Miniart 1:16 scale future release

[Epeeman]

I don't know if anybody has seen this or not, but I noticed on Miniart's website (under thier 1:16 scale historical figure series) a new figure due for release 'soon'.

This is a samurai warrior figure - page shows a colour picture of the pending kit box in colour together with (I presume) a photo of the unpainted figure prototype. A bit of a departure from the usual figure poses in thier current series - more dynamic this one - samurai has his katana drawn in an 'on guard' pose. Note also the stand - more of a mini diorama rather than the current round display base. Now this one really interests me! The only thing that does not look quite right are the greaves (shin guards) and choice of footware - look like furry slippers! Also, a bit disppointing Miniart have chosen to replicate a straight bladed katana instead of the more 'traditional', classic curved type. Overall though, looks good - would present a real painting challenge replicating look of the coloured lacquered armour.

I know Miniart have quite a few other figures in the pipeline (advertised as 'soon' for several years for some) so no idea when this will be released. However, given the fact they are showing a colour shot of the box cover artwork and the actual figure, I wonder if this will be sooner rather than later.

What do others think?

Epeeman

http://miniart-models.com/index.htm?/16028.htm

[MASH4077]

If only it looked more like the box art.

Tony

[cmatthewbacon]

... I don't think it looks too bad... though I'd like to know what he's got round his face!

I've liked the look of those Tsarist Russians since they first started talking about them. I bet they could form the basis of a really nice selection of attractive turn-of-the-century figures in colourful Russian/Prussian/Austro-Hungarian/assorted Ruritanian uniforms...

bestest,

M.

[MASH4077]

... I don't think it looks too bad... though I'd like to know what he's got round his face!

I've liked the look of those Tsarist Russians since they first started talking about them. I bet they could form the basis of a really nice selection of attractive turn-of-the-century figures in colourful Russian/Prussian/Austro-Hungarian/assorted Ruritanian uniforms...

bestest,

M.

Well my Miniart Samurai has arrived , opened the box with great anticipation.............................................. Mmmmmmmm well the box art is good..........Instructions are awful, fit of parts is abysmal, there are no location points and edges do not meet, individual parts look to be well moulded, some flash evident , the right upper leg is made from three parts .......how I am not sure, I have gotten the two arms together , they fit in one or two places. I am pretty sure this kit will end up being recycled as dustbin filler, soooooooooooooo disapointed. I feel I could do a better job with a block of stone and a chisel. Really p*@@*d off.

PS.No base of any sort included.

Tony

Edited February 8, 2012 by MASH4077

[Epeeman]

Tony,

I very nearly ordered one of these myself - I think I'm glad I did not bother. The kit sounds bad - a big missed opportunity by Miniart. Do you think this can worked on though?

Some of the Miniart figures I've worked on in the past did need a lot of prep work by filing, filing, sanding down, etc. but always came out well at the end. So, is it worth persevering with?

On the test shots, I was disappointed to note that the katana has been molded straight and not curved as it should be.

Very poor not stand included as well.

Epeeman

[MASH4077]

Tony,

I very nearly ordered one of these myself - I think I'm glad I did not bother. The kit sounds bad - a big missed opportunity by Miniart. Do you think this can worked on though?

Some of the Miniart figures I've worked on in the past did need a lot of prep work by filing, filing, sanding down, etc. but always came out well at the end. So, is it worth persevering with?

On the test shots, I was disappointed to note that the katana has been molded straight and not curved as it should be.

Very poor not stand included as well.

Epeeman

Epeeman

I eventually managed to get the legs together, and the arms, and the head and body, even the waistsash and cutlery but the amount of filler required short circuited my patience and I am afraid it was added to my long list of failures.

A competent modeller would probably be able to fight the b@$$*r into submission, If the joins on the halves were in a flat plane it may have been easier. This has been the final straw to my decision to give up modelling , I was hoping it would keep me sane during my retirement.

Tony

[Epeeman]

Tony,

Really disappointed that you are giving up model making - please don't give up!!

Believe me, I am no 'professional modeller' by any means - I would describe myself about average. Look at examples of my own work (on these forums) if you don't believe me. I know it can be dis-heartening when you look at the works of art on display here - but so what, not everybody can be good at everything. I just enjoy the hobby for what it is. Nothing I like more than sticking bits of plastic together and see how they come together. I've had quite a few disappointments along the way - my recent effort on a Eduard OEFFAG Albatros (I enjoy WW1 fighter planes as well as the off figure model) just did not go right. Just sigh and put it down to experience.

How about trying another type of model altogether - what are you interested in? Cars, planes, ships, tanks, etc?

Let me know what you have decided

Epeeman

[Tanis-UK]

I can only agree with what's been said already regarding the kit, to be honest I was very disappointed, the artwork is great but the kit itself was a real let down, the sculptor seems to have mixed and matched, late armour early straight Katana, most probably Korean, helmet without any family emblem, a very simplified armour, an overly difficult Obi and then went wild on the decoration on the scabbard's, I have corrected the most obvious omissions on mine and tried to make it look more like the box art, as soon as I can get a photo I will post here if you don't mind.

Tanis-UK Stuart Little

[Shar2]

Interesting reading this thread as I've just received this kit to review. Not looking forward to it now.

[Tanis-UK]

Interesting reading this thread as I've just received this kit to review. Not looking forward to it now.

Just recived this reply from Miniart regarding the kit, Even with all it's problems, mine is building into a figure that I will be more than happy to display.

Early day's yet but it's coming

Recieved today from Miniart 14 /3 /12

Dear Stuart,

thank you for the interest to our models and for your email.

The illustrator is Igor Dzis.

As you probably know we have stopped the development of this series for a while. Because of complications with sculptor. And it's quite difficult to find a sculptor for 1/16 scale. Because sculptor have to improve some special skills for such kind of work. For our new sculptor Samurai kit was the first experience in sculpting for the further mould production. We know that there are some problems and inaccuracies. The sculpting and illustration work were developing in the same time and the illustration is more accuracy.

But we had to launch this kit.

In future we are going to make deeper historical research, and improve the historical accuracy and quality of further kits.

Upcoming releases are 16017 IMPERIAL GUARD FRENCH GRENADIER NAPOLEONIC WARS, 16018 GUARD DUTCH GRENADIER NAPOLEONIC WARS, 16029 GLADIATOR. And all the improvements will be seen in this kits.

Once again thank you for your email and questions.

Have a nice day!

Best regards,

Alina

Edited March 14, 2012 by Tanis-UK

[Epeeman]

Superb work!

Alina - that is excellent. How did you manage to get the swords and scabbards to curve - on the photos I've seen of this kit, they are all straight.

Great news from Miniart - I love roman history so will have to have to have when released if Miniart get it historically accurate - there were various, distinct types of gladiator with each type having distinct armour and weapons. Too many figures you see of gladiators tend to be of the hollywood idea of what they thought they looked like which means there is a real mish-mash of weapons and equipment so they do not resemble them at all!

Dave

[Epeeman]

Sorry for the second post, but I just had to have a look on the Miniart website -

Sure enough, there is a small photo of the model figure prototype of the gladiator. From what I could see, this looks a good representation (at first glance) of the 'murmillo' type, heavy gladiator. If Miniart have really got this right, this will be a must have kit for me - I'm certainly not aware of any good (accurate) gladiator figures in 1:16 scale.

Dave

[Tanis-UK]

Superb work!

Alina - that is excellent. How did you manage to get the swords and scabbards to curve - on the photos I've seen of this kit, they are all straight.

Great news from Miniart - I love roman history so will have to have to have when released if Miniart get it historically accurate - there were various, distinct types of gladiator with each type having distinct armour and weapons. Too many figures you see of gladiators tend to be of the hollywood idea of what they thought they looked like which means there is a real mish-mash of weapons and equipment so they do not resemble them at all!

Dave

Thank's Dave, I'm Stuart, Alina is at Miniart, the sword I bent by just running my fingers across it slowly adding more pressure, I done the same with the scabbards it worked well but I then made new scabbards as I wanted to create the box art more realisticaly, glad you like what I am doing with the kit.

Stuart

[Epeeman]

Oops!

Sorry, Stuart - that's what you get for not reading things carefully...............

Your work on display here is great. How bad a fit were the parts? - did you need to spend a lot of time tidying up before assembly and painting?

Dave

[Tanis-UK]

Oops!

Sorry, Stuart - that's what you get for not reading things carefully...............

Your work on display here is great. How bad a fit were the parts? - did you need to spend a lot of time tidying up before assembly and painting?

Dave

Dave the basic kit is what you see on the miniart site, Photos below

I used it as a basis for mine, I am trying to recreate the box artwork, the general fit was to be honest a nightmare, but eventually things started to fit, I shaved off the moustache as he looked like a mexican and have started to add detail etc to the armour, value for money is good quality is poor, but with a bit of work hopefully I will have something I can display, please dont forget I am new to this scale, so I can only go on what I know, I normaly paint much larger pieces like the one below.

Regards Stuart Tanis-UK

[Peewee]

Re the Miniart Gladiator - the finished example they're using on the website looks great, but in reality the kit is very poor. The modelling is very perfunctory, like it's been a rush job - folds in the cloth just the odd nick, no strapping on the arm-guard, no soles to the feet etc. etc.. It's clear that the website model has had a lot of work done on it to bring it up to standard, and anyone tackling this would have to do the same. It can be built and finished as it is, but mine went strait in the bin.

[Epeeman]

I've not been on the forum for a while so apologies for late reply -

I'm really surprised to read the previous post regarding the gladiator kit. I'm no professional model figure builder, but have just completed the kit to best of my (limited!) abilities. I actually think this is Miniart's best kit so far. Historically accurate, great sculpting, good dynamic 'en gard' pose resulting in a model that fits together beautifully. The reason there are no soles to the feet is that gladiator's fought bare feet in the arena anyway - this gave good grip in sand when fighting. OK, no straps moulded into the arm strapping ('manica') but it is not difficult to paint in this detail.

In all, this is a very good representation of a 'murmillo' type gladiator. My main gripe with the kit was lack of a display stand, but overall I rate this kit highly.

A few pictures of my build below - note: the camera has not done justice to the dark flesh and cloth tones - sadly, I'm even less a photographer than modeller! The model looks much better 'in the flesh' so to speak.

For me, one of my better figure building efforts.

Regards

Dave

[Anthony Kesterton]

Epeeman - nice gladiator.

I have a few of the MiniArt kits (Roman and Greek figures). I started one of them and struggling a bit with the fit. Shelved it for a while but will continue.

anthony

[p-26luvr]

I bought this model about 6 weeks ago, & started maki9ng it up the very next day. I have the whole model together in sub assemblies ready for painting. I found no major problems while working on the model. I think that the fit of parts are relatively good, with filler needed here and there. Nothing major. Because there are no locating pins & holes the aligning & gluing of pieces is at times a little trying but can be done. I have 7 of MiniArt's figure kits & so far I have overcome all of the problems that they present. My advice to someone who wants an inexpensive Samurai figure, for its large size,, this should satisfy all but a purist. You will earn the end result for sure, but you will have a figure worthy of your best efforts. Carl T

[Jockster]

I think they are great little kits, not had any problems with the fit of parts on either the Samurai or any of the Romans! I haven't tried any of the horse kits yet.