Comparison Shots, Part II

Here's another comparison shot, this time with a WW1 Russian by Musketeer Miniatures:

This photo was taken by Lt. Hazel of http://www.theleutnantsdiary.blogspot.com/ fame. Thank you very much Jan!
(Please check out his blog for some really great painted miniatures. If you haven't already seen his outstanding work, you are definitely missing something!)

Comparison Shots, Part I

Finally, I had a delivery from Redoubt Enterprises in the post box today.

So here are some comparison shots of Tsuba Miniatures Japanese with their Redoubt Enterprises' counterparts and another one with miniatures from Copplestone Castings, Musketeer Miniatures and Hinterland Miniatures. (Please note the slightly different base heights.)
(Unfortunately, I don't have any Musketeer Miniatures WW1 Russian but I hope to get some in near future and include them in another comparison shot.)

Please note, that the Japanese are meant to be slightliy smaller than their Russian opponents (at least those of Caucasian origin). This will be depicted by our miniatures.

Japanese Medical Orderly

 
In some fora the question arose, if the Japanese medics really wore the Red Cross armband in action. There are quite some photos showing them with the armband during different stages of the war and also wearing different types of uniforms.

 
Of course, it would be pretty hard to recognize a medic on an old photo without it as long as he's not performing his duty (i.e. attending a wounded or something similar). On the other hand, one could always argue that an individual doing so could also just be a regular soldier giving first aid to a comrad or a POW.

 
In the end I'd say it's up to you, if you paint your miniature like Simon did with our showcase miniature or if you just file the armband down a little bid  or use a small amount of green stuff or miliput to cover it up (you could also just leave it as it is and paint it in the same colour as his jacket).
However, it would certainly help to make the medic stand out from the rest of the khaki-clad soldiers.    

Finally...

I got a copy of the famous "A Photographic Record of the Russo-Japanese War", published by P.F. Collier & Son, New York in 1905.

This massiv tome (over 250 pages and nearly A3-Size) is one of the best sources, if not THE best source, of actual photos of the war. (I've included a Tsuba Miniatures NCO for size reference.)

I've meant to get one for a decent price for over a year now and finally Lady Luck was smiling over me! If you are interested in the RJW you should definitely get one yourself. Quite some of the photos of other, more recent, publications (like the two Ospreys volumes for example) can be found here and a lot more. In fact, it has already given me the ideas for at least one more set of miniatures, which I haven't had already on my long to-do-list, just by flipping through it.

As it has been published over a hundred years ago, I think it's OK for me to post photos from it to clarify a couple of queries which have come up. Most prominent, if the Japanese Medics wore the Red Cross armband or not. (I'll try to get these photos up here by tomorrow.)

I'm also working on a couple of scale photos of my miniatures with those of a other manufactures but I'm still waiting for one delivery.