Hi all figure modellers

One warrior of history that always is of interest to our hobby is the knight , mounted on a horse so powerful and with both that and the rider armoured in the best he could afford ...the medieval equal of the modern day tank .

Even when fighting on foot knights were powerful and very much an impressive sight with their helmet crests of all types including "fan" style , dressed in mail ,shoulder protection and of course helmet sometimes fully enclosing the head, not only was plate armour in use but boiled leather and padded clothing with metal plates sewn into it for protection early on .

Helmets were often seen with crests of varying types , with when at tournament we see the most intricate and very impressive versions

Shields were sometimes plain but more than not they displayed the knights insignia.

So this review will look at a knight fighting on foot , released by Altores Studio :

Just to enjoy and see what this looks like painted ( this by PF Member Khorn ) , a video visual delight to enjoy



Lets have some reference pictures for you :

As always in my reviews some books you might find interesting to look at:

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Lets have the release details:


Title: European Knight 14th Century

Reference: F75-055

Scale: 75mm /1:24th

Material: Lt Gray Resin

No of parts: 15

Sculptor : Oleg Pogosyan

Box Art: N/A on review item

Releases from Altores come in the recognised yellow text on a black background and its fair to say in my opinion expectations are that the strong cardboard box contents will be of a high standard.

The resin parts were packed as usual found in between foam protecting the pieces very nicely , smaller parts being in a clear bag.



Parts consist of:

• Main torso ( less arms)
• 2 Arms
• Helmet
• Helmet crest
• 2 Shoulder pieces
• 3 Pieces of clothing
• Shield
• Weapons ( Dagger, Sword scabbard and blade )
• Weapon support chain
• Base

Prep

• Main torso ( less arms) - Remove casting plugs from under feet a casting line on the underside between legs to deal with
• 2 Arms - Small casting posts to take off and then fit arms ( slight filler needed)
• Helmet - Dry fit to torso , when happy fix in place
• Helmet crest - Remove casting post from top and fit to helmet centre
• 2 Shoulder pieces - Excess resin and slight flashing from edges
• 3 Pieces of clothing - Remove posts and dry fit after slight sanding at edges . filling needed when in place .
• Shield - Slight clean up around edges
• Weapon support chain - Remove casting posts and fit to torso ( note fits to dagger hilt top ) , flashing in links to take away
• Sword scabbard/Blade and dagger in scabbard- Tiny clean up and remove post on dagger , fit sword blade
• Base - Remove excess casting resin from edges

General comments

1. To be honest not a lot as expected to do before you get to paint
2. No face to paint as helmet in place
3. Fit the shield and head after painting
4. Fit sword last !!!
5. Both helm and sword blade will need careful drilling where they fit to

In this part I will look at both the main figure and the helmet

Main torso

As you can see in the box picture our subject is moving forward, right leg bent pushing down against the groundwork when in place on base

Wearing mail and a padded jerkin possibly with metal plates inside , padded trousers with armoured knees and lower front legs .

No arms are cast on but good locating areas are evident , there is a cut out for fitting both weapons and the back piece of the clothing tabbard

Working our way down the figure on the jerkin there is very good natural material folds together with the studs in place in lines being of a uniform size

Moving round to the rear there are 3 excellent straps pulling the chest protection tightly into the body , again good buckle and stud work

Around the waist the sword and dagger belt good work on the buckles and the way the end is tucked under and hangs down meeting with the actual belt end which si cast to the clothing piece




Below the belt there is the mail sitting well onto the clothing underneath , nice movement on it and the mail will paint up well

Upper legs are well padded again with good section definition , the knees and lower legs at the front are covered in armour both these pieces on each leg is sharply sculpted with high detail work in place .

As a knight he has earned his spurs and these are cast onto the figure , they are simple pointed "pricker" style



The whole of both legs are covered in mail underneath the padded clothing , all very nicely depicted




Helmet

For those that aren't keen on painting faces ...this is the model for you as the head is completely enclosed in the helmet with only the helmet slits being seen , no eye details to worry about .

The helmet has the visor down this being well detailed with air holes for ventilation and nice work around the actual eye slits and well depicted studs again

Around the top we have a rolled piece of material from this the flowing scarf hangs down in natural and well sculpted folds . of particular note is the undercuts where the scarf meets the mail that is also included in the casting ( obviously he has his head covered in a mail hood under the helmet ) , the actual mail sweeps round the upper torso/neck area sitting very well onto the main figure.

There is also the upper section of the chain which when the other piece is in place leads to the dagger hilt .





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Now to the remainder of the resin

Arms

Both of these are clad in the mail again well shown with the elbows being armoured, I particularly like the clen sculpting of the straps and where they are holding the armour

The left arm is out straight and has the sword hilt sculpted and cast into it , the hands are mailed at the front with the palms being plain material/leather from grip ...nice attention to detail there together with the ties at the wrist.

The left is bent at the elbow to take the shield again the same details are on this arm as the other , except we have the addition of the shield straps and a small block of resin to fit to the rear of the shield itself .

Fitting the arms are simple using the post/cutout with only a smidgeon of filler needed if that .



Shoulder pieces/Crest/Chain

The shoulder pieces are well shaped , the metal plate covered in possibly leather with this being held in place by good stitching at the rear and a larger cross of double cording on the front , fit is easyby matching up the post to the cut out on the arms



Crest is a interesting shape scalloped with good sectional definition , fitting is by means of positioning into the helmet top using the twisted peg cast to the crest

The chain is a nice bit of interest to the armour and overall look , good work on the links , its fit is easy , as it sits snuggly across the torso , a tiny bit of filler is needed where it meets the cast chain on the mail of the helmet.

If you choose not to use this then you could easily replace it with a suitable scaled metal chain



Clothing

There are 3 pieces the double one fits at the rear into a cutout and the 2 single fit one either side again into cutouts , all show good folds on the material sitting nicely when in place , you will need to use the puty where it meets the main figure ..but in small amounts , nothing drastic







Weapons

Consisting of a sword blade and a separate scabbard and a dagger in the scabbard itself , suffice to say the scabbard is detailed up with stitching and straps , all good in presentation , fit is simple again using the cutout , the dagger is very detailed up and looks equally as lethal as the sword blade this is a very good shape as per the period , fitting isn't too difficult but dill a good hole into the hilt if possible.

It was nice to see the blade was not warped or bent so no need for warm water or hairdryer



Shield

In typical shape for the period it is covered and again we see this being held in place by a line of studs at the rear where there is also a pad to lessen the pressure against the arm itself , fit is as with the other pieces .

The front is heavily cut about and damaged with knocks and slashes , there is no design sculpted onto the surface which gives the modeller a blank canvas



Base

A large oblong of rsin textured with a rocky outcrop that the knight has his right foot against ...perhaps he is at the entrance to a castle that has had its walls opened up and this is the debris.

There are 2 very suitable cutouts for the figure to be positioned into




Final Thoughts

A popular period of history and this figure gives the painter a lot , the mail , clothing , heraldry of your choice , a good pose , minimal prep , well detailed and avery good addition to the Altores catalogue

Recommended

Another nice addition to the Altores catalogue

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 of course a big thank you to all for looking in

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To finish this off lets have some pictures both of the unpainted , built up version from the Altores website and then a painted version by MIHAIL MALNIN

Oh and Jean Luc ( ZC here on PF ...yes this has legs ..lol )


ENJOY

The unpainted version



Mihail's version

Cracking artwork there Mihail

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