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So awhile ago I got some marines I was gonna just gonna resale for a profit. didnt work out well, they didnt look good, I spent too much to turn a profit and they where banged up.
So I threw them into my stripping bath and barring some, removed the paint(I need new stripper, I think they started diluting what I used.) And I removed some arms, some heads(too caked in paint) and im going to slap some kromlech grav cannons onto them and turn them into a the heavy weapons for tactical squads.
Im also going to turn the metal Death Company into Assault marines by removing the BA icons.
Does anyone else love restoring old miniatures? And Why?
I feel like im giving something not loved and mistreated a new home among my collection. to give them the care they deserve(even with my gakky painting) Kinda like taking a stray dog in.

I like restoring old miniatures and vehicles.
http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/295966.page
It started as a way to save alot of cash as I was building my Guard (and it certainly is that) but now I actually enjoy saving old figs. I've stripped hundreds of minis over the last few years.

I'm a fan of vintage minis but don't want to have an even bigger lead pile so it's great to be able to get these old figs, see what they're all about, clean them up and then sell them on to someone who will appreciate them

I do. I really like finding oop models, cleaning them up and adding them to my army. I just think the old rogue trader skulpts had more character, especially for armies like orks which I also collect.

In fact, I just picked up a bag of assault marine bits (w/ jump packs) which made 11 marines for $20. I just got done cleaning them up and glued them on saturday. Now they await paint, a nice cozy foam tray, and a life time of war with my Dark Angels.

I'm restoring one of my all-time favorite games.

Caverns of Doom, by Heritage miniatures. Its my Indiana Jones level of search for the figures, and restoring the game. I am in the midst of building a 3d version of the board while I gather up the parts and figures.....


I'm doing well in the search and almost have them all, as well as Crypt of the Sorcerer.

Its a level of Nostalgia I think more then anything else.

I absolutely love getting a free mini because it's so screwed up it's "beyond help" and then fixing it anyway.

When I started WHFB 4 years ago (or rather re-started after a 20 year hiatus) I got a mantic elf army given to me and I'd managed to swap some old WW2 15mm stuff for some other (GW) HE stuff from the 1990s to add a few units.

Since then, I've looked for stuff of that same vintage to pad out that army (or replace some of the mantic stuff that was, tbh, just a placeholder until I got something better. They were at least representative of what they were, though). I just think that older stuff has more character than the new plastics.

Actually yes, don't do as much or spend as much time on it really as I don't have the time.

So far salvaged a Mawloc for my Nids, a warrior with two more 'in progress', there is a carnifex that someone has done unspeakable things to with glue that I will salvage out of pride.

Mk1 predator and Mk1 rhino in bits on the windowsill as well waiting for a bit of TLC.

It is amazingly satisfying, even if the model won't actually get used all that much

I've done it a few times. It's a good feeling when you can remove the grime and horrible paint job and end up with a presentable model.

I really like some of the vintage night goblins, but they're hard to find at a decent price. Sometimes I get lucky on ebay. I can usually get unpainted or even new in the box cheaper than painted models for some reason.

I really enjoy it with GW stuff. The old models make great character and my wip Lamenters are mostly built from used models and OOP figures. It felt strangely fitting that all if these old abandoned models would become Lamenters.

My IG, Black Templar, and orks all have OOP or used figures in them too, but none to the extent of my Lamenters.

I just shipped my old armies from my parents to my home. kinda looking forward to it : )

I love restoring any model, even one that I may.....have...messed up.

Here is my Looted Valkyrie and what it looked after I unlooted it:

http://www.dakkadakka.com/gallery/images-14732-17521_Unlooted%20Valkyrie.html

I bought a large Ziploc-style bag titled "Random Chaos Models" at an auction my FLGS held. When reviewing the items up for auction during the preview, I noticed the bag and saw that it had at least a dozen or so OOP metal Warriors of Chaos and at least a dozen or so random OOP metal Daemons of various alignments. Paint jobs were, to be generous in description, underwhelming in quality and apparently applied using a popsicle stick.
Suffice it say, I won it for what I thought was a great deal. Got it home and upon inspection found 22 OOP metal WoC, 17 OOP metal Daemons, a OOP metal Palanquin of Nurgle and a Galrauch in pieces, but complete. Lots of other fun bits...a couple OOP metal Chaos Knights, a couple old one piece Minotaurs, a handful of really OOP metal Beastmen and likewise Chaos Marauders. All in all, they went for a swim in a bucket of 'Simple Green' and three days later I scrubbed them clean and started the rehab. I love recycling minis that have been left wanting for a good home...probably why both the dogs I have are rescues!

stripping paint can be an issue. Fairy power spray in the UK does a trick but it takes a while

Always a pleasure.

 kronk wrote:
I've done it a few times. It's a good feeling when you can remove the grime and horrible paint job and end up with a presentable model.

+1000 to this. For me it's specially satisfying when it's a model from the 90s with a terrible paintjob (and boy, the world seems to be full of those).

All my Citadel/GW figures are from 1983 to 1992...

nurgle86 wrote:stripping paint can be an issue.

I highly recommend "Biostrip 20" it costs about 10 GBP but its so good! you only need a small amount and in about an hour you've salvaged your model and you can then reuse it.

I personally love restoring a mini, its sounds weird but its like you can give that mini a reason to be proud again. lol.
Also its way cheap. Not buying guardsmen from GW at RRP...

I love running my Home for Lost and Abandoned Space Marines (and Others). There's a certain thrill from being able to rescue minis that have less than stellar paint and assembly. I particularly love taking old models and giving them updated paint schemes or techniques, and vice versa rescuing newer models but giving them Rogue Trader styled palettes.

oop minis are the bees knees. I don't need the new hotness at all. The older the better.

Most of my figures are 20 years old before I get around to painting them.

I always buy up old "crap" and then repaint, and/or convert them to my armies.

I think I spend more time doing it than buying new, honestly.
Returning things from the point of no return is very rewarding.

I like the big projects. There's something nice about turning points: http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/638462.page

I am fixing stuff and then selling it for next to no profit a lot of the time, my g/f says i dont value my time enough !

I enjoy the time I spend restoring stuff almost as much as date night though !!

I had a crapton of old 70s and 80s (mainly) lead miniatures.
Hilariously one was from a miniature range from Army of Darkness...
Sadly not Ash but still, let me know he exists.

Quick story about old minis from a few years back.

A buddy and myself were at a historical gaming convention when we came across a guy selling figs for 50 cents or a dollar from a big bin of random (mostly fantasy themed) figs, a large portion of which were poorly painted or primed in some manner.

We each put down $25 and offered him 50 bucks for the bin and he accepted. We then each took our about 50 figs for ourselves. I nabbed mostly chaos'ish figures from Ral Partha and Grenadier and he grabbed mostly Vintage Ral Partha Dwarves.

After taking our 50 figs each, I was still left with a box of a couple hundred figs. I put them into a vat of purple power and slowly stripped the lot of them. I sorted them and learned alot about figs I had never known existed as I put up some very long "please ID these figs" topics. The stripped figs were first offered to our clubmates for about a buck each and then I sold the rest at bargain basement prices on TMP and Bartertown.

After selling the figs me and my buddy settled up the money. After taking me a small percentage for my time and for the solvent and not counting the initial $25 spent, IIRC we each walked away with around $75.

A bit of time and some elbow grease can really be a great thing in this hobby. Plus, the feedback I got from the many folks who bought the figs was pretty great. They were generally really happy to get these old figs at a great price and I was happy to make a bit of $ which I of course spent on hobby stuff.

I like restoring old minis, cause I can get them cheap, and I can work miracles with a hobby knife and enough bitz. But also cause I feel more 'accomplished' taking a 5-10 rhino that looks like it got run over by an actual truck and making it look as good as something out of a box.

Restoring old minis you say?

From this:

To this:


And slowly to this:

You can see the slow progress here - http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/675583.page

 Whittlesey40k wrote:
Restoring old minis you say? ~snip~

Is SOOOOO peanut butter and jealous of those figgies. I so do love the late 80's early 90's marines.


Rescuing old figgies is a blast, I do enjoy doing it.

I love my old models from Epic to nids.
Also love picking up a decent deal on eBay

Latest was 5 Tyranid warriors (all old metal) for £10 because of the paint caked on them.
Quick bath and ready to go.
Few pics though of current older stuff I'm slowly restoring:

Restoring old mins is the best part of the hobby.