"Tom Meier/Thunderbolt Mountain W.I.P. #1" Topic

For myself and for many people who paint fantasy figures, the name Tom Meier is spoken in tones reverent. His figures loom large in the teen age memories of many a gamer and the impact he has made on the industry will endure beyond his lifetime. It has taken me over a year of painting to find the courage to lay brush to some of his lovely sculpts.

I am currently working on a series of vignettes using sculpts from Thunderbolt Mountain. My approach will be that of myself as a little girl who read fairy tales and dreamed magical dreams. The dreams of a child sitting outside in the woods playing make believe by herself. I will be scratch building my own fantasy terrain.

This is a beautiful sculpt of a classic Goblin. The face is highly detailed and the musculature is exquisite. I have laid down a base coat of Reaper Meadow Green and applied a light wash of Reaper Face Wash mixed with a small amount of Secret Weapon Black wash. I will slowly build up the layers to add depth of colour and to bring the musculature into sharp relief.

These are Ballerina Princess Fairies that Mr. Meier sculpted for his daughter Nora. I have laid down base colours and just begun to do a little highlighting.

I have only laid down base colours on these three.

The contrast between these two figures is striking. The Goblin is large, bulky and fierce, while the Ballerina Princess Fairy is delicate and seemingly fragile.

These figures are much smaller than what I am used to working with and will be quite a challenge to me.

This is a picture to give scale. Look at the detail in that face. Those down turned lips and those pudgy cheeks tell me that this figure is the Ring Leader and not to be messed with.

I have had a request to include a Wood Elf from Thunderbolt Mountain and I have agreed to do so.

Looking good so far. Now wash your hands!

I didn't realize the fairies were that small.

WOW! Very Cool!

Very nice, I'm looking forward to see how they turn out.

The one you have painted with a red leotard and blue tutu resembles my daughter when she was 4 to 5, the others are all more or less playmates of hers, some a bit older. The little one with the pigtails was a bit younger than Nora and used to follow and imitate her, sometimes doing exaggerated impersonations of her mannerisms. The one you have with the red leotard and pink tutu was Nora's 'frenemy' and main rival for preschool queen bee, she was a bit older.

Nora is now 7 and I'm hopelessly behind on her armies which will include 'tween' amazons and mermaids with amphibious assault vehicles. That is to say a sort of a fish-tank for their lower half with robot crab legs.

There will also be officers for the MBFP infantry with feather boas and rhinestone studded sunglasses.

I bought the ballerinas and the flying unicorn pony for my daughter. Basically went with pink all around with white leggings. They do paint up nice. I like what you have done so far!

Nora is now 7 and I'm hopelessly behind on her armies which will include 'tween' amazons and mermaids with amphibious assault vehicles. That is to say a sort of a fish-tank for their lower half with robot crab legs.

There will also be officers for the MBFP infantry with feather boas and rhinestone studded sunglasses.

I was wondering how old your children were now. Seven is a marvelous age as they still think Daddy is really cool.

You've got to finish those for her. Those mermaids with ambhibious assault vehicles sound so whimsical. I'd pit those against the Panzer any day of the week.

Now I've got to see that infantry with feather boas and rhinestone studded glasses. There are just so many scenarios that I could use those for.

You do know that when she's 16 she's going to be asking you to sculpt males for her don't you?

Looking good so far. Now wash your hands!

I had been spray priming a load of Gripping Beast Vikings right before I took the pic. The paints gone now, but it's been replaced with dirt from my gardens:)

Forget the fairies. More Elves please

Forget the fairies. More Elves please

No way I'll forget those fairies, they're exquisite. I'm going to be doing up the vignette of the Wood Elf Huntsman with two dogs to go with it.

I need to get those faeries and do them up for my granddaughter.
Beautiful work Anne!

I need to get those faeries and do them up for my granddaughter.
Beautiful work Anne!

When I first held these in my hands my firs thought was "What a lovely gift these would be for a little girl"

You should do it as I'm sure she would love them.

It's nice to see his sculpts on the web. Not enough of it. Do you have any of the High Elves?

I like the detail of Tom's sculpts, the only problem is that they are smaller end of the 28mm range or the 30mm range while most everything I have is 32mm (the scale creep of 28mm)….but I have a few of those goblins. Painted them up nicely tried to sell them…no one wanted them..so I made them my trebuchet crews. I tried out his High Elf stuff too, nice sculpts..but they were too thin compared to my massive Harlequin range. I hear they fit perfect with the LOTR GW range. Tom is a great guy and sculptur. I talked to him for about 20 minutes one day…and didnt even realize it was him..funny.

Cheers,
tom

Great News!!!
Many of Thunderbolt Mountain's ranges are currently being reproduced by Ral Partha Legacy at
link

I also have some albums of their ranges at

link

link

Sean in Oregon, eastofthesun@mail.com