A New Hope Design Samurai (1 Viewer)

[blaster]

Hi All,

Here's an old piece that I am currently refurbishing. An old New Hope Design figure (excuse the oxymoron) painted many moons ago.
The original base was made from an old electric socket wood base stuck onto a round wooden disc, garishly painted to resemble red lacquer.

In between projects, I've decided that refurbishing this piece may not be so difficult after all. I prised the single casting figure off the old base and stuck it onto the new stylish base. I built up some groundwork and will be working further on this piece soon.

Rgds Victor

 

[Mirof]

I like this one

This was an interesting range coming from the illustration from Osprey Men At Arms série N° 86 Samurai Armies 1550 - 1615 illusrated by R Hooks
All he illustrations from the book were reproduced in figurines
I painted this one in the 70ies

 

[blaster]

Hello Mirof,

Now why am I not surprised that the curator of the Internet Museum for Antique Figures and Catalogues also has some New Hope Design Figures in his collection....?

Yours is a better figure than mine. I am just embellishing mine with a fancier base.... Just added some grass.

Rgds Victor

 

[blaster]

I made a minor nose job on this figure, and scrapped the scabbard. The high res pics show some blemishes in the original paintwork. More cleaning up ahead..sigh.

Rgds Vic

 

[blaster]

Hi All,

I've decided to repaint the whole piece. The blemishes were scrapped off. The mon designs were filed off. The scabbard was made smooth. The spaces between the hands and the kimono were hollowed out.

Figure freshly painted in oils so far.

Rgds Victor

 

[Hazebrouck]

That figure looks much better Victor.

I have some very old Aohima samurai figures hiding in the cupboard- you may inspire me.

Scott

 

[blaster]

Hello Scott,

You probably meant Aoshima. These were those samurai plastic kits issued about 30-40 years back. They were in 1/35 scale and I had bought only a couple of boxes then. I attach a picture showing some of these now lurking in my stash of unfinished projects. But the Aoshima kits were great fun to play with. I may revive these figures in a future project.

These were a great concept then, probably ahead of their time, but low on details, anatomy and in the wrong scale. Very similar in style to early Tamiya figures. Tamiya also did a couple of samurai sets too, which looked better (see below). There was also a 1/16 Sengoku period samurai.

The samurai genre has now been overtaken by metal figures, NHD, Andrea, Pegaso and they keep getting better.
(hmm, I'll have to step back a bit here otherwise my age may be showing....))

Rgds Victor

 

[Hazebrouck]

Hello Scott,

You probably meant Aoshima. These were those samurai plastic kits issued about 30-40 years back. They were in 1/35 scale and I had bought only a couple of boxes then. I attach a picture showing some of these now lurking in my stash of unfinished projects. But the Aoshima kits were great fun to play with. I may revive these figures in a future project.

These were a great concept then, probably ahead of their time, but low on details, anatomy and in the wrong scale. Very similar in style to early Tamiya figures. Tamiya also did a couple of samurai sets too, which looked better (see below). There was also a 1/16 Sengoku period samurai.
]

Yes, they are the ones Victor.

They do lack detail in facial details and are on the small side for 1/35.

I have several boxes of them and I think if you had them all you could build a reasonable diorama.

In one of the boxes was a catalogue (in Japanese). Your set is Set.6. There were twenty sets.

I think the Tamiya kits were made after these but I could be wrong.

Scott

 

[blaster]

Hello Scott,

Thanks for that pic. I had already lost all the original boxes and packaging. Looking at the rarity of unmade Aoshima kits, it might be wise to harbour them as an investment.

I think you are right that the Tamiya samurai kits came later.

Rgds Victor

 

[blaster]

Here's the samurai with the colours dried out. I added another layer of gloss to the scabbard. I also shaded the grass.

Final painting would be the mon heraldry and lettering.

Rgds Victor

 

[blaster]

I added some floral design to the scabbard. I also painted the top part of his head with a translucent purple. The mon will be painted next.

 

[Mirof]

For Info
New Hope Design, as I said earlier, made in conjunction with Osprey Books, a collection of Man At Arms
You could find them later in the Del Prado range, among them some Samouraï

some of them :

 

[blaster]

Hello Mirof,

Thanks for sharing. I wasn't aware that the Del Prado painted figures are ex-NHD figures. They do look very nice if well-made. It is a pity that the MBM website closed down as it used to sell a comprehensive range of NHD figures. The figures are of varying quality but can form the basis of figure conversions.

I came across this very useful website on all the NHD production and it appears not to be actively maintained. You may want to archive or link some of this material for posterity?

http://www.newhopedesign.shqminiatures.co.uk/colectie2txt.htm

Two of the sub-links show samurai taken from Osprey drawings to be incorporated into NHD figures:

http://www.newhopedesign.shqminiatures.co.uk/ma0808_10_38_931_40_140_42.htm
http://www.newhopedesign.shqminiatures.co.uk/ma0083_4_0004_5.htm


According to this website, my Samurai in kamashino was designed by Ray Brown.

Rgds Victor

 

[Mirof]

Hello Mirof,

Thanks for sharing. I wasn't aware that the Del Prado painted figures are ex-NHD figures. They do look very nice if well-made. It is a pity that the MBM website closed down as it used to sell a comprehensive range of NHD figures. The figures are of varying quality but can form the basis of figure conversions.

I came across this very useful website on all the NHD production and it appears not to be actively maintained. You may want to archive or link some of this material for posterity?

http://www.newhopedesign.shqminiatures.co.uk/colectie2txt.htm

Two of the sub-links show samurai taken from Osprey drawings to be incorporated into NHD figures:

http://www.newhopedesign.shqminiatures.co.uk/ma0808_10_38_931_40_140_42.htm
http://www.newhopedesign.shqminiatures.co.uk/ma0083_4_0004_5.htm


According to this website, my Samurai in kamashino was designed by Ray Brown.

Rgds Victor

Thanks for the link
It will surely help me preparing a lis of products

Best

 

[blaster]

I've finally finished this piece.

The scabbard was glossed over again and all imperfections in painting were scrapped off and repainted. The mon heraldry of the Hollyhock design was based on the Tokugawa shogunate.

The idea of having Ukiyo-e prints billowing in the wind was to create movement to what is otherwise a static piece.

The theme here is that of a samurai and his era being swept away, reflecting the transient nature of being etc etc zen philosophy stuff. I may add some autumn leaves later.

Enjoy. Rgds Victor

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[Mirof]

Nice work

Meanwhile, I worked on the New Hope Design list
You can find my first attempt in XLS file
more than 1000 codes with lot of drawings/pictures at

http://www.mirofsoft.com/nostalgia-old-catalog-pdf/

If you have any partN°, partial list, picture, they are welcomed

Best

 

[blaster]

Dear Mirof,

Thank you for maintaining such a great website, which provides so much nostalgia for some of us. The NHD figures can vary in terms of their appeal, from bad to sublime figures. I hope that their owners will think of re-issuing some of these figures.

Rgds Victor

 

[Mirof]

Just found back the first 2 sets from Tamiya in the deepest recesses of my drawers, scan of the boxes, front and reverse




Best