Hi Guys,

Is there a web site or resource which details the history of military model busts? I remember first seeing them in a Verlinden catalog back in the late 80's...or was it the early 90's? I don't remember. But I'll be fascinated with how this particular niche of our hobby came about.

Thanks!
Brian

Partly I suspect because until more recently (see below) sculptors can make the same money for far less effort and casters can produce them more easily due to the minimal number of parts. I know I will be accused of cynicism but I am sure there is a grain of truth in this.

Having said this the rise in popularity has been amazing although my own preference is for full figures as they tell more of a story especially if placed in an appropriate setting. The Genre seems to have moved on in the last couple of years with less statuesque and more Dynamic quite complex offerings with many more parts.

Some of the earliest seem to have been produced in the 1990's, David Grieve, Roll Call, Harton Miniatures, Pete Barnacle, Verlinden. I haven't traced anything back to the 1980's, perhaps someone else will be able to help here.

Keith

The First bust I ever saw at a modelling Show was at Euro Militaire around 1990,someone had cut the head and shoulders off the Verlinden 200mm Roman Signifer full figure and presented it as a bust.Verlinden took this idea and released the Signifer as a bust Version.
Regards
Pete

And now Pete, Pegaso are cutting the head and shoulders off 90mm figures and selling them because so many modellers seem to like painting faces, they also take up less space in the cabinet.

Another point I failed to make in my first post is the ease of transportation. This means that collectors and commission painters can be pretty sure that a bust if packaged sensibly is pretty certain to arrive at its destination in one piece- With full figures this situation is much more precarious.

Keith

I can't remember who it was (Artisan maybe?) but there was a small series of trios of busts (3 busts on one single base). Typically the busts centred on a particular theme, eg Falklands War, British Napoleonics etc. They were cast in metal and supplied with the wooden base. I think they were released in the first half of the 1980's & were advertised in MM.

Geoff

Oh wow...so this niche is pretty recent (1980's ???). i thought it went further back!

Hi Geoff, I had forgotten those little trio's and I think they were Artisan, I stripped out my early MM's so nothing to check back with now-maybe someone will come up with a definitive answer.

Keith

I seem to remember that this series started pretty close to the Falklands War as they were the first three busts produced.

The Romans were producing miniature busts and painting them as far back as 100BC.