Young Miniatures - 506PIR, 101st Airborne, Bastogne 1944

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Finally after two weeks into the year 2009, here's my built-up review of Young Miniatures bust of an US Soldier sculpted by Hiroyuki Ishii. This marks Ishii-San's most recent collaboration with Young Miniatures and in my opinion one of his finest work to date.

The kit consists of ten components packed in a sponge cushioned sturdy black box. Upon closer examination, one can fully appreciate the high level of Ishii's workmanship testified by the intricate motifs on the buttons, the fine lining of the fabric seams and the smooth and flawless finish. It's also interesting to note that the sculpting has a stylized and precise quality to it as shown by the rendering of the creases and the treatment of the webbing's texture.

Removing the molding plugs was made much easier by first softening them slightly with a heat gun/hot air blower and slicing them off with a sharp blade.Thus as far as common knowledge goes, I would advice against using this approach for thinner items.

As mentioned in an earlier post, the face was painted at a "live" demo workshop during M Con. In favor of atmosphere and feel, I opted to paint the face in cooler tones by incorporating a little Prussian Blue to the shade colours.

The texture of the wool coat was depicted by carefully stippling various colour mixes of US Field Drab, Wood, Beige Brown, US Olive Drab and SS Camo Black Brown(owing to the degree of illumination on the surface's relief) until a dense appearance is achieved.

Other effects such as the wooden stock of the M1 Garand and the leather straps was painted with artists' oils. A light blow from the hairdryer helped to manipulate the resin strap to appear taut when slung over the shoulder.

Calvin