Review War Elephant " Bustorama" from RP Models

[Nap]

Hi everyone

We all have followed the releases from Hugo Pereira and the team at RP models since they began 4 years ago .

Hugo's passion and dedication for not only his products but also the wish to do something different which has shined through with each release , each one he learns from and listens to customers.

The last year has been busy for sure with a stampede of elephant being most noted , the concept Hugo has is to give something to all modellers , whatever scale or preference of model type.

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Look here for my review on the award winning bust​

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https://www.planetfigure.com/threads/carthaginian-elephant-from-rp-models.117898/​

In that we have the elephant head and "driver" but in this review we go elsewhere on the subject....no not the full elephant but the castle and the occupants.

Here are picture from RP of the full built piece:​

Here are a few books and reference pictures to look at but I want to concentrate on the resin

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Continued in next post

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Details of the release:


Title: Carthago War Elephant (Ancient World ) Bustorama

Reference: HRP-B-01-002

Scale: 1/12th ( see note 1 below )

Material: Gray Resin

No of parts: 29 plus information insert

Sculptor: 3D

Casting YS Castings ( Yiannis )

Box Art: N/A



General Comments

1. Scale says 1/12th but it closer to 1/10th ( this was a error when printing >>.Hugo is aware ) ...so you get more resin for the same price

• This is one very heavy box just under a kg ...a lot of resin

• Well packed with minimal movement

• It is BIG!!!! You will need a big space in the cabinet!!!

• There are IMO 2 options to display this .... as in the RP pictures in the first part or just as the "castle" with the crew

Packed well as I said but there was a small amount of damage caused no doubt by transit movement , you will see this is the pictures ...however as I expected a quick message to Hugo and my replacement part is on its way to me .

Parts consist of 16 parts for the crew and the remainder being for the rest

Prep ....For this review I will look at this in each section.

However you will need to:

• Work out where you want to position the crew in the howdah , what I will do is mount on brass rods inside
• Source a suitable base I suggest Pete Watson Bases or Oakwood , run by Richard Wharton or S-73 ( all sponsor our feature FOTM )

The resin was in a very strong cardboard box as here:



Inside we also have a insert with a history write up and pictures of how the figures fit together

Looking at the pieces ...in size order !!!!....

The hanging covering

As you can see its big ....YS castings have done a great job considering the sheer amount of resin involved here so ALL CREDIT to Yiannis .

Prep .....Sanding round the edges , you will need to fit the chain into the locating cutouts ...a small amount of adjustment is needed and filler

The details are very good indeed depicting a horse and a palm tree in stylised format together with corner decorations.

The leather straps are textured and the same goes for the wood effects on the lower part of the howdah and of course the covering itself

The Howdah

Fitting to the other piece is easy by a excellent fitment point , dryfit showed a small amount of filler was needed but nothing drastic

The howdah itself has good wooden texture features , including many cuts and damage caused in combat , there are fitment points for items that are included .

On one side we see the door...shut with the door fitments and handle , the opposite faces forward , on the remaining 2 sides we are treated for a shield , one with rearing horses on the other with dolphins and a palm tree ...on both the designs are not overdone in relief

So there you have the main pieces ...by this time you will have had a good workout !!!

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There are additional parts to fit in place

These include

The supporting chains....these look exactly as they should do ..powerful and well formed and very well cast , minimal flashing to ren=move in the links with a sharp knife .




Above there are 3 straps ...these are for the crew ...again well textured and easy to fit



The hanging feature ( in the middle of the picture above has tassels hanging ( one was broken off ..a replacement has been arranged ..Thank you Hugo ) , the covering fits to the 2 cuts outs on the howdah , a small amount of filler will be needed .

Again on the material we have good textures in place , the cloth hanging well and naturally with the horse and tree design, the tassels are well shaped hanging straight down ...perhaps a little too static for some

Rear view



Tassels



Spear and arrow holders



Nice detail work on all the cases

Arrows

On these be careful removing from the flashing ...great idea to be able to put the arrows in separate

Bow ( with hand )



Spears ( 2 with hands )



Sword



This has a good shaping as seen in finds , together with a smaller knife on the scabbard , the handle has a horses head on it , all well sculpted and cast

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Now to the crew themselves

One a archer

The archer is positioned leaning over with his bow wearing a mail shirt , details of which are sharp and cleanly cast , the strapping is very good with texture , arm fitments are spot on , there is a small casting piece to take out the right sleeve , on the left shoulder there is a locating piece to fit the cape to .

In place the fit of the cape is excellent , matching perfectly to the torso ,with very good folds , although I could see no texture on it ...a high quality cloth perhaps ??

...before you fit the cape there is a strap that needs to be fitted to the rear of the torso and also the sword needs to be located in position



The arms are very well muscled and fit well , veins are evident as well, the right arm has a separate hand which is very well done with the bow string being pulled , figure work and position are accurate .

There are small casting plugs and fine lines to remove on the arms and flashing to remove between the fingers




You can fit one of the arrows in pace as well or leave off as if he has just fired towards the enemy .

The head is helmeted with cheek pieces in place the face is easy to get to despite the helmet , fit to the torso ...no issues there .

The facial features are bearded with great eye details and quite a prominent nose , mouth wide open screaming as a result we are treated to a fine set of teeth and a tongue in place




We will look at the spearman in the next part due to the number of pics!!

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Now to the spearman

A small amount of excess casting resin plugs to take off ...but again easy to carry this out , the same comment go for the casting quality and the fit of the arms and head...excellent

Certainly a higher ranking soldier ...much more finer armour , beautifully detailed with shoulder protection , sharply worked straps and supporting metal rings , of note is the hanging "skirt" , lovely details are on everyone , on the upper part of the front is a lions head ..top details.

The arms again are well muscled with the hands fitting into position well ( these are actually cast on to spears , gripping strongly ...so much easier than fitting spears through open hands)

The head wearing a helmet with a crest but similar in design to the archer , the crest has a casting plug to take away which will mean a bit of rework with the putty, the facial features are again one of a shouting face ...and again we have great mouth detailing

Let the pics do the talking !!!

Torso

Arms




Head




Final Thoughts

This was a piece I wanted to see close and sahre, yes its large to say the least and it will probably give the postman a aching arm delivering...LOL... but its so imposing and a very dynamic piece with the action of the 2 figures , the casting is something I can only envy Yiannis for his skill in completing the task .





My congratulations are also going to Hugo and the family ....there is a heck of a lot of time spent packing the pieces up even in the limited casting runs RP do
Recommended for sure ...a great long term project and the end result will be amazing

Again RP would like to say a BIG THANK YOU to all PF members and so many others on their valuable input ...so much appreciated .

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For more details contact:

www.rpmodels.pt (website currently undergoing maintenance)

[email protected]

Facebook: www.facebook.com/RPmodels

E mail: [email protected]

or you can contact Hugo via this site

Thank you for looking in on this little review hope you found it of use and interest...off for a large coffee!!!

Nap

 

[Viking Bob]

Superb bustorama, excellent and thorough review.

 

[yellowcat]

Hats off to NAP for another super review. Just wondering if the previously release of the elephant head bust can be joined with this piece together? It cries out for the rest of the elephant body so that all three kits can come together into one big spectacular display rather than just in 75mm.

Felix

 

[Babelfish]

Got to be honest and say that this disembodied mid-section doesn't really work for me, but I agree with Felix that a whole elephant in 1/10 would be amazing. I've got the 75mm version on order.

- Steve

 

[Redcap]

Excellent review Kev thank you. Can't wait to pick up my (full) 75mm elephant kit at Darlington in a couple of weeks!

Gary

 

[ROGAN]

A magnificent sculpt. Amazing attention to detail. I love the creases in the banner.

 

[yellowcat]

Got to be honest and say that this disembodied mid-section doesn't really work for me, but I agree with Felix that a whole elephant in 1/10 would be amazing. I've got the 75mm version on order.
- Steve

Totally agree with Steve that this piece does not really work and something is missing. I already bought the head bust, if I decided to purchase this mid-section I will join the two kits together and hope the scale matches up.

 

[Hugo Pereira]

Hello my GOOD FRIEND Kevin

Thank you so much for the review... Excellent... congratulations...

Big hug.
Hugo