Hi to all on PF ,

"The Few" as a phrase is instantly linked to those so brave young pilots who fought in the skies above Britain in the dark hours of 1940 .

The phrase originates from a phrase quoted by Winston Churchill :

"Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few"

............... truer words have never been said.


The Few has been honoured by the release from Life Miniatures which we will be looking at in this thread :

Allow me to honour these brave men ( and of course those wonderful women who manned the operation rooms) lets have something about this so hard time in the 20th century. ...The Battle of Britain was fought over the skies of southern britain in the summer of 1940 and involved many nationalities including Poles, French, American and many others .

NATIONALITY STRENGTH
British 2340
Americans 9
Australians 32
Barbados 1
Belgians 28
Canadians 112
Czechoslovakians 89
Free French 13
Irish 10
Jamacians 1
Newfoundland 1
New Zealanders 127
Polish 145
South Africans 25
Southern Rhodesians 3
TOTALS 2936

....Pilots were of course normally officers with us also finding SNCO's winning their wings and flying alongside in what has become the iconic planes of the war ..amongst them the Hurricane and of course the famous Spitfire. As you can see mascots featured heavily in the lives of these men ..often keeping them calm returning from a sortie under such severe strain of battle.

In the summer of 1940, 2,936 pilots took part in an historic battle against the German Luftwaffe that was to become the only battle to be fought entirely in the air, this battle has become known as;
The "Battle of Britain" and the pilots as "The Few"
These brave pilots came from all walks of life, many were trained and experienced, but most had come from civilian duties to become fighter pilots with RAF Fighter Command. During that battle which lasted almost four months, 544 of them would lose their lives, many of them killed in action, while others were never to be heard of again, and officially listed as missing in action. The Battle of Britain was a prelude to the German invasion of Great Britain which after just four months had to be abandoned because of the dedication, courage and tenacity of those 2,936 pilots, who, against a formidable and experienced foe and against all odds, fought only for success.


These brave men and women fought for our freedom during the darkest days of WW2 ...I would like to dedicate this Review to them ...God bless them all we owe them everything .


Continued in next post:

Nap

Lets now move to the actual model itself :

Title: "The Few"- RAF Fighter Pilot 1940 Battle of Britain

Ref: LM-B009

Material: Resin

No of parts: 19

Sculptor: Seung-Yeop Lee

Box Art: Sang-Eon Lee

Those that have purchased LM releases previously will no doubt be well aware of the care and dedication taken by them in the presentation of the pieces to the modeller , this is the case with this release , packed in a secure cardboard box with the Resin parts all safely packed between foam ( the smaller bits being secured further by being placed in clear bags).

The box art is lovely , reproduced in full colour with very clear colours , on the sides we have pictures of the life jacket as additional reference ..there is of course the website pictures to refer to as well .

The parts consist of the torso , the arms , the head the 2 sides of the flying helmet , 2 hands (one holding his flying gloves , the pedastal base , the dogs torso, the head and a further 8 pieces to add onto the harness and flying equiptment .

Initially looking at the pieces overall , the smoothness of the casting is I am quite willing to say : second to none...super smooth , sculpted details on all pieces has been wonderfully reproduced by skilled and careful casting .

Lets have a look at the Torso first :

Our Pilot Officer is wearing his life jacket with the parachute harness over it , prep needed just involved removal of a casting plug on the undersides of the torso ..perfect positioning .

You will need to fit the various wires and release buckle before primimg ..refer to the website if you are unsure as to the location.....these are on formers or have tiny plugs to remove ...easy to do ..all giving even more detail to an already packed model.

Details of the clothing are great , of particular note is the stitiching on the harness , folds are finely worked , the harness will need a little bit of flashing removed where it blouses out at the front over the life jacket...easily done with a small drill and files .. he wears a pullover , around his neck he has a scarf ..perhaps his school one .proudly worn ..maybe Eton or Cambridge.

An amazing amount of sculpting details all carefully researched .

Continued in next post:

Nap

Lets now have a look at the remaining pieces :

Firstly the arms and the hands....as before sculpting is really good , with only 2 very accessible casting plugs to remove from the arms (1 on each elbow , folds are smoothly done natural with his single rank ring around the lower sleeve

The hands again have casting plugs to remove ..out comes the razor saw and wet and dry , the left hand holds his flying gloves , these are nicely done with the distinctive stitching around the fingers being well represented , they are held in a natural position , the fingers are well formed with nice work on the finger nails , the same comments goes for the other hand which sits onto the head of his beloved dog when the piece is completed .

On now to the head ..this is IMO the best piece of the model ..it depicts a brave and oh so innocent young man , caught up in the desire to serve his country ..perhaps he joined up with some others from his college ..perhaps he will survive ...perhaps not .

Facial features depicts a grinning young man , laughing at his dog so precariously perched on his shoulder , he wears a flying helmet which again iw a fine piece of sculpting , there are the side pieces to fit carefully to the helmet ...he also wears the flying goggles and these are a veritable mass of details ..great stuff ..and a challenge to paint the lens.

Now to mans best friend , the dog ..consisting of 2 parts the main body and the head , a small amount of filler is needed ...could the dog stay in this position ...not for long I reckon but I see him scrambling on his masters shoulder to stay on ..relishing the closeness between them . Small casting plugs are required to be removed before priming and building .

Finally we have the base ... a pedastal piece which if you choose to use fits tightly into the locating hole in the torso of the bust .

Continued in next post:

Nap

My Final thoughts now :

This is without doubt a wonderful and very moving piece of work depicting a tender moment captured in time by a skilled sculptor and brought to life by Sang -Eon ..an amazing painter IMO .

This scene must have been reenacted many times as a battle stressed pilot clambered out of the cockpit to be greeted by his faothful dog ...a true friend in an often unfriendly time .

Sculpting is really tight and smoothly cast , well presented , with all parts well secured to safely get to your workbench .....
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

Lets now finish the review with some great pictures of the painted model ...begin drooling now friends ..I am !!!

For more details why not visit their website: www.lifeminiatures.kr

or have a lok at UK distributors of LM products for instance : El Greco/SK Minaitures and Historex to name but a few.


Enjoy the pictures:

Thanks for looking in

Nap

Nice!