I left you with this image of both Journeyman Miniatures busts together after going over the academic version.
As you can easily spot; the three quarter bust is smaller in scale but gives you much more of her to actually paint. And a hell of a lot more materials, textures, and a humongous gun!
Way more parts, and with great looking connections for assembling. All eight pieces were packaged in one zip lock bag which personally, as mentioned in part one, would have been better spread across two or three to reduce contact and potential for rubbing.
Admittedly, that may be my gut reaction from making old metal miniatures but still sits a bit better in my mind.
The head is obviously recognisable when compared to the academic bust. Though this time she has an eye patch which explains the single goggle. Why was this left off the academic option? Perhaps so you can practice painting two eyes as these are often tricky to get looking in the same direction.
As is expected from Ciprian's casting (as I know I've mentioned a few times already), it is high quality with minimal to clean and most of that being in places that won't be seen after assembly.
Down to the body now. And a few bits that I'd like to talk about here.
As you can spot in the left picture, the main mould line runs down the right side. For the main part that isn't really an issue at all and was easy to clean up.
The trouble comes when you hit the trousers. Which have sculpted line texture to simulate denim. Fair enough but for me if you scale denim down this small you wouldn't see those lines and not having those lines lets the painter decide on the material.
The other little gripe comes with what looks like a hole in the material with stitching across the hole (right picture). My mind tells me that in the hole you would see skin. But the lines that run across the trousers run through this too. Little oversight and possibly me just being overly picky. Think a little liquid putty of some kind could sort that out for my taste as the bust is really great in general.
Otherwise; belts are incredible with all the stitching. There are little thick parts behind the buckles but I think that is quite hidden by the arm and cloak. And all the clothing material has great shape and weight to it.
The cloak is a little bugbear for the guys behind Journeyman. Before they sent this too me they made me aware of how the cloak is cut. Personally; it's no issue and easy to fit and fill as you'll see later in the assembled photos.
This cloak has certainly seen better days and has a bit of surface texture but plenty of folds to really get highlighting and shading. And with just a small mould line along the side and a little bit left from a pour point where the join is; clean up was frankly simple.
Arms... two of them. Both with a bit of a line running the length of both sides. The only tricky part to clean was the strapping on the right wrist.
There also looks like an air hole on that elbow too (right pic) but I tried to open it up with a scalpel to fill it, and it's solid. Bit odd.
That scabbard has a bit of that surface texture that I mentioned before. Think I need to paint it to see how much it affects painting (if anything). Though I have already see a few people starting to paint this bust and nothing has been mentioned so it's likely me overthinking things for a change. Great sculpted stitching around the edges again. Great work by the printer and caster.
Couple of accessories to look at.
The loin cloth is another example of well sculpted cloth, the way it hangs and creases. Easy mould line on the sides. The way it's cut to fit into the main body is too good. Really showing the benefit of digital sculpting.
Her bag is another part with surface texture and delicate stitching. Different texture this time. Some kind of leather perhaps like her hat. And again; cut to fit perfectly into position.
The final piece is her huge gun which rests on her shoulder.
This thing is nuts and obviously not designed for subtlety (that would be her large machete).
You have wood grain, a rough metal barrel, strapping, and engraved metal on the top of it too. Luckily there is just a faint line down the middle on the underside to lightly sand or I'd be crying.
Depending on what kind of painter you are this sculpt could be texture heaven or a potential struggle. But the more I look at it as a whole rather than getting so focused on textures (which might not even be and issue when painting), the more I can see that as a sculpt; it is seriously well designed.
Especially in the way it goes together. Those joins are almost spoiling us. To a point that digital kits like this make some traditional sculpted pieces feel clumsy to assemble. Once everything had a quick clean up with the scalpel and some sanding sticks I quickly managed to blutac her together and if anything the blutac has the made joins look worse than they are.
The only other improvement I could possibly suggest for future busts is possibly the addition of a 2mm pilot hole to make drilling for mounting easier for those who are not used to it. But that is more just taking advantage of the technology. Oh... and stickers (I know they're hearing that a lot).
Overall I am expecting to see quite a few of these spring up on social media being painted. And that goes for both versions.
Seeing JG Wigley art transformed into a bust like this is encouraging, especially as he does so much too. Maybe we'll get to see more in future too.
Make sure to follow the Journeyman Miniatures Facebook page. That is also the place where you can order from too (though that may change... which you'll see on their page).
Feel free to comment either here or on our Facebook page. Let us know what you think about our reviews or about the miniatures you see featured.
Thank you for your time.
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