The Pirate
1/12th scale resin bust from Latorre Miniatures
Painted in 2006
When Raul Latorre was pushing putty about, I reckon he was one of the best miniature sculptors in the western world, a relatively young guy from the Malaga area of Spain, and active within the hobby, giving talks at the Fuengirola show and putting his models on display at the Carrmina Hobby shop in Fuengirola.
I was lucky enough to see him or his models at both places, and he just comes across as a really nice chap.
His sculpting transferred to the digital realm quite quickly, and although the Chinese companies seem to have copied a lot of his sculpts, pirating them unashamedly, I suppose it’s a testament to his skill that they did.
I still don’t see why people would buy pirated copies, after all, the skilled hand behind them isn’t getting either credit nor monies from it, and it must be debilitating to see others gaining illegally off your hard work.
However, let’s talk about this bust.
Photo#1 shows the separate parts, all cast in a cream coloured, soft resin that is easy to clean up from where pour blocks are attached.
The picture was taken twenty years ago, and unfortunately doesn’t scane very well, but you get the idea – three parts consisting of the main bust, the hat and a feather for the side of the hat.
All nicely cast, and with no air bubbles to fill.
Unfortunately, there is where I have to leave the WIP shots, because I have either lost them, or didn’t take any, most likely the former option.
However, it is a joy to paint up, plenty of bare flesh for those who like painting it, and you can go to town with salt stains on the hat.
The bandana and it’s hanging tails are another area that allows the painted to play with patterns, and I thought a blue and cream stripe would look good, although any colour could be used I guess.
One tip I can pass on is how to make salt stains for the hat. Whilst white or cream oil paint can be used, and feathered out slightly, it’s just as easy to put a few spoons ful of salt into half a cup of hot water, make sure the salt dissolves, and then use a fine brush to add small spots of the water to the hat. A hairdryer can be used to get the water to evaporate quickly, and once dry, it’ll look exactly like salt stains, because that’s exactly what it is.
Don’t touch the area though, as the salt will tend to rub off, and varnish, even sprayed on with probably spoil the effect.
I found this method after painting this model, so what you see here is the use of oil colours to make the effect.
Instead of the cast feathers supplied with the kit, I chose to add a small portion of goosedown feathers I had bought from a fly-tying shop. There's a lot of cool stuff to be had in such fishing tackle emporiums, well worth a look next time you're passing one.
The only problem I had was the overall campness he has. I’m not sure quite what makes him look that way, but it was noted by my wife, and although I added a couple of scars ( “No, he still looks camp” ), and then a blind eye with attendant scar, it was to no avail.
So a “happy” pirate he became.
Final thoughts
It’s still a superb little model, and quite quick to paint.
OK, not my longest article, I admit, but with no WIP shots, it’s kind of hard to make a lot of text work.
I was always tempted to get a second one of these and leave the hat off so that I could build up the head with a complete bandana. If I ever see a genuine kit for sale at a show or on eBay, I might be tempted into doing just that – it might give it a completely different appearance..
A very nice model though, worth picking up if you see one available.
