You may remember a while ago I was painting up Advanced Heroquest Prototypes. Thanks to some generous folk they were mostly acquired as gifts, swaps and at generously low prices. The only one I didn't have was the Skaven, along with the elf the rarest of the set. Thus when I was able to buy said model for a large but not ridiculous amount I decided it was worth it to complete the lineup and balanced out amongst the others still meant a bargain for the entire prototypes collection. Here is my first ratman acquisition painted up. He's a bit shiny, hasn't had his matt varnish yet. I also haven't done the sand fill-in between his paws on the base.
The same models (plus as far as I can make out some extras) appear in the full page advert for AHQ as featured in White Dwarf. I have been using this to try and pair up the figures and see what the paintjobs actually look like.
Then there are the actual models from these images in the cabinets at Foundry. I looked through my own photos and whilst I had taken many of the Heroquest and AHQ Heroes I didn't have any good ones of the Skaven or Henchmen. Idiot. Thankfully Ian Stuart did take some good photos of them and sent me the image below. As you can see they're a lot less yellow than the Marvel publication makes them look and more vibrant than the WD advert. I went for the guy on the right in the fetching red attire for my first Skaven. This is pretty simple block colours, no particular patterning except for the marks on the face. The hoods on these guys are definitely good territory for chequerboarding, diamonds and stripes. I can see a few of these in the various photos. Also that shield is harder than it looks, getting the three-pronged-swastika central and evenly spaced is tricky!
My first Skaven? Well, yes. Since I mentioned that I was looking I had contact with a nice gentleman who might be able to help me get a bit closer to recreating that childhood image... There might be a few more painted Skaven coming up along with some henchmen counterparts.
I might stop short of doing the Warlock of Firetop Mountain heroes that can be seen on the shelf below the Skaven in Ian's photo. Much as I love that game (my copy got lost in a move, boo) the figures are not a wonderful example of GW from that era!
Hurrah. Another great acquisition for the HQ archives. Let me know if you DO want those plastic WFM minis, you can have the set I've got.
ReplyDeleteHave you seen how many I already have in my Skaven and Empire armies? :D But why not, I never turn down Heroquest plastics!
DeleteInteresting that the two photos.. the front row of figures featuring the heroes and one skaven.. aren't the same figures, they are the same image. If i had to bet, i would say the WD advert is the cut up job, and marvel the original photo but both would be cut ups.. I just had to over lay and resize the two images to be sure but.. those five figures are in the very same camera angle and everything.. overlay perfectly..
ReplyDeletenot really a suprise, but interesting non the less.. Never had Advanced HeroQuest myself (but still can't believe i picked up a complete editon of Hero Quest Advanced Quest (the first use of the figures which became the Man-at-arms) at a charity shop on my way home from Colleage in about.. 2005, for £2.. hard to get some of the figures for that price now.. (Already have my family set which is all the original UK releases (including a few copies of the Adventure designer we got for pretty much nothing) apart from the Advanced Quest Edition)..
Interesting. As you say I think the WD ad has the cut outs as the figures in the circle behind them have their bases at a slightly different angle. Must have been tricky cutting away the rest of the figures in the backdrop. I can't speak for the early 2000s but 1995-1998 you could get all the old GW boxed games for £1 or so at jumble sales, charity shops etc. I picked up loads of them, then stupidly gave them all away. :(
DeleteJust another bit to add.. years ago, as part of my Skaven army, i was given a bunch of the plastic skaven from AHQ (I do have some of the slight re-tread of the design used later as well) and I was never totally impressed by them.. seam a bit too bulky and smooth like they had way more skin then fur.. but looking at some picture, i think some of it was the very basic paint job on the figures I was given and i notice the original metal proto's seam to have far better fur texturing.. I know yours is the metal proto, but does make the model look FAR better...
ReplyDeleteYeah the detailing on the faces and fur of the plastics is a bit poo. Early days of plastic technology I guess, though the 2000-modern GW plastics suffer from the inability to do fur well too. Spiky triangular 'tufts' just don't take away from the feeling you're looking at a shaven mole... One of the things metal casting is better able to replicate.
Deletesometimes I wonder how much of the softening is due to casting in plastic and how much is more of HOW the casting is done.. Metal flows and dries pretty quickly.. some resins flow but with more .. chance of air bubbles (not saying you can't get them with metal though) but mostly have a much longer dry time.. I'm not 100% sure about Plastics but.. injection molding still uses a mostly liquid state of the plastic and it doesn't have a really bad cool down time.. unlike resin which is two parts so needs to react, plastic is like metal and just needs to cool down.. surely if you use plastic injection in a vaccum mold, or even just a spinning one like metal, would it give THAT much of a soften effect.. how much of it is due to the steel molds mostly used for Plastics (they last longer but cost more to make) aren't as good for catching details? damn.. need to find a plastic caster for information on that.. or maybe get some old cheap steel molds and try resin or someone on them (or even a clay) to see what the original details are like.. very complex..
DeleteI think there are a few factors. First is that the steel (or aluminium if they were cheap) moulds for the plastic need to be milled out so detail is limited by the size of the cutting head. Second is that they are two-part rigid moulds and since the plastic is rigid they require all angles to be 'straight out' in one plane or the other so that the model will release. Third is the minimum thickness the plastic can be before it just breaks on removal from the mould, giving you a miscast you then can't sell. All of these would limit the ability to put texture onto the surface of a model. There are probably other factors, I have never designed injection moulds but someone who had would doubtless be able to cite other reasons for keeping models smooth.
Deletejust checked out on watching a few .. kinda basic but okay videos on how they make the moulds and how they cast etc.. some of the heads on the CNC's seam to be able to get pretty damn small these days.. I'm still suprised every time i used a very small drill bit to hand drill something that i doesn't just snap on me far more often then they do.. I think Plastic is kinda like Metal in that you can reuse some miscasts, which of course is one HUGE downside to resins..
DeleteI wonder if the 'rise' in 32mm figures for gaming is related to some of the shortcomings of plastic casting.. I got a couple of games which use them, which for themselves, aren't totatlly bad.. but often they overprice them really since they are plastics, and means you are much more limited on what you can do with them (though the ones I got are pretty much purely for the game they come with).. being a bit larger, does seam to remove some issues of softening of details..