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Surely there are some other folks on this board who enjoy rescuing models. I'm not a professional painter, but I really get a kick out of saving busted-up models. Givin' the little metal guys a new lease on life. Let's see some show-n-tell for those kits or minis you've rescued from the depths of a 12-year old's paintjob, or a simple eBay "pro painted" mess.

Let's see some before and after pics. Also, feel free to post stuff you've just picked up - and check back in later when you've finished it up!

Maugan Ra


And the rescued version:


One of the minis I feared painting the most...the dreaded Avatar!


And the rescued version:


I just received these guys - they're in a tub of Super Clean right now...

Here's some i've given a revamp: (even though the original paintjob was mine too)
Original

Updated


Original

Updated


I bought a bunch of extra gubbins on both tanks but they are the same models used, fresh paintjobs helped too.

I'll put a few more in here to see if this gains any interest

Some Scorpions:




And the rescued result:


Some Warp Spiders - these fellas weren't actually too bad. I had another eBay squad as well which I didn't get pictures of.


The rescued models:

I have done one ebay rescue project.
A friend picked up a set of Terminators for cheap and passed them on to me to do up and sell through his ebay shop.
Sadly, he chose poorly. These were plastic cement jobs and required a saw...

This shows the process:


And this the final product:


Individual shots:

Perfect! That's exactly what I'd like to see more of! I'd also think this could make a very cool Monthly painting challenge for some month --- purchase an abused kit off eBay or at a charity shop and "rescue" it. Nice work!

Great job you guys! Those Eldars look really good after repainting, especially the spiders.

I agree - those eldar models look fantastic!
I have to do some myself soon and I hope they turn out half as good.

I just bought a case full of "rescue" minis for about $60, including a metal Captain, Apothecary, Standard Bearer, and Techmarine, a couple of Tactical Squads, a Land Speeder, a Land Raider, and some Terminators. Should make an interesting project getting them all fixed up considering how badly off they are (lots of very thick paint and random decals everywhere). May not get around to it soon, but I hope to repurpose them as Blood Ravens. The models date from 3rd edition I think judging from the rulebook I got with the lot.

Well, definitely post here and let us know how it goes! Heavy paint and decals mean nothing to a bottle of Super Clean or Purple Power.

A few more rescues.

A cocked-head Karandras (oddly a miniature I never liked...because I hate green)


Fixed...not green and I bloody love him!


Dire Avengers from eBay in the UK:


Returned to proper form (a full repaint, despite similar scheme)

Loving this. Subbed.

Here's another. One of the best minis GW has ever put out, the classic Chaplain in Terminator Armour --- I was going to do a Space Wolf styled force, but later gave up on it and sold this fella off.

Before:


After:

Nice thread and great work !
I love a bit of ebay recycling, despite it often being rather time heavy but cash light. Subbed !

Great stuff

Great idea for a thread!

I've got a few to put up, but I'll start with this Land Raider. I painted it a few times as a kid in the early 90s, then decided it needed battle damage so took a hammer to the track and a 'meltagun' match to the side. Stupid child-me! This is how it looked for about 20 years.







So I stripped it.







Then tried to fix the damage. I was happy to leave the hole in the door, but I wanted the track fixing so I could actually use it in games.



Then finally got it painted up in my homebrew Stark Crusader colours.







I'm pretty please with the end result.

Whoa, great save! And indeed...damn your childhood self! If only you knew how much that would be worth down the line!

 Elbows wrote:
Whoa, great save! And indeed...damn your childhood self! If only you knew how much that would be worth down the line!

Child-me certainly has a lot to answer for. If I get chance I'll post some other saves later today. I'm not short of things to show!

Yeah, I've rescued a few poor, abused things I've bought for cheap online.

Last thing I saved were these Scarabs. The multiple, thick layers of paint were easy enough to strip, and the bases could cleaned off reasonably, but I'm amazed by the amount of superglue some use for attaching a Scarab to it's little stand... Managed to get them to look ok though.






Recently fixed this guy as well - have to love how you can give these old metal models a new life.

 Oguhmek wrote:
Yeah, I've rescued a few poor, abused things I've bought for cheap online.

Last thing I saved were these Scarabs. The multiple, thick layers of paint were easy enough to strip, and the bases could cleaned off reasonably, but I'm amazed by the amount of superglue some use for attaching a Scarab to it's little stand... Managed to get them to look ok though.

Spoiler:

Recently fixed this guy as well - have to love how you can give these old metal models a new life.

Spoiler:

Good save

It appears I was often guilty of over-using glue as a child, but I've learnt. Don't know what I was thinking!

Beautiful work on those Necron saves!

Another save from childhood me.

These are my HeroQuest player characters that I painted up as a kid.





Stripped -



Repainted -

Love to see some old plastic get love. I think a lot of people my age cut their teeth on Hero Quest (A GW joint venture, btw...)

Took these superb old metal Scouts:


And turned them:

This is a great thread. Nice saves all. It's amazing the difference of slightly thinner paints and a bit of decent highlighting makes.

Great job Elbows!

Good work everyone. You guys are a lot more patient with someone else's poorly painted models than I would be. I like everything to be fresh and new so that all of the big mistakes are my own

I think that's more of a difference between plastics and metals. Metals are almost all one or two pieces - if it's not bent or broken, under that paint is a brand new miniature. Plastics don't tend to strip quite as well, and the person before you may have been terrible at assembling multi-part plastics.

This, for example is the Avatar after simply stripping it with Super Clean in an ultrasonic bath:



Personally I don't buy used plastics - as they can be FAR worse (melted to pieces with glue, poorly assembled etc.). Plastics also don't snap free like superglue does when exposed to stripping. Super-glued components just pop off and can be cleaned. If it's metal, I'll gladly pay 25-30% of the cost of the mini new for a used one I can clean up --- not to mention for the metals I collect (my entire Eldar army for the most part) they simply aren't in print anymore.

Good call. I haven't worked with a metal miniature since at least as far back as 5th edition - but they certainly do stand up to abuse much better than plastic ones do.

Oh, I do have another one. I'd forgotten this chap started as a badly painted blob.

As he was a single Tau firewarrior there was not much point just re-painting him, so I converted him to an Ethereal.
The base model stayed the same, I just added to it and re-painted him.

Perfect. That's a great save.

Awesome thread!

I'll have to have a look see and see if I can find any of mine that I've done, that actually have 'before' pics

I think 'rescuing' minis is an admirable way to bolster one's collections. (btw, do you like dogs, cats, etc? I highly recommend rescuing from shelters!)

Some Orks, before (brace yourself):


After:


Some baseless, rotor-less Deffkoptas:


After (sorry for image quality ):



I've since rescued numerous other Orks since these photos have been taken, but I lack before photos and current photos, unfortunately. There are a number of Boyz, Nobz, and Stormboyz not pictured here.