Gather 'Round

Fountain 'Children's Round Dance' "Barmalya" by Armor35 is of an iconic image from the Battle of Stalingrad of that fountain. It was sculpted by sculptor Romuald Iodko (co-creator of the 'Girl with an Oar' statue) based on the 1925 poem Krokodil ("The Crocodile")by Korney Chukovsky. The antagonist of Krokodil is named "Barmalya".

The fountain, officially known as Children's Khorovod, was installed in 1939 as one of the Soviet cultural initiatives. It was photographed during the Battle of Stalingrad. Sometime in the 1950s it was removed, although two replicas have been created and installed about five years ago.

Fountain 'Children's Round Dance' "Barmalya" is item ARM35209 in Armor35's catalogue.

The Kit

This is a multi-media kit of resin and ceramic castings. It is an imposing model with a diameter of over 11 inches (285mm) and weighs a bit over 4 pounds (1850g). The fountain basin is ceramic. Everything else is resin.

That resin is, typical of Armor35, excellent. There are no air pocks, flash or noticeable seam marks on the resin pieces. I have not noticed any sculpting marks on the pieces and the surface is smooth.

The ceramic basin boasts the same quality of casting.

So what are the components of this model? The one-piece basin supports the art sculptures:

Frog water nozzles x 8
Dancing children X 6
Krokodil

While the frogs are single-piece parts, the Krokodil and kids are kits. Krokodil is a six-part model. Each of the kids are three-piece assemblies, bodies and separate arms.

All six of the children are separately packed in zip-lock baggies, with their unique arms contained within in smaller baggies, keeping the unique figure parts together. That is also useful for modelers like me who sometimes accidentally dump all the pieces out without noting what goes where.

The arms attach into the shoulders via peg-slot connections. Some of the figures have round peg-slots, some are square, and some are star shaped. Assembly should be quick.

Packaging

This is a heavy kit. As noted above, each figure is individually packed. The reptile is, too, while all eight frogs are in one bag. Each group of the three boys and three girls are in their own Armor35 figure carton, as are the reptile and amphibians. The fountain basin arrived very well wrapped in a type of plastic sheet that seems to be impact resistant; it and the trio of cartons are ensconced in a foam sheet that fills the kit box. That kit box is cardboard with a large photograph of the assembled Fountain 'Children's Round Dance' and individual items glued to it as box art.

The box cardboard is not heavy duty and arrived dented and partially crushed from its transoceanic travels. Thankfully, the only damage is to one girl that arrived with a broken ankle. Fortunately, the break is clean and should be no problem to glue the foot to the rest of the body. I suspect that the heavy ceramic basin helped support the box from further crushing, although I question whether it could survive being dropped or being crushed by a box on two sides. Perhaps Armor35 may consider adding some extra cardboard reinforcement or bubble wrap filler? Either that or pack the kit box inside a shipping box.

Detail

Each child is posed and dressed differently. The boys have three different types of clothes. The girls wear different dresses with neck scarves.

Faces are very detailed, as are hands and feet.

The crocodile is also impressively detailed - see the teeth in the mouth? Without seeing the real/replica 'Children's Round Dance' fountain, I can't say if the crocodile is accurate. Yet it has good reptilian scale detail on the body and the feet have claws.

Assembly and Painting Instructions

Previous Armor35 non-figure models I have reviewed have high quality color instruction sheets. For this kit Armor35 uses CAD images of the children assembled. They also have a black and white placement diagram of where each frog, child and the crocodile sets on the basin.

Assembly should be straightforward. There's no mistaking the reptile legs for arms of a child, and the arms of the boys are different than the arms of the girls. Plus, those specific peg/slots for each child removes questions about orienting each part.

My research indicates that Children's Khorovod basin was concrete covered brickwork, and cast concrete or chiseled stone for the children, frogs and crocodile. Photos show the replica fountains with bright white sculptures.

Conclusion

Fountains and monuments have been available in 1/35 for a while yet I don't know of one that is as large and dominating as Fountain 'Children's Round Dance' "Barmalya". Modelers of the Stalingrad battle can now create an scene that demands attention. Or this model can be built representing happier times. Clever modelers can even assemble and paint the children as dancing kids instead of sculptures. Or non-military modelers now have a unique and uncommon subject for shelves and desks and tables.

The resin pieces feature excellent casting and great detail. The specific arm attachments ensure accurate easy assembly.

There is no obvious low to this kit other than the packaging may not, as is, be up to rough handing by mail services.

Armor35 has created another impressive diorama kit with Fountain 'Children's Round Dance' "Barmalya". Modelers of the Stalingrad battle can now create a high quality scene that can not be ignored. This is a remarkable model and I and enthusiastic about it. Recommended.

Thanks to Armor35 for sending this model for review! Please remember to mention to vendors and retailers that you saw it here - on Armorama.