about the figure

The term Quartermaster refers to 2 different occupations in military terminology. In land armies, it is a term referring to a military person or unit who specializes in supplying or provisioning troops. In naval usage, it means navigator on a ship.

Through a historical oddity, pirates during the Golden Age of Piracy elevated the rank of quartermaster to much higher powers and responsibilities than it had aboard any merchant or naval vessel.Pirate quartermasters, like pirate captains, were usually elected by their crews. The quartermaster ranked higher than any officer aboard the ship except the captain himself, and could veto the captain's decisions whenever the ship was not chasing a prize or engaged in battle. The quartermaster also was chiefly responsible for discipline, assessing punishments for crewmen who transgressed the articles. It was generally also the quartermaster's responsibility to lead the pirate boarding party when coming aboard another ship. Some of them succeeded to command and became captains in their own right after the previous captain was killed or deposed.

The figure RM 75-002 represents Antoine Du Puis, the quartermaster of the ship of Francois L’Olonnais in 1671.

box

The figure comes in 125 x 85 x 30 mm.standard Romeo Models light blue cardboard box. The front cover shows a photo of the figure painted from 2 different angles – front and back.

Inside the box, there is a small paper sheet including short description of Pirate Quartermasters. This document is represented in 2 languages; Italian and English.

Parts are well protected between two slabs of thick white polyfoam and 2 heavy blocks of figure base are placed under the polyfoam not to damage the figure parts.

parts

The figure is sculpted by Italian master sculptor Maurizio Bruno and made up of 10 white metal parts. All parts are cast clean and there is no need for a serious clean-up.

The main part is torso with legs. He wears a short leather jacket with emboridered trims on shoulders over his shirt. The shirt has a lacework collar. A thick sash-cloth belt is wrapped on the waist and a wide leather belt is tied over the sash. Another wide leather belt is crossed on the right shoulder to carry the cuttlass. He carries a leather rectangular bullet pouch and a gunpowder horn on the right side. The rope strap of the horn and strap of pouch are crossed on the left shoulder. The cloth folds of the jacket and shirt, collar, cloth belt, belts and buckles are all well defined. He wears baggy trousers tightened with cloth straps under the knees and long muskeeter boots folded out and downwards. All details on the trousers and boots are well represented.

Other parts are ;

Head : Facial details, ears and beard are well represented. There is a small hole behind the left ear to assembly the tail part of scarf-bandana which is supplied as a seperate part.

Hat : He wears a leather Tricorn pirate hat with trims on the edges and a ribbon bowknot on the left side.

Feathers : Nice detail to add to the hat. Note that bottom part of the feather will be attached to the front hole on the hat.

Left arm : Posed to hold a pipe on his hand and lean his elbow on the handrail of the wooden stairs. The loosy sleeves of shirt worn inside, embroidered trims on shoulders and cloth folds are well defined. The sleeeves of the jacket are widely folded outside and attached with buttons which is called as Captain Cuffs.

Right arm : Posed to put his hand on the grip of his flintlock pistol. Cloth details are well represented as in left arm. The ring on the 5th finger is a very nice touch.

Sword : He carries a slightly curved, short and broad pirate sword named Cutlass on its scabbard on the left side of his body. The hole on the left makes the assembly easier.

Grip of flintlock pistol : He carries a flintlock pistol inserted on his cloth belt and the grip/handle of the pistol is given as a seperate part. The tirgger and the hammer of the pistole are very well defined.

Pipe : He carries a wooden smoking pipe with a long stem on his left hand.

Tail of bandana : A small and neat part to attched on the head part to show he wears a scarf under his tricorn hat. It shows nice folds .

Figure base : A very nice figure base of 2 parts is supplied in the kit. One of the parts is base and stairs and the other part is handrail of the stairs. Wooden texture is perfectly sculpted in both parts and parts make a very good fit.

extra

Note that Romeo Models released a new fully detailed scenery base – RM – 21001 Tavern that can be used with this figure, RM – 75-001 Spanish Noble XVII. Century and Pegaso Models 75-040 Francois L’Olonnais. Please click here to see this product.

conclusion

Another fantastic sculpt from Maurizio Bruno and high quality casting of Romeo Models. Excellent figure to paint for all figure fans.

Very Highly Recommended