writes:This model recently crossed my workbench again. It is probably the oldest surviving figure that I've painted. I don't remember who made it.
I was working on it because the grass flock had worn off and needed to be redone. It was also done back in the old days when I didn't mind 'wedding cake' figures – you know, the ones that stand on their own little hills – and I wanted to contour the figure's cast-on base into the steel base it's mounted on.
I'm not at all saying this was a great paintjob. But this was a great figure for a newbie. A little drybrushing goes a long way here! There's no 'face' under the cape, and the skeletal hand is cast in relief in the flowing cape.
The horse was simply basecoated black and drybrushed with dark gray, and the cape was done similarly. (I didn't know how to do washes back then!) A 'demonic' glowing eye was simple to paint.
I thought the hooves needed something extra, so I painted them silver. (This is still my original paintjob, I didn't change anything, but it probably has quite a few matte clearcoats over the years…)
The sword was redone in a previous update. The flames were originally reddish, and were changed to their current yellow/white colors.
My work this time was to clean off the old flocking, add new spackle to contour the figure smoothly into the steel base, then paint and reflock the base.
I can't even guess when this figure was first painted. 1970s? 1980s? But I have a campaign coming up, and he'll fit right in…