Restoring the Space Marine and Ork & Eldar Paint Sets

One of my few original things from the 1980s that has survived. Multiple house moves, university, marriage, divorce and its still with me... sadly no painting guide though. 

The dwarfs may have delved too deep and too greedily, but that isn't the case here at Orlygg's 1960s bungalows. I've struck it lucky while sorting through the tatty boxes of stuff from my former life. No lead, but a stash of paints including my original Space Marine paint set. At least I think it is...

Bought upon release along side the Big Box Game 'Space Marine' in 1989, I think that both were birthday or Christmas presents that year. The paints look untouched since I splodged colour on those classic sprues so many years ago. It may have been part of my wider Citadel collection but seems to have been separated and hence survived. Or I may have bought it on eBay back in the glory days and forgotten about it. It seems odd it wasn't stored with the bulk of my collection.

As you have no doubt noticed, the colours have settled somewhat and leave the pots discoloured but all the paints seem workable with a good shake. Bolt Gun Metal has separated and gummed up, but with a little stir it seems useable enough. This surprised me, as '80s GW metallics are notorious for partially solidifying, leaving only a watery slop behind. But the rest of the colours are there, though whoever was deriving the names of paints had clearly given up here. We have Terracotta and Blood Angel Orange (base and highlight for Blood Angel figures), Salamander Black and Green (again, base and highlight), Marine Dark Blue and Ultramarine, and finally Blue Grey and Space Wolf Grey. 

I wrote about these paints back in 2012 on this very blog and judging by the page views and spam comments Youtubers have been looting the information for years.

Polystyrene instead of the plastic paint tray? A change of approach for the final few sets. 

Alongside my old paints was an empty box. The Ork and Eldar Set originally belonged to a school friend who kept all of his modelling stuff in a blue toolbox. I liked the cover image and so it was given to me to save it from the bin. No recycling in those days. Not sure how it came to be paired up with my older paints but its great news to us. 

Chris, like Ian before him, has been so generous.

As I mentioned a couple of posts ago, Chris was kind enough to wing a load of older paints my way. You can see what he sent unpacked in the image above. There was loads of stuff in there with much of it still very useable to the likes of me. There were a few pots from the original Colour and Monster sets, the surviving ones have been placed into storage but there were a large number of colours from the Space Marine sets and by chance the Ork and Eldar one too. 

I've also received a donation of older colours from a colleague whose son was into GW too. Trial and error comparisons has resulted in what I believe to be a perfect match. We have Tin Bitz (incredibly alive and well), Hawk Turquoise, Go Fasta Red, Ork Flesh, Bleached Bone (though it seemed to have darkened considerably on the inside of the pot), Fire Dragon Crimson, Snake Bite Leather, Striking Scorpion Green and Bad Moon Yellow. 

Storage, it seems to me the paints that lie on their sides have lasted and those standing up have separated. Hence why I am storing them like this.

As I mentioned, there are loads of pots now held in storage. Some of which I have no idea of yet exactly what they are. I am pleased to have back some of the older inks too, including Shadow Black. It seems at some point in time the Expert Set colours were rebranded and what were once just referred to as just colours were given suitable GW style names. Shadow Black was, obviously just Black, Chestnut became Skaven Ink, Green became Waaagh Green, Brown was Rust Brown, Blue became Vortex Blue, with Firestorm Yellow, Lava Orange and Plasma Red to follow. 

I didn't know this, and as I've said several times over, researching these colours has thrown up stuff that is new to me. I have no idea why, but I find it all rather fascinating. 

But hidden amongst Chris's old paints was a real treat. Three pots from the Metallic Paint Set. I've never even seen these up close. I did an internet search and found very little about them -I know when the Youtubers haven't bothered when all of the first hits are mine! (; - but a chap called Alex was kind enough to post a picture on a well known internet forum some years back. I've pinched his picture for our reference.

With the little we have to go on, I am guessing we have Glistening Green, Amethyst and Beaten Copper? Word on the street was these paints were pretty dire but they have survived admirably despite the passing of the decades. I'll be testing them out when I find something suitable to paint with them don't you worry. Let me know if you used these back in the day...

I'll be popping up to the storage room later to sort through Ian's foundry paints to see if there are any near matches to the Space Marine and Ork and Eldar sets (especially that Bleached Bone... I was saying how much I missed it) but before I go I'll share my first quality find of a commercial nature.

Got this little set at a fairly local Retro Store. They were bagged up alongside some other bits and bobs I'll get to in another post and were labelled 'Warhammer type figures'. They were obviously vintage Citadel to my eye and I said so, but the store owner was a self confessed '90s 40k guy and had no clue what they were. A glance at the tabs told me they were LotR figures of some sort and were part of the old Citadel licensed ranges of the mid-80s. 

Five quid later and they were mine. The disinterest surprised me, but they don't have plasma guns it seems. With a new bathroom to buy and install in the next month or so, money is as tight as ever here, but for a fiver a willing exception was made. 

They are of course the ME82 Hobbit Personalities Set. Lovely figures all and they have totally distracted me from my Easter blogging and painting plans. They are currently in a Dettol bath and will be based and painted in the near future. The examples on Stuff of Legends are magnificent so I will be basing my far inferior paint jobs on those. 

Orlygg