Why am I doing this to myself: The joy and pain of working with older models

[Davout]

I started war gaming in the mid 90's and for the first few years only ever painted and played with metal figures. As the years have progressed I, like a lot of people, have transitioned over to mostly hard plastic. Despite the ease of plastic and the modern day tooling that has made plastic kits a breeze to put together, convert and paint I've always had a soft spot for those old, heavy, fiddly, metal miniatures.

With the re release of GW's Old World we've also seen a re release of older kits. These kits have not been released in finecast (Thank the gods) but in metal and I've been picking up the random odds and ends that finish up and add to some of my existing collections.

This project log will showcase the old, sometimes charming, sometimes frustrating models I'm working on at present.


To start it off I'm going to clean up and mount GW's Badlands Ogres



Love them or hate them these chonky boys are everything I love about single piece metal miniatures. Hand sculpted details, a nice weight when you pick them up...



and I've already snapped off his little helmet spike trying to get it strait.

Time to bust out the drill, pins and super glue!

[Davout]

Spike drilled, pinned and glued back on, nothing to it.

Originally I thought I'd have to cut off this peg on their feet but then I realized that it would make mounting the Ogres on bases much easier.



and that's the unit. Not to hard in the end.

[Davout]

After the Ogres I decided that I was ready for something a little more challenging. I've always enjoyed the classic look of Satanic Panic figures. I've backed two of their Kick-starters and have not been disappointed with the results.

About a year ago I received my reward of three trolls and they've been sitting on the pile of potential ever since. They are great figures with a ton of character but they are definitely classic in the sense that the fit is not precise and there are no obvious attachment points.



The heads are separate from the bodies and the arms of the rock throwing troll are going to need a lot of work.

To start I realized that this would be a lot easier if they were mounted to a base. There was no way super glue alone was hoping to keep these guys stable to it was back to the drills and pins



I busted out the green stuff to fill the larger gaps between the heads and the bodies



Then I drilled out and pinned the heads



Next I began to build up the connection points for the over the head rock throwing troll and drilled and pinned the connections

[fred]

“Pile of potential” I like it!

Those trolls do have the old school joy of flat attachment points! Good work with the pinning and green stuff, should make them nice and solid in the end!

[DivisMal]

Keep it up! Heavy metal is the way to go! The frustration is part of the joy!

[Westfalia Chris]

Keep it up! Heavy metal is the way to go! The frustration is part of the joy!

Although there is a fine line between enjoyment and madness. I recently assembled some Vor Growlers, i.e. Kev Adams sculpts based on Paul Bonner designs, and hoo boy did I wish those there resin casts.

Promising thread this, I will watch with interest! Those ogres hold a special part in my hobby heart, too.

[Davout]

So in the end the Satanic Panic trolls went together with a minimum of fuss and bother.

They look great together and I am especially pleased with the over the head rock character.

[Elbows]

I find, like all things...some are good, some are bad.  Some older metals are a pure joy to paint, while others are borderline garbage.  Depends on the quality of the sculpt.

I admit I have a ton of metals and generally like them, but I'm not big on multi-part metals, though if it's just a head or a broad socket joint I don't mind.  Stuff like old Dreadnoughts or Land Speeders, or god forbid Dragons, etc....hard pass. 

[jetengine]

I find, like all things...some are good, some are bad.  Some older metals are a pure joy to paint, while others are borderline garbage.  Depends on the quality of the sculpt.

I admit I have a ton of metals and generally like them, but I'm not big on multi-part metals, though if it's just a head or a broad socket joint I don't mind.  Stuff like old Dreadnoughts or Land Speeders, or god forbid Dragons, etc....hard pass. 

Metal vehicle's sound like the stuff of nightmares

[modelwarrior]

Must admit I have a soft spot for metal over plastic so keep it going.

[Tom Dulski]

 Can't wait to see them painted up. I think most people would agree that those old metal sculpts seem to have more charm and character than the newer sleeker stuff.

[sir_shvantselot]

These will be well worth the work.

[Davout]

Up next in the assembly cue is an all time classic...The Green Knight



My initial dry fittings had me worried that this model would be a pain to fit together. Luckily, a little gap filling and a pin in both rear hooves was all that was needed to have the horse look good.

The knight himself has a little green stuff around his middle and a pin holding the two half's together. All in all this model came together very nicely.



The plan is to paint the shield and banner poles separately.

[tomrommel1]

Very nice project, keep it up its worth it

[Davout]

So far working on these older metal models has been pretty easy. Even the Green Knight went together with minimal extra work. I'm feeling confident. Time to up the difficulty level



Enter the Snotling Pump Wagon. A recent GW re-release the pump wagon will be a fun addition to my mostly plastic goblin horde.

So far this has been the first model to make me say a dirty word and throw a little temper tantrum. I pinned the main "mast" at both connection points. The rear wheel has a pin through the back of the deck and the wheels (those  %$** wheels) have a pin connecting the blades to the main deck.



In addition to the wagon itself I've pre pinned the crew I intent to place on the wagon. The plan is to paint these little guys separately and then glue them to the wagon during final assembly.



I've also went ahead and pre drilled the pin holes for the crew.

In the end the fiddly thing came together nicely and it's solid (it better be with all the pins)