"Ral Partha true 15mm" Topic

I just purchased a nice size collection of what I believe are late 70's/ early 80's 15mm ACW. The Ral Partha figures are really nice looking sculpts. Unfortunately, I know nothing about them. I am familiar with Stone Mountain, Minifig and Heritage but not the Ral Partha's. Does anyone know anything about these figures?

They were sculpted by a guy from Dayton, Ohio and cast in greater Cincinnati, Ohio. They had a very short production run. Maybe 1979-1980.

Super info 79thPA.

A couple of friends bought heavily into Ral Partha ACW 15s back then, which we played with a lot. As I can recall, they were nice figs.

3rd5ODuece, you wouldn't be in or around the State of Kentucky would you?

I know we have one TMP member who used to work for RP back in the day, so hopefully he will chime in. SW Ohio was a big gaming environment back then with Uncle Duke and Ral Partha. John Hill came over and did a presentation, and he signed my copy of Squad Leader. I was just a teenager, but it was cool to be in the midst of all of that.

Great memories 79th!

The Duke came over to our hobby shop (Epic Gallery in Militaria) in St. Louis about that time also (I was in my teens then too), to present his products and the new "wash-style" paints line Heritage was marketing. I think he even put on a small ACW skirmish battle for us with their 15s.

I remember the consummate salesman claiming he, or a friend had spray painted the Heritage undercoat on the hull of a boat then in the Gulf of Mexico (off Texas somewhere as I remembered), when I asked him about the durability of his Heritage primer…. which I had already tried and thought rather "soft". :)))

Those were sculpted by George Freeman. George had sculpted a beautiful "Raleigh Fingers" pitcher in 90mm scale for his son's Little League that was truly a fine replica of the man, complete with sculpted fingers over the ball's stiching for throwing a curve ball! Unfortunately, his 15mm figs were less anatomically proportionate. Duke Seifried passed upon his designs but Ral Partha (who did not have any 15mm at all in their line-up when 15mm was becoming popular) took him on. George "disappeared" and the lines went nowhere (probably for RP's betterment IMHO). When compared to Custom Cast's Stan Glazner's 15mm work, these did not even come close as competition. Stan's work went with him to Heritage when Custom Cast merged in the late 70's. Stan Glazner (who was also the designer /owner of Bugle and Guidon figures as a teenager!) was a great loss to the hobby when he passed from a heart attack in Texas while exercising to strengthen his heart. IMHO, here WAS the equivilant of the Perry Twins for the USA in the 1970's. They were local to me and actually gamed in Freeman's garage a few times as well as at the Tin Soldier on Salem Ave. (Custom Cast). Was a big proponent for 15mm in the Dayton area at the time.

Thank you for filling in the gaps of my history of historical miniatures knowledge.

Here is a picture of the first unit I re-painted and based up: flic.kr/p/2jF2J8v

Wonderful painting, and excellent flags!

I have many of those figures. As shown in the photos in the previous post, they also produced a series of 15mm Napoleonic figures. Unfortunately whatever metal was used for casting the Napoleonic figures has proven to be very susceptible to lead rot over the years. The primed and painted one seem fine, but the ones I didn't paint are simply no longer usable due to the amount of metal lost to corrosion. By the time you clean it off, there's little to no detail left.

The sculptor liked to use an overhead sword pose for charging cavalry that I don't see in any of the pictures.

Nice figures. The link shows some of Stan Glazner's 15mm ACW range done for Custom Cast/Heritage.Loved them! Had many 5 regiment Brigades done up-- Truly, my favorite 15mm tho smaller than what came later. Nice job!

Hey Tom (Dye4minis), your really bringing up the good ole days! I remember Stan showing me the very first 15mm he ever sculpted using old epoxy putty (before the green stuff). Even today his sculpt are better then many, he was way ahead of his time.

Duke did cast some of George Freeman's sculpts. Stan passed before he could do the Russian infantry for the WW2 Panzer Troop line, so George took that on.

Nowhere as good as Stan's work, but Duke was starting that in conjunction with producing John Hill's "Fire Team" rules which were his miniature version of Squad Leader. Project never materialized as John moved to DC, though I still have an unpublished copy of what he had completed.

Kim