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In-Box Review
Kethuda Bey (Kulkethudasy)
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by: Engin Kayral [ ]
about the figure
AM-02 Kethuda Bey is a 65 mm. figure sculpted in very good details. It represents an Ottoman Kethuda Bey (Kulkethudasy) in palace attire, known as the Deputy Janissary Commander-in-Chief, responsible for all the works of the Janissary Organization.
The historical reference supplied in the kit provides good information about the Kethuda Bey, Janisseries and Ottomans. Please click here to read this document.
More information about Ottoman military ranks can be seen here.
box
The figure comes in a 17x11x3 cm. white cardboard box.The box is inserted in a good quality paper jacket sleeve cover. The front side of the cover shows the figure painted by Boston World Expo 2005 Gold Winner Kostas Kariotellis as the other side shows the painted figure from the back angle and includes the names of sculptor, painter, photographer (Nikos Apostolopoulos) and Athens Miniatures company address.
A document showing 3 photos of the painted figure and historical reference in English is also supplied with the box.
The parts are well secured, sandwiched between 2 slabs of thick yellow polyfoam.
parts
The figure is sculpted by Kostas Kariotellis and made up of eight white metal parts. (The figure in the review photos is primed in light grey to show details better.) Casting of all parts is very clean, crisp and well detailed. There is no need for a clean up, filling or sanding. You may gently brush your figure with a wire brush and then brush again with an old toothbrush and mild detergent or soap to make it shine before priming. Note that brushing figures makes details visible and priming makes paint adhere much better on metal figures.
The main part is the torso with legs. He wears a fur-trimmed overcoat with no sleeves known as Kaftan which is associated with palace service. Inside the kaphtan, there is a long, open-front, cotton shirt with puffed sleeves named Gomlek and beneath it he wears an Entari, long tunic till his knees with rich embroidery on the neck. Embroidery is perfectly molded on the figure. Baggy trousers in bright colors is called as Salvar and yellow leather shoes indicate he is in palace service. He carries a slightly curved Caucausian style dagger with richly decorated hilt in his Kushak, cloth belt.
Other parts are;
Head : Face shows a strong facial expression, beard and moustache details are good molded. He wears a typical folded pillow style or sleeve-like headdress named Bork on his head. Bork is made of wool with brass reinforcements decorated in various designs.
Right arm holding Topuz (mace) : Cloth folds and Topuz are well defined. Topuz is a mace with a ball shaped heavy head and was a sign of military authority as well as a weapon used by Ottomans. It was made of wood, covered in black leather and silver sheet with pierced and engraved ornament and gilding. The original photo of the topuz used in this figure can be seen here.
Left arm posed to put his hand on waist : Fingers and cloth folds are very well defined. It fits good to the shoulder and there is a small hole on the left side of the figure to place the thumb for a perfect fit.
Plume : It is well detailed and fits good to the hole on the headdress. Janissaries carried different kinds of plumes associated in their ranks,sign and gallantry.
Hilt of Shimshir (sword) : Hilt characteristics of Shimshir like long crossguards, decorations and pommel are well represented. Shimshir is an Ottoman sword vary from 60 to 80 cm.s in length and are slightly curved towards the sharp edge. Their hilts are made of bone,horn,ivory and silver and show different types of pommels. An Ottoman shimshir can be seen here.
Scabbard : As the scabbard is hidden under the tunic in this figure, only the end part of the scabbard is given as a kit part. It fits well to the long cloth fold on the left side.
Figure base : It is a 3.5x3.5 cm.s square base with nice details. As the figure is considered as an Ottoman Palace official,the base is molded as a palace section with rectangular floor tiling and carpet. The texture and end threads of the carpet are well defined.
painting
Besides the palace attire painted as in boxart, the variety of colors and embroidery in Ottoman clothing brings many painting options to the figure. Kethuda Bey figure is painted different than the boxart by Costas Rodopoulos aka Major_Goose and the figure is displayed in Star Club Athens 2005 Model Show with its fantastic base. Photos of this figure can be seen in this forum post.
If you want to paint this figure in different colors or want to learn more about Ottoman Clothing and Garments, please visit this website.
conclusion
High quality casting, superb details, ease on clean and assembly, strong posing, bonus materials like painting photo guide and historical reference and pleasure of painting a colorful figure.
Despite the unusual 65 mm. scale, I believe this figure can be the masterpiece on your display with a careful paintwork.
Very Highly Recommended
Thanks to my good friend Costas for sending me this figure as a birthday present.
Click here for additional images for this review. |
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