Hi to all on PF ,

I recently received this from Historia Miniatures which is run by a well known and very talented modeller on this forum namely Christos (Christosjager)

They have previously released another bust of a Confederate Soldier which I also had the pleasure to share with all :

http://www.planetfigure.com/threads...-from-historia-miniatures.52974/watch-confirm

The release is as we saw on the original post by Christos not to everyones taste but this Review will include looking at the man , his background and obviously after the normal history I include we will look at the piece itself .

Please note: I respect others views and thoughts but this is a model review and nothing else .

Lets have a little about the man himself :

Born in Rosario in Argentina in 1928 Che Guevara was an Argentinean-born, Cuban revolutionary leader who became a left-wing hero.

A photograph of him by Alberto Korda became an iconic image of the 20th century.

Ernesto Guevara de la Serna, known as Che Guevara, was born into a middle-class family. He studied medicine finishing his studies as a result of his grandmother dying , during this time travelled widely in South and Central America sickened by the poverty and oppression he saw , and backed up by his Marxist ideals he came to the conclusion that an armed revolution was the only

In 1954 he went to Mexico and the following year he met Cuban revolutionary leader Fidel Castro. Guevara joined Castro's '26th July Movement' and played a key role in the eventual success of its guerrilla war against Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista.

Castro overthrew Batista in 1959 and took power in Cuba. From 1959-1961, Guevara was president of the National Bank of Cuba, and then minister of industry. In this position, he travelled the world as an ambassador for Cuba. At home, he carried out plans for land redistribution and the nationalisation of industry.

Opposed against the USA he LED the Castro regime towards alignment with the Soviet Union. The Cuban economy faltered as a result of American trade sanctions and unsuccessful reforms. During this difficult time Guevara began to fall out with the other Cuban leaders. He later expressed his desire to spread revolution in other parts of the developing world, and in 1965 Castro announced that Guevara had left Cuba.

Guevara then spent several months in Africa, particularly the Congo, attempting to train rebel forces in guerrilla warfare. His efforts failed and in 1966 he secretly returned to Cuba.

From Cuba he travelled to Bolivia to lead forces rebelling against the government of René Barrientos Ortuño.
With US assistance, the Bolivian army captured Guevara and his remaining fighters. He was executed on 9 October 1967 in the Bolivian village of La Higuera , his hands were removed as proof of his deat to his followers and his body was buried in a secret location.

In 1997 his remains were discovered, exhumed and returned to Cuba, where he was reburied.

Irrespective of individuals thoughts he had a certain charisma and leadership , was a ruthless leader , 2nd probably to Fidel Castro (who he later fell out of favour with) ...he held strong ideals and became a name held along with other ruthless leaders of this century .

Many books have been written ..........................

...................and he has even been the inspiration to a BBC TV Comedy series " Citizen Smith" of the Tooting Popular Front starring Robert Lindsey as the character "Wolfie"..and Yes I did remember it !!!

Continued in next post:

Nap

Looking now at the model itself :

Now then lets have some information on the release ;

Title: Che Guevara

Scale: 1/10th

Material : Resin (Gray)

No of pieces : 3 (the head/neck, the torso and a post)

Sculptor : Christos Panagiotopoulos

Box Art: Demitrios Kotronias

Casting by : YS Castings (Yiannis Sagiadinos)

The model was received quickly and well packed and it was like my birthday had arrived ...or perhaps that should be like a child in a sweetshop ...and like these sweets !!!

On opening the package I found the very distinctive black cardboard box which showed a painted version by Demitrios ...very nice as well .

On the label there was a very touching dedication to a dear friend of Christos and Demitrios called Nikos Kavathas who sadly passed away ...a wonderful thing to dedicate this to his memory..... RIP Nikos.

As before the parts were sealed in a plastic bag surrounded by paper shreds , all providing good protection to the contents .



Continued in next post:

Nap

Moving on now to the pieces themselves :

As I said there are 3 , prep was absolutely minimal needing just a sanding block to remove remnants on the base of the torso and at the back of the neck , then a little work on the post base ...but simple to do and took no more than 5 minutes of valuable modelling time ..but oh so vital to do ....

Lets begin with the Torso :

Che is sculpted as per the references wearing the scruffy and well worn shirt , open at the collar , a small block was needing to be removed on the undersides ...........

Out came my optivisor and I could not (despite much trying !!!) find any casting lines whatsoever so all credit to Historia and Yiannis at YS , the shirt has many folds in it all softly done and well defined where needed , with seams also being sculpted ..all very nicely done , undercuts are spot on especially where the pockets are concerened ..

On the underside there are 2 holes to take the post also included (all will I am sure pin if they choose to use it) but I will use a brass rod for mine .


Looking now at the head now :

Prep neded ..minimal again ...a casting block to remove from the bcak of the neck ..easy peasy !!!

Sculpting a well know character from history is a skill not possessed by many ...Christos has that skill , working off numerous pictures he has reproduced the facial features to an absolute "T" in my opinion ..a really stunning piece of work .

Che has the cigar in his mouth that he was often seen with , facial features are Che without a doubt , with really nice work on the facial hair especially . His long hair is straggly and unkept again faithfully recreated .


The famous beret with the star on the front is well done sitting high on the forehead and slightly back again as per known photographs .

Just for your delight some close ups of the head showing the great details ...all crying out to be painted .



The final piece now : the pedastal post:

A nice idea to include this , but as I said it will need pinning if you use it , a bit of sanding was needed on the base but nothing much .

Continued in next post:

Nap

On now to my final thoughts on this release from Historia Miniatures :

Although the subject might not be to everyones taste it is a subject from our history that has been sculpted really well and nicely presented ....as with the other bust I reviewed QUALITY in both the sculpting and casting abounds and you will get a really nice addition to the collection .

Painting is simplicity itself , using your skills to bring out the facial features of the man who was so much involved in a revolution will give you a great bust and one which will be I am sure commented on by all who see .

For more details of this and others why not go to Christos blog :
http://minibigart.blogspot.gr/ (through paypal), .
or just pm him via PF .

Enjoy a picture of the painted version :



And the inspiration:



And another shot of the box cover in memory of Nikos RIP :



Thanks for looking in

Nap

Hi Arxo,

Black and White painting eh ...a really interesting concept and like you say this is the way you see him and a good opportunity to study colour values .

Good luck with your monochrome version ...please do share .

Nap