Rorke's Drift Zulu War 1979, 1/9 scale bust - Thunderbird Historical Miniatures

[tonydawe]

Rorke's Drift, Zulu War 1879, 1/9th scale bust
Thunderbird Historical Minaitures
Sculpted by Carl Reid

Most figure modellers will know the 1963 movie "Zulu" starring Michael Caine and Stanley Baker, which depicts the epic battle between a contingent of 139 men of B Company, 2 Battalion of the 24th (2nd Warwickshire) Regiment of Foot and over 4,000 warriors of the Zulu king Cetchewayo at Rorke's Drift in South Africa on 22-23 January 1879.

The movie does contain a significant number of historical inaccuracies, including referring to the defenders of Rorke's Drift as a Welsh Regiment. The 2nd Warwickshire Regiment did not become the South Wales Borderers until 1881, as part of a major reorganisation of the British Army. Most of the men at Rorke's Drift were Englishmen, not Welshmen.

Rorke's Drift, coming as it did immediately after the British defeat at Isandlwana on 22nd February 1879, in which over 1,500 British soldiers were killed, provided a much needed distraction from the bad news, and consequently became one of the most celebrated battles of the Anglo-Zulu War.

Famously 11 Victoria Cross medals were awarded to the defenders of Rorke's Drift, and although the battle was strategically inconsequential, it did provide a significant morale boost to the British Forces at the time, and has been celebrated as one of the finest examples of steadfastness, leadership and bravery in modern military history.

Thunderbirds Military Miniatures has recently released a 1/9th scale bust depicting one of the defenders of Rorke's Drift. I was fortunate to purchase this bust from Matt Grech from El Greco Miniatures at Euro Militaire a few weeks ago, and I was lucky enough to meet and speak to the man who sculpted the bust, the very talented (and thirsty) Carl Reid.

The Kit

The kit comes in a sturdy cardboard box, with the pieces contained in a plastic ziplock bag and protected by bubble wrap. Their are no instructions and no information for painters as to what colours to use.

The kit comprises six parts, head, torso, left arm, right arm, right hand on helmet and a pedestal base, all cast in fine light grey resin.

The casting on my kit is very good, with only a few seamlines visible on the arms and torso and virtually no flash. I would recommend you use your hobby knife to better define the gaps between the fingers on both hands as some of them appear slightly "webbed". This is a relatively minor problem that wont take much effort to fix. The crispness of the casting is most evident on the tunic buttons, the collar badges, the piping on the sleeves and, of course, the superbly sculpted face.

Overall the casting and the fit of the pieces is excellent. Some gap filling will be needed where the arms join the upper torso, but otherwise there is nothing preventing you from putting this kit together with relative ease.

The back of the bust has been hollowed out in the distinctive "mellon ball scoop" style that has become synonymous with Carl Reid's busts.

What drew me to this bust was the facial expression of the soldier wiping his brow with his hand, with a mixture of exhaustion and relief. One can almost imagine him thinking "How the hell did I survive THAT?". The huge muttonchop beard and moustache create a very real feeling of a Victorian era soldier.

As you can see from the attached photos I've already primed the head for painting, however I blu-taked the parts together to show you what the finished article will look like when assembled.

Summary

Overall, this is one the finest busts I've ever seen and I can't wait to get my brushes on it. Congratulations to Carl for yet another superb piece of sculpting and to Thunderbird for the casting and production.

The only thing lacking is a colour pic on the box art and some instructions to provide a guide for painters, but this is a very minor omission to what is otherwise a superior bust kit.

It will make a very colourful addition to any modellers' display cabinet.

[housecarl]

Thanks for the great potted history Tony, found this for a simple painting reference http://www.thediehards.co.uk/. All thhough it depicts the Middlesex Regt, the uniform is the same.
Carl.

[rheath]

Tony - many thanks and a great bust, very important for me living not far from Rorke's drift and ex- British Army myself. I have walked the route over the battle at Isandlwana, it is very interesting, indeed.

A must get for me.RobH.

[Black Army]

Hm, very nice kit!

Tony, thank you for the Review!

Cheers,
Balázs

[smudger1960]

Tony,i purchased this kit at euro this year from the el grecco stand and it is a lovely piece of sculpting from carl,i myself cant wait to get started on mine,i'm currently finishing off a 75mm zulu warrior from pegaso and i'm really getting the feel for this period,thanks for posting,keep up the good work carl.

[crf]

Very reminiscent of the old Real Models 90mm figure of Bromhead c. 1980-ish. That figure was streets ahead of its time and would stand up today with ease.

Colin

["Tarakaman"]

Cool bust!!!

[megroot]

That's a great looking bust that i had also in my hands at Euro.
But i could resist the push to buy.

Marc

[carl reid]

Thanks for the reveiw Tony!

I hope you enjoy it mate!!!

Carl

[Steve]

I don't know if most painters are familiar with the Zulu War anymore. Certainly we geezers are; I think the movie inspired a lot of us for a long time. My point is that the colonial wars of the Empire are the source of much that is interesting to do in miniature and this bust will help reignite the interest in the subject, which has fallen out of style until recently. Redcoats and white helmets (well, tea-stained white helmets) do get the blood pumping!