Romeo Models: Jean Bart – Review

Don’t we all love presents? Especially when we get them. 🙂

Today I will tell you about a present I got from my wife – Jean Bart from Romeo Models. The company is an interesting alternative to such known companies as Andrea or Pegaso. It doesn’t have such long history and that’s why it’s good to know what do you get for your money. 😉 So let’s move on to my Romeo Models “Jean Bart” review:

Background

Jean Bart (21 October 1651 – 27 April 1702) was a Flemish sailor who primarily served the French crown as naval commander and privateer. He captured a total of 386 ships and also sank or burned a great number more. You may find the wikipedia entry about Jean Bart interesting to see, because of a portrait from another painter.

The miniature is a 3D copy of a painting from French painter Jean-Léon Gérôme.

What’s in the box

The miniature measures 75 mm. It came in a big box, everything was well packed. The sponge was so thick, that the parts were tight in it. The miniature consists of 23 parts plus a mirror-like sticker:

Jean Bart – the corsair

Jean Bart is made of 11 parts from white metal. At first it is a bit tricky to put it all together, but after a bit of playing with it you find a way. 🙂 The casting is very detailed. You can see how good it is on scarves, hair or ring on hand. The surface on the face is flat and doesn’t need much work. Of course there are mold lines, but nothing that needs more work and should be easily removed.

Parts fit well together. I wouldn’t call it a perfect match, because there are gaps, but nothing special that you wouldn’t fill with a bit of modeling putty.

Wait, there’s more!

The other objects are table – 4 parts and chair – 4 parts. Those are super detailed and really great sculpted. They need a bit more cleaning from mold lines and I am not sure why. Especially detailed fragments will need some extra attention.

The floor and wall are made from resin. Here is a bit of disappointment – the quality isn’t that good as metal parts. There are some bubble holes on the side and much more cleaning will be needed. I also think that there is a difference in the wood texture between floor and wall. The wall has much more details, and those aren’t casted that well at some part. Fortunately the worst part is under the table and will not be that visible.

A really nice addition is mirror sticker that you can stick as a mirror. Of course you can try to paint the mirror reflection on your own. 😉

Conclusion

I can easily say that it is a piece of art. Full of character, great composition and a really demanding piece to paint. From artistic point of view I would rate it 10 points out of maximum 10. With my new love for big scale models I am not being very objective…

When talking about this mini, you have to mention the price. It is expensive – 75 EUR and I am not quite sure if it’s worth that much money. Other 75mm miniatures from Romeo cost 45EUR. Of course here you get more parts – table, chair, resin floor and wall, but does it make it so more expensive? That is why -1 point here.

There is a difference in quality between metal and resin parts. Maybe resin is a new technology to Romeo and they are still learning to master it? I mean new in production, not that Romeo didn’t sooner know about it. These parts aren’t perfect, but also they aren’t that much visible and will be easy to fill/clean. But still -0,5 point.

Final score: 8,5/10.

I came up with an idea of going to see the Jean-Léon Gérôme’s painting in real, but unfortunately it is in hands of a private collector. It would be nice to have a picture with this miniature painted and the real painting behind my back 🙂 I you are that private collector or you know him, send me a message on Chest of Colors forum 😀

My plans for the model? You will see it in person at Hussar 2012.

— Czlowiek.morze