Great sculpt with all the details. Historical with a touch of fantasy.

Wahou, great job ! I like this !!!

Hello , Philip. That helmet and horse armor , which I took as a prototype . Unfortunately I do not suppose this model casting . This model is acquired by a private collector .Thank you for the highest score of my work . It is very important to me .
Sincerely Rodion

Sode

Book of Konstantin Nosov "Samurai : The Evolution of weapons ." From this book I took material for several of my works. And for this , too. Link to the book: http://www.labirint.ru/reviews/goods/242404/
Sincerely Rodion .

awesome work especially in such a small scale, you are very talented. Thanks also for the pic of the helmet, very unusual - I haven't seen this style before.

Thanks, John . The book is very good , a lot of unusual and spectacular armor .

My friend Attila let me offer some information on your questions.This exquisite warrior is clearly from the Sengoku period(roughly speaking 16th-17th century),some of the items of his panoply are actually much later(Edo period-18th to 19th century) like the embossed sode(shoulder guards) or the horse garniture and were never used or proved in battle.The horse armour in particular is made of leather scales which could be partially or entirely covered in lacquer.The helmet in particular is very unique,it looks like a nanban kabuto(literally Southern barbarian-European-helmet)modified to suit japanese taste.I hope I helped a little.

Oda.

Correction,this type of helmet falls under the category of kawari kabuto or grotesque helmets.It is more of an exhibition of the armourer's craft than an actual battlepiece.I totally love what the artist has done,putting together an armour of so many rare designs.Masterful from begining to end .

Oda.

Lovely sculpting, I do not wish to criticise or diminish the figure in any way. I agree totally with the comments already made on the quality of the work, but the mix of Sengoku Jidai and (presumably) Edo period items, in an action pose would put me off buying a similar commercial piece unless it was obviously presented as a fantasy piece (i.e fighting against oni, etc).
Armours from the Edo period onward were predominantly manufactured as "art - works", intended for show, and to display the skill of otherwise redundant armourers. Had this piece been presented in a static pose I could accept it as representing a samurai dressed for a ceremonial parade or event but I doubt armour such as this would have seen any serious action. The Sode in particular seems to abandon the conventional laced plate construction almost universally used by Japanese armourers to facilitate movement.
The use of horse armour in action is also an old well worn chesnut. I know it is shown in some early painted screens and artworks but a number of books I have read disagree widely on whether this is historical record or artistic romantisicsm. I have never been able to establish a consensus of opinion on the subject.
Toyotomi Hideyoshi is commonly depicted using horse armour (Pegaso and Andreas in model form), and he, as well as other high ranking Samurai undoubtedly owned it, but I can only hope someone out there can specify definitive, period written, reference to it being used in battle during the Sengoku Jidai period itself.

Dear (Honda) Tadatsugu how delightful to find a fellow samurai afficionado.You are totally correct on every point.As for horse armour,I too have not been able to find any evidence of ever having been used in actual combat.There are descriptions of the great Hideyoshi marching off to war splendidly attired and they even discuss the fact that he had his face painted white with his teeth blakened in the manner of the samurai of a bygone age but there is no mention of him riding a caparisoned horse.All evidense is pointing towards the fact that horse armour in Japan as well as uchidashi style armour are children of an age of peace.Again this does not diminish the technical and artistic attributes of the piece.I on the other hand would buy a figure like that(only in 54 mm though....and yes I have acquired Andrea's Hideyoshi)even just as a novelty.The execution is just to perfect to pass.PM me for other technical conversations like this fellow Tadatsugu.It is rare to have someone to discuss over finer technical points of japanese armour.

Oda.

Friends, I fully agree with what they say respected experts. But the customer needs is such a mixture of armor. This figure looks great on a desk in mahogany.
Sincerely Rodion

Of course,it is a commissioned work and must satisfy the customer.Don't get me wrong,samurai armour is one of my all time favourite subjects and I could go on and on talking about it.The fact remains my friend that you have produced a masterpiece and you should be extremely proud of it.

I understand what you say Rodion, and I agree with Oda; your sculpting is beyond criticism. You have to meet you customers needs and like Oda I also have the Andrea Toyotomi which I intend, at some undetermined point in the future, to re-mount on a less ostentatious stead.
I was only intending to open the discussion a little.
Samurai are very popular in the modelling field but little reference is readily available in English for impulse buyers. I try to use this forum to inform those who do value historical accuracy if something feels wrong to me, and hope I can learn from others in the same way if I ever decide to tackle subjects I am less familiar with.
I look forward to seeing more of your excellent work in the future.

Friends, I understand you perfectly, and from our discussions revealed a lot of value for themselves. It can be said and everyone reading our correspondence. I would be grateful if in the future we will also communicate productively. Your opinion and advice are important to me.
Sincerely Rodion

Great and awesome sculpt. Fantastic details, full of movement, great composition. Amazing work, congrats.

Cheers Borek

Thank you, Boris , I am glad that you enjoyed my work . Soon will be the next . I think we will discuss it with you , too ) . Sincerely Rodion

Excellent work and I do not mind if some historic accuracy problems occur..... who cares really, archeology is not our business !! Our business is to have fun with sculpting and/or painting and that's it. The most important is that the work please yourself, that you have fun with it . A lot of "historical" artists made historic mistakes in their art (De Neuville, for example) but nevertheless, what we love in art is the atmosphere, the colours, the details...
One day a guy told he didn't like a small viking I painted because I should have painted the tunic in red to be historically accurated (???!!!) So, WTF ???? The colour scheme pleased me a lot, I replied I didn't care about that kind of comment.... The pity is that that guy was judge in competition and only for that he didn't give appreciation to the figure Nevertheless, that said, an hitoric discussion is always a pleasure when we talk with people knowing the subject (as it is the case here). You know, in Folkestone, I avoid some people discussing about the correct blue for the french army in WW1 My godness, in that case you know you have to run away