Restored Witch Hunter Inquisitor and Retinue circa 2005

 

Here's another batch of figures from my Silver Age army of Witch Hunters. I've fixed these up over the last couple of days and the damages are now (hopefully) impossible to notice. I've also had a little bit of a play around with my photographic set up... poor quality as it is. I've switched to a light blue background which is exactly how 'Eavy Metal was presented  back in the '80s. Years ago, I chatted to GW's lensman Phil Lewis about how he photographed minis for publication in our era and I recall he used a second lamp to eliminate shadows. I'll attempt something similar as soon as I've got another one.

I don't recall much about painting this inquisitor. I can recall he was the first model I painted on the project and it certainly shows. I doubt I'd painted anything for years before working on this, though of course he is far superior to that plastic skeleton I attempted just over a year ago.

The shame of him....

I liked the servitor models available back then and I have four different ones now. This one was straight forwards to repair with just the base to reattach and the right leg to bend slightly. Purple was obviously a theme for my Inquisitor as a number of these models are painted with the colour. I am especially pleased with the angled liquids in his hydraulics. I used to pay really close attention back then. Need to again.

I can't quite recall what this figure was suppose to be. A Magos of the Adeptus Mechanicus or some such. I nice bit of early freehand here with the scrolls. Thankfully his base too have been cracked but it has been repaired and smoothed out with greenstuff.

Pretty sure that this poor chap to a psychic penitent or some such. The idea was that this meek soul was possessed by the warp and not our Inquisitor. He looks much better now and had been particularly damaged. I straightened out his tentacle rods and gave them a new coat of paint.

The Lord Inquisitor's acolyte. A powerful figure even today. You will probably notice the staff is still bent slightly. This is the best I can get things at the moment with risking further damage. Remarkably his paint work survived intact. 

And finally, two cherubium who needed extensive repairs to attach them once more to the bases. I tried unsuccessfully to glue them back together but the join ended up far too week. In the end, I used a pin vice and paperclip snippings to pin them back together. A few grains of sand and static grass and who's to know!

Orlygg

Restored Deathwatch Chaplain, Deathwatch Squad, Eversor Assassin and and old friend...

Teeth fixed (again). 

Car badly damaged. 

Long story short, deer jumped out in front of my vehicle earlier on this week and one of them struck the front of my vehicle. I was slowing down as I'd seen them but one of the animals collided with the right hand side of my car. Even at such a low speed, the stag flew through the air and smashed in the panel work and lights. Incredibly, it got up and ran onwards into the night. I thought I too had got away with it only to discover my door wouldn't open.

Fast forwards a few days and the car in in the repairshop and it is all a matter for the insurance company. So I have a little time to spend in the workshop and these figures were next in my restoration journey. Many of these models were crushed, had detached limbs, backpacks and so on and were covered in scratches. It was quick. pleasant work to rebuild and restore them over the last few hours and I even had a little surprise underneath the foam insert to make my day...

More about him later.

This first model was a classic of the Silver Age and I am sure all of you know it well. Brooding with menace and power, you wouldn't want to mess with this fellow on the dark battlefields of the 41st Millennium. He was part of a Deathwatch unit that I think I was including with my Witch Hunters army as an ally around 2004-5. 

Here are the rest of the squad I was able to repair. I have another model who is too badly damaged to include. I am quite fond of the colour scheme: black, silver, red and bone. Certainly one to apply to something more classic in the future. What attracted me to the Deathwatch was the fact that each marine came from a different chapter and retained their own iconography. 

Here are some early free hand shoulder pads I included on some of the models. Keen eyed enthusiasts will note a few classic Skeleton Horde skulls on these bases. This is were my original models must have ended up! Beheaded and binned in the early 2000s for use on these bases. At the time I though the bases looked fantastic, now I feel they are too cluttered and dense and distract from the figures.

What do you dear readers think? 

More skulls adorn this base. Which I am still happy with. I wanted this assassin to appear to be clambering over the remains of his enemies which I think still works. Obviously, the base didn't receive the same level of attention as the figure and is something I would change if I redid this model today. But this isn't a remastering project. I just want to repair and restore these figures as they were when they were originally painted. 

I know that are not from our chosen period but I hope you can appreciate them just the same. After all, they all all pushing a quarter of a century in age so surely they can be classified as 'old'?

And to end things today, I have managed to repair this incredible chap. He is truly 'old' and must be the older painted figure in my collection. A lone survivor from my original Skeleton Army from the late '80s and early '90s with the original paint job. What a classic for my archive. I was so pleased when I found him and I was able to just about repair him. He isn't going to last very long if I poke him around but what caught my eye was how terrible the painting was.... but not as bad as I started painting again last year!!!

He still has my dad's old railway flock on his base too. So this model was built before I realised that sand was a handy tool for decorating bases.

What struck me the most was that I took the time to string the bow. I am sure I got this idea from an 'Eavy Metal figure in White Dwarf. Now I have accounted for skeleton archers in my Horde but boy do I want some now. When I finally get around to doing a few models in this style I'm going to tie on some bowstrings as I think it looks really effective.

If memory serves, I borrowed this beige string from my mother's sewing box. Luckily for me, MFM also enjoys this hobby so some future thread should be easy to source (; 

I can see that my colour scheme for skellies hasn't changed much either. Its still a brown wash, Orc Brown with the Bleached Bone highlight. These were drybrushed and it looks like my paint didn't have enough water in the mix. Of course, at the time I thought he looked magnificent. 

Right, I am off to fix up that Witch Hunter and his retinue. The models are getting progressively more damaged as I work through them and there are less and less easy fixes. But it is enjoyable work... with half-term around the corner I might also find some time to paint up some classic models too.

Speak soon,

Orlygg

Restoring Jes Goodwin's Masterful Adeptus Sororitas Seraphim

Evening all,

After a particularly long and verbose staff meeting I was able to snatch a few moments in the workshop before the needs of MFM's hungry tummy arose. The mass of old figures inside my old miniatures box await repair, restoration and photographing and I was able to tinker with these figures a little. They had survived unscathed save from the odd bent support strut and a couple of detached backpacks. A little glue and red paint and they are good to go. 

And what figures they are!

Beautifully designed and joyfully, all metal castings. I've seen here and there that the mighty Jes Goodwin is retiring for GW after all these years. So it was poignant to return these to my collection. Such a skilled artist, especially with 40k and of course, the elves. It could easily be argued the Jes Goodwin was the greatest miniature sculptor of all time, especially in the 1980s. In metal at any rate. Though Kev Adams could also lift that crown for very different reasons.

Jes Goodwin's work is always very technically proficient. Plausible in a fantastic setting. His models have their own signature style. You can recognise his work instantly and his elves/eldar have never been bettered by anyone.

Nor will they. As we live in an age of multi-kit printed plastic which will eventually snap, crack or be crushed. These chunky metal classics are far more robust and likely to be around for centuries to come one way or another. 

   

My memories of painting these take me back to my days lodging in Braintree. I was a young teacher, single and in a new place. I had no friends in the local area and my colleagues were friendly, but far older than me. My weekends were mine to fill as I wished. I lavished an entire weekend over many of these figures. Painting numerous layers of Blood Red on the armour and carefully edge highlighting in orange. 

I can't remember if this was an official colour scheme I copied from WD or the Codex back in the day or one of my own invention. I have a few memories of creating my own background from the Witchunters Codex. But they are hazy after twenty odd years. 

I've got a whole army of Battle Sisters to repair and restore, including an inquisitor and retinue and a squad of Deathwatch marines. I fielded them only once in the GW store in Long Wire Street in Colchester just before I threw in the towel and went retro. This army took me over two years to paint and put together and the opponents on offer had lazy, undercoated models at best. It was all about the interpretation of the current codex and not the beauty of the setting and models. I feel that though these models have nothing to do with our regular content, you can appreciate them for what they are.

Masterpieces of miniature design.

I hope you readers share my love of the beauty of Jes Goodwin's metals. And that my paintwork has done them justice.

Orlygg

Converted Plague Marines based on Mk V Heresy Armour

 

Last post I spoke about my old GW figure case making it back to me. It was full of the models I painted during the Silver Age of GW. Paul Sawyer was editor of WD and the magazine had a real community feel with plenty of fluff, new releases and fresh ideas. I was hooked again. As we all know, it wouldn't last and I gave up on it all with the infamous 'Giant Issue' that totally lacked any substance at all. 

Modern GW is a British Success StoryTM but even I can see whoever runs the company is moving 40k further and further away from its source material. Imagine not realising that the Imperium aren't the good guys!!? Still, if you ever have an issue with GW in any era it is very simple to just focus on the period that best works for you. 

It is what I did.

These figures were my only serious attempt to convert models and kitbash properly. I worked on these around 2005 just after completing my first year as a teacher. I was working on a maternity leave in Peterborough and one of the staff members working there had all of the old catalogues. He told me that practically anything ever made could still be cast up. Like a fool, I opted for these old metal early '90s bodies to create a plague guard force. The keen eyed will know them as the original Mk V Heresy figure without arms.  Only these two were ever completed as I ended up chasing a different project altogether but it is fantastic to have these back. I sold the unused bodies off around that time. 

The arms and the weapons come from the old Chaos Marines plastic sprue that was available back then. The shoulder pads use the metal legion specific examples that were available back then. Typing these words, I realise I should have taken a side shot like I did with the Rogue Trader Chaplain. I sculpted distended bellies on both models and even curled a few entrails for good measure. The tubes and wires were made from bass guitar strings and fishing wire. Two marvellous materials that I really should gather again for future projects. 

A pin vice was used to drill out the holes on the body of the figure. I still have the very same tool in my workshop but with a single, miserable drill-bit remaining. Somehow it survived everything. You will be able to spot my attempts to recreate the three circular 'fly' symbol of Nurgle here and there as well as suggesting burst pustules and bullet holes.

During this time I was obsessed with painting with colour harmony and not using black at all. Looking back, I feel that these choices really help tie the figures together and give them a natural, battleworn look. I've flirted with this type of palette with a few of my more recent models but I'm not sure it would fit in with my '80s style 'Citadelesque' I've worked on all these years.

Only one way to find out I suppose. 

Rogue Trader Chaplain

 

It has been three weeks since I last posted. We've been busy with the house, dental woes (need a new mouthguard), Covid and the dreary English winter. Despite the relaxation and peace that can be found in my little workshop, the drizzling, soggy rain-soaked weather acted as a barrier to hobby time. 

We've had another round of electrical work done here too, so my workshop has a useful sensor light when I approach the door and MFM's parking space illuminates nicely when she swings in her beloved motor around the front of our property. We lost a week when he car's warning light came on and she dropped it off at the dealer... it took them some time to diagnose a corroded wire so much of my time last week was spent being her driver. 

Still from adversity comes opportunity. 

That opportunity was the ability to retrieve some old bits and bobs from my old life once again. No '80s glory but I did get back a large figure case of my miniatures from the early to mid 2000s. The Silver Age as it has become known. I got back into GW just after I graduated university in 2000. I walked into the Poole branch of GW which was then off Falkland Square. I fell in love with the Witchhunters models, largely off the back of my appreciation of Jes Goodwin's style. I'd spend the next couple of years collecting and painting up much of that range. 

It was those models that have made their way back to me. Among them was this lovely '80s Chaplain sculpted by Mark Copplestone and released in 1988. These classic Rogue Trader figures were advertised and discussed in my very first issue of White Dwarf... 108... and this model is very likely the sole surviving figure from the blister pack I bought during my early visits to Wonderworld in Bournemouth. 

I painted this figure up just after graduating and you may well notice a more modern style backpack being used for him. You have to remember, I put this figure together years before my Oldhammer adventures. I had no idea of the incredible things my little hobby would lead me yet. 

After twenty-five years he holds up well I think. If I painted this model today I'd no doubt spend a few more hours on the edge highlighting, using a lighter shade of grey. But I won't be touching this figure. He is a product of his time and his place in my life. I am glad he is back. From the '80s, to the early parts of this new millennium to 2026. In two years time, this little figure will have been with me (one way or another) for forty years! 

He will stay with me for however many more years I have left. 

The case he was stored in was one of those older GW plastic figure cases with the foam inserts. When I got the case back my heart sank as the hinge is badly damaged. Thankfully, the insides were untouched and were as I must have left them around 2011 before I sold off all my unpainted GW stuff and when full retro. Many of the models have been crushed, snapped and broken though. But only at the weaker edges where the glue has given way. I'll be spending the rest of this month restoring and photographing all the models, something I should have done with all my '80s material. I live in hope that if these old figures can make it back to me, my beloved '80s lead my also return one day. 

Orlygg 

The Final Day of Citadel: Nurglings

 

The festive season has drawn to a close. The decorations are down, the houselights switched off and up and down the country children are being bussled earlier into bed knowing that school starts again tomorrow. I managed fourteen painted figures in the end. A model for everyday of my holiday, though they were not painted in that way. I had the odd day off honest. Twelfth Night is tomorrow as well, and a suitable ending point for a Christmasy painting binge.

These classic little blighters need no introduction. I found these unfinished in one of the tatty boxes that were returned to me a few months back. I think I began work on this the year I did 'The Tale of the Four Oldhammer Gamers' with Paul, Steve and Chico. 

That was the best hobby group thing I ever did. 

Long time readers may well remember my small Nurgle Warband I created for the project. Somehow, these little creatures slipped through the net and never got to join their brethren of the boil. So it was fun to finish them at long last as testament to those glory days. 

Like a newb, I based all these figures before I started painting them (perhaps a factor while I gave up on them all those years ago...) so it was fiddly to reach the individual nurglings. The base was also a problem, my usual retro style far too green to work with these tiny models. I had also used GW sand from back in those days and it had loads of large stones dotted about. With hindsight, a more subtle level of sand would have been much better looking.

Still, they are finished. 

I hope you lot like them. 

Not sure when hobby time will rear its head again for me. Things will be full on again as of tomorrow. The electrician is due back to install lighting outside, we need to organise the initial works for the kitchen and my dental woes have returned to bring me down once again.

There are still so many models I want to get completed and I have that skeleton horde project to hopefully make progress on as well.

Orlygg

The Seventh Day of Citadel: C47 Ratman Skewer

It is a chill eve. 

After the sun fell, this enthusiast finally found time and inclination to wander down to his workshop to complete today's figure. The walk is becoming second nature to me now. A magical stroll past the large frozen pond at the foot of my garden, our neighbour's Christmas lights twinkling in the darkness. Distant lights reflect from the frosty surface as the ice hardens and spreads.

Soon to be over. 

The cold is interesting inside the workshop. It is almost too cold. By this I don't mean like a fridge or freezer. My workshop was long an abandoned place and on these chilly nights it seems to recall it's long period of silence. The small room is still and quiet most of the time with only the odd stray pigeon scratching across it's flat roof. The sound of their claws can be quiet unexpected and startling. Especially when in deep concentration.

Those footsteps remind me of the chittering hordes of Warhammer. The Ratmen. The Skaven. So it was just such a figure that I sought to complete tonight. 

Skewer is another one of those 1985 sculpts from the initial range. So early, that the name 'Skaven' was yet to be coined. The tag reads 'Ratman'. And a rat-man he is. I always liked the subtlety of the skaven, and chaos, in the 1980s version of Warhammer. They were both secret forces working to destroy society from within, without and of course, in terms of the skaven, below. According to the fluff, these creatures didn't exist and were just tall tales to be spun on frosty nights.

Secrecy and denial played right into the hands of the skaven back then. The old lore was well conceived and dark. Unconcerned by social justice or virtue signaling. 

I used pretty much the same methods and I did with Warpeye. Only instead of green I opted for a blood red shock when it came to the tattered clothing. This red was simple: Blood Red washed with Brown Ink, Highlighted with Hobgoblin Orange and Sunburst Yellow. 

The shield uses the same colours to match the rest of the paintjob. I found this added some coherency. I also didn't have much space to work with for a classic freehand design so its just as series of lines. It seems to work, at least to me. I see it as a looted shield from some forgotten storeroom.

The skaven were supposed to be scavengers. 

It grew late. Dark and cold. I took these three pictures before retiring to the warmth of the house. My workshop is a spooky place late at night. Those of you who enjoy the BBC podcast 'Uncanny' may have recently listened to the 'Priest Hole' episode. 1980s Warhammer plays a role in a terrifying tale of a teenager boy's encounter with a supernatural force. 

Search it out if you haven't heard of it...

All alone in my workshop it is easy to imagine spectral powers at work. Did I really place that paint pot there? Did I really fold up the grey piece of card I use as a photographic background?

What are those scratching noises on the roof?

Is it the roof?

The walls then...

Orlygg