It's been a good while since I've done an unboxing. I've been on a self inflicted hiatus from buying miniatures for a while now. Partly for financial reasons and partly because I don't want to end up with boxes and boxes of unpainted miniatures. It's been nice going through my boxes of shame and getting some paint on some of them. So why change that? Well I always like to support a new company with interesting miniatures.
RobotRocket Miniatures is a new company started by Matthew Pearce, an admin for the popular 'Eavier Metal group on Facebook and a friend of mine. This first release 'A Long Road' has been sculpted by Olivier Bouchet who has experience working with some of the biggest names in the business including Black Sun Miniatures, Pegaso Models, Mierce Miniatures and Aradia Miniatures. Enough intro though, let's check out the miniature!
First impressions are good, a solid black box embossed with the RobotRocket logo.
Opening up the box above some padding we're greeted with a sticker, certificate of authenticity and a piece of card with one possible story of the bust. I love this addition, more and more in the miniature industry we're seeing people trying to tell a story with their work rather than just painting a piece. This gets the creative juices flowing and I hope it's something they continue with on future releases. I'd love to see concept art included in the future, even if it's just a sketch from the sculptor. It might not interest everyone but I've always been very interested in the process and where it's come from.
Removing the protective black foam and we find the bust! It comes in two pieces, with a separate long pipe that can be placed in the mouth or perhaps elsewhere on the model (I'm considering strapping it to his side pack perhaps) or left out completely.
Quality of the cast is superb, no bubbles or casting mistakes. There is one small mouldline down the back of his neck and on the top of his head but it doesn't cross any high detail areas and will be easy to smooth out.
My first impression was that the sculpt itself was a fairly safe first model but actually on further inspection it offers a lot. There's multiple surfaces and details and it offers good depth between the shirt, waist coat, a lapelled jacket and the travelling cloak. The shoulder guard on his right offers an ornate are where you can go to town with metals. There is definitely options for freehands, perhaps a trim on the cloak hood or brocade on the jacket or waistcoat. On his left side he has a travel pouch (perhaps containing some pipeweed?) on the right you have what appears to be a case for an extending spyglass or maybe a map. These areas offer some nice options for leather and other textures. Both these are connected by detailed leather strapping
The head is a classic dwarven shape, anatomically correct and not immediately suggesting of a particular age. I can see this both being painted as a wizened old dwarf or a younger adventurer successfully. Is he a warrior? A traveller? A scholar? It's up to you! The beard and moustache are detailed and the left ear has an earring and a larger ring around the upper rim. It's great to see a Dwarven sculpt that isn't the classic warrior with heavy armor and a large axe.
Another nice addition in the box is a resin cylinder plinth with the company name embossed on the bottom. You could either use this to display the model permanently or simply hold the bust while you are painting it.
The bust itself is £35 plus shipping and can be purchased from their website in the future (http://robotrocketminiatures.co.uk/) The site is pretty new and the store has yet to go up so you can contact Matt through the email address on the site or on their Facebook page here. It's a great bust for this price, a professional release, well packaged and including a plinth. It's limited to 80 pieces and there were 39 left last I checked so get in quick. A very good first release and I'm excited to see what comes in the future from them!
On a personal note I'm planning my projects for this year's Eadbanger compeititon on the Eavier Metal group (check out the announcement here) and it's very likely I'll try and enter this into the bust category so hopefully you'll see some paint on this sooner rather than later.
