Construction Review: Paul Von Hindenburg brought to LIFE by Sang Eon Lee in his latest figure sculpt

Life Miniatures has their latest figure released in focus with yet another historical figure that you may have seen in a picture - Paul Von Hindenburg - we have a copy of this bust and thought what better way for you to see him than for us to put him together

'Paul Von Hindenburg, circa 1916-1917'

Life Miniatures 

1/9th scale resin bust

including 5 parts in grey resin

Sculpted and Painted by Sang-Eon Lee
available from Life Miniature's distributors 

This man is a continuation of Sang Eon Lee's company "Life Miniatures" and their great choices of evocative people from this century. Someone that could have been featured on “Time” or “Life” magazines.  This man is a choice in keeping with their recent releases – all of which we have built and I am almost embarrassed to say we rate all of their busts highly. However we do reckon each kit should live or die on it’s own merits and so why not build this kit to see if it’s any good?

Paul von Beneckendorff und von Hindenburg (1847-1934) was born in Poznan on 2 October 1847, the eldest of three sons, and was educated at cadet schools in Wahlstatt and Berlin. He was a Prussian-German field marshal, statesman, and politician, and served as the second President of Germany (1925–34) and he was the last president before the rise of Adolf Hitler and his party took control. He is often seen as the last of the of his era. In hindsight he was the last of that type of ruler more than a great president.

He was a great leader for the armed forces during the First World War and it is during this time that he has been captured in this sculpture by Sang Eon Lee of Life Miniatures.  He is seen here in his steel helmet with spike on top which was a real symbol of the Prussian army and the higher generals through the war who wore this helmet even after the front line troops changed into more practical head garb.

Special thanks for helping Sang Eon Lee went to Dave Youngquist for providing historical references. This card illustration below is one we are sure might have been one like the one used in the research. Most of the details are the same on the uniform and regalia as the sculpt.

Let’s have a look at what’s inside the box…

The regular black box with the figure painted up by Sang Eon Lee also features some reference of some of the medals on this figure’s chest – we looked some of them up for you – there are that many on his chest but his 1914 Iron Cross, Order of the Red Eagle, Blue Max & order of the black eagle are here for you to see them in comparison to the sculpt. This is great reference for some hard to find details. 

The insides of the box there is some well-padded parts of grey resin. Five in all make this a pretty simple bust to construct and all of the parts arrived safely inside. All of these parts also have a small resin moulding plug on them. Simple enough to remove in this case – the little extra around Hindenburg’s helmet needs some care but it’s not a drama. 

The grey resin is bubble free on the surfaces and the detail is very intricately sculpted. Parts consist of one head and helmet choice, a torso that has a hole underneath it to sit neatly on the supplied pedestal stalk which is always handy. Let’s start by looking at each of these parts from the top and work our way downwards. 

Here are the parts next to a ruler for scale.

The spiked helmet of the German soldier harks back to the helmets of the medieval ages, and it always looks pretty cool on figures dontchya think? In this – probably one of the most ornate I can think of – and as you can see by our reference pictures it’s pretty close to the original dress helmet.

The Pickelhaube (plural Pickelhauben; from the German Pickel, "point" or "pickaxe", and Haube, "bonnet", a general word for "headgear")  is here in great detail with the eagle emblazoned on the front and some nice texturing throughout. In fact this kit is full of subtle texturing that really is very well done.

The face is very much the full featured, wrinkled and moustached Hindenburg. Some pictures below show just how close the sculptor came to reality in his work. The wrinkles around the eyes and the pitted texture on the skin of the cheeks is a lesson for all other sculptors on how high the bar has risen in this game.

The jowls around the neck, the ears and the fine hair, the plump skin on the back of his neck -  are also a few great details to pick out when painting.

 

The head has a socket that fits neatly into the helmet female socket joint

And the neck of the head slips neatly into the torso of this figure. 

Next the torso with the large German greatcoat that shows fine texture on the front and the rear. The folds of the cloth over the sash on his chest and medals, the wrinkled edges of the jacket and button holes and stitching look very lifelike and there is detail that can be picked out everywhere. The many medals that we talked about earlier and more are prominently on his chest and his collar tabs are just as detailed.

 

The shoulder boards continue the trend, collars bend and flex as they sit on the shoulders and the jacket material is almost perceptibly visible on the back of the figure. It really impressed me. 

The parts of this figure are really promising – now to put them all together.

The spike goes straight into the helmet without a bother. The helmet itself needs the trimmed from the resin stub attachment on the rear of the neck otherwise the head does not fit in.

This kit is really simplicity in itself. The head then goes straight into the collar of the torso – no gaps or alignment problems – It just works and although there aren’t many parts it’s an effective sculpt.

Here he is all together – What do you think?

 

I can say that I think although he isn’t a very complicated piece and definitely not hard to put together he is just as interesting as some of the very complicated busts we are seeing in the market. This bust proves that you don’t have to complicate to amaze people – it’s the little details that make this sculpture so outstanding.

 

And yes it is outstanding. I keep on looking for faults from these sculpting companies that are constantly turning out the best on the market – and I have yet to really find fault with any of the busts from Life Miniatures.

To say it’s more of the same from Life Miniatures is the ultimate compliment.

Adam Norenberg

You can now get this figure from http://www.lifeminiatures.com

Here is the sculpt as the box art shows - painted on Life Miniature's website - On this simple but very effective sculpt you can see his chest full of medals and the lovely ornate helmet decoration with matching gilded collars and side boards.