Wednesday, February 4

Review: Sang Eon Lee sculpts Marilyn in a new bust for Life Miniatures.

It seems Sang Eon Lee from Life Miniatures has yet again outdone himself and our expectations – he has made a sculpt of Marilyn Monroe as his latest release that has got a lot of people excited. Let’s have a look at her to see if she is as beautiful in resin in our review... 
Build Review:
Life Miniatures New Release
Sculpted and Painted by Sang-Eon Lee
LM-B013
1/10 scale resin bust

In the last nearly two years Sang Eon Lee's company  "Life Miniatures" has made a great name for itself with constantly top shelf releases of iconic people and images that look like they were taken from the front page of "Time" magazine. True enough there are almost a reflection of the famous faces on this magazine's cover.

We have reviewed all of the figures her and as of past releases we will put their latest release of Marilyn Monroe together in today's review.
One of or if not THE most iconic women in our history of the 20th century was Norma Jean – or Marilyn Munroe. Famous for her movie career she came from humble beginnings to become the most famous and recognizable stars in the world. Marilyn more than anything will be remembered as THE sex symbol of the last century.

Marilyn’s career was avidly followed by both men and women around the world and she was very popular with the troops serving overseas – she and several other USO personnel and celebrities visited service members in Korea during the conflict with the North. Along with her then husband Baseball player Joe DiMaggio they famously toured Korea shortly after the Armistice. Here, Monroe is among Air Force personnel and wearing a 6147th Tactical Control Group jacket. (U.S. Air Force photo).  
It was sixty years ago this year that these series of photos were taken – and you can see here in the US air force jacket with the 6147th Tactical Control Patch
Such a favorite with the troops on here visit  - she loved meeting the guys on tour and they more than loved seeing such an amazing woman in such a forsaken battleground. This was one of the most popular visits by a celebrity to the boys in the field.
The Life Miniatures bust of Marilyn Munroe was much hyped in the modelling media. Being the first female figure Sang Eon Lee has taken on with his new brand was always going to be an interesting choice. The fact that he has pulled it off with even more famous people from history’s pages would give modellers some comfort – but we thought we would give you a good look at the sculpt and put her together to show you if she measures up to Life Miniature’s earlier efforts.

The bust comes in the usual attractive Life Miniatures black box with a heap of foam padding that we have become accustomed to. The simple construction of three parts in the kit are safe in a plastic Zip-Loc bag and the box came within a week from Korea.  There is a little assistance on the side of the box showing three pictures, the patch of the jacket Marilyn is wearing as well as the US Airforce patch she is sporting as well as a picture like many of the ones we have included in this review. Helpful to say the least if you hadn’t seen any pictures of this event before.
Let’s look at the resin on offer – The light grey resin is only consisted of three parts so this will be a simple construction. The resin is sweet smelling (I know too long at the bench is affecting me) and it shown no flaws or bubbles on the surface. The moulding is as sharp as the sculpting which is flawless in complexion of the skin and the detail of the hair and the jacket. It’s a real lesson to the competition on how to do it right.

Starting at the head and working down, the face for this sculpt has to be right on – our ideas of perceived visual realism is specific to the figures we all know so well, and like Winston Churchill and Douglas MacArthur before this sculpt the modeller expects a high standard of realism as the base before you lay a brush on the bust to paint it.

Looking at the pictures of Marilyn without make up above and you notice a few things. Her button nose, high raised eyebrows, large lips and very straight teeth and high cheekbones and dimples.



 All of these details plus her ringlet-permed hair is captured so well in this sculpt and it makes me believe that there is nothing “off” in the sculpt at all.
The next large part of this sculpt is the Airforce issue B-15C jacket in airforce blue with the 6147th Tactical Control Patch on the left breast and the airforce logo on the shoulder. This was made especially by the T-6 pilots on the base to commemorate her opening a show titled "Anything Goes". The jacket is seen here covering her “bust” in quite an appealing style. The slender hands are tugging at the side of the collar of the jacket and the material bulges around her arm as it reaches upward. Her bosom and the arm create an open space for the jacket to drape over as she poses.
The stitching is another feature of this jacket. The way the material is pinched under the pressure of stitching is very lifelike as is the thick fur around the neck. You may notice a slight indentation on the fur – it is for the place where Marilyn’s hair presses down into the jacket so the fit in real life is merged and seamless. Well thought out..
The third part of the sculpt is a straight resin pole on to which you mount your bust. The socket in the base of the figure. A nice addition to all of Life Miniatures busts.
The neck has an elongated portion that sits snugly in the torso joint so it is secure and properly located.
Here from the reverse angle you can see the textures of the hair, jacket stitching and the indentations of the fur in the jacket where the hair fits snugly into.
And here she is altogether – I was pretty impressed with the likeness of the real person..
Well that is it – such a simple construction it is nice to see a bust on the market that relies on sculpting skill rather than just engineering skill to attract attention. The simple but effective locating of parts on the bust and the  way she all comes together make this one of my favourite busts from Life Miniatures so far – and that is saying something.

Well done Sang Eon Lee – You have upped the ante yet again – keep them coming…
Adam Norenberg

She is now available from Life Miniatures’ distributors worldwide. To see more pics, Please visit Life Miniature's Distributors Worldwide
And here she is in a series of pictures showing just how good she looks even in replica. She is painted and sculpted by Sang Eon Lee..