Bring out yer lead

 

Q: How long can you keep old lead before repainting it?

A: About 35 years it seems...

This guy was one of the first minis I bought back in early 1990. He looked absolutely fantastic and I always thought he was a Rogue Trader, but I recently discovered that the model was based on a classic Martin McKenna pic from the RT book itself, with some accompanying fluff identifying him as an Inquisitor called Obiwan Sherlock Clousseau (of course).

I didn't spot that until after I'd finished the repaint, but then went back and added some checks around the base of his coat and a tiny yin/yang on his pendant. Very happy with how he turned out!

These next guys were also early purchases; all three Inquisitors were in one awesome blister pack.

Some slightly lumpy sculpting, but full of character.

I particularly like this guy - his bug-eyed expression is fantastic. And I'd be that pissed off if I lived in the 41st millenium too.

Some Space Marines now. This chaplain was given to me by the same friend who donated his Eldar and has been unpainted ever since. But now I'm trawling my literal leadpile, I decided to honour him with a lick of paint. He's not great but has the advantage that he could represent any of the chapters I field (Ultramarines, White Scars and Raven Guard).

A before-and-after set here. I loved the blister pack of Marines with Terminator Honours when I saw them and have used the 1991 versions up until relatively recently (they've certainly all featured in some of the batreps when I got back into 40k a few years ago). But last year I took my Ultramarines to play WintersSEO and wanted to make sure I had paint I could be proud of on all my minis, so repainted these guys.

Branching away from the Imperium now, I bought an original Ambull back in 1990 as well, just because the model was so damn cool. And I'm very glad I did. He's also seen tabletop action as you can still take Ambulls as allies to any (!) 40k army; I decided to paint him in a slightly similar scheme to my Tyranid army, so he could conceivably be some additional bio-weapon, or maybe he's just disguising himself to fit in.