Lead Adventure Forum
Miniatures Adventure => Fantasy Adventures => Topic started by: Cubs on June 16, 2016, 06:23:41 PM
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30 years ago I had this model, the utterly superb Ral Partha 'Giant on War Elephant', and it was stolen. Now some things stick in the memory more than others, and I always kept an eye out to see if I could find a replacement, but never saw one at anything like a sensible price. Then a couple of years ago a very kind person in America (I'm ashamed to say I've forgotten who it was) sold me one at a very reasonable price. Since then it has just sat in my lead drawer gathering dust, until last week when I found I had a gap in my painting schedule.
So it's finally done, after three decades. I always liked the model, but until I got started, I never really appreciated what a fantastic piece of sculpting it is. The skin on the elephant is unbelieveably good, all done back in the days before computer design! This has to be my all time favourite model and I'm so chuffed I've finally slapped some paint on it after all these years.
(https://myalbum.com/photo/uVxpa66At7U7/360.jpg)
(https://myalbum.com/photo/iFT0oUAwGQqB/540.jpg)
(https://myalbum.com/photo/lHlG98otlf6X/540.jpg)
(https://myalbum.com/photo/n8x6sfZwqNco/540.jpg)
(https://myalbum.com/photo/sIOVgExnploz/360.jpg)
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Jaw-dropping paintwork!
That's a fantastic old model - I can dimly remember it featuring in an early White Dwarf.
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Great stuff :-* :-* :-*
Love the skin tones on Nellie :D
cheers
James
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Wow, that IS nice - had never seen one of these before, nice to see it brilliantly executed. 8) 8) 8)
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:-*You did your old love full justice. The subtlety of your skin tones for both is superb! :-*
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That is good. :)
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Wow :-* :-* :-*
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My favourite too, featured in the first White Dwarf I bought (Tabletop Heroes).
Replaced mine last year and scared to touch it.
Yours is quite frankly perfect! :-*
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Very nice. I love the skin tones on the elephant. :-*
I would be interested to see how it scales against a 28mm mini.
Regards
PM
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Saw this on the Facebook page. Absolutely top notch. You've really made it come to life.
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That is a work of art :-*
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Great paint!
Well done.
tt43.
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Fbbrrphtnthuhh... :o
Un-bee-lievable.
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This is an excellent piece of work. Both the model and the painting. The smooth shading on the skin reminds me of Rackham's painting style, with the subtle transitions from pinkish to grey.
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Beautiful paint job, but how much did you pay for the mini in the end? It's still in production through Iron Wind, and $15 is hardly an outrageous retail price for a model of that size.
http://ironwindmetals.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=9249
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Very nicely done - I love the old Ral Partha monsters and bigger figures - and your painting has certainly brought this one to life !
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Beautiful paint job, but how much did you pay for the mini in the end? It's still in production through Iron Wind, and $15 is hardly an outrageous retail price for a model of that size.
http://ironwindmetals.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=9249
I was talking to someone on FB and I think I paid $25, but if I recall correctly that was including postage to the UK (but I might be wrong). I'm torn between being happy the model has been re-released (because it's a an absolute peach) and being miffed that after hunting high and low for so many years, it's released at such a reasonable price just after I bought one second hand! Fortunately it wasn't for an upsetting amount of money. Believe it or not some people are trying to sell them on eBay for over $100 ... oh well.
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I very nice model, indeed.
And a even nicer paint job you have done.
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I was talking to someone on FB and I think I paid $25, but if I recall correctly that was including postage to the UK (but I might be wrong). I'm torn between being happy the model has been re-released (because it's a an absolute peach) and being miffed that after hunting high and low for so many years, it's released at such a reasonable price just after I bought one second hand! Fortunately it wasn't for an upsetting amount of money. Believe it or not some people are trying to sell them on eBay for over $100 ... oh well.
If it makes you feel any better, with your paint job on it $100 doesn't seem unreasonable at all, so you could certainly get your money back and then some if you wanted to sell. More than enough to just buy an IW casting and paint it again.
And of course an actual lead-alloy Ral Partha bare metal figure is going to be worth more to collectors, especially if it was still in the packaging. People who are more interested in the opportunity to own RP sculpts might do well to do a solid dig through the Iron Wind catalog though. It's kind of a muddle and the search function is a bit iffy at times, so it's easy to miss things.
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Spectacular paint job! I've never seen this fella before. Lovely subtle shading both on man(?) and beast. Inspirational stuff.
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Beautifully done! :-*
Now you have that one, you might want to get the other 5 riders:
http://www.collecting-citadel-miniatures.com/wiki/index.php/Giant_elephant_riders (http://www.collecting-citadel-miniatures.com/wiki/index.php/Giant_elephant_riders)
Then again, that way madness lies ... ;)
Cheers!
Joe Thomlinson
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Woah! What an awesome paintjob. Lots of character, grittyness and excellent colour use. Bravo!
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Amazing work - very realistic looking!
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An amazing miniature and not one I'd seen before. Your paint job gives it an almost Frazetta feel and looks superb.
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Very Nice. I want one of these!
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Cracking stuff Paul!
You know you're gonna have to give a tutorial on how you achieve such splendid tones ;)
Cheers
Gary
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I remember that piece when it first came out...even then it was out of my price range. Your WONDERFULLY painted & based rendition far exceed my memories of the miniature's quality. VERY WELL DONE!
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:o
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Cracking stuff Paul!
You know you're gonna have to give a tutorial on how you achieve such splendid tones ;)
Cheers
Gary
It's nothing too mysterious, honest! I had just mixed up a new colour range I labelled 'Asian Flesh'. It's the same sort of depth of colour as my 'European Flesh' colours, but based more around brown and yellow tones as opposed to peachy tones. That's the main skin colour. Then I just watered down some of the deeper 'Euro Flesh' shades and blended them into key areas like the nose, brows, elbows, knees and knuckles. When that was done I put a bit of turquoise into a light flesh tone and watered it right down. I used this to put some wiggly lines in here and there as veins. If it went on too thick I wiped it off a little with my finger.
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Superb ! The elephant skin is very impressive (as the rest by the way)
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wonderful model - great painting. I like the colour of the elephant skin very much.
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I used to have this model, but never painted THAT well! Great tones on both elephant and giant flesh.
It's a shame the models themselves are quite small in comparison to the prevalent 28mm/30mm fantasy figures - otherwise I'd feel a special cavalry regiment coming on...
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It's nothing too mysterious, honest! I had just mixed up a new colour range I labelled 'Asian Flesh'. It's the same sort of depth of colour as my 'European Flesh' colours, but based more around brown and yellow tones as opposed to peachy tones. That's the main skin colour. Then I just watered down some of the deeper 'Euro Flesh' shades and blended them into key areas like the nose, brows, elbows, knees and knuckles. When that was done I put a bit of turquoise into a light flesh tone and watered it right down. I used this to put some wiggly lines in here and there as veins. If it went on too thick I wiped it off a little with my finger.
Tutorial:
1. Learn colour theory.
2. Learn how to paint human skintones.
Simples! lol
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Everybody else has mentioned the skin tones, but my favourite bit is the rusty armour plating on the elephant! Genius :-* :o 8)
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Thanks all for the outrageous flattery. I was happy with how it turned out, but I didn't think it would get this much love!
Everybody else has mentioned the skin tones, but my favourite bit is the rusty armour plating on the elephant! Genius :-* :o 8)
That was suspiciously easy actually. I have always struggled to get a good verdigris bronze effect, but this was very simple. The main colour is just good old fashioned GW 'Tin Bitz' (or whatever the equivalent these days may be - any sort of bronze paint mixed with deep brown would probably suffice). Then the verdigris was a a midtone from a shade I mixed and labelled 'Jungle Green' (kind of a grey-green with a hint of turquoise) It was thinned right down and brushed into the recesses. The odd flick of brass here and there for scratches or on exposed edges, and that was it!
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Thanks for that!
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That was suspiciously easy actually. I have always struggled to get a good verdigris bronze effect, but this was very simple. The main colour is just good old fashioned GW 'Tin Bitz' (or whatever the equivalent these days may be - any sort of bronze paint mixed with deep brown would probably suffice). Then the verdigris was a a midtone from a shade I mixed and labelled 'Jungle Green' (kind of a grey-green with a hint of turquoise) It was thinned right down and brushed into the recesses. The odd flick of brass here and there for scratches or on exposed edges, and that was it!
I like that. I've noticed a bit of a verdigris craze in the last while, where in some quarters every non-silver metallic (and some silver) seemed to get bright teal sloshed over it. I mean, fair enough (https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/7a/54/f2/7a54f2ea82d0b49db3de18aab9b32dff.jpg), but it was starting to look OSL eyes - a lot of buzzing neon colour for not much intended effect.
This is the opposite: a little subtle colour for a fantastic, (IMO) realistic effect. It helps that the rest looks both painterly and realistic, too! It's been compared to Frazetta and Rackham already (Arthur Rackham or Rackham Miniatures? Guessing the latter) - the warm browns and shadows make me think of Rembrandt, if that doesn't sound too pretentious. :)
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I like that. I've noticed a bit of a verdigris craze in the last while, where in some quarters every non-silver metallic (and some silver) seemed to get bright teal sloshed over it. I mean, fair enough (https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/7a/54/f2/7a54f2ea82d0b49db3de18aab9b32dff.jpg), but it was starting to look OSL eyes - a lot of buzzing neon colour for not much intended effect.
Ditto. It was when GW brought out the Ogre Kingdoms stuff that I remember seeing a wave of verdigris effects and I was all excited by the new thing. But I do struggle to keep the metal dull enough to merit having a verdigris sheen. My natural inclination is always to highlight things to death! In recent years I've been trying to learn about what to leave off as much as what to add with my painting.
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Lovely work, just what I like about 'old school' fantasy.
Doesn't have to 'fit' into an army style/race.
It's different, and painted superbly.
Only problem is I want one now!!
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I always wanted one of those when it was first released, but it was always out of range for my wallet. Maybe with IW re-releasing it my dream of owning one may come true.
Your paint job has blown me away though - absolutely fantastic.
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Need a couple more to add to your forces. :-)
http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_odkw=Armored+giant&_osacat=0&_from=R40&_trksid=m570.l1313&_nkw=Armored+giant+on+elephant&_sacat=0
Grimm
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Shhhh! I'm already bidding on one of those. ;D
If I recall correctly, the figure may have been out of production for a while, and possibly came back as part of IWM's "Chaos Wars" Kickstarter thing. So that might explain why it was going for higher prices for a while.
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Oh, and also, I should comment that this is one of the finest painted figures I've seen in a while! Great work! :-*
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Thanks!
No more for me now, the one's enough.
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Need a couple more to add to your forces. :-)
http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_odkw=Armored+giant&_osacat=0&_from=R40&_trksid=m570.l1313&_nkw=Armored+giant+on+elephant&_sacat=0
Grimm
Those I would say are the models available via Ironwind Metals for $15 they are far too shiny and new to be d Ral Partha lead alloy from the late 70's/early 80's.
http://ironwindmetals.com/store/product_info.php?cPath=365_382&products_id=9249
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Stunning, lovely old figure as well
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How big is it in relation to other figures? I really love it! Fantastic painting, really nice work
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How big is it in relation to other figures? I really love it! Fantastic painting, really nice work
I can't be bothered to do more photos, but I reckon the whole model is about 65-70mm tall, taking the base into account. The elephant is about 40mm to the shoulder and the rider, if he was stood up straight, would probably be about 35-40mm tall.
So comparing to a model that is 28mm foot to eye, he's taller than average, probably ogre or small giant sized, but not massive (maybe equivalent to being 8ft or 9ft tall I guess). The elephant is fine, probably a realistic elephant size (especially if you work from the assumption that it's based on Carthaginian African Forest Elephants, which were smaller than today's African Elephants).
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Awesome many thanks 🙂
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Edit: getting the top and bottom of my Saharas mixed up. ;D But the existing sub-saharan forest elephant can give a good indication of the kind of height. Not so many decent pics online, strangely, but hang on, I've got a book somewhere...
Edit: Pics! (http://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=91689.0)
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Damn! :o I just snagged one off of eBay.
Wanna paint mine? :D
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Not a hope. I'd want to keep it!
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Great stuff :)
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Really great work on an awesome model I've never seen before.
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Gasp, that kind American did us all a service!
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Is it avalable somewhere in Europe ? It shouts GoT to me