25mm Rohan standard bearer

 This is a Heritage casting done for Elan Merch in 1980. It is listed as part of a diorama set "On to Helm's Deep" #1713-d for the Lord of the Rings miniatures line.

This came with the Nazgul set I got in an auction. The minis were not individually pictured and although I could identify the complete set of Nazgul ( which was what I really wanted), I really didnt care what the other four were. 

Once I got the order I was suprised to find the four extra minis were the full set of "On to Helm's Deep".

This is Guthlaf, Standard bearer to the King of Rohan. 

The other 3 mounted minis are Gandalf on Shadowfax, Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli. I will be painting these at a later date.

Servant of Sauron test mini.

I had 2 of these minis before I got the full set so I decided to paint it as a practice piece before starting in on the new set of nine. This is 1751b of the Servants of Sauron set from Elan merch. Cast by Heritage for Elan merchandising with the release of The Lord of the Rings by Bakshi in 1978, it is one of the nine in the set. 

Reverse.

This mini was primered with grey. I then shaded with Vallejo black, and highlighted with Vallejo off white. ( Both air brush paints). A dark grey wash of acrylic ink was applied, then final edgeing with white. I used Naphthol red ink for the eyes.  

 

I will study the results for a few days and then decide if this is the method I want to use for the full set of the Nazgul. It is similar to the one I used on Fell Helm, just darker.

Wight and Hireling finished

These are 25mm minis from the late '70s. The Grenadier came in a box set and the Heritage was purchased online separately without a blister pack. 

To the left is Grenadier Hireling 2004c Pack bearer with coin chest. I really like the boots and equipment on the figures in this box set. They really have much of the equipment on their person as we had written down on paper for our characters when we began a dungeon.

To the right is Heritage Dungeon Dweller Wight 1276a. This was sold in a blister pack along with a wraith that looks quite similar to some of my Elan Merch ringwraiths. 

These were painted in inks although I did use a Tamiya weathering powder ( Rust ) on the hireling chest. It came out ok, but I have some better weathering powders still packed away in my model railroad that I may have to locate.

They're Here!!

I've seen them, Frodo! Black riders!!

Arrived today they have. The Nine, the Nazgul, the Ringwraiths, Servants of Sauron from Elan Merch (1751 Servants of Sauron ).  I have had 2 of the minis since the late '70's, since three of my friends and I pooled our money ($10.00) and bought the set at Hobby Haven in Mission. We rolled dice and I ended up with 2 of the unmounted minis.

I've always looked off and on for the full set, but have really pursued it since starting this blog and finally found a decent set for a decent price. 

They came in an opened blister pack and are in good condition. When I first opened them I feared the worst as the plastic blister had flecks of grey all over it. Luckily it wasn't lead rot, but just some of the primer wearing off the figs. The separately cast rider (1751h) has a broken axe which can be fixed, and 1751e is missing a sword, but all the rest are in good shape.

After taking a pic, I applied stripper to them and tomorrow will give them a good cleaning and if weather permits a spray coat of primer. 

Another vintage Heritage mini done.

This guy has been primered for awhile, so I thought I would make it a Heritage weekend.

This is from the Heritage Good Wizard set. It's 1301b and I purchased it online a few months back.

I think I liked the pose because I could try an OSL on it. I have a few figures with lanterns that I have acquired which will work out better, so Mr. Good Wizard gets a regular paint job. 

I used Amsterdam ink Brilliant blue for the robe color and variations of whites, browns, yellows and grays for the remainder. A little difficulty with the eyes as the right eye kind of melds into an eyebrow(?). The older castings are just not as crisp as newer stuff, but there is no sense in fretting about it. I paint the parts as well as I can and sometimes its tough to win. 

I have a few more wizards on the shelf. They are from a partial box set of Grenadier Wizards and they need to be primered and base coated. I'm always indecisive about the colors for wizard minis. So far I have done the basics - black, gray, blue. Maybe the next one should be red. 

UPDATE:

I found the picture I took of this mini when I first got it before I stripped and primered it. It had your standard late '70's glossy enamel paint job.

New battlestation

New battle station for painting miniatures is in the upstairs storage closet. I need to get more shelves up and see how many of my 15mm figures and terrain I can move up from the room in the basement.

The figures on the shelf now are some of the 25mm fantasy figures I bought in the late '70s, mostly Ral partha, Heritage and Elan merch ( popular back when Bakshi's LOTR came out).