'Eavy Metal Special: White Dwarf 121

It seems that I spoke to soon above the weather today. My wife and I started a big clear up today, mostly of all the kids' clutter that builds up through the year and we have decided to change the playroom into a grown up room. This means we should have a space that is not riddled with Hot Wheels cars, Lego, Disney Princess or the other bric-a-brac that children seem to sweep in with their wake. Perhaps I'll be able to create myself a little miniature painting area in there at some point. The trouble is, its far too hot now for us to want to finish off the rest of the house and the wife has settled herself down on the sofa with the fan blasting out full blast while my two year old has a nap. 

Snatching a few moments away from the big project sees me following up a recent post about 'Eavy Metal with this one. The figures presented in WD 121. There is lots to see so we better press on before I am needed to move some heavy furniture or hoover under a sofa!

More from Phil Lewis, who I interviewed no so long ago, with some more models from his collection at this point in time. We are presented with a nice range of models too, with a couple of Khornate beastmen and a rather striking female barbarian. Two models from the Death on the Reik range have seen the attentions of Phil's brush, with the Wittgenstein monster and Malmir the elf. There is a return visit from some of the members of the famous Chaos All-Stars models along the bottom, a curious Golden Daemon model and a plastic fimir from Heroquest. Rather eclectic really. Standout pieces are the terminators and these are some of the very best painted examples I have every seen of this classic set. The daemonette is worth a  mention too, for not only with Phil really rather good at capturing the pastel menace of these twisted beings, I am pretty sure that this model is now part of Andy Craig's collection. Perhaps I just dreamt it, but I am pretty sure he once shared a photograph of this model stating that Phil gave it to him at once point.  

Here is a rare treat, a set of converted figures from John Blanche himself. The titans all look suitably impressive but it is the two smaller models that really capture the interest of the Citadel historian. For here we have a gang member that was the result of John Blanche's first attempt to scratch build a miniature and as you can imagine, it looks just like one of the characters from his artworks has just stepped into the realm of three dimensions. Finally, that terminator conversion is just brilliant! I really like the bases on these models as they seem a little more raised than simple sand coverings allow and I wonder how they were done. Polyfilla? Milliput? Both these materials were popular back then in WD articles and could have been used to achieve these great effects. I wonder if you build an irregular base up with polyfilla and cover it in fine sand if you will get a similar result. Something for someone to try, perhaps?

With the release of Space Marine there was a need to come up with loads of Epic scale models for the Imperial forces, as well as their erstwhile enemies. The system produced much of the Horus Heresy background is something I would like and collect and game with at some point in the future. I have got all those fantasy armies to paint up first though! A quick glance through this page lets you realised how varied the Epic game was at this time, with all kinds of crazy ideas developed for it. Many of these ideas are now being produced in 28mm scale. 

The final page has the ubiquitous orks. With the first of three books on the subject around the corner it was no surprise that each month had its quota of greenskins to show off. You can see the influence of the 'Red Period' growing once more in their colour schemes. The Space Fleet ships are a rarity in White Dwarf and models from this game, which eventually became Battlefleet Gothic, are interesting. I really don't know much about them and I cannot think of a blogger who collects them either. Something for the future perhaps? A lovely Space Hulk diorama finishes off the page, and I always wondered how they made the backgrounds for these. Bits of olf plastic? Toys? Junk from the bitz box?

Orlygg

A Dark Deranged Structure: Old School Fantasy Cottage Tutorial: Construction

My original cottage. Built and painted using advice from Phil Lewis and Dave Andrews from an ancient WD article. I have since repainted the stone work though, as I wasn't happy with the brick colour.

A couple of weeks ago I posted a little article about the cottage I made inspired by the old Modelling Workshop articles that Phil Lewis was involved in. After reading his account, I found myself flicking back through the White Dwarf archive and pulling out the old issues that contained his work. He didn't do it alone though, for much of the work was done by Dave Andrews. Together, they produced fantastic articles for the cottage, a two story townhouse, walls and hedges, a larger town house, mines and shacks and a ruined temple. Later on, there were some other articles by other people, though these were not up to the same standard as Phil's and Dave's work, but they are okay. 

Anyway, I had lots of requests to explain how I built the old school cottage and I promised several people a full article explaining it all some time ago. Well, as its Realm of Chaos 80s's birthday week, I thought it appropriate to write up the article in full and share it with you. Its proved to be a bit more of a task than I expected, so I have had to split the article into two posts. The first will deal with the construction of the model and the second will deal with how I went about painting the piece. 

First up, here is the original article from White Dwarf 130. Looking back, this article is one of the most memorable pieces that I can recall, along with the WFRP stuff. As I have said before, I had a brilliant time building my own boyhood version of this (and I really enjoyed the latest effort too). 

Modelling Workshop Cottage by orlygg

The original article is pretty clear about what you need to work with. Foamboard. Now, this stuff really is easy to work and is really simple to get hold of, either online or at an arts and crafts shop, such as Hobbycraft here in the UK. You could also use thick plasticard, though this is much harder to cut. I chose foamboard as I had loads of sheets of it lying around unused in the house. 

Anyway, I just printed off the scheme from the article, enlarged it and then stuck it onto the foamboard as the article suggests. Using the wife's pins, it was fairly simple to create the the outline and slice the sections out using a sharp blade. Once this has been done, I stuck the foamboard together with Copydex. Now, I don't know if you have heard of Copydex before but in my opinion it is the best stuff out there for sticking card or paper. It sets as a sort of rubbery layer and dries rather quickly so you're not sitting around for hours waiting for the stuff to dry. Its fairly easy to remove too, if things go wrong, with the glue just peeling away like thin sheets of rubber from the card surface. You get quite a bit of movement too, which is essential in model making, ensuring that you can slide the pieces exactly where you want them to be with ease.

Once it was fairly dry, I stuck the model to a plasticard rectangular base and added the roof sections. These need to be thin, so use cardboard. The stuff you get from packets of cereal are best. Be careful though, as some cardboards can warp when wet so go easy on the glue.

The basic shape. I tend to leave the doorways cut out and use blobs of greenstuff, some attached to the top and some to the bottom, to help secure the doorway. In reality, there is no real need to remove the door but doing so allows you to suggest depth.

Leave the model to dry over night. The Copydex will really harden up and you should have a pretty solid model by this stage which will allow for more rough work. To create the timbers the article suggests balsa wood, though I find that matchsticks are easier (and hardier) in this regard. Cutting them can be a challenge so invest in one of the matchstick cutting blades you can get from craft shops. Match sticks have been used for centuries for building models, they are cheap, come in different sizes and are very easy to source. You can follow the pattern on the article or develop your own, remember though, the wooden frame held the building up so your frame needs to look like its up for the job or the finished cottage will look rather odd. 

The match cutting blade is triangular and allows you to apply pressure directly down onto the the match, making cutting a doddle. I bought mine for a couple of quid (along with loads of other strangely shaped blades) at B&Q. 

Once you have the basic frame complete, its time to add the door. A piece of card will suffice, though I use a flat piece of balsa wood and just score in the details. The hinges and things are made from thin card (again taken from the cardboard cereal packet) but I would recommend that you use the coloured side. You see, the coloured side is much more smooth in its finish, perhaps to help hold the printed image, and when painted gives a much better result than using the 'grey' side. This is also true of the roof tiles. Use the decorated side and slowly build up the layers (starting from the bottom) ensuring that the first row, and the last tiles on each edge, overlap slightly. This will allow you to paint them more effectively later on. Use longer pieces on card on the very top of the roof. This will help tidy up the over all finish and will prevent imaginary rain from ruining the imaginary interior. 

Avoid the temptation to apply the bricks as if you were building a wall. Just blob them on randomly and slowly build up the detail. If sculpting is not your thing, you could always buy some of that patterned plasticard. 

I added further details by using green stuff to build up the brickwork on the chimney. This was achieved by making little balls of putty, sticking them on the foamboard and shaping them suitably. Don't forget to produce convincing corner stones for the edges of the chimney, where the brick work touches the wall, otherwise your wall will look a bit odd. Use plenty of water here, as the sticky putty can easily rip away the card backing of the foamboard making it very difficult for the putty to attach itself to your model. You may find it easier to wait for some of the brickwork to dry before going back and plugging the gaps as it gives you the option of attacking the fresh greenstuff to the old. 

The model is now pretty finished. As you will have no doubt noted, I added a side extension, built in exactly the same way as the rest of the house. 

Instant polyfilla is a brilliant way of quickly texturing the walls of the building. Just squirt the stuff out of the tub (or tub) and apply to the wall with a sculpting tool. I find that a downward motion with the flat end of the tool gets the best results. Don't worry if the polyfilla ends up creating little peaks or smears onto the wood. Once its dry, it is very easy to sand down or simple break off to create a neater finish. It goes without saying, but you need to leave the window panes free of texturing so the glass painting looks more realistic. Final details can be now added; flagstones by the doorway, sand and even a small round ball of greenstuff to mimic a doorknob. 

Right, that is all from me. If you need any further advice just comment and I'll get back to you. Otherwise, I hope this article inspires you to get out there an get building your own little cottages. The materials used are most likely lying around your house as you read, so a piece like this can be produced for little or now real cost. 

What are you waiting for?

Orlygg.

Old School Fantasy Cottage

Regular readers will know that I recently interviewed Phil Lewis about his time at GW and his contributions to photography, miniatures and beyond. You will also know that I am being treated from a dental abscess. I find that sitting for long periods, or bending over for any length of time, aggravates the infection and makes life uncomfortable so I have been able to do little Oldhammer stuff but write lately.

So I elected to work on something on a larger scale than normal that could be achieved when standing. I opted for the fantasy cottage Phil Lewis mentioned in his interview. Well, he didn't mention the actual cottage, he mentioned the series of articles he worked on and this reminded me of them.

It is a fond memory of mine the weekend I first used this plan to construct a fantasy cottage. Using various cast offs from my dad's model railway and some specially bought foamboard, I built a tiny little house and decorated it. That model is, of course, long, long gone but its memory inspired me to build another... Twenty five years later! So getting hold of WD130, I followed the article, added my own ideas and produced this, my first piece of Oldhammer scenery!

Timber frames are of course balsa wood, as is the door. The roof was made from cardboard taken from an empty cereal packet. as were the tiles. Door fitting made from the same card as the roof. Door knob a blob of Greenstuff. The building was based in my usual way. 

I had a go at sculpting the walls with Greenstuff. I used several ink washes to dry and make the brick work rather slimy and dank, just like a house would look if it resided in the Reikland of my imagination. 

I textured the walls with quick drying polyfila bought from Tescos. The roof was stained with ink splats and paint flicks. 

The timbering took a while to attach until I used Copydex. Never build a piece of scenery without the stuff, is my new modelling motto. Its excellent!

And here is the scale shot alongside the Muleskinner. I really enjoyed building this cottage and I have just started a second one. This time the building is going to have a lean to extension. 

What do you guys think?

Orlygg

The Chaos All-Star: An Interview with Phil Lewis

Regular reader's will probably remember the interview with Andy Craig I did this time last year. During our discussions, Andy told us about life in 'Eavy Metal, within the famous, and highly creative, GW studios of the mid to late 1980s. Like Andy explained in his interview, Tim Prow, Mike McVey and Ivan Bartlett, among others, banged out thousands of painted models; some classics to this day, others, well, not quite so memorable - Iron Claw skeletons anyone? Judging by the outstanding variety of these painted models, as anyone who has ever cast his eye over Bryan Ansell's 'toy soldier' (as he calls them) collection will testify, it was a time of enormous creativity, with the development of the Warhammer 40,000 universe bringing in a wealth of new models and background materials. Blood Bowl was on its second incarnation, supported by a massive range of models, including the memorable Star Players. Heroquest, and Advanced Heroquest were developed, as were Space Crusade and Advanced Space Crusade. Dark Future, Space Marine and Adeptus Mechanicus took fans of Citadel and British Tabletop gaming to the new and original places.

Residing over the photography, and later miniature management, of all this was Phil Lewis. I had been keen to track him down since interviewing Andy Craig, and through the wonders of the 21st century I was led to the Pendraken Forum (10mm specialists who do some excellent historical models, but that is for another blog some day...) and a sculptor going by the name of Techno. I had it under good authority that this wasn't some enthusiast of early '90s dance music with a perchant for sculpting Thirty Years War miniatures but Phil Lewis himself. With a little help from Steve Casey, Phil agreed to do an interview for us to give us a little understanding about his time at GW.

Enjoy!

RoC80s: I have heard that reading Lords of the Rings was responsible for your interest in fantasy wargaming! Could you tell us a little more about those very early days and when you first became aware of Citadel Miniatures?

PL: It'll probably seem a very strange answer but my start with the gaming industry was effectively down to a really bad stomach bug or food poisoning! I'd been laid up in bed for a few days and was starting to reach the stage where I didn't want to simply wallow there and feel sorry for myself. The better half had just finished the Lord Of The Rings and suggested it as something to pass the time. I loved it! There was an 'old fashioned' model shop a few hundred yards up the road from where we then lived, and I noticed they had some LOTR figures in the window and I think they were by Heritage. Having bought virtually every single blister (almost the only figures I've still got now) I came across some of the really early Citadel models, the Fantasy Adventurer range, and so I started buying loads of those to paint, eventually starting playing a kind of an amalgam of D&D and AD&D.....

I was hooked on the figures by now!

Heritage Lord of the Rings miniatures circa 1978. These miniatures, and others like them, first inspired Phil to get painting. From the collection of Dead March Spectre.

RoC80s: You were a contributor to the early Citadel Journals and these contributions lead to a job at GW. Could you explain what exactly happened and how you were employed?

PL: Again, it's one of those strange 'quirks of fate', if I can put it like that. The wife had recently bought herself a horse (horses are HER passion) and I used to get dragged along to shows to watch either her or friends competing. I used to get bored silly - worse than that really! One of the wife's friends suggested I take up photography as something to pass the time at these 'events'....and it worked! I really 'got into' photographing the horses going over jumps, splashing through water etc (I was really after a shot of someone falling in, if I'm honest) and it taught me a lot. The next thing was, that the photography and the passion for the models got combined. So a different photographic 'discipline' had to be learnt. Once I'd reached a stage where I wasn't actually ashamed of the photos, or my efforts at painting (though painting wise I cringe at the memory now) I started sending odd photos up to the 'old' White Dwarf' that was still produced in London. Joe Dever used to write an article each month called Tabletop Heroes, and one month, apparently unknown to Joe, there was a black and white picture of mine on the text page!

I was SO chuffed.

I ended up sending Joe a few photos each month and he used a fair few of them. I was even more chuffed for they were in colour now! I used a similar approach in simply sending a number of photos to Citadel's then factory at Eastwood in Nottingham and they used odd ones in some of the journals.This was even better because I used to get sent pre-release copies of loads of models direct from the factory each month. For someone who collected the figures it couldn't get much better than that.If remember correctly, when White Dwarf's production was moved to Nottingham there was a month or two when the 'new' version  of Tabletop Heroes/'Eavy Metal looked a bit 'thin'. Looking back now, that was hardly surprising, moving a magazine lock, stock and barrel from one part of the country to another. I mean, White Dwarf appeared on the shelves each month by magic and I didn't have a CLUE how much work could be involved in producing a magazine at that stage. Anyway, being keen pay back something for all the free figures I was getting, I wrote to Nottingham, basically saying; "anything I can do to help ?"About a week or two later, out of the blue, I had a phone call from John Blanche. 

"The boss wants to know why you want to be a figure painter."

"Ah....No John...I just wanted to see if there was anything I could to help." I replied.

"Oh right.....In that case, we're after a full time photographer....Are you interested ?"

The rest, as they say, is history.

A varied spread of painted miniatures by Phil from an early edition of 'Eavy Metal. There are some great ideas worth stealing here. The black, pink and flesh colour scheme of the Chaos Sorcerer and the rainbow coloured mohican. 

Advanced Heroquest miniatures. Painted by Phil Lewis. From the collection of Orclord?

RoC80s: You have stated that you worked in 'various capacities' while at GW. One of these was the taking charge of photography at the studio. How was the photography organised? Were you responsible for many of the miniature set ups in the 1987 Warhammer Fantasy Battle rulebook, for example?

PL: How was the photography organised ? Hmmmm. To a certain extent is was down to 'what was ready' on any particular day. For a month or two after I joined  the studio didn't have its own plate camera, so I'd wander up to a studio a few hundred yards away and they'd take the 'big plate' shots. Then I got to spend lots on a wonderful set of kit, and it was all systems go at the studio. I haven't got the book in front of me for checking, so I can't say for absolute certainty now, if I'm credited in the cover as photographer I'd have probably taken virtually all of them. Though there may have been 'stock' photos that were used that were taken before the time I joined. As far as setting up shots would have been concerned, I tended to rely on John Blanche to come and have a look at the composition before I clicked the shutter. Either that, or I'd take a Polaroid shot and run downstairs to show him what it looked like. Sometimes it was "Go for it"... Other times he'd get me to tweak something slightly.

Phil Lewis in action with the three light set up. In these days of digital photography much of the skill seems to be gone from the art of capturing an image. You didn't actually know if the picture would come out until it was developed back then! Is it too easy these days?

RoC80s: Andy Craig has told us many a wild story about his time working under you as part of the figure painting team. How did you end up in charge of the painting department? How was it run? And what made a miniature 'good enough for White Dwarf?'

PL: That was almost a natural progression from the photography, I suppose. As there were times when there wasn't anything to actually photograph, or I wasn't strolling back and forth to the place where we got the photos developed, I seemed to spend a fair amount of time down with the figure painters. A lot of the time it would involve me asking something like; "when can I have the figures to photo?.We need the films back in the studio by tomorrow ready for WD." I ended up helping in his capacity as the chap then in charge of the figure painting part off the studio gradually took more and more on andso that he could concentrate on other stuff he had to do. I got bored with taking photos all day and ended up 'taking over' the figure painting unit.

What made a figure 'good enough?' To a certain extent it was down to deadlines. Sometimes the painters would have days and days to paint a range, if the figures came over from Eastwood in plenty of time. On other occasions a number of figures would turn up with almost no time to get them painted and photographed. Those tended to be 'rush jobs', and it was a case of "that's as good as we can do in the time we've got!" The one thing to me, was that the overall standard of painting improved as the painters swapped techniques and ideas.

RoC80s: And those wild and amusing anecdotes of your time with the company?

PL: I remember trying to stop Mike Brunton sneaking a plastic sheep onto one of the ROC battles that we photographed in the studio... he didn't try but then I was watching him like a hawk! Or nearly electrocuting myself on one of the flash units when it went bang! Honest Guv, I disconnected everything and then stuck my fingers into it to bend the 'pins' back into place and got a hell of a belt from what I assume was a capacitor kick. I went downstairs swearing, told another member of staff what I'd done and falsely assumed that I'd completely discharged the unit through me. WRONG! So when he stuck his fingers in, he got a nice belt too!

Or there was the time I thought I'd gone completely mad. I broke a tiny little aerial from one of Tony Cottrell's Dark Futures plastic car conversions. I wasn't going to try and repair someone else's work, so I locked the photography room and went to look for Tony. I couldn't find him anywhere...So I went back to the Photography Room. I unlocked the door, looked at the car and ... eh? The aerial was back in place! A few minutes later, Tony came down and said;

"Did you want to see me Phil?"

"Er ...yes...but..." (dribble, dribble.)

Fortunately, Tony couldn't keep a straight face and admitted that he'd heard what had happened and had used a spare key (which I'd forgotten about), sneaked into the room while I was wandering around looking for him, mended the car and then relocked the room!

Then there was Trish Morrison (as she was then) playing a joke on me, and pretending that she was going to resign as a designer, soon after Bob Olley and Mark Copplestone had said they were  leaving Workshop.

This was when I was Miniatures Co-ordinator. So it was bad enough thinking about how to re-jig things at that point.

She took pity on me when she saw how far my face fell.

RoC80s:  Between 1988 and 1990 GW produced three 'Golden Demon Fantasy Miniatures' Books. Were you just the photographer behind these projects or did you have a wider involvement?

PL: Now you're asking !!

I think with the first one I simply took all the photos. The other two, I believe, would have been photographed by Chris Colson who took over the photography from me. I might have helped with some of the text and co-ordinating of the figures but I can't really remember now. Again, if I had the books in front of me, I'd have a better idea!

A blurry Phil Lewis joined Bryan Ansell and co to judge the entries at a Golden Demon event.

RoC80s: Your Chaos All Stars team for Bloodbowl is still very famous and homages are still being produced today. Could you give us the story of these models and what their eventual fate was?

PL: When the Chaos All Stars appeared simply as a drawn colour plate in White Dwarf, I thought they looked dead zippy so I just decided to try and 'make' the team. Some of the figures and poses could be relatively quickly converted from existing models we made at the time. So I did some conversions for those but there were a couple that proved more challenging, so I made these from scratch. Bryan Ansell allowed me to have those particular ones pressed and cast up and I think I originally ended up with all the copies, as they weren't really up to par for Citadel to release. Many years ago now, I sold almost my entire collection of Citadel models, because they were gradually being moved up into the attic and I had a larger than expected tax bill one year, OUCH! I think the chap that ended up with them, and as far as I know still has them is Tom Anders of Impact Miniatures. The last time I looked, the firm produces loads of different figures/races for their own Blood Bowl style teams.

A later 'Eavy Metal spread of some of the Chaos All-Stars. The quality of the presentation had clearly improved over time, as had the quality of the photographs of the miniatures themselves. From White Dwarf 114.

RoC80s: For a while you 'edited' the 'Eavy Metal articles in White Dwarf. How were there articles selected and put together? Could you just show the models you liked or was their far more creative control?

PL: From memory, we always had a plan on what the next 'Eavy Metal would contain. Sometimes it would be very structured as if there was a rule book or game  due for release then that's what we'd really be concentrating on. Sometimes there would be planning going on for well over a month on these. Though on these occasions 'the big feature' might be going on as a gradual 'slow burner', so we didn't have an impossible task to do it all in one month. Other times, although we had a good idea on what we were going to do, it could end up as relatively free as regards content. Odd months, strange though it might sound, there could almost be big gaps that needed filling. I suppose you could say, it could be swings and roundabouts, and almost anything suitable (or just 'nice') could find it's way into the articles.

RoC80s: You have said you did 'four years at GW until you were surplus to requirements'. What other roles did you have during that time?

PL: Well as I have said, I was the photographer first, then I ran the figure painting department. After that I was given the title of 'Miniatures Co-ordinator', which basically meant trying to keep 'tabs' on the designers. What they were working on, how long was it likely to take to finish the current projects, and then what was planned for each designer after that particular project. It sort of worked in the respect that I could give the factory some sort of clue as to when they might expect master figures to go over for pressing but usually the dates kept slipping forwards. I wasn't particularly happy doing that, I have to admit, So Bryan (bless him) gave me a much more fun job to do, making plans for buildings and scenery with Dave Andrews, which we put into White Dwarf.

Dave is, I think, one of the absolute top men in this particular 'field'. He'd make something (like a cottage or house) from total scratch, really really quickly! Once he'd finished, I'd sit there and 'dissect it'. Not physically I hasten to add. We'd work out the dimensions and then do a 'plan/diagram' which we popped into WD, with stage by stage photos of the Mk2 as it was being built.

RoC80s: You judged a number of Golden Demon awards in the 1980s. How serious was the judging taken? Did anyone have the final say?

PL: I was only 'chief judge' the one time and then I had help from quite a few others from the studio. The trouble was we'd end up with a number of different 'favourites'! John Blanche would be the one with the final say. But YES, it was taken very seriously. With the amount of time and effort that went into the entries, it would have been so wrong to have done anything else.

I think my only regret was that doing it all in one day, as we did then, it felt a bit rushed.

Phil Lewis chaos warband. From the collection of Orclord.

RoC80s: You have stated that once you left GW you became a figure designer. Any special projects or memorable moments?

PL: Not especially, though I've had figures eaten by dogs owned by the 'MDs' of the firms that had commissioned the work. One three occasions! By the same dog twice, though! This meant I got paid twice in each case, though it's a tad boring making exactly the same thing twice. I've enjoyed making all the figures for the firms I've worked for, though I did get a bit fed up with 'straight-line' work after making an enormous number of Mech type models for both Ral Partha and WizKidz. I never seem to have the time to do special personal projects. The only time I have done something like that, the models never got a proper release, so there are only about 8 sets of the original 'Kaos Krew'  floating around as I think that's all that were made from the original mould. I actually repaired the greens and had 12 or copies of each cast up for myself. Those are sitting in a box in one of the barns outside now.

I am sure that you will all show you appreciation to Phil for taking time out of his busy schedule to complete this interview for us. Its taken some time to get things sorted out but I am sure that you will agree that the wait was worth it. After completing the interview and researching the images I was going to use in this article I tried to find out a little more about the Chaos All-Stars and was pleased to find a number of projects in recent years had come to fruition. The first is a little project to paint up the Chaos All-Stars using Phil's original team as inspiration. Have a read of this mission statement and then follow the link. There are some truly lovely painted models in this particular collection.

http://www.blood-bowl-miniatures.de/bb/bb_projects/bb_chaos_all_stars/index.html

Secondly, I found a link to the impact miniatures website that once sold the new castings of Phil's converted Citadel models and original sculpts. Sadly, these miniatures are out of production now, which is real shame as I would have bought the lot there and then. It appears that there is a little 'history' between the modern GW and Impact in recent times, which may well explain this. As you will have read above, only a few hundred castings were made of the models so they must be kicking about on the collection scene somewhere. Hopefully, one day, more reasonably priced versions will see the light of day once again. Then we can all own our own Chaos All-Stars.

http://www.impactminiatures.com/index.php?option=oopimpact

Finally, Joe Dever and Gary Chalk have made their editions of Tabletop Heroes available on-line. All the articles they worked on are here I believe, including a great many with contributions from Phil. There is a great deal of inspiration here, especially close up shots of painted examples of classic miniatures that have not been readily available for viewing online before. I really do recommend popping over to the site and downloading a free pdf of this material.

http://www.projectaon.org/en/pdf/misc/JD_TabletopHeroes.pdf

Orlygg.

'Eavy Metal Specials: White Dwarf 114

 

As many of you will be aware, we have reached issue 114 of White Dwarf in our history of Warhammer Third Edition. As an offshoot of the 'Acceptable in the '80s' series, we are dipping into the work of the 'Eavy Metal painters of this period. There had been a period of change for the figure painters, and things were certainly much more organised than when Colin Dixon was first employed. If you recall, Colin was the original full time miniature painter, though by the later '80s the department had grown to include a wider group of artists, lead by the very capable Phil Lewis. Andy Craig, the great friend of Oldhammer and this blog, started his career as WD114 was organised for printing, and examples of his early work appear within the articles presented below. He would soon be joined by other '80s painting heroes, such as Tim Prow, Ivan Bartlett and many others. Unoffical members who were friends of the studio, such as Pete Taylor, also has their work showcased during this period.

If Helen of Troy was the face that launched a thousand ships, Phil's Bloodbowl minis must have lauched a thousand spin off teams. Such an iconic collection of minitures, and colour scheme, with many one off conversions. I am currently working with Phil to do an interview about his time at the studio and, hopefully, he will give us a little more information about the creation of the Chaos All Stars.

Steve Mussared's work was famous for the heavy gloss layer of varnish that protected these miniatures. He was an avid gamer and all of his miniatures were painted with gaming in mind. He had an unique style, and I have said it before, back in the '80s you could pick up a mini and name the sculptor and idenify the artist too because there were so many differeing styles. The converted daemon of Nurgle is a particularly memorable model for me. Steve's signiature grey bases really offset the bleached colours on this model.

Chaos never looked so good as it did when the original RoC books were being produced. The range of colours was wild and varied, yet consistant in their own strange way. Here we see many of the models painted for the Lost and the Damned, inlcuding one of Andy's plaguebearers. This, and many of these models, were on display at the Foundrty during the Oldhammer Event. Seeing them in the magazine is nothing compared to the real thing, believe me!

An Tzeentch gets its chance to shine, cracking (as they do) with deeply magical hues. Again, some of these models were on display, and I recall sing that Tzeetch champion among others in the Foundry cabinets.

Quite a varied bunch on this page; Bloodbowl, 40k and Warhammer. Note several of this minis. The Eldar Titan was painted by Andy Craig using his (then) signature yellow and black combination. The 'Kinky' Chaosette also was painted by Andy but he gave the model away to an ex-girlfriend! Opps! Perhaps someone will be lucky enough to discover her again one day! I love the Knights Panther conversion here, obviously made in homage to the famous John Blance painting. 

Another mix of Bloodbowl and Chaos. This page sees a rare glimpse of the '80s Chaos Chariot from the talented minds of the Perry Twins. I love this model. I bought in 1989 and foolishly sold it about 10 years ago. Thankfully, I have since got my self a second version and have painted it up for my Khorne Army!

 

 

Any thoughts or comments on these models. Any memories that you are desperate to share? Please do.

 

Orlygg.

'Eavy Metal: More Ancient Gems with Kevin Adams, Colin Dixon, Aly Morrison and Phil Lewis classics

To follow up on my last post concerning ancient gems from very old WDs, here are a series of 'Eavy Metal articles from the ancient archives of 1986. GW was pre-Warhammer third edition and Rogue Trader at this point, so old school fantasy dominated the magazine and the subsequent miniatures pages.

Many of your will know that Citadel employed the first 'in house miniature painter' in this same year. This was the young and ambitious Colin Dixon (who would later re-emerge as a sculptor in his own right) and for a while, he was the single official GW figure painter.

As we have learnt from Craig, Priestley and Ansell, the design studio was a very creative place to work. Subsequently many of the sculptors were also painters. So Colin was not alone in the world of acrylic paint, for Kevin Adams and Aly Morrison from the sculpting team were also on hand to provide painted models. Phil Lewis, early GW lensman and miniatures supervisor, was also a dab hand with a paint brush.

It seems that there was a decision to focus on the work of these individual studio painters in the mid 80s, and these articles are the product of that. What you are about to see is an astonishing collection of painted models, backed up with detailed, articulate writing which treats the reader with respect. Quite a few people have emailed me to ask how to paint by models retro style, and I plan to do a few stage by stages at some point in the future.

These articles were my starting point, so I'll share them with you here if you want to look beyond the gorgeous lead and into 80s techniques. 

I have discuss Colin's envious mastery of the freehand shield and banner design before. Some of you will know that it is a rather personal quest of mine to improve the quality of my shields. Colin being my main inspiration in this. As you can see here, I have a long, long way to go until I could even keep up with designs like these. 

An interesting mix of models here. This was what used to draw me to 'Eavy Metal articles back in the day. The variation of models, and in the days before the internet EM was one of the few places you could actually see models from Citadel's immediate past. 

Colin explains how...

Now we have an article by Kevin Adams. Not only was he a creative and individualistic sculptor but he was also a painter of no mean merit. He was also known as a bit of an ace converter, back when being an ace convert was bloody hard because metal is a real challenge to cut and prepare. Like Dixon and Blanche, Adams was an advocate of the fantastic painted shield design. His horrible goblinoid faces are truly hideous - in a hideously good way of course. Additionally, Kevin also made wonderful use of natural materials and sculpted green stuff to produce wild and imaginative vegetation for his bases.

He was named 'Goblin Master' for a reason. His 80s goblins (and their paint jobs) redefined these cheeky critters. 

More beautiful modelling and paint work from Kevin. Inspirational. 

Kevin explains how too....

I always loved Phil's work. Very crisp and considered. Here is a slice of his work that includes the famous (and very expensive these days) limited edition amazon, early undead, fimirs, Jez Goodwin's manticore and that beautiful one piece Zoat with the staff. Always wanted one of those. 

More from Phil; brilliant ogres, chaos sorcerers and Judge Dread models. 

This is a very useful guide to consider if you are going for old school stylings in your paintwork.  I found this particularly useful when I started painting in an old school style a couple of years ago.

Brilliant painting from Aly here. Just look at that white fleshed troll! Skrag the Slaughterer was clearly a very popular model among painters during the mid 80s. 

Blanche inspired banners and detailing here. Again, a mix of manufacturers and some conversion work. I've just won the red chaos warrior with the shield above Fig.14 for 99p on eBay. I think I might have ago at copying Morrison's design one day. 

How Aly does it...

Plenty of inspiration here for you. Hopefully, some of you will find some answers about how best approach a miniature if you want to create a retro look.

Any comments?

Orlygg.