UP Minituren Euro Release No 2 Albrecht of Wurttemberg

planetFigure

Help Support planetFigure:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Nap

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Aug 7, 2006
Messages
40,552
Location
Beautiful Bampton, Devon
Hi to one and all ,

With days to go till Euro it was a great pleasure to receive from UP Minituren the 2nd of 3 busts being released for Euro this year .

This one is another WW1 subject and one of the lesser commanders namely Generalfeldmarschal Albrecht of Wurttemberg.

Lets have a little history lesson on the subject :


Albrecht, Duke of Württemberg or Albrecht Herzog von Württemberg (Albrecht Maria Alexander Philipp Joseph von Württemberg) was born ion 23rd Dec 1865 in Vienna as the eldest child of Duke Phillip of Wurtemberg and his wife Archduchess Maria Theresa of Austria .

One of the top three royal commanders on the German side of the western front in World War I was Duke Albrecht of Wurttemberg. He was born Albrecht Maria Alexander Philipp Joseph von Wurttemberg in Vienna, Austria on December 23, 1865 to Duke Philipp of Wurttemberg and Archduchess Maria Theresa of Austria. He was set on a military career at a young age, enjoyed the esteem of his fellows and good family connections (he was awarded the Order of the Golden Fleece by the Emperor of Austria) and when World War I broke out he took command of the German 4th Army which he led to victory in the battle of the Ardennes in August of 1914. The Duke and his army saw action at the crucial first battle of the Marne before being transferred to Flanders in October as part of the “Race to the Sea” where the Germans were defeated by a combined French and Belgian force at the battle of the Yser. The Duke also commanded at the first and second battles of Ypres, the latter of which being where chemical warfare was used on a large scale for the first time.

Duke Albrecht gained a reputation as a solid and reliable battlefield commander and received a succession of honors in the following years. In August of 1915 he was awarded the order Pour le Merite (aka the ‘Blue Max’) and a year later was promoted to the rank of field marshal. In 1917 “Army Group Albrecht” was formed and placed under his command which held the southern end of the western front throughout the final stages of the war. The death of his father in 1917 had left him as heir presumptive to his cousin King Wilhelm II of Wurttemberg but the revolutions that swept Germany in 1918 also swept away the Kingdom of Wurttemberg.

With the extinction of the senior line of the royal family the head of the house passed to the ducal line in 1921 with the death of Wilhelm II. Duke Albrecht was thus head of the House of Wurttemberg and legitimate monarch of the country until his death at Altshausen Castle on October 29, 1939.

Continued in next post

Nap
 

Attachments

  • Albrecht_von_Wuerttemberg.jpg
    Albrecht_von_Wuerttemberg.jpg
    13.4 KB
Albrecht

Moving onto the actual model itself :

Scale : 1:10th
Material : Resin
Reference Number : 0014
Sculptor; Ulrich Puchala
Casting: Yanis Sagiadinos

As usual from UP , it was received very quickly and well packed , coming complete with a very information sheet signed by the sculptor , the model consists of 3 pieces , the torso , head, and the Iron Cross base .

Continued in next post:

Nap
 

Attachments

  • Alb Box.jpg
    Alb Box.jpg
    200 KB
  • Alb Insert.jpg
    Alb Insert.jpg
    191.3 KB
  • Alb Pieces.jpg
    Alb Pieces.jpg
    212.5 KB
<HR style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #d1d1e1; COLOR: #d1d1e1" SIZE=1><!-- / icon and title --><!-- message -->
Moving onto the pieces themselves , looking 1st at the main torso , he is sculpted wearing the M1910 uniform with full GFM insignia , as usual the details are nicely done and not too proud which again helps the painting , awards include the Military Merit Cross (Militärverdienstkreuz) 1st Class (see below) on his breast a nice change from the Iron Cross (which the Cross was based on)

You could of course paint the Iron Cross Ist class on his breast and use the colourful ribbon for the oward which is sculpted onto the button ....a nice choice and variation.

The sculpting of the clothing itself is smoothly done and he wears what looks like a privately produced uniform as it should be

A couple of small casting plugs to remove with the wet and dry , quick wash to remove any residue (couldn't actually see any but this is something I always do!!!) and then primed and let the fun start .

Continued in next post

Nap
 

Attachments

  • Alb Torso.jpg
    Alb Torso.jpg
    151.9 KB
  • 125px-Mecklenburg_MVK2.jpg
    125px-Mecklenburg_MVK2.jpg
    15.7 KB
Pt 4

Looking now at the other 2 pieces

Firstly the head as with all of the sculpts I have received , likeness is extremely accurate nice detailing on the ears so often overlooked by sculptors ..but not by this sculptor (y), he looks like the pictures shown on the information sheet , the cap he wears is again well done with the strap another fine piece of sculpting and casting .

You have the remnanats of the casting process to remove from the back of the head which might need a little filler ..no problems to the average modeller .

The base is as before the Iron Cross version , , nice detailing on it (oakleaves) which adds a distinctive touch to this and the others in the range ..to be honest its nice to see a company putting a bit of thought into the base rather than a plain piece so well done UP I say .

Continued in next post

Nap
 

Attachments

  • Alb Face.jpg
    Alb Face.jpg
    199.1 KB
Conclusion :

This is another good subject of one of the lesser known GFM so often overlooked , well cast and sculpted , I like the subjects that are being produced by Ulrich .

Blu Tac has been used to put pieces together for review purposes

Another one I can recommend to all .

The GFM Albrecht can be obtained for 35 euro's plus shipping

UP miniatures contact details : www.puchala-figuren.de or [email protected]

Or why not visit UP Minituren at Euro on Stand 57 (opposite the main stage) where all of the range of busts and figures will be available , if you want a particular one e mail U lrich and I am sure he will have it for you to collect !!!

Nap
 

Attachments

  • Alb Full Fr.jpg
    Alb Full Fr.jpg
    219.7 KB
  • Alb Rear.jpg
    Alb Rear.jpg
    192.6 KB
  • Alb Left.jpg
    Alb Left.jpg
    193.2 KB
  • Alb Rt.jpg
    Alb Rt.jpg
    192.8 KB
Another great addition to any collector.
Congratulations Herr Ulrich.(y)

The head photo are very blurry:(
 
Hi Pedro ,
Glad you like these ..I am afraid the pics were done late at night after a very long and tiring day ..though I think they show the detail and quality of the model ...as my school report siad "must try harder" :(!!!! will try and get some more done (y)

Nap
 

Latest posts

Back
Top