continuing in the Academy series it was announced here:

http://www.planetfigure.com/threads/dg-artwork-new-release-for-january-2018.114397/

We have stayed with the female military as in the last release ( Modena) but this time we are in "La Belle Francais " depicting a member from the famous military school of St Cyr.

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The previous releases were reviewed here:

http://www.planetfigure.com/threads/westpoint-cadet-from-dg-artwork.99623/

http://www.planetfigure.com/threads/sandhurst-cadet-from-dg-artwork.100861/

http://www.planetfigure.com/threads/officer-cadet-from-modena-academy-from-dg-artwork.112740/

with all four so far here:

Background

St Cyr was formed on 1 May 1802 known as École Spéciale Militaire de Saint-Cyr (ESM, literally the "Special Military School of Saint-Cyr") .

Uniform

Cadets of Saint-Cyr wear in full dress (grande tenue) a special uniform, based on the 1845 Regulations Infantry Officer Dress.

This dress incorporates a dark-blue tunic, red trousers (red skirts for female cadets) and a shako with red and white plumes.

Facings are light blue, as is the képi worn on less formal occasions. Red fringed epaulettes are worn by cadets and yellow by cadet-officers.

This traditional uniform was worn by both cadets and instructors at Saint-Cyr from 1845 until 1914 and then again from 1930 until 1939.[4] After World War II it was again adopted in 1949.

The shako plumes are nicknamed Casoars (cassowaries), because they were first adopted in 1855 at the time of this colorful bird's first appearance in the Paris Zoo. The plumes weret have become a symbol of Saint-Cyr.

The Saint-Cyr cadets of the class of 1913–14, graduating ahead of time with the outbreak of World War I, reportedly vowed to lead their platoons in battle wearing the casoar on their service kepis.[

Ceremony during time at St Cyr

All are performed during nighttime.

• At the beginning of the first year, after boot camp, the cadets are welcomed with shakos granted to them by the third-year cadets. This is called the petit soir or "small night".
• At the end of the first year, the cadets are presented with the Casoar (the red and white plumes on their shakos) and with their officer's sword. This is the grand soir or "big night".
• At the end of the second year, cadets are officially commissioned second lieutenants. This is celebrated in the "baptism" (baptême) of the class, a ceremony in with every cadet receive the accolade from a senior officer.
• At the end of the third and final year, the cadets are promoted to the rank of lieutenant and receive their new insignia in a ceremony called the "triumph" (triomphe).

The St Cyr civilian population are rightly proud of the school and have included the shako in a school badge​

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Many notable french leaders have completed St Cyr including Petain and De Gaulle .

St Cyr has featured in books and film as well as stamps :

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Here are a few reference pictures for you as always:

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Continued in next post

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Details of the release:

Title: St Cyr France Military Academy

Series Title : World Military Academy Series

Reference: DG12B010

Scale: 1/12th

Material: Gray Resin

No of parts: 6

Sculptor: Dae-Hyeong, Kim

Box Art: Dae-Hyeong, Kim

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Again as with the previous 3 releases and all of DG Artworks release the resin was held in a good strong box black on colour with quality box art in a high resolution colour picture .

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Parts consist of torso, head , right arm with shako, plumes, contra epaulette , display post






Prep

As expected very little to do :

Torso...Level off underside of torso and remove casting plug

Head...Remove small casting former from under neck and clean up underside of hairbun

Arm/Cap...Remove casting plug from under epaulette and on arm underside , no prep needed on cap

Plume...Remove small casting post and fit to top of cap ( I suggest pinning)

Contra Epaulette...Remove small casting post and fit to left shoulder

General ...Wash , Dry and Prime using the colour of your choice ( I use black )



I will look at the largest of the pieces in this part:

Torso

As with the Modena release we are treated to the subjects obvious charms , perhaps this was used as a base for this sculpt to get the shape of female form which is very good and not over exaggerated in my opinion , working from the neck area this is cleanly and slightly bevelled towards a area for the head to fit into .

The collar is shallow in depth as in the uniform on each side we have the grenade , both are nicely shown and careful painting will really bring these out against the light blue of the collar .

The shoulders each have the epaulette on them with the cross support holding them to the uniform accurately in place , the epaulette surface are slightly textured with a button at the shoulder end.

The left arm is cut just above the elbow , the right shoulder is flat ready to take the full arm in position

Folds and creases are nicely worked all pulling in the right direction to the form, the centre of the jacket is well defined with nicely rounded buttons working their way down .

On the right breast we see the senior parachutists qualification , this is a badge seen very often at St Cyr , again nicely detailed with the wings and star being of note.

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Onto the remaining pieces ...

Head

As with any bust the main focus is the face and here we have a good female one , slightly grinning , good cheekbones and definition on the features , eyes are cleanly shaped above which the forehead is exposed.

The nose and ears are the same good sculpting , the nose is slightly upturned with good nostrils in evidence , the ears are both fully shown with the hair being pulled back above them and styled into a "bun" at the rear , this shows the twisting of the hair to form the bun ...something only the ladies will know how !!!, the hair strands are again as in the previous female well shown in sculpting .








Right Arm and Shako

This is the 2nd largest piece and the first thing to say is I am pleased it has been sculpted together ..it achieves a very natural position with the shako

As you can see we have the full arm with the hand and the shako being held .

Looking at the arm itself , a good natural position but very military in bearing.

The folds and creases are spot on ...again at the elbow in particular , at the top of the arm we have the full epaulette this is very well sculpted with nice details on the half moon .

On the arm we see the distinctive lacework again this is a really good bit of both sculpting and casting , correctly shaped and sitting right on the clothing folds , at the cuff there is the "slash" shaped with 3 points and 3 nicely formed buttons.

Fit of the arm to the shoulder will need a little bit of filler where it and the epaulette meets the torso ...but its minimal .

The shako is a gem totally accurate in profile and details with the peak being well shaped and the badge on the front sharply sculpted , its good to see that the underside has not been forgotten and is finished off slightly into the shako itself.

The shako is held close to the arm itself by the gloved hand which we see gripping the peak well .






Shako Feathered Plume

A lo of work has gone into this to depict the hanging feathers with these being in various positions and angles , personally I feel it should be a little more longer in depth but you could always get the putty out to do so ....saying that it looks okay when in position , this will need pinning .



Contra Epaulette

This matches the one cast on the right except no fringe !! , well shaped and detailed , easy to fit and no filler need , in place it balances the piece up.



Display Post

A simple post type which fits easily into the underside of the torso should you choose to use it , if not you can use the cutout in the torso to fit the bras rod or the like.

Final Thoughts

Its good to see a companion to the other female figure , again its well sculpted and thought out with good details throughout , this continues to be a very interesting series and I hope we will see more as there are so many subjects to choose from.

Presentation is as always with DG artwork very good indeed and the result is a high quality product.

A big round of applause to DH and DG Artwork


Thanks to DG Artwork for the review piece and to you all for looking in .

For more information why not visit the website at

www.artworkdg.com

or email : [email protected]


Of course there is the FB page as well

or PM them via PF

Happy modelling to one and all

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Just to finish this off let us have a look at some more views of the artwork

Painted of course by DH Kim

ENJOY

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[spinnerguy]

What an excellent write up by Nap,on the lesser known of the military academies.These kits give us another slant on the military modelling,apart from troops in action.
For me,always nice to see the ladies ,when well detailed - as here.Cockade on the shako is excellent.......

 

[Mookie]

Dont you spend too much time sanding around her charms Kev.
Richard