Improving the Classics

I love the classic Ral Partha and Grenadier miniatures because they were among the first miniatures I owned, and one of my many projects is to recreate or convert some of these figures so that they are compatible with my 1/72 scale figures.

When I first started doing conversions, I was hesitant about taking my file and metal snips to old figures. My conservationist instincts told me that I would essentially be destroying something that was no longer in production, and what some might consider a work of art.

Then I got over it. Having figures sitting around and not being used is also a disservice to them, and despite what eBay listings would have you believe, the vast majority of these figures are not rare.

Here are some of the results of my efforts:

The Barbarian Hero (Ral Partha 01-009) is one of the early true 25mm figures, and can pretty much be used as is (although his head is rather large). The main issue I had with this particular miniature is the awkward pose. I modeled my conversion after the appearance of Frazetta's Conan the Adventurer.

A tooth necklace was made with Kneadatite, and his arms were repositioned. The scabbard was moved to the small of his back. Simple.

In many cases though, the old 25mm figures have the typical issues common to metal figures of being too chunky, having oversized heads, and oversized arms/hands. One such example is the Magic User from the Grenadier Wizards boxed set (Grenadier 2001).

I sculpted a new head and narrowed the torso a bit. An arm was added from a plastic figure, with the sleeve built up from Kneadatite. I also reduced the volume of the left sleeve, and added a dagger blade made from a flattened paperclip to his right hip.

It's pretty amazing what a couple of minor changes can do to the appearance of the figure when doing scale comparisons. The modified figure does not look too different compared to the base model, but it matches well with 1/72 plastics, whereas the original figure looks much larger.

Scale related modifications are typically not required for monsters, but I often alter the poses (particularly when I have multiple copies of the same monster).

The Stalking Kree-Ack from the Subterranean Terrors boxed set (Grenadier 2012) was a fairly simple conversion. I never really liked this miniatures because it always fell apart at the slightest touch. I don't think I've seen one of these figures that was assembled that didn't have the single supporting leg on the "waving" side that was not broken either.

I lowered the waving hand so that the creature looked less cheerful. I pinned, glued, and epoxied to hold all the pieces together. The patina on the converted Kree-Ack is actually quite nice. It's a bit of a shame to paint over it.

The Grenadier Dragon Turtle (Monster Manuscript Vol.II 1502, MM17) is a great figure, but I wasn't too fond of the "Hey Steve!" pose.

Grenadier metal from this period is often crystalline and brittle in nature, and I ended up snapping the neck when I tried to bend the head, so some pinning and sculpting was required to straighten the head so that it faced forward.

Starguard!

I have known about the venerable line of Starguard! miniatures for a long time, but I was always hesitant about ordering them because it was not clear to me how big they actually were. Most of the information with respect to size referred to the Dreenoi and Amazons, which were taller than 1 inch, making me think the figures were more in line with typical 25mm (to the eye) sci-fi miniatures. However, I was assured by John McEwan at Reviresco that the Starguard! miniatures were definitely 1/72 scale, so I went ahead and ordered some of the figures that I was interested in.

The first figures are from the Imperial Terran Marines Assault Squad (S-135). They wear a round space helmet with combat armor that is based on that of Imperial Stormtroopers from Star Wars. Some of the other figures in this line actually wear the Stormtrooper helmet as well.







The next figures are the Terrasan Necromorphs Maggot Squad (S-145). These represent undead soldiers of the Terrasa Regents. They wear gas masks and jump packs. Their bloated and rugose heads look rather disturbing. I'm not sure whether to keep them as is, or to file the heads down a bit so they look more human. The last figure is an officer who reminds me a bit of Cobra Commander (there is also another officer in this line who looks like Dr. Doom).








The next group are Eli Raiders (S-115). I really like the design of their helmets. However, the spikes on the officer's helmet will have to go. All of the figures wear jump packs.








Last is an Amazon MG Squad (S-142a). The Amazons are tall in their high heels, but even without them, they would probably scale out to 6 feet tall (which is not inappropriate for Amazons). They are very much in proportion to 1/72 scale figures, so I have no problem with them.




Finally, a comparison of Amazon, Eli, Terran Marine, and Necromorhph.


I would have preferred that the figures come with separate jump packs, and the officers did not wear capes, but overall the figures work for 1/72 science fiction. They are definitely old school in sculpting style and design aesthetics. The lines that I ordered were not as dated to me, but some of the other figures definitely have the look of sci-fi from the 1930's on up to the 1970's. Some of the weapons the figures are armed with clearly fall into the category of "raygun" style weapons, and I may replace them with more conventional looking weapons.

I'm not sure how I want to paint these figures up. Some nice artwork by Niklas Jansson can be found at Android Arts with the official color schemes. Most of the schemes might be okay for shipboard combat, but probably not too useful dirtside.

Modelcollect

Modelcollect is a new manufacturer of both pre-built and unassembled model kits from China. Their tanks come with a diecast metal lower hull, but all other parts are in plastic. Currently they produce various versions of the Russian T-90 MBT. Pictures of the built up kits look absolutely fantastic, and they run only half the price of an Ace Models T-90.

These kits have received some praise in the braille scale modeling community, so I decided to order some of their pre-built models to see for myself.

I ordered two T-90As (welded turret), and a TOS-1A. When I received the models, they looked pretty much as advertised, but then I noticed was that there were various small parts rattling around in the boxes. Not a good sign.

T-90A (72001)

T-90A (72004)

TOS-1A Rocket Launcher (72003)

There are a couple of reasons why these models came in such a poor state:

1. The plastic is very soft, and many of the parts look to be made close to scale, so parts and attachment points are very, very thin.


2. The packaging was poorly designed in that there was not really enough buffer space to accommodate the various parts of the model.

I realize that they are a new company and all, but 3 for 3 with multiple breaks is just unacceptable. Overall, these kits are definitely display models only. Many of the parts are just too fragile to hold up to any sort of handling (which includes being forced into its packaging).

絶望した！Modelcollect に絶望した！

The TOS-1A Heavy Flame Thrower System fires FAE munitions, and is also known as the Солнцепёк (Soltsepek), which some translate as "Sun Scorcher," and others as “Blazing Sun.” The multiple rocket launcher (if it was attached) can rotate, but the firing angle is in fixed position. Of all the models, I do think that this one might have the potential of being a wargaming model if built carefully enough.

The T-90As are actually really nice models. Unfortunately, all the parts that broke off all have small attachment points, so will require more than a bit of effort to reattach securely.

My advice is to stay away from the pre-built models until they improve their packaging. However, if you build static models, the unbuilt kits are definitely worth looking at.