Saturday 5 August 2023

Old Metal Space Marines

 I've been pretty busy with my new novel over the last few weeks, but I've managed to paint a few old metal space marine models in the meantime. Although Games Workshop is determined to phase out the little marines, there are some excellent miniatures there, from different periods of GW's history.

These two models are pretty ancient. The guy on the left is from the not-quite-Rogue-Trader period, and appears in the old blue Citadel catalogue. He's wearing what in the 40th millennium is called a Crux Terminatus, and in the rap game is a phat gold rope. He looks pretty pleased with himself. The chap next to him is a 1990s Space Wolf leader. 





These next two are a bit newer. The man on the left is a plastic marine body with a Bretonnian knight's head. I thought it suited the knightly feel of my chapter. His right shoulder pad was painted by a friend of mine who died a long time ago: I ended up with quite a lot of her old miniatures. I thought it was fitting to leave it as it was. Next to him is a veteran marine from the 2000s. I think this last set of metal veterans are some of the best marines that GW has ever made. They're covered in interesting details and are all really well sculpted. I doubt metal rank-and-file models have ever been much better.




The third pair are also veteran miniatures. They were in a job lot of slightly damaged marines. The chap on the left has a new head, and was missing the end of his mace. I used the top of a Sigmarine's hammer to finish his weapon off. The other guy was assembled without conversion. He's a super miniature.





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 I also decided to join in a challenge that Darren Latham has created on Instagram. The idea is that you paint a very old plastic space marine from a 1990s set. I'm usually wary of these kinds of things, as inevitably someone (well, most people) will do much better than I will, but I thought "What the heck" and decided to give it a go. Here is the plastic model. He's a leader of some sort, and he is not the greatest miniature I've ever seen.





If you like Mordheim or Assassin's Creed, check out my Dark Renaissance novels HERE

6 comments:

  1. Wow, those are fantastic! I had some of those, so they bring memories to me. Keeping your friend's work is quite touching, I applaud your way of doing things. Well done and go for that challenge!!

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    1. Thanks dude, it seemed like the right thing to do. So far, I seem to be painting my marine to look like a porcelain teacup. I can't tell if it's a cool idea or a dreadful mistake. Pictures to follow!

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  2. Those metal veterans are the best that Marines looked in that era. I always wanted the mace guy, but never got around to getting him. The Sigmarine hammer head is a nice fix, and you could always say it was a thunder hammer.

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    1. Thanks! You can still find those marines on ebay but unless they need repairs they're not cheap. Mace guy is especially cool but I really like the fancy, medieval feel of them all.

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  3. The marines are great, love the coloring and patterns you apply to these guys. Very nice tribute as well. Looking forward to seeing the completed mono-pose marine!

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    1. Thanks - mono-pose marine is coming on well, if strangely. I've got for a kind of ceramic effect and now he looks like a teacup. But hopefully a cool teacup or something?

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