Door 11 - Why did I buy? Kind of Miniature unpacked - Alexandros Models "Freebooter 1697"

This is my first miniature unpacked article ever, and I don't really know if it's one. So first the stuff I'm used to read on miniature unpacked articles.


The usual blablabla...

This Article is about the 75 mm scale "Freebooter 1697" from Alexandros Models, sculpted by one of my favourite sculpters, Allan Carrasco.

The miniature comes in a nice cardboard box with a cover wrapped around it. On the cover you can see the paintjob.

When you open the box you can see everything is packed safely. The miniature itself is a metal one and consist out of 10 parts. The Body, head, two arms, the sword (3 parts), two feathers and the buckle. The parts fit perfectly together, but as I always recommend for metal models you should pin them. Additionally there's a base in the box made off some wood planks and a grid.

Some of the parts got some little "noses" and some "flesh", but nothing one could not easily cope with.

On the arms, on the sides of the body and on the insides of the legs you got some moldlines, again nothing that can't be easily coped with.

Here are some shots of the head and the backside of the body.

In total I would say the cast is really nice, only few "noses" and some moldlines which are easy to get rid off.


Why did I buy?

So now comes the for me more interesting part, what made the decision easy for me, even inevitable to buy this beauty?

In general there are three factors for me that I need to fall in love with a miniature. First the face, it shows the character of the miniature, gives it emotion and it's the first thing you usually look at. i prefer edgy faces, it's gotta look interesting and not perfectly smooth (hope you get what I mean). Second the clothes, they make it interesting to paint the miniature. It's got variances of different materials, shapes (the cut of the clothes) and forms (the folds), which make it possible to play with colours, textures and contrast. Third but absolutely as important as the other two points, the pose. Dynamic, static doesn't really matter to me as long as it suits the miniature and underlines it's character. Some nice details like bottles, bags and other stuff make the miniature interesting as well, but don't have the same importance to me like the other three named points. This is because I like converting and normally I add details I find fitting or get rid of  details I don't like.


For the pirat it was love at first sight, the face, the hat, the clothes...pure awesomeness. The characterful face with it's roguish smile and the beard, the huge hat, the trousers, the "scarf" around his hip, the shoes, the socks and the belt over his chest. Together with the position it all looks to me like a spanish, posh and but still nasty pirat. Also those lot of different pieces of clothes with a lot of folds to play around with colourwise, texturewise and contrastwise, make the model really interesting to me. 

I think the painting process will start with an rough idea maybe of red trousers and will evolve while painting into hopefully something that underlines his nasty character. I don't really care about historical correctness, so I'm not to bound to colours, materials, patterns, I can just paint it as I see fit. For the scene around him I can imagine something simple, because in my opinion a miniature of this scale and beauty doesn't need a big scene.


So I think that's it. I hope you liked this article.