Nostalgia vs perfectionism

lenihan

Moderator
So here's a dilemma I've been pondering.

I'm preparing for the oldhammer weekend, and the starting point of the elven expeditionary force I'm bringing are models that I already had from my youth (reaver knights, and old style shadow warriors) - models that I'd painted up but not really used when I was a teenager, instead sticking with tried and tested combinations so I could Win All Of The Warhammer (not that I really did win that much, but that's another story). Also, on my pocket money I could never afford to buy enough models to bring these units to a decent size, and money I had from jobs I did went to pay for other things. I've always felt a bit guilty about having these models I liked, but never using them enough, so now I figure their moment in the sun has come. Throw in some 80s classics via ebay, happy days.

So I get the old models out of their storage, and I look at the paintjob and... meh, passable, I guess. Bit of shading here, bit of drybrushing there. Paint the new models to fit with their style, and I'm good to go.

And then I get the high elf hero model out. My beloved general, if ever a figure was a proxy for me on the battlefield, it's this one. So many happy memories of his triumphs and (more often than not) heroic defeats. And I look at the paint on it and think... oh crap.

Thing is, I was never a good painter. But as I kept working at it, I got slightly better, from "caked paint hell" to "what the feck is that meant to be" to "ok, that's better than unpainted", and even one or two that I thought were quite nice. But this hero was very early on in my warhammer journey - the first mounted figure I painted, pretty much the first detailed figure I'd painted after row upon row of rank and file infantry.

And so I have hold of him, and I'm considering dropping him in the dettol and... no, I just can't do it. It's like I'd be stripping off all those memories with the paint. I'd be killing him.

So a bit of tlc and some washes and drybrushing and I think... well, perhaps people won't look too closely.



SOooooooo... to cease my rambling... what I'm interested in is how you guys balance nostalgia with perfectionism? When do you grab your old models and say "ugh, no way am I putting that on the battlefield"? And when do you stand proudly behind the heroes of your youth and say "you know what, I wouldn't change a thing"?
 

Erny

Member
I do know what you mean, my Skarloks actually have emulsion on them from my preteen painting days. Yet somehow I cannot strip them. Same with my Rudlugs.

My solution was to buy the blighters again, but that was some time ago when they were cheap as chips, much cheaper than the contemporary Citadel figures. I'm guessing you are talking about the prince Imerik figure, one I need to add to my collection so I know the silly prices you would be looking at to buy a second.

I think it has to be your call, I understand not stripping him but if you can't just update the original PJ perhaps you could look at stripping him as being a restoration job. I don't think I'd have the heart though.

BTW you may have missed my reply to your introductory post. I live in Royston but work in Cambridge, I am chair of the Cambridge wargames club. If you fancy a game of Oldhammer or indeed anything up to 6th let me know.
 

Mutantdale

Member
Put him on a shelf and buy another mini the same.. I stripped my first minis I had for over 20 years last year and wish I hadn't

MD
 

ardyer

Member
Mutantdale":swpjbzs8 said:
Put him on a shelf and buy another mini the same.. I stripped my first minis I had for over 20 years last year and wish I hadn't

MD

So did I and I intend to strip him again and apply an even better paint job!
 

Naagruz

Member
Take pictures! I have many models I've shot prior to stripping for a new paint job. It's a great way to hold onto the nostalgia while opening up new possibilities for old minis.

Rebase! You can get a ton of mileage out of rebasing. It helps bring your old stuff into line with your new stuff & you won't need to get your paint out (Unless you want to!). Basing is the underestimated other half of any model.
 

Padre

Member
I think you should not only put the old figure on the field, you should paint newly obtained OOP figures the same way as the original so that they feel comfortable in their 1980's skin.
 

lenihan

Moderator
Thanks bug16, I think with your post we've now covered the full range of options from "strip him" to "replace the model while keeping the original" to "use him as is"! Consensus???? What's that??!
 

Chico

Member
Strip them, my Gobbo force has been stripped and repainted 4 times so far. I always find the old figures look 100 times better with new basing and painting.
 

Zhu Bajie

Member
I stripped the very best paint-jobs I ever did as a kid and haven't got around to repainting them since. No regrets at all.

Option 4, list them on eBay as "pro-painted", with a BIN of £££ and buy new ones. :twisted:
 

Blue in VT

Moderator
I understand your feelings...and I probably have a few figures from my youth that I will never repaint...but In general I plan to redo most of them when I have time. My skills have certainly improved since I was 15 and I agree that new basing can make a huge difference. Here is an example

OgreHeroOldNew.jpg


This guy dominated many a battle back on the day and has huge nostalgic appeal for me...but I have admit I
Like him even more with his new PJ and base.

But in the end you e got to go with your gut...keep the ones that mean the most to you and redo the rest.

Cheers,

Blue
 

Padre

Member
That guy is better than I paint now, or have painted in 30+ years. Using enamels doesn't help, but I'm a stubborn sort of fellow and I ain't gonna change until I can't get the enamels anymore (something which has threatened to happen several times).
 
Strip it! You're not destroying the 'character', you're giving it a new lease of life. Old lead deserves new paint to show just how good the models are! :grin:
 

lenihan

Moderator
See Blue, that's a really great example. First off, the original was already pretty damn good, and yes, on an objective level, I can see that the new paintjob is better, you've improved things in all areas. It's much more lifelike in a way. And I also like the way that there's enough of a similarity in the treatment that you can easily see it's the "same guy". And yet... something in me likes the first paintjob because it's full of imagination... The odd shoes... the "gob smasha" - the replacement is a much better technical accomplishment, but there's something about the spirit of the first.

One thing that IS clear is how much the rebasing really does matter (as Naagruz pointed out earlier), that rebasing is fantastic.
 
I thought the original was pretty damn good to start with, gob smasa and all :o

I have the plastic marine sgt that came with white dwarf 166 that Im loathe to do anything to...he looks like crap but just cant do it.

Im probably pretty lucky cause I barely painted anything until 5 years ago :oops:
 
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