Hi everybody,

This year has been an interesting one with new company's announcing their releases entering a often volatile business market , one that has made an impact from Russia is

We have seen a good selection of subjects from all different periods of history , as up to this releases we seen only one bust release (Mursi ) which I reviewed here http://www.planetfigure.com/threads/mursi-warrior-from-altores.79504/ as well as on social media but I am pleased to see we now have a 2nd with this release and its a good choice IMO



The medieval period is one full of potential subjects , Altores have chosen to depict a common soldier , who bore the brunt of the fighting , often with nothing more than "looted" items of clothing and armour , but right in the horror of the front line and hand to hand combat ...where no mercy was the rule.

The subject has been depicted with one of many versions of a billhook , derived from farming tools and with hooks to drag an unfortunate armored knight from his horse , a lethal point to penetrate chinks in armour , through mail and when he was struggling on the ground like an upturned turtle to despatch him with the pointed ends.

Sculpted with the facial features in full shout ...perhaps hes has seen the tank like formation that thunders down to his position...or maybe he is alerting his commander of the threat.

Wearing a helmet with a deep neck guard he is lucky to have this , many variations of helmets are seen including with visors and eye slots , he also has on "jack" padded sometimes with armoured plates sewn in, under this he has a mail shirt with a hooded shoulder covering , sometimes these were coloured showing allegiance to a specific town or cause ( Paris for instance had red and blue halved)

Also he has a fine looking sword , a good quality weapon , sometimes we see lesser but still very useful weapons like the falchion

Books ( where would I be without my library!!) include these



Continued in next post

Nap

Lets look at the release

What are we looking at:

Title: Medieval Footman

Reference: B-012

Scale: 1/10th

Material: Gray resin

No of parts: 8

Sculptor: Alexander Deryabin (see below)

Box Art: TBC (see below)

Its good to see a member of PF as the sculptor is none other than user name Zippo ..nice one , it is hoped that the box art will be done by that talented artist Sergei Popovichenko

As with previous releases from Altores we are given the parts in a white box , yellow text , strong , with the parts sandwiched between 2 thick foam layers in addition to them being in bags as well

Parts consist of , main torso , 2 arms, 1 left hand , Pole with right hand included, a strap for the helmet , the topof the sword and the dangerous end of the polearm/bill, no base is included




Prep

Torso..Sand away slight casting excess from underside
Arms...As torso
Left Hand...slight flashing between fingers
Pole...Remove casting former and cut off 2 small blips
Strap...Cut from former and fit
Sword..Remove casting plugs and fit
Dangerous end...Remove casting plug and fit

Casting comment

I am unsure who the caster is it might be in house but whoever it is is to be congratulated , surfaces are smooth and textured where needed, undercuts are excellent all over .

QUALITY is the keyword with Altores

This is a big model and you get a lot of resin for your hard earned cash.

Torso ..obviously the largest of the pieces , wearing the helmet this is a fine bit of work , well engineered , providing good protection , the undercuts around the sides are excellent , rivet details are sharop on the surface , the left strap is cast to the resin , good buckle details with the other side having a locating cutout ready .

On his head and under the helmet we have a cloth cap , tied under his shin , this pulls into the flesh nicely .

The facial features are some of the best I have see , his mouth is a cracking bit of work , wide open , teeth exposed , tongue down , you can almost hear him ...a nice touch is the fact that he has lost one of his front teeth .

Eyes are slightly squinted with his brown down , good nasal features and one thing to say he is not a male model , this is a average looking guy , , big nose and seemingly well fed as well , look at his neck area.

He has a well worn hood hanging naturally on his shoulders ..one thing to note is the textures , I particularly liked the fact that the edges are threadbare in places and the sections have come slightly apart .

We also see a nice looking over jacket , no designs or badge is on it allowing the modeller to personalise the model if wished , this clothing shows good folds with the lower stomach slightly forward ...a good meal inside no doubt..lol

The arm areas are cast ready to receive them easily and accurately.

Across his chest we have the sword belt/strap , this again has some good texture .

Arms...the left is outstretched , the other bent holding the weapon, the upper arms have mail on them ..extremely well worked and well cast , fit to the torso presents no problem , both arms have the padded jacket with a wonderful array of tears and wear , torn at the elbows .
The wrist areas are very good and the edges are well scaled , the amount of surface details on these should keep you at the bench for many an enjoyable hour.



Left Hand...a real gem of sculpting on both this and the other , just look at the pictures , veins are all there , finger nails , the hand lines , the lower edge of the coat are sculpted on ..fit is accurate and really looks good.



Right hand/Weapon shaft...as said a real gem of work , this is gripping the shaft so naturally the thumb pressed against it , held up . , the shaft is not rounded which is nice to see , the top has the bottom of the weapon , hole ready to take the top part .



The Dangerous bit....this is a great shape full of sharp edges in real life and well represented in resin here , a wicked looking hook and a savage point both small at the lower edge and at the top .

As this is such an important and easily damaged perhaps it would be good to have it on a backing card , something Altores will I am sure look at in the future releases.

Sword ......this is just the top , well shaped , nice pommel and handle which shows nice gripping surface , I will be pinning mine to the torso for safety


Right Chin strap ....another nice touch fitting is easy to a cutout , hanging well and adding more interest to the model ,

Final Thoughts

A you might guess I'm rather taken by this release , the 2nd bust from Altores ...a great bit of work by all the team , well sculpted and with excellent details and and textures , loads to paint , this could be as you wish , plain , grimy and dirty from battle , add a livery badge if you wish .
Whatever you will do results in a very nice display piece.

Please Altores lets have another bust..soon!!!!

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

For details on this and more from them :

E-mail: altoress@mail.ru

Website: www.altores.com

They are also a member of FaceBook and the forum here on PF

Thanks to for the review piece

And to you all for looking in

Happy Modelling

Nap

Hi Oda ...I like my busts as folk know but this is something special ....its just got " the look"...as you said also...

More busts please Altores


To everybody else thanks for the comments glad you like the review .,...

.......regarding the actual staff , it would certainly be easy enough to replace it if you consider it a little undersized as Francesco mentioned ...a wooden kebab stick could be suitable ( eat the kebab first..lol)

Thanks to everyone

Nap