Review of [NP-005 Aquila] by Chris

Review of [NP-B005 Aquila] by Chris!!

I must first say on behalf of all at Planet figure how very sad we are to here of the tragic loss of life there has been in the the recent ferry disaster off the coast of South Korea ,and our thoughts go to all our members who will I am sure been touched by this tragic disaster................................ I have been very generously provided with the "NUTS PLANET" 1/10 scale bust of the Roman Aquila , my intention is to do a out of box review and then to do a paint to bust step by step . a little bit different I hope . I am the same as many of my fellow painters a person who loves this hobby and has seen it develop over the last 30 odd years ...my god that was hard to say but what an incredibly long way this hobby has come . A clear example is the beautiful art work which is coming out of South Korea at the moment and the perticulary skilful sculpting of Jun -Sikh Ahn and the art work of Myeong -Ha Hwang with this figure and thank you Benny for giving me this opportunity . This is the box art image of the bust as mentioned beautifully done

The bust arrived in a very sturdy box with excellent packing for the bust and its additional parts which consists of 10 superbly cast pieces of smooth flawless casting as you can see from the graphics on the box there is more than enough reference for the the painter. I have to at this point make the point that I paint with my own style , i sat with Jim Evans recently and looked at his work and my god has he got some finished pieces ,but his style is his and I love it can i paint like him now , I paint my way and that is what makes this hobby the wonderful process it is. I have never painted this period in this scale , in a sense this will be a learning curve for me and perhaps others who are about to venture into busts and this scale ,and perhaps this period we can all help each other which I feel is the essences of " Planet Figure ". The" Aquila " What's does it mean I am sure lots of you guys know but it was an interesting process to find out for me so i hope you will let me share . An Aquila ,or Eagle was a prominent symbol used in Ancient Rome especially as the standard of a Roman Legion . A legionary known as an Aquiler ,or Eagle - barrier, carried this standerdnofma.Each legion carried one Eagle . The eagle was extremely important to the Roman military , beyond being a symbol of a legion . a lost standard was considered an extremely grave occurrence ,and the Roman military often went to great lengths to protect a standard and to recover it if lost; for example see the after math of the " Battle of Teutoburg Forest" , where the Romans spent decades attempting to recover the lost standard of three legions Also it was perceived that the eagle was the provider of mobility for dead Ceasers to move to the after word as depicted in the picture below

The following images will show rather components of this bust as mentioned 10 in all , there is minimal cleaning with this bust none of which constitutes wearing a biological warfare outfit which you will be glad to hear.the smaller parts the sword pommel the helmet attachments and the beautifully cast leather neck tie come in a small plastic bag .

The wear and tear on the hood is extremely well done subtle but effective, and the button detail is excellent the detail on the armour is crisp and detailed

There were some issues felt by members of the sword handle being the size and shape , my own feelings is mass production in that period was not like ours so things I feel we're different in size perhaps and some times texture

I look forward to starting the painting process will be be attempting to add something to the bust to make I own nothing huge but it will be subtle but I feel keeping with the bust and what it represents . I very much looking forward to sharing ideas techniques , from you guys so that the process will be in effect organic so that we can all take away something . My reference information ,and sword images obtained from "Soldier " a visual history of the fighting man " by RG Grant (ISBN no 978-4053-2231-7) and Wikipedia