Review "War of the Arrows" -Korean Archer from TGB Miniatures

[Nap]

Hi to all ,

TGB Miniatures are a Company from Korea who are quite rightly very proud of their coutry's history , much of which has been brought to the big screen in films so the release I have got on the bench depicts a character from one of those films namely :

"War of the Arrows"​

​

The film was made in 2011 released in August, on September 4, 2011, it passed 5 million tickets sold in South Korea. As of the Sept. 5, 2011 the film ranked #3 for the year in ticket sales behind #1 "Transformers 3" and #2War of the Arrows" ranks #1 South Korea box office movie in 2011 with total admissions of 7,451,344 !!!​

​

So popcorn and fizzy drink at the ready lets go to the movies : ​

​

The Plot !!!....​

​

Set during the second Manchu invasion of Korea, our hero Nam-Yi (played by Hae-il Park

) , the best archer in Korea, goes up against the Qing Dynasty to save his younger sister Ja-In (played by Chae-won Moon

) who was dragged away by Mongolian invaders.

Nam-Yi's father was killed as a traitor to his country. Kim Moo-Sun, a friend of Nam-Yi's father, takes Nam-Yi and Ja-In and raises them as they were his own children. As a son of a traitor, Nam-Yi's future is limited. He spends his time hunting with the arrow and eventually becomes a master archer. Meanwhile, Nam-Yi hopes his younger sister Ja-In can find happiness. Finally, Ja-In is set to marry Seo-Goon after going through many difficulties. On the day of their wedding, invading Qing forces enter the village. The invading force slaughters many of the residents while taking others back as captives. Ja-In and Seo-Goon are among the hostages.
During the wedding, Nam-Yi is up in the mountains hunting deer. He hears the rumble of the invading forces. When Nam-Yi makes it back to the village, he finds his step-father slaughtered and his sister taken away. Nam-Yi then sets out to find the Qing army and take revenge with his bow. The great commander of the Qing army Jyuu Shin-Ta discovers the mysterious man trailing his men and taking them out one by one. Jyuu Shin-Ta then sets out to find Nam-Yi..........A war of arrows is set to begin .
So our model is a tribute to the actor Hae-il Park who plays the hero of the film Nam-Yi and also to the Korean history so steeped in wonderful images and stories.

Continued in next post:

Nap

 

[Nap]

After that exciting and action packed film we are ready now to open the box and have a look at the model itself , the details of which are :

Title: War of the Arrows

Scale: 1/10th:

Material: Resin

No of Parts: 13

Sculptor: Jung Ho Seo

Boz Art: Ki -Yeol Yoon

​

As with other releases from TGB the enjoyment begins as soon as you get the box in your hands ...a strong cardboard box with the parts secured in bubble wrap , there are a total of 13 parts in all , these being the torso , the head, the back pack/bedroll , the quiver , the quiver top, a bow for the cloth around the head , a cord , and 6 arrows , no base is included .

Prep needed was as expected very small consisting only of casting plugs to remove , all are set in excellent places aiding removal , the arrows have some fine flashing to carefully take off before fitting ....all very miniscule area's that need prep doing ...this IMO shows that TGB consider their customer with the quality of the casting standards and presentation.

All the pieces are super smooth with the subject being depicted in the act of drawing his bow looking slightly down at the target .

Looking at the largest of the castings first the torso

, only 1 small casting former to remove from the underside of the right arm , both arms are sculpted to just above the elbow (I can see some modellers adding the arms and the bow as well it would certainly be even more impressive).
Our hero is sculpted wearing typical Korean clothing of the period with his bedroll being carried on a cord over his shoulder , clothing folds are super all flowing very naturally , around his neck we have a scarf again very good indeed with beautiful folds hanging onto his shoulder , at the back we have 2 locating holes for the bedroll and quiver , around his left arm we have a piece of cloth tied as an identifying mark .

Next we come onto the head , only a casting former to remove from the undersides of the neck, using the film as a reference and with much skill the sculptor has captured the features really well , features are so right very Korean , lovely details on the hair (he has a top knot), a drooping moustache , good work on the ees and ears , around his head he has a cloth band .

The bedroll is a nice piece of work as well ,1 casting remnant to remove from the undersides with a fine flashing line to sand off ..easy to do , with a locating pin being cast to fit into the left hand hole in the torso's back.

On now to the quiver consisting of 2 pieces , the main container and the lid , as with the other pieces a casting plug to remove , again a locating pin is cast to fit into the right hand hole in the back of the torso, the quiver has a wooden finish to the sculpting, very finely done ..good for washes .

Then we have the arrows ..these are gems of scupting and very delicated , held securely in frames , 3 to each , the flashing surrounding them fell away with ease . the flights are nicely done , once all have been cleaned up and removed they fit into the top of the quiver looking very good indeed.

Finally we have a piece of cord to use when fitting the bedroll , personally I would replace this with twisted fine wire ...easier to work with I think . then we have the headband ends that fit into the hole at teh rear of the head , these are moving in the wind ....a small details but adding to the piece.


Final thoughts :

A really nice piece again from TGB Miiatures it is IMO full of movement despite it not having full arms or a bow included , fine sculpting and presentation throughout with great box art.

Why not have a look at the other reviews I have done on PF of releases from TGB:

The Soviet Officer

http://www.planetfigure.com/threads/soviet-officer-from-tgb-miniatures.58520/watch-confirm

and the Medieval Blacksmith:

http://www.planetfigure.com/threads/the-medieval-blacksmith-from-tgb-miniatures.60877/watch-confirm

You will I can assure you be very impressed with this or indeed any model and have a very distinctive piece in the cabinet ....after having hours of enjoyment ...and you could always watch the film ...as a research project of course !!!!

For more details or to order : [email protected]

UK dealers include SK Miniatures and El Greco both with excellent reputations .

Enjoy and thanks for looking in

Nap

 

[tonydawe]

Thanks for the review Nap. Certainly helps to see all the lovely little details in those hi res close up pics.

 

[Wings5797]

Hi Kevin,
Great review, as always, Mate.
A whole lot of good detail on this kit.
Thank you for posting it, I always enjoy reading your reports.
All the very best,
Keith

 

[Nap]

Hi guys ,

Thanks for the comments glad you enjoy the reviews

It is a really lovely kit ,as you said Keith full of details

Nap

 

[storm_zh]

Hi Nap, thanks much for writing up this new review article. You have always been providing much useful information (text plus pictures) in your review which certainly help PFers much on knowingly the details of the miniatures better before we actually buy them. I like reading you review articles

 

[swralph]

another great review nap

 

[Ron Tamburrini]

This looks even better in the raw dare I say , the paint job is superb but didn't realise all the detail that was actually part of the kit .
to quote a well known member . Do like/might buy/will buy

 

[moore]

Very nice review and great pictures. I have this kit and it is very nice. Like Nap said, clean cast and details are very nice.
I also have the Soviet officer, another nice kit.
I am going to be looking at this company more. So far I like what I have from them.

Dee

 

[Borek]

Very well-done presentation of a beautiful bust. Thanks for a great comprehensive review. Cheers Borek

 

[taff edwards]

Hi Kev
Great review ,not my period however I must say with your reviews ,I have widened my figure spectrum ,which is great but not the bank account lol see ya Sunday , Jimbo has created a complete field of fire in the garden with his rat issue, however I did say that the claymore s and the 50cal should do the job ,but the neighbours might be a little p.....d and the possible use of an A10 strafing run was a bit excessive lol
Cheers Chris

 

[Jazz]

Brilliant review Kev. The detail you put into these reviews is outstanding. I know how much you love medals. Well, in my opinion you should get one.