90mm Mounted Samurai from Poste Militaire

[Niels Elmholt]

I bought and build this impressive white metal Mounted Samurai model from Poste Militaire in the early 80's - I can't remember the price, but it was very expensive and I had kept iy ever since. However the years and some moving around had left its marks on the model and a couple of years ago I dismantled the samurai figure and removed all the paint. The Horse was mounted solidly on its base so I decided just the repaint it.

Another move and other priorities meant that the projects was stranded until recently, where I found the parts and repainted and assembled the figure again.

This is how it looked when done originally - the pic is from my book "Plastbyggesæt" from the late 80's

Since then I had begun using Vallejo paints and wanted to test them on the Samurai figure. This turned out to be a good idea and I was especially happy for the airbrush color which I mixed with the normal colors to get the right consistence (flow) for fine detailing work. I also experimented with matt, satin and gloss varnish to enhance the different parts of the armour.

I also used the Citadel washes which are new to me.

Here are some pics of the process:

The base plate was also restored with new "plants" - grass, which was made from green rope for gardening and small bushes made of dried moss covered with leaves made from dried and grinded herbs.

I had a great feeling finishing this model again. It was tough to paint all the little details as my eyes are not as good as they were 30 years ago. Extra glasses and a lot of light helped me a lot and I am very pleased with the result.

Have ordered some new figure kits :-)

mvh  Niels Elmholt

[Shar2]

Superb paintwork and a great figure.

[Paul RH]

Lovely!!!! A great bit of painting

[Mikey58]

Great work,the Samurai looks really effective,nice detail painting!

Mike