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Yeah, in all honesty, it's more of a heresy (read; pathetic) to sit on a gaming set simply to say you have a complete gaming set. We're not talking about a game that garners real monies for collectibles. With the scant exception of a few examples, practically none of the old models are very valuable, and don't really appreciate with time. I have seen these "complete" sets go from $50 to $150 in the last few years, in varying states of repair and completeness. But considering the number of Space Marines involved, that's not a whole lot more (if at all) than new miniatures. Heck, the majority of these older items (even in unassembled condition or even SIB) go for less than barely respectable used versions of the current edition!

I've never seen someone bring in a box of ancient Marines (or whatever) unassembled and been anything more than "ooh, neat." But when I see someone come in with a fully assembled and painted (retro style, of course) army of same or similar models, my first thought is "freakin' awesome!" It is heresy to not play with a toy, like owning a really nice car and never putting it on the road. Nothing is too pretty or rare to do its job.

Skinnattittar wrote:is too pretty or rare to do its job.

Except Honest Politicians.

Gwar! wrote:

Skinnattittar wrote:is too pretty or rare to do its job.

Except Honest Politicians.

Well if we're going to delve into the realm of mythos....

I have a similar purchase - A mint condition "Harlequins" box set.

Not as iconic, but for me, just as desirable. It was what I always wanted when younger, but never got around to buying.

I also don't understand the purpose of keeping something like this in "mint" condition. Incredibly lame.

Terminus wrote:I also don't understand the purpose of keeping something like this in "mint" condition. Incredibly lame.

There is a purpose; collecting. Some people's hobby is buying, painting, and/or making models and gaming with them. Other people collect things. But from a 40k Hobbyist perspective, it is more a shame NOT to paint and play them.

If i saw all that plastic it would go back in the box and stored. The thought of cleaning up all that plastic scares me. Got nothing to do with "collecting".

So much plastic... I feel cold... so cold.

paint them up real nice

make a nice little diorama display case so you can show them off (make sure they can be removed so you can play them)

enjoy them, (and keep them away from TFGs who see the need to be all touchy feely)

Nice find!

Now you just need the Land Raider box (That had two land raiders) to go with it.

the ones that were the same size as rhinos?

LOL Grey Templar.

I actually field an old school Land Raider. Yes the ones the size of rhinos lol. (I'll bet BA players will want them more than ever. The ability to deep stike them now, with the mishap table, the old school Land Raider size, will defiantly help those situations).

I did convert it alittle. I use modern Lascannons, and used the exhaust from the new Land Raider's and modeled it on the back of the old Land Raider. Mix some of the new with the old, makes for a cool Land Raider.

Jackmojo wrote:

Commander Endova wrote:Oh my god I'm so jealous. I'd kill for a box like that. Of course, I'd build and paint the minis, and use some of the parts with the current generation plastics to make Sternguard Vets...

I have a lot of RTB01 both assembled and painted and still on the sprue, and unfortunately while they look fine (if not great) they match up poorly size and detail wise with the newer stuff.

Jack

Too true, sadly!

I've got a the 'box of ten' of these guys, and they are SMALL compared to today's Marines.

And their poses are so hunched over, they make today's Marines look like they have good posture!

really?

i have a marine who looks like his mom just told him to straighten up and is all awkwardly positioned.

It's even better if the box you score was a mispack.

Like several of mine back in the day.

You were supposed to get TWO of the sprues with the flamer, missile launcher and powerfist in the box of 30 marines.

Two of the boxes I had included 5 of these sprues (so 5 missile launchers, flamers and powerfists in a box of 30) instead of 2.

First off, kudos to the OP for the find. Very, very nice my friend. I just scored an almost complete set of these last week from a friend. he just came up to me on one of our gaming nights, plopped a bag full of RT beakies on my lap and said "Here you go *insert my real name here*. You like thise sort of thing. Give them a good home!" They are off the sprues and the packaging is long gone, but they are mostly there. Needless to say I will be filtering them into armies as projects come along. They could not have come at a better time as I was running low on my stock of RTb01s and original one piece metal space marines and I'm on the "Blud Angelz!!111" band wagon right now.

Ok, here is my two cents on the debate as to what to do with your find.
Given that the set is complete with the original packaging, I say do not build them. Leave it untouched. You see, there is a considerable collecting community for citadel miniatures and these RT era pieces are getting harder to find and more expensive every year. As recently as ten or fifteen years ago you could not give away RTB01 sets, but now in the condition of the lot you have there, they are almost impossible to find. RTB01s pop up all the time on Ebay and are usually pretty affordable. But they are usually assembled and painted. Complete unassembled box sets like yours are almost unknown. Likewise if I were ever to come across an orginal unassembled box of landraiders (which were originally sold in pairs) or an original rhino set (three in that case) I would keep them "as is". I'm not sure what the going rate on the collectors market for such a box is, but I'm sure it's fairly high. Give it another ten years and it will be even more so. But do what you will.....

TR

edit:

But when I see someone come in with a fully assembled and painted (retro style, of course) army of same or similar models, my first thought is "freakin' awesome!"

Most of my armies fall into that catagory and that's the reaction I generally get. For example my Ork army does not have a single model in it that was made past circa 1994 or so. Likewise my Space Wolves are most older models (with many armour varients thrown in) with two original land raiders etc. I've got two CSM armies mostly made up of one piece RT era castings as well. My Squats are....well...Squats and I own the only army sized collection of Space Slaan I've ever seen anywere. all these are usually big hits and cause alot of curiosity amongst the newer players when I bring them out. But this does not change the fact that the OP should not build a collectable set like that in my opinion. If someone has their heart set on a beakie army, it's easy enough to buy up a bunch of assembled models on Ebay and repaint them.

Since it's so complete I'd say not build them. If they were already off the sprue I'd say build them. But they aren't so I'd keep them. They might look better put together and painted, but I'd hang onto it anyways.

Edit: I decided to look on Ebay to see just how common these are. I came across a few that are a green ish color. Are those fakes or did they actually come in the green color as well as the pale white?

They came in blue/green as well as the cream colour.

Personally I'd keep the box but build them because I'd have no intention of selling them on. It's a bit like some of these people that buy model trains and refuse to ever run them, there's something a bit sad about it, a great shame.

I don't really think there's a great worth in preserving these thinks, certainly keep the box or even a few sprues aside, but it seems a shame never to do it justice. Collectors that go for the unreleased and seriously limited edition stuff, I can see why you'd keep them just as collectors pieces. Some of the rarest models are unique, or number so few in existance you could hold all of them in one hand.

I got a box of marines built and painted some years ago, had the full 30 and the cardboard box intact for a pittance. I paid £5 for the 30 marines, the box of 18 harlequins and a load of other guff like orks and space slann, it totalled about 80 figures. Even I didn't appreciate what I had got my hands on. Perhaps I should strip them because they are not painted as any particular chapter and are in three totally differently coloured units of 10 men, and look a bit rubbish.

You're not going to assemble them?

Is sprue just that interesting to you guys? o.O

How much would that boxset have cost back in the day?

Yep, start putting together those guys ASAP. One of my first painted miniatures (after some Heroquest stuff) was a Space Marine Captain with Powerfist from this set.

Enjoy!

Flashman wrote:Yep, start putting together those guys ASAP. One of my first painted miniatures (after some Heroquest stuff) was a Space Marine Captain with Powerfist from this set.

Enjoy!

My first ever miniature was one of these plastics. A shop called Encounter Games in Cardiff used to break the boxes up and sell individual sprues for £1 each.

I think the boxes were originally £10 each, same for the boxe with three Rhinos and the box with 2 Landraiders.

Howard A Treesong wrote:

Flashman wrote:Yep, start putting together those guys ASAP. One of my first painted miniatures (after some Heroquest stuff) was a Space Marine Captain with Powerfist from this set.

Enjoy!

My first ever miniature was one of these plastics. A shop called Encounter Games in Cardiff used to break the boxes up and sell individual sprues for £1 each.

I think the boxes were originally £10 each, same for the boxe with three Rhinos and the box with 2 Landraiders.

Of course, don't forget back in Ye Olde Tory Dæs £10 could buy you a riverside Property

Henners91 wrote:You're not going to assemble them?

Is sprue just that interesting to you guys? o.O

Well, when I've got well over 100 off-sprue, why should I assemble the ones still on-sprue? Heck, if the OP wants to assemble his, I'll trade off-sprue models for them.

Clthomps wrote:When I read the title I was really hoping for the 10 Kilo Metal T.Hawk they made for a month before the mold broke.

But I would say an untouched RT box is a close second, Nice find! Did you buy them on Feebay?

Had one of those. Gave it to a friend for Christmas one year. Knew the temptation to have my orks loot it would one day overwhelm me.


The piece that took me years to find was "The Book of the Astronomicon". First add on to 40k after the basic Rogue Trader rulebook. Was very, very elusive.

Henners91 wrote:How much would that boxset have cost back in the day?

I got the two boxes of 30 I have at US$19.99 each, which I think equated to the £10 price point back then.

I never ever saw the the Land Raider two pack or Rhino three packs myself though, so I don't know if they ever sold them in the US.

Jack

That is the box I got when I started in the ealry 90's and used them as Devastator marines. I think it was issue 139 Blood Angels.

My vote is for preservation. Maybe it's the historian in me. As for practicality, you lose nothing by keeping them as they are unless you actually plan to run them in your army--which may not look that great; whatever their nostalgic value, these are not the great looking SM of today. I really don't understand what is "such a shame" or what is "lame" about safeguarding this relic. And if it is not a relic now give it twenty more years for this lot posting here to get their grubby mitts on the other surviving sprues.

Manchu wrote:My vote is for preservation. Maybe it's the historian in me. As for practicality, you lose nothing by keeping them as they are unless you actually plan to run them in your army--which may not look that great; whatever their nostalgic value, these are not the great looking SM of today. I really don't understand what is "such a shame" or what is "lame" about safeguarding this relic. And if it is not a relic now give it twenty more years for this lot posting here to get their grubby mitts on the other surviving sprues.

It is a "shame" because they are gaming models, and gaming models should be modeled and gamed, not left to collect dust in a closet. It is "lame" because they're not actually worth much as a collector's item. We're not talking about an unopened Boba Fett Christmas edition action figure, we're talking about 40k models. Considering that even the rarest of 40k models rarely go for more than $100, I don't think some of the most common models will ever be worth much. So trying to cling to this "unmolested" ideology is vane, at best. Unless, that is, you're collecting them because you like to collect things. But a "relic" it is not.