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