Thursday 28 December 2017

Ral Partha Personalities 01-003 Balrog v3 (rescued)

Bit of a gap between postings, but that's what a new job and Christmas does for you :) I've hardly had time to paint in the last month, but I thought I would post the latest extract/rescue from the Lead Mountain. I got this figure as part of a job lot, and it was in a sorry state - it was missing its wings, and the original right hand had been hacked off. Now, I am a big fan of Ral Partha sculpts - they are light years away from the Asgard and Grenadier sculpts of the same era - and I thought this was too good to bin. So, out with the bits box... in particular, the plastic Gargoyle from HeroQuest. I had a spare one lying around, and the wings from it were a surprisingly good fit for the back of the Balrog - a bit of superglue and Milliput sorted out any annoying gaps. The missing right hand was also sorted by snipping off the wrist of the same Gargoyle and pinning it in place - the hand is a bit out of scale for the rest of the figure, but I can live with that. After that, white primer, a bit more filling, and then out with the paints. As with all early sculpts - the trick is to keep it simple, so a base red, then a dark red wash, then dry brush to bring out the detail... including the rather obvious dangly bits (!). Maybe the Balrog and the Citadel Troll discipline master should get a room... The base of the figure is just shards of rock, painted light gray, then a dark wash, and then dry brush with red to suggest heat from the Balrog. The wrist band and the sword were painted in gold to suggest polished bronze (and also to reflect well with the red), whilst the whip was done is various light shades of orange, yellow and white to suggest heat. I'm pleased with the way this turned out - especially as it is a rescue piece - and considering it is nearly 30 years old, I think it holds up really well. Certainly the latest recruit to my Amazon/Shadowforge army looks worried by it!

6 comments:

  1. Great repair work on a lovely old figure. It's noticeable that Tom Meier added goolies to a lot of his early sculpts, causing much ribaldry in our youth.

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    1. Thanks for the kind comments! I think there was a period in the early to mid 80's where it became almost de rigueur to have a couple of explicit minis in the range, and Ral Partha jumped on the bandwagon. I think Citadel were the worst culprits ;)

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  2. Nice! Interestingly enough, I have the "PG" version of this miniature - mine has a demonic thong of sorts. The face is slightly different too. U.S. version, maybe?

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    1. I am guessing that the US version might have been a bit more prudish, as they suspect under 16's might by the model? Just a guess...

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  3. Awesome! I love to see broken minis rehabbed, and it's especially nice when they get a great pain job along with it.

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    1. Cheers Mile, thanks for the kind words - and yes, it is always good when a damaged mini gets a new lease of life :)

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